Song of Myself, 2011

I have heard what the talkers were talking, the talk of the
beginning and the end,
But I do not talk of the beginning or the end.

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

Urge and urge and urge,
Always the procreant urge of the world.

----------------Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

I am a natural resource. I really have a hard time and take personally the insanity that surrounds us in terms of abusing the environment, abusing our bodies and abusing each other, in turn.

Leave the country for a week or three and come back and you are inundated upon arrival with vitriolic hate and profit-motives. Jump in your mega SUV and head over to the Macy's sale. Whatever.

I decided that when I finally transitioned from firefighter rover, where I had no station, per se, but rather filled in for absent people at work, to having a permanent station that I would start commuting again to work by bicycle.

If you've never tried it, I would suggest at least just once jumping on your bicycle and riding in to work. Bicycle commuting, especially commuting in the winter, requires a certain attitude and maybe even a lack of common sense (so says many of my co-workers), however, the "rewards" are great.

When we slow down and remove ourselves from the cocoon in our motor vehicles, we begin to actually see the world around us. I can see the individual blades of grass, like Walt Whitman and the sun rising and the heat of my breath. That's a tough perspective to gain via car or truck.

Like I've said many times before, I sincerely believe in the power of the individual to make wise and responsible choices for him or herself and for the world that we have now and will have tomorrow.

My ride to work is about 20 miles each way and due to my work schedule I will make this journey approximately 120 times in a calendar year. So we have about 2400 miles less spent in a motor vehicle and perhaps 120 gallons of petrol unburned along the way. The ride takes me about an hour and a half and assuming a vigorous ride burns about 800 calories an hour, I will burn about 144,000 calories extra this year by commuting to work. There are approximately 3500 calories in a pound of body fat, so this should burn about 41 pounds of body fat for the year.

But these are just details. The real benefit comes in the slowing down, the planning for a practical journey, the commitment to executing a plan, the discipline of rising early to get to work on time and really the demonstration to myself and those around me that this can be done on a regular basis. And then there are the bicycle races like the Race Across America and the Race Around Ireland that like cyclists with lots of miles in their bodies and mind.

A couple of days ago it was 6 degrees and the sun was rising behind my left shoulder. I stopped pedaling, felt the cold burn on my face, legs and feet and I sang myself and I sang the world. Bicycle commuting is a part of this song.

--------------

Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle, unitary,
Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable certain rest,
Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next,
Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering at it.