May
2001
Give
Your Well-being a Boost with Biking
By Samantha Knowlden
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Are you ready to shed those winter blahs and
shake out those creaky joints? Get out and move your body and see
what it
does for your physical and mental well-being. When I feel blue or stressed
(or any of those negative emotions that are hard to shake—anger,
depression, boredom, lethargy, anxiety, etc.), I hop on my bike and
pedal those feelings away. For me, there are four aspects of bicycling
(besides the physical) that really help shape up my emotional well-being:
riding for environmental beauty, empowerment, exploration and exhilaration.
In New York City, environmental beauty is hard to come by. For me,
seeing beauty in my surroundings plays a large role in my emotional
well-being,
so I make a point of seeking it out—by noticing architectural designs,
appreciating an urban tree, taking in the blueness of the sky or the
spirit of people hanging out during warm weather, or by noticing the
vibrant green and flower-filled “front yards” and gardens.
Biking around the city provides these opportunities because you are
not enclosed in a car or entombed underground in the subway. You can
go farther and faster than walking, yet slow enough to catch the moments
of beauty around you. With spring in full blast and summer coming on,
it is an especially good time to absorb the beauty of the warm weather,
the trees, gardens, waterways and parks.
There is nothing like a little empowerment and camaraderie (and fun)
to boost your mental well-being. Try participating in a Critical Mass
ride, a festive, monthly, world-wide event where thousands of cyclists
and skaters converge to reclaim city streets from cars, while promoting
bike awareness and green transportation. Another option is to go on
an organized group ride. The Tour de Bronx is a free, fun, family event
that takes place in October covering 25 to 40 miles. The feeling of
cruising the streets with over 500 people while enjoying the parks,
waterways and neighborhoods of the Bronx is quite an experience. Similarly,
Bike New York is a 42-mile ride in early May that travels through all
five boroughs.
If you are afraid to ride in the city because of the traffic, there
are a couple of things you can do. Take your bike on the subway to
a
park. Central Park and Prospect Park in Brooklyn both have bike lanes
and are car-free during certain hours—just watch out for the people.
Also, going on a group ride provides safety in numbers, plus you can
learn tips and tricks from more experienced bikers. After my first
mass
ride, my confidence in my biking abilities and comfort level around
cars soared.
Other ways of feeling empowerment, besides through exercise with your
bike include: learning how to fix it yourself by reading a book or taking
a workshop on bike repair; and joining a pedestrian advocacy group like
Transportation Alternatives and working to make the city more bike and
pedestrian friendly.
Try exploring NYC by bike. Check out neighborhoods you’ve never
been to before. Change your routine and find alternative routes to work
and school. Don’t have a map? Pick out a familiar tall building
in the distance and see if you can find your way there. Use your bike
to explore the greenways and parks. Riverside Park is a wonderful park
to explore with its beautiful gardens and paths under bridges and down
by the river’s edge. It gets kind of wild and interesting in some
places above 125th Street. You can ride all the way up through the
park
and visit the famous little red light house underneath the George Washington
Bridge and keep on going up to Fort Tryon Park and the Cloisters.
For me, riding over the bridges of New York City are some of the most
exhilarating experiences. Think of the spectacular view you get when
zipping over a bridge in a car. Now imagine being on a bike, out in
the open, in the wind, up at such a height, able to take your time
and
stop and observe. The view of the Manhattan shoreline from the Brooklyn
Bridge at night is simply amazing. The buildings with their lighted
windows, all piled up at the water’s edge, look like a flow of
lava with a semi-cooled gray shell and cracks of molten rock breaking
through, about to surge into the water. The George Washington Bridge
is another awesome bridge to cross with its views of the New Jersey
cliffs and the length of Manhattan.
Most bridges in the NYC area have bike/pedestrian lanes although figuring
out how to get onto the bridges can be intimidating and tricky, especially
if you’re unfamiliar with the area. Going for the first time with
someone who knows the way and/or taking time to explore the area and
figure out the bike routes and entrances is a good idea. Once you get
the hang of it, it’s a piece of cake.
Exhilaration also comes from just moving about the city at a speed
faster than walking and going faster than cars stuck in a traffic jam.
It comes
from being more aware of your environment—the smells, sights and
sounds, the subtle differences between neighborhoods, the movement
of
cars and people. And it comes from knowing that biking promotes your
well-being and that of the earth.
