Discover the Transformative Power of Urban Cycling!

Hey friends! Have you ever considered swapping four wheels for two and embracing the chaos and beauty of city cycling? Let me share why navigating the urban jungle on a bike can significantly enhance the quality of your life.

For over thirty years, I’ve been weaving through city traffic, exploring nature trails, and carrying my bike onto crowded subway trains. Although losing my car was initially a setback, it led to unexpected growth and a new way of life. Cycling became my primary mode of transportation, profoundly transforming my life.

Owning a bike isn’t just about getting from point A to point B. It’s about connecting with your community in a way that cars can’t offer. Cycling has been incredible for my personal growth as I immersed myself in the elements and embraced the unpredictability of city roads.

Urban cycling can be an adrenaline-fueled adventure with its fair share of challenges and fleeting frustrations. But these experiences teach us patience, empathy, and resilience. Each ride is an opportunity for reflection, growth, and the chance to encounter the unexpected—a chance to be more alive.

Beyond personal growth, cycling offers tangible health benefits. Regular cycling combats depression, bolsters the immune system, improves physical fitness, and enhances sex life. It’s a lifestyle choice that enriches the body, mind, and spirit.

While city infrastructure may not always accommodate cyclists, and conflicts with other drivers can occur, these experiences teach patience and empathy. Choosing a bike over a car isn’t just a decision for your health; it’s a commitment to environmental sustainability and a more connected lifestyle.

Imagine cities with more green spaces, dedicated bike lanes, and incentives for alternative transportation. This vision can become a reality with each ride and car trip we swap for pedals.

If you’re ever exploring Toronto, I’d love for you to join me for a leisurely ride and witness firsthand the joy and freedom cycling can bring. Let’s redefine transportation, enrich our lives, and celebrate every journey we take, one pedal at a time.

Stay safe and happy cycling!

I’ve screamed inappropriate obscenities at a little old lady one instance, then became a good samaritan the next.

Cycling in the environment will bring out the good, bad, and indifferent in you.

Riding a bike in the city is a scary yet rewarding personal growth experience.

Owning a bike (and using it) connects you to a community far more than any vehicle ever could. Mastering the elements reminds us that we’re alive and how precarious life can be.

Some of us must transport people and things long distances through harsh environments in a reasonable time frame, and a four-wheeled friend is the only viable option within your current reality.

But what if you could embrace an alternative approach to your lifestyle?

I won’t debate the negative impact of vehicular congestion, and I’m not suggesting you ditch your car and put the kids in a bike hamper this winter.

Or you commute across town in a heat wave for a presentation only to arrive smelling like a can of rotten tomato soup in a drenched shirt with your fly down. (Been there, done that.)

There’s a balance somewhere.

“Consider a world with denser, greener cities rich with alternative transportation governed by incentives that discourage waste and reward the thrift of our limited resources. Consider a healthier lifestyle for YOU!”

Twenty years ago, I sold my car. Unfortunately, the repo man took it through an unfortunate business bankruptcy. This is a story for another post.

That day, I walked to the parking garage to find my car, and all my client’s work in the trunk was gone! , Shocked, I was forced to find a new gig and a different way to get around.

In retrospect, at 40, this traumatic incident presented a turning point in my life.

What if YOU moved forward to a new paradigm on mobility?

Owning a car is a crazy, expensive, planet-destroying pain in the ass — I said it. Furthermore, I hate driving; as a creative, it requires much wasted concentration.

Carless and recovered from my financial mishap, I learned to redesign life to be more bike-friendly. The savings from cycling, public transit and the occasional car rental positioned me financially to buy a beautiful 30-foot sailboat and retire from the grind much earlier than expected! As a result, my physical, mental and emotional health flourished.

“Daily walking and cycling combats depression, bolsters your immune system, slows the aging process, helps prevent diabetes, and improves sex life (I’m living proof).”

There’s always a way to shop more locally, not filling your trunk with bulk buys you don’t need across town. Believe you can survive without the 80 percent our consumer-oriented lifestyle suggests you need!

Not having a car is a great excuse to avoid visiting certain in-laws. Yeah, I know it’s not easy in the suburbs — hey, then move.

How can our society transition from a car-centric world to a new model?

I get that you think you can’t live without a vehicle if you have kids or your job demands one. Okay, you win, but consider this…

There were about 1.446 billion vehicles on Earth in 2022. With the population increasing to eight billion, 81% of humanity does not own a vehicle. Factor in car sharing, and you’re still, in most societies, getting around alternatively.

“I’m not suggesting we get rid of all cars. Instead, consider reallocating your finances and energy toward things with wheels powered by YOUR energy.”

