For some people riding a bike is about health and fitness, for others it makes economical sense, still others ride because it saves time — but in the end it usually comes back to enjoying it more than other forms of exercise or transit.
One of the little things that makes riding a bike a joy for me is the smells on the street. You experience so much more when you are riding. In a car you are insulated from the world and you miss experiences like smells.
Of course it isn’t always pleasant. The cat litter smell that emanates from one of the condos along Mountain Avenue in the summer or the smell of cars and trucks can be unfortunate, but often the good smells outweigh the bad.
I’ve been reminded about how pleasant street smells can be lately. Orange trees all across the city are blooming. You wouldn’t notice it trapped inside a car.
I also really like riding home at the end of a long day at work and being able to smell what people are cooking for dinner or the fires from people’s chimneys.
What about you? Do you enjