Despite being a fairly good cyclist as a child and teenager, by the time I left college in 1976 I was a car-dependent car-addict. One stormy day, though, I was watching a beautiful storm from inside my workplace and thinking, "I'd rather make half the money in an outdoor-all-day job, and be outside in storms like that, than continue being inside every day." So the next week I took a job as a bicycle messenger in downtown Washington DC. I consider this decision a blessing, and the beginning of my lifelong transportation-cycling choice.

The day before my messenger job began, I rode one mile, on level ground, away from home and back, collapsed and slept the whole afternoon. Pretty bad shape. But the first day of messenger-work went well, and tho by the end of my first week as a messenger I was pretty sore and tired, I had made almost as much as at my old job. After the second week I'd made more, and within 4 months I'd given my old VW to some friends as a wedding gift.

Having to ride all day, every day, in all weather, taught me that I could bicycle anywhere, anytime, any day, and the only really hard part was thinking about it beforehand. Once I got going, no matter how bad I felt before riding, I felt better while riding. No matter how bad the weather seemed from inside, it wasn't so bad outside.

This has held true for 25 years, 70,000 miles, 70 lbs. removed, and at least $22,000 saved, from not using a car whenever possible. That money has enabled me to buy and pay off my house, and retire on a small fixed income at the age of 33. I owe it all to my little wheeled ponies (bicycles). They have taught me my most important lessons in life.

Bicycling has also solved many of my other life problems: weight, diet, arthritis in knees and hips, money, overall health, and more. It enables me to spend more time outside every day. I don't worry about money; seems there's always enough when there's not a car to worry about maintaining. I even have a better social life on the bike; I'm always running across friends, and on the bike I can stop and talk.

The bicycle has taught me self-discipline, self-reliance, and how to push myself despite being very unathletic. Yet I'm still a self-professed couch-potato cyclist, slower than anyone else I know.

My daily commute over the years has varied from 5 to 25 miles every day; I really miss doing the 25, as I was in great shape then, and felt terrific.

Looking back now, I have two regrets: one, that I never discovered a cycling group when I was a teenager, and learned about long-distance cycling and quality bikes from them. I so wish I had had the freedom and independence and health then that I enjoy now.

My other regret is the several years when I began teaching grade school and depended on a car for my daily commute. Because it was 25 miles roundtrip, when I first started the job I just assumed a couch-potato cyclist like me could never manage that distance every day. So I stopped cycling, bought another car and started driving daily. My big mistake was that I NEVER REALLY TRIED riding it. When I look back on those years now, they seem so wasted and unadventurous compared to my cycling years.

Finally, after wasting $7000 on that old car, and gaining 70 lbs. back, I decided to really give cycling a fair try on that long 25-mile commute.

Hot and hard going at first, I persevered and adapted. After two weeks of practice, I was able to do the commute one-way every day. I would drive in with the bike, ride home, ride in the next day, and drive home. After one month of that, I did the whole trip for the first time. I was TOTALLY wiped out. But the next day I did it, I was a little less tired. I remember being amazed that, every day I did it, it became a little easier. I'd arrive home a little less exhausted each time.

I'd still arrive home tired every day, but I did in the car as well; as does everyone else. But that tired is a GOOD tired; I've accomplished errands, exercise, saved money, reduced pollution, enjoyed some outdoor time, and eliminated the day's stress. All at once.

Four months later, the car was gone again! That experience inspired me to write a booklet that I self-publish called "Couch-Potato Cycling", and become a bicycling advocate/activist.

And thank you for bicycling!

The Author: Lauren Cooper works with the Charlottesville-Albemarle Bicycling Assoc. (www.CHABA.homestead.com), and the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. He writes: "CycleMedia is my own little one-person dog & pony show promoting Transportation Cycling thru advertising. In 1999-2000 I ran an Equal Rights for Bikes advertising campaign in my hometown of Charlottesville Virginia. It basically promoted VEHICULAR CYCLING: that is, bicycling by vehicular rules and having lawful vehicular rights, including the right to a full traffic lane whenever needed (see Laying Down The Law at www.bicyclinglife.com) I also encourage tradespeople to turn their small businesses into Bicycle-Based Businesses. I guess I'm just another little rowboat trying to change the course of that big ol' oil-tanker of industrial development that we know as the USA." (c)1999, 2001 Lauren Cooper