Ride Your Bike to Work Week

The City’s Green Sustainability Team is hosting various exhibits, displays, activities and events throughout the City to celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day (April 22) and to raise public awareness of the environment and promote a more “sustainable” lifestyle. This week is Ride Your Bicycle to Work Week and City employees have been encouraged to ride bicycles to work instead of driving private motor vehicles.

The City’s Local Historian & Archivist Janet DeVries took up the challenge and rode her bike to work this morning. Below is Janet’s firsthand account of the experience.

“This morning I was up before the sun, had my ‘forty-five’ on, and in celebration of Earth Week, rode my bike to work. With a backpack carrying a change of clothes behind me, I inhaled the salty air and began my five mile trek to work.

Riding a bike gives a person an incredible sense of freedom. It felt good to be getting exercise, fresh air, and saving money and natural resources at the same time. As I pedaled along at a comfortable pace, I wondered why I hadn’t tried this before.

My peaceful ride was interrupted now and again by a few loud mufflers and the diesel engine of the Palm Tran bus. Instead of getting annoyed with the bus I remembered public transportation and carpooling are alternative ways to save precious energy. Today Palm Tran buses even have bicycle racks mounted on the front of them allowing riders to combine using their bike and the bus for door to door service.

“As my legs pumped up and down and I trekked closer to work I pondered. How did people travel before we had all these automobiles and buses? As if in answer to my question, I felt a vibration in the earth signaling the presence of an approaching train. I was riding south on Federal Highway along the FEC tracks. South Floridians have been riding the rails since Henry Morrison Flagler brought his Florida East Coast Railway down here in the 1890s.

Another aspect of note was the absence of schoolchildren. Don’t kids ride their bikes to school anymore? Seems most of them don’t. Society has become a little soft today. I remember reading that before the first high school in Boynton was built in 1926, students rode their bikes all the way to the old Twin Lakes High School in West Palm Beach. That’s 15 miles away! The roads are much smoother today.

The ride was quite peaceful while I was riding along a nature area that runs parallel with the train tracks. I saw several scrub jays and one cardinal. Now and again I smelled some wonderful flowery smells. I began to hear a strange rustle in the bushes. Was that a gopher tortoise? It started to sound like there was lots of wildlife in the underbrush. I pedaled harder.

Suddenly this whole ride your bike to work journey seemed a little far-fetched. I still had nearly two miles to go, was getting winded, the animals in the bushes were getting louder, and the bike was slowing down. 

Flat tire! The strange noise was coming from my own bicycle. The tube was completely flat and I had been riding for a block or two almost on the rim. It was somewhat disappointing to not finish the morning’s journey aboard my two-wheeled steed. The good news is that within my line of vision was a teal colored bus stop sign.

I still made it to work on time; freshened up and slipped into an only slightly rumpled dress. Perhaps I smell a little of coconut sunscreen and perspiration. The experience was priceless. More people should think about using a bicycle. If not for work, perhaps for errands and quick trips to the grocery store. Your body and your Earth will both benefit.”

For a complete list of the City’s Earth Week activities, click here.

Posted by Wayne at 4:26 PM