bike ride with lucy

Jamie D. Akens
Gurian
English 11B
5-12-11
A Day Without Gas
We were somewhere outside of Wheat Ridge when our thirst began to take hold. Our destination… unknown. We had merely stumbled upon a path directing us out of our normal boundaries. We had been riding for a few hours now, and our water supply was nearly empty. All we had left was one water bottle full and we needed to ration it. We didn’t want to venture off of the trail, for we weren’t familiar with the neighborhoods. We find its best when we just go with the flow and follow our instincts. This was proved to be true once again on our bicycling quest.
It all started out at our local bead hookup my mother used to labor at. I had matters of discussion to take care of with my mother while Jonas, my companion armed with his trusty camera for this bicycling adventure, browsed the bead selection. From that point we headed through the sketchy apartments. We rode by with our colorful tie dyes and the inhabitants of these housing developments stared on. We were the colorful crazies riding bikes down the path in their eyes. When really, we are much more than that. In reality we are doing this to set an example, reducing carbon emissions, a day without gas.
After a few miles of riding my compadre and I came upon a bridge. It was a marvelously architected bridge. We took a rest before we set of on this journey to the unknown. There we ate a small snack of granola, praised jah, and drank some water to give us the proper energy to complete the ride. The day was only just beginning. We hopped on our bike and headed westbound down the trail. We headed down the trail with a steady pace so we could cover good distance. As we traveled the trail we went under roads, over bridges, and we saw many animals. About an hour into the trip we both began to feel this Euphoria. A euphoric feeling only achieved by pushing your body to the limit, we rode hard.
We came up on an underpass of Wadsworth. The overpass towered over us and you could hear the roar of the vehicle above us. The sound of cars polluting and constricting our beautiful earth, the one that we hope to not hear anymore. At this massive man-made structure we took a brief pause in our journey to observe our surroundings. We walked around and we saw some amazing street art. We took some pictures with the art and took it in knowing that it would either be removed or painted over by another artist of the night. Off we went down the trail again. We rode and rode knowing we had nowhere to be this evening so we didn’t care how far we went. We were somewhere in Wheat Ridge when we ran out of water to drink. We were balls deep in the trail. We were faced with a question. The question of, “Do we go off trail to an area unknown, or do we continue on the trail and hope for a drinking fountain?” We only had one choice and that was to go off the trail to find a business with a drinking fountain. Too bad for us in this day in age we live in a pre-bicycle friendly time. Our society isn’t as accommodating for cyclers as we’d hope. This keeps people from making the switch to forms of transportation not harming to the environment. Yes, we have bike paths next to our rode, but we need water stations along our bike paths. We need mobile first aid stations to help fallen riders. If these were provided I think it would help make the switch. That’s why my friend Jonas and I like to ride around on our bikes in the nicer months rather than drive. It not only saves gas, but it sets an example.
We ended our journey and headed back with more knowledge for the future. More ways to make a difference. We knew now to pack much more water and snacks so we can go farther. The farther we go the more people we can show that riding bikes isn’t bad. It’s good for the environment, our health, and is fun. If a couple of hippies can ride their bikes around and have fun while doing it, why can’t biking be the main local transport for America. It all started out with us just going on a bike ride. The future is in our hands.