In the fall the bicycle was always there...

When I graduated from Louisiana State University and struggled for several months trying to stay in Baton Rouge the comfort of my bicycle was still there, helping me to smile through all the disappointment of dead end job interviews and the pathos of riding through all the same old places with a more distant, dejected point of view. And when I was finally forced to give up and move back to Shreveport there was no way I could leave it behind so I packed it up with the rest of my things and moved back up to the north end of the state.

I was raised in Bossier City which is only delineated from Shreveport by the Red River.

Practically speaking the two are a single city; a town that I grew up very unhappy in and given any other choice would never have returned to. In Shreveport I ride as much as I can, though mostly in the evening to avoid the stifling heat.

I commute to the local Starbucks and search in desperation for a job and then I just ride for my sanity. I ride to escape, to try and physically fight off the feelings of failure and depression slowly creeping over me. These rides are where I try to find a new way to see and relate to this town I used to find so alienating,



this town that has grown and grown commercially but not much more welcoming, not much more like a home; though my life in it is now much better on two-wheels.



I'm hoping that bicycling shall be the salvation of our relationship, this town's and mine.

I am acquainted with the many whys of others who choose to ride, such as: the high and mighty pedaling to save the earth, the über-competitive training to outshine their friends and neighbors in regional races, and the young and fashionable riding as an accessory to compliment their particular lifestyle and/or subculture. But, none of these describes or encompasses why I choose to.

I am not pedaling out of environmental concerns; I always aspire to do better, but environmental altruism is not my primary motivation for biking. I was beaten too consistently in competitive sports as a child to ever consider racing. And I've never been hip enough or lived anywhere at the forefront of anything to be able to partake in a fashion trend.

I ride because it is seriously fun. I'm talking a mad, psychotically addicting form of transportation. I bicycled in my youth of course (riding BMX and mountain bikes), but didn't really fall in love with it until college. There I happened upon a beautiful but weathered and neglected yellow cruiser in Goodwill.

 I added the uncomfortable banana seat later.

I fixed it up, rode it to classes and my favorite coffee shop, and started going to Critical Mass; which was always one of the best nights of my many years there. I loved this cruiser dearly and thanks to the flat land built by hundreds of thousands of years of Mississippi silt I was able to take it on relatively long rides. I would ride it in solitude and en masse. I would ride it to lonely nights on the levee of the Mississippi, to a clearer head and a better perspective on my life; or to this same levee with a friend to eat cuttlefish jerky and drink 32 oz. beers in my salad days; to the farmer's market Saturday mornings, drinking fresh fruit smoothies in Arsenal Park with the nutria rats of the lake beside the Governor's Mansion. Or I'd put it in the bed of my truck and drive it to New Orleans so I could ride through Uptown, The Quarter, and The Marigny: to the coffee shops on Oak street, Freret Cafe, and the parks and campuses off Magazine street; to the roller-derby San Fermin, Cafe Du Monde, and the French Market, to various restaurants and the bike charity Plan-B. Over the whole rough ride of that city's beautiful but haggard, pot-holed and poorly patched streets. On a few of these trips I was lucky enough to have a pretty girl on the handlebars too. I knew superficial, intellectual things about riding: that it was healthy for me, better than driving a car, etc. But, what has married me to bicycling most of all is the enormous deeply personal feeling of fun I've had while riding.