When you do, this could happen.

One year, I was cycling home uphill, dressed in a suit, when caught in a sudden torrential downpour during rush hour traffic along one of Toronto’s busiest streets. I was soaked as if I had just fallen into a mucky stream.

Grime splashed in my face as cars sped inches past my left leg. I cursed and screamed, blinded by stinging raindrops while precariously dodging unpredictable potholes. — -It was a dangerous trek.

Nevertheless, I was 49, in good shape, and well past a point of return. I had to piss so badly but knew it wouldn’t make a difference if I soiled myself. I imagined the warmth to my privates a welcome relief — I was freezing.

As I passed a group of teenage students huddled under a giant golf umbrella, one of them yelled to me, “HARDCORE MAN, keep going!” I think they were impressed by my recklessness and stamina. I felt like Bruce Willis in the movie Die Hard.

Their enamoured sentiment gave me the perfectly timed encouragement to endure awful traffic.

Twenty miles away, a relative lay dying in a hospital bed from a rare form of cancer with only days left to live.

“I imagined he’d give anything to be in my shoes! I screamed to the dark sky above — Thank you, Allah; it’s so good to be alive and able to do this. George, this one is for you!” ~ Daniel-Ibrahim

“I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man with no feet” — Helen Keller.

Cycling will foster the best and worst as you weave through unpredictable elements.

The worst in me.

Before the pandemic, I innocently rode my bike to the iconic St Lawrence Market on a sunny Saturday morning a few years back.

It’s supposed to be an easy 6-kilometre downhill cycle from my home along Young Street — the north-south baseline from which street numbering is reckoned east and west Toronto (Canada).

For 30 years, I’ve been a proactive, seasoned cyclist in the urban landscape. It’s my primary mode of transportation, except for about four winter months when I walk or take public transit when I’m not a couch potato.

It’s also my main cardiovascular exercise routine. — aside from marathon shags with my love.

Like most large cities, Toronto cyclists and vehicle drivers resent each other’s existence.

Despite the increase in dedicated bicycle lanes over the years, cyclists and drivers fight for space on the roads, trying to outwit each other and gain the upper hand.

Cycling is not just a battle for bike lanes; it’s about kicking an addiction to unhealthy energy consumption by giving up the habituated convenience of cars and suburban sprawl.

Shift your perspective

Along the same route, I had three nastiest encounters the following weekend.

First, one guy deliberately bumped me, so I punched his side door and hood with my fist, denting it to rat hell.

Then, moments later, a Bi*ch in a brand new Caddilac SUV cut me off, so I scratched the right side of her shiny new front door with my metal handlebar. So — good luck with your new thousand-dollar paint job I yelled, riding off in a huff.

Finally, on my way home, someone deliberately cut me off at an intersection, so as I passed her window, I yelled the nastiest choice of four-letter words to her.

Only to find a terrified little girl in the front seat, staring at me in utter fear as she started to cry. — I felt about two feet tall and apologized to the little girl as I shamefully rode off.

Weaving through traffic brings out the worst in me. I become this scared psycho bully. One day, I’ll get shot or a broken jaw if I don’t change my approach and stop being a dink.

This behaviour is not me. Do I need anger therapy? I thought…..

Who was wrong?

In all three instances, the drivers were technically and legally at fault. I can rationalize my defensive posture, but to what end?

When I got home, I felt ashamed and embarrassed by my behaviour. This is not me, I thought. Upon further journaling and reflection, I realized that my overreaction came from believing these drivers contradicted my core values of fairness and courtesy (plus, my ego was at play).

Who are they to cut me off and deny me a rightful place on the road? They disrespect me…. bla bla bla -more ego bullshit.

Although I may have felt justified in my aggression, the negative energy and risk the trip cost me were not worth it.

Once I got home, I was a bundle of nerves. I’m not riding my bike to the market again, I thought. — too many assholes on the road (and I was one of them)

An opportunity for personal growth

“Then it hit me — wait a sec, Daniel. What if you changed your attitude and focused on a path of peace and joy?”

What if I saw cycling as merely a team sport? Like in soccer, it’s part of the game when the other guy steals the ball from you and fakes an injury to get you a penalty.

There is no need to get aggravated if you anticipate such behaviour being part of the event and perhaps even engage in it yourself.

In conclusion.

Open your mind and heart to new and cheaper ways of getting around. Embrace the unpredictability. Cycling in an urban jungle will improve the quality of your life and challenge all your senses.

“If ever in Toronto during nice weather, join Ibrahim and me for a friendly cycle. We know lots of dedicated trails.”