Sacred Living

By Tommaso Nicholas Boggia

Ok, this meme is getting a little over-used, but no other techno turned hip-hop song does a better job of expressing the joys and thrills of commuting by bike. You work Harder than others around you, but you are rewarded by getting around the city Faster than any of your friends, your health will be Better, and you’ll be Stronger without having to pay for a gym membership. There is no better form of commute and for those of you who haven’t tried it before, I hope that through my story and bike tips I can metaphorically hold your hand to and nudge you a little closer to riding on two wheels at least a couple of times a week.

Now, you might think I’m some sort of enviro-jock, spending my days drinking whey powder smoothies and my nights going on 100 mile rides, but really I’m just the kid who, in middle school, had parents that stopped calling me by my first name and preferred to refer to me exclusively as “Lazy”. I thought sports were a waste of time and energy, while computers and politics provided me with all the entertainment I needed (NERD ALERT!). I was in Italy, and public transit there kept me afloat, even though my attention span had a hard time coping with waiting around for the next bus. I was not in the target audience for bike catalogues, and I didn’t see myself propelling my own lazy bum around anytime soon.

When I moved to the United States, my parents promised to buy me a used car as soon as I would get a driving license. I tried a couple of times, and the result was DMV 3, Tommaso 0, and after that I stopped trying. I just wasn’t that  interested in moving around in an expensive 4,000 pound box of steel at insane speeds (I failed once for going too slow). That left me without a car and fully reliant on driving-license-equipped friends and a public transit system with more holes than swiss cheese and constant delays. I needed an alternative.

Finally I decided to give bikes a shot. Two wheels gently rolling at the comfortable average of 15 mpH that could take me wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted, with relative ease and without asking for rides! That sounded pretty good, but I wasn’t too sure about the whole exercise thing. After realizing how much cheaper biking would be compared to buying a car, not having to pay for insurance, gas, parking and the endless repairs, I finally gave in and bought a bike.

What a wonderful revolution! I started slow, only biking to places close-by once or twice a week, and progressively took it further, more frequently, until biking became something I could hardly do without. Now I ride every day, almost exclusively for moving around the city. I have an awesome job where I get to talk with young people about how to mobilize around the climate crisis, yet the favorite part of my day is getting back on the saddle in the evening and riding back home.

I realize biking isn’t for everyone. But if I, a lazy person who is somewhat afraid of cars could learn to love it, I’m sure you have a good chance of finding something you’ll love about it as well. Turned out that my fear of driving became one of the catalyst for my passion. When on a bike I found myself liberated and vindicated by the thought of being behind lighter, more agile vehicle and able to navigate the city chaos much more effectively than my gas-guzzling competitors. Riding around during rush hour is a fantastic experience for me; most people in cars or on public transit swear it’s the worst part of their day.

I’ve noticed that a huge obstacle to new people being comfortable on their bikes is that bike safety guides do a horrible job at making you feel safe and are actually very successful at making biking sound hard, dangerous and disempowering. They tell you to obey traffic signals, wear lights, wear a helmet, but never talk about the joys of riding. I think I can do better.

So, here it is, the Tommaso Boggia tips and tricks for safe and fun city riding:

1. Wear a helmet (I know, I said my list would be different, but this one must always come first):
   • The helmet is your badge of honor, your entrance ticket at places with discounts for riders, and your status symbol to join the biking sub-culture. Might also come in handy if a meteorite hits you while you are waiting at a street light.
2. Take all the room that you need:
   • Especially when not provided with a bike lane, feel free to take a full car lane and go as slow as you need to. This might irritate car drivers behind you, but that is none of your concern, safety is. Never ride on the side-walk. Not only is it disempowering for you as a rider, but it turns our allies (pedestrians) against us.
3. Use our allies (pedestrians) as guides:
   • Look at the way pedestrians behave at intersections. They have a wider field of vision and more time to evaluate whether it’s safe to cross. If you see them hesitating, slow down and make sure that there aren’t any turning cars. If they are happily crossing, you can be pretty sure the coast is clear.
4. Make yourself look bigger when turning:
   • This works to scare off both bears and cars. Car drivers assume that riders never turn and thus don’t prepare for it. Make yourself look big by extending your arm and the palm of your hand to give drivers a visual boundary. Brownie points if you tattoo a stop sign on your palm.
5. Do what’s comfortable, not what’s legal:
   • The rules of the road are made for cars and pedestrians but don’t take bikes into account. When stopped at a street light, it is always safer to start riding in front of the cars so you can set the speed of traffic and so that you are visible to all the cars coming up. Similarly, you don’t want to loose all of your momentum at a stop sign unless there is incoming traffic. Coming all the way to a stop will put you at a disadvantage compared to cars and might put you in danger.

That’s about all there is to it. You have every right to be in the streets, and you should not let arrogant and road-raging car drivers intimidate you. The most important aspect of riding in a city is to be confident and visible. If you are both you might end up loving urban riding as much as I do and you will be rewarded for working Harder: you’ll be Faster than cars, you will have Better health, and you will be Stronger!

Tommaso Boggia is an Italian expat living in Washington D.C. and working on youth climate organizing at Campus Progress. He is passionate about taking small steps to become more sustainable and recently started a front-yard garden, a back-yard compost, a home energy audit and is helping to start a Washington D.C. bike co-op, the Bike House.