I kick off into the cool morning air as birds greet the dawn. Pedaling through my neighborhood is beautiful stillness: the wind is calm, cars are absent, and I glide along silently. The morning is crisp and perfect, and I delight in the sensation. Daylight Savings Time began yesterday and I am still adjusting to the lost hour, though the peacefulness of this new, still-dark morning is helping. But soon the beautiful stillness fades to noise as I merge onto a larger street and am surrounded by the sound of traffic.
Even without honking, or shouting, or any other deliberate attack on the silence, the cars intrude. The sounds of their engines and tires on the road steadily interrupt the morning silence, which previously had only the birds’ song to contend with. I find myself getting annoyed with the constant disturbance – I love the peaceful solitude of times like this, and the traffic destroys that sensation.
It is even worse when I turn onto a narrower road because I can’t help but focus on the cars creeping along behind me, waiting for a chance to pass by safely. I don’t like holding them up, but I am not about to risk my safety either, as there is not even a shoulder, let alone a bike lane. When they do pass, they occupy nearly all of my attention.
I crave a bike path – an isolated trail where I can just ride without traffic, without holding people up, without noise. Those are the routes that I live for, but they are disappointingly scarce where I live: suburban sprawl favors the automobile and the subdivision, not the worn path and the untouched grove of trees. Maybe one day our cities will be built around people, not cars, but until then I ride anyway, enjoying the peace between passing cars.
-Keegan
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