Bicycle Commuting as Polemic

Warning: This post could come across as pretentious.

At 19 degrees with patches of snow to avoid, today was a pretty challenging commute.

I've basically passed the point that I think I'm saving the world by commuting via bicycle. The fact is all my effort to reduce my carbon footprint can be erased by one soccer mom forgetting to get something at Target and having to make two trips.

Somedays I don't even want to ride my bike to work. Today was one of them.

Cycling in less than ideal conditions speaks to our comfort obsessed culture. It's human nature to revert to complacency and since the industrial revolution Americans have looked to technology with a messianic expectancy that it will accommodate our desires. But our desires are simply desires.

What's easiest and most comfortable isn't our only option.