My bike = Freedom of movement
 

Since I started cycling I've found that a bike represents the truest version of local freedom of movement. While a car is still quite useful for travelling longer distances and I'd never give up air travel, for local transportation nothing beats a bike around here.

I got slightly lost on the way home from dinner with friends tonight but I wasn't really all that concerned since I wasn't in a "bad" part of town and given the size of the city it wouldn't take me very long to figure out where I was. I ended up riding down a stretch of the Harborwalk after getting directions from the guard minding one of the corporate parking lots, seeing a bit of the city that I'd never really been to.

I was able to get from home to work to dinner and back home with minimal difficulties and having to backtrack on a bike is faster than on foot, less cumbersome than in a car, and less expensive than on public transit.

Does your bike represent freedom of movement to you and how so?

Certainly. I think about it every day, since my car crapped out, and I live in a bike friendly town, I'm lucky enough to ride everywhere. And everywhere I go I think about how convenient and quick it is to get around town. Traffic, no problem. Parking, I have a spot in front wherever I go. It goes on and on.

Very much so. For the first time in my life, I have complete control over where I go, when I go, and how fast I go. (I have used transit mostly, not usually having the means to afford a car; even when I have access to a car, though, I feel awkward in it. I hate having to think about parking!)

Agreed. Around here, the roads are pretty dead on the weekends until the evening. I imagine most people are just sitting in their house watching TV rather than going out. My bike has freed me from this penny pinching syndrome. I'm willing to go more places now because of the bicycle.

It freed me from being concerned with paying for gas. I don't even think about it anymore. Plus, when I have to use the car, it doesn't feel like a chore anymore. I don't feel like a slave to traffic, even if i am sitting in it. Now driving is fun, even if it is just going to work. It's like being 16 all over again.

Its particularly useful when I want to go to several places downtown. You can go directly to each place, park and walk right in. With a car you have to find a place to park that is within walking distance and then walk multiple times. The bike is much easier for lazy people like me.