Hooray for Cycling, But Let’s Be Honest…

Credit to The Bike Tube

Yes, cycling is great- we love it so much at Greenwerks we even added to the many blogposts about it! But here the thing: cycling for all commuting purposes is not practical for the typical woman.  I can’t speak for men, but even if you aren’t wearing a skirt or heels, you’re likely to sweat your face off in addition to through your dress shirt, not to mention gain a not-so-functional wind-blown or helmet-hair style.  The point of this post isn’t to hate on bicycling, but not once in the innumerable posts I have read, ever, have I seen this said, even in the positive and negative-posts about bicycles. I think that it needs to be said because it is the most problematic factor I have experienced in trying to incorporate bicycling into my daily regimine.

During my first spring in Chicago it rained nearly everyday, and although my guy friends were gungho about riding in the rain, it didn’t work out so well for me even after trying. Not only is it somewhat dangerous, if you feel like being presentable at all, riding in the rain is not a possibility.  Come summer I was psyched for the nimbus cloud-free skies, ready to ride.  I loved the idea of saving $80 a month (at the time this was the CTA card fee, doesn’t sound too bad now), getting regular exercise without having to pay for or make time for gym visits or outside runs, and keeping my carbon footprint on the DL.  I was interning and attending classes everyday during the week and always made good time riding to my necessary locations.  I also looked like I just hopped off after an hour on an elliptical upon arrival.  All I could think about was showering and how my sweat-soaked clothes were going to stay stuck while drying against my skin.  I tried to deal, thinking that I didn’t need to feel clean all the time, or that I was just being high-maintenance.  It was only after a ride over to meet some friends for lunch a few neighborhoods over, a brief 4-mile ride, when a friend had to pull me aside to tell me that I had little dead bugs stuck all over my sweaty forehead (the ones you typically clean the windshield), did I reconsider my cycle-based transit routine.

I still love to bicycle and do so somewhat regularly, but I reserve it for times when dead bugs on foreheads won’t be a problem.  While you can still be earth-friendly by taking public transit or carpooling, there is no need to compromise your cleanliness comfort level by bicycling.  Some of the times that are still great for bicycling are going out on those low-key nights, like to a neighborhood bar or hanging out at a friends house- summer nights are cooler and there is less traffic, lessening the chances of your face being stuck behind a car’s tail pipe.  If you’re going to be beach, the park, a festival, etc. and going to be sweating it up anyway (and probably not wearing a full face of makeup), go ahead and bicycle.

There is also a lot of hype about the health benefits of people who bicycle vs. non-bicyclers, and though while not denying them, general exercise or cycling for exercise (not commuting- i.e., treating it as a work out), offers those benefits of good health as well.

So, for those of you who have no qualms with cycling as commute, continue forth! For the rest of us, no pressure- we’ll seek earth-friendly transit and exercise in its other great forms.