if you have to ask

The weather in Vancouver continues to eat at the soul of its inhabitants. Thursday and Friday were particularily miserable with lots of wind, rain and chilly (for this time of the year) temperatures. I won't lie, I opted to NOT ride. I wasn't emotionally ready for it so I resorted to other means. Call it weakness, I call it spending quality time with my iPod on the bus.

A few months back in Dirt Rag, there was a wicked one-pager titled Bikakure: The Book of the Commuter. It states:

"The Way of the Commuter is found in riding. When the question is whether to ride or not, the answer is always to ride. The Way of the Commuter places emphasis on many qualities, including loyalty, self-sacrifice, justice, sense of shame, refined manners, purity, modesty, frugality, commuting spirit, honor and affection."

This online version of it seems to date back to 2005, I am glad they finally put it into print. Anyways on Thursday/Friday I didn't even ask myself whether or not to ride, I just said F it, and went on my way. I adopted the if you have to ask... policy in January, I like it. You just have to be weary about when you ask yourself whether or not to get on your bike cause it isn't always what you want to hear!

To make up for a few miserable days, I went out on a good ride today to blow some steam off and get some vitamin D from my friend the Sun. More on that ride later.