I love the smell of bike tires in the morning!

Last Thursday morning, with my eyes still closed softly in sleep, a smile on my face, and visions of sugar plums dancing in my head... I had the dubious privilege of being rousted out of my nice comfy bed to trudge down to the corner of Petaluma Boulevard and D Street (Petaluma California's Walnut Park). Upon arrival I was commandeered to hand out coffee, apples, croissants, muffins, water and bicycle bags of souvenirs and information to 143 intrepid peddlers as they passed through downtown for their participation in Bike To Work Day 2009. I was joined by other hardy souls - a representative of Whole Foods who showed up with the victuals, a public affairs person from Kaiser Permanente who brought bike reflectors and bags, a student from a nearby massage school who enthusiastically provided hands on support, and a bike mechanic who came fully prepared (with his seeing eye dog in tow) to load bikes on his rack, give them a diagnostic spin and tweak them into performance perfection.

Most of the time I work from home, and have done so for the better part of twenty five years. I still have to travel to visit clients, or to research stories and interview subjects, but most of my time is spent in front of my computer in the same place where I eat, sleep and dream. I live in a section of my little town that allows me to walk to just about everywhere - the grocery store, my favorite pub, the bookstore and even the bus station. When it comes to transportation, I keep a pretty low carbon footprint, simply because I can. So for me, this morning was kind of a revelation. People were excited. They were enjoying themselves. Some of the folks I met ride their bikes to work every day, others were trying it for the first time. "I do this every day," said one smiling woman, "but today's the only day you get the booty!" I handed her a bag and a muffin and she rode on laughing. Kids rolled in and out on their way to school, and regular bikers talked about how encouraging it was to see other folks on the road. "So much of the time, you don't see anyone else," said another happy rider as she sipped her coffee and grinned. "This is fantastic!"

Every single one of the 143 folks I laughed with, handed schwag to, and waved at as they rode away were clearly juiced with the engagement of doing something to make a difference. As for me... I'm going out to the garage and pulling out my bike! They say misery loves company, but from what I saw this morning, so does happy peddling.