Bikes have always represented freedom to me. Just recently, I've also learned they represent responsibility.
I had a Huffy BMX as a kid. It was an iron tank. Not light, but indestructible. I could ride it anywhere, especially away from my troubled house and to friends.
Years later I came back to cycling as a way to turn my commute into exercise. The feeling of freedom came back just as strong, but still a solitary activity, it might not have stuck with me.
Almost 10 years ago in Austin, I discovered social cycling. Or as I've heard kids call it several times, bike gang. There's something about a big group of adults, riding for no reason other than pleasure, with music and colored lights and smiles, that kids go nuts about.
Bike gang went back to the feeling of friends. Moving for the sake of it, having a little adventure together. I think that's what kids love, seeing adults who can still have childlike enthusiasm.
But unlike childhood friends, social cycling doesn't happen spontaneously. There's a lot of work involved in organizing a ride. And as the Little Red Hen taught us, someone has to make it happen.
So recently I started organizing and leading rides, because someone needs to. Freedom comes with responsibility.
If you want to party with the gang, you've got to be willing to put in the work.