Must-have Bike Book
Although I created this guide with a focus on “bike commuting”, my aim throughout has been simply to make biking more a part of regular life.
What I love about Just Ride, Grant Petersen’s book on biking, is that he wouldn’t necessarily separate “bike commuting” as a distinct pursuit, in the same way one wouldn’t separate “walking” from living for most able-bodied humans.
Here are twelve quotes to ride by (and live by):
Goals: “Counting days is best of all because it’s easiest. When you count a day, you check it off whether you ride five minutes of five hours. I rode my bike today! Count things that add up fast, come easy and encourage you.”
Fashions: “When you don’t race, almost every shirt, sweater, jacket or coat you own is a cycling garment.”
Courtesy: “Be saintlike on the bike path.” That is the title of Chapter 22. This entire half-page chapter should be required reading for anyone who’s ever shouted “ON YOUR LEFT!”
Dieting: “A typical, healthy low-carb diet includes lots of meat, eggs, cheese, all above-ground vegetables, berries, walnuts, almonds, macademia nuts, low-carb Greek yogurt, and maybe some dense-cocoa/low-carb chocolate for a treat.”
Water: “When you sweat, you get thirsty and drink. This has been a successful, automatic hydration strategy for mammals for millions of years.”
Gravity: “Your bike won’t stand up by itself, and a kickstand it the simplest, most obvious, most logical way to do the job.”
Common sense: “If your chain and your rear cogs have grown old together, they may both need replacing.”
Aesthetics: “Beausage is a useful concept that can help cure you of an obsession to keep the bike spick-and-span. Buy good stuff, use it, and enjoy the beausage.”
Brawn: “Steel is the oldest, heaviest, and cheapest material, but also the toughest, safest, most repairable, most durable, and I’d say the most beautiful.”
Love: “Everybody who hangs out around cyclists knows of successful cycling couples, but they’d be successful couples with or without riding, so don’t think riding is relationship glue.”
Vacation: “The most fun I have with my bike is during overnight bike camping in the local hills.”
Fun: “Whatever benefits accrue from riding your bike won’t stop accruing just because you’re having fun. In fact, the more fun you have on it, the more you’ll ride it.”
Just Ride —a no-nonsense, supremely practical and refreshing book on biking— will be available soon at Cosmic Bikes for $15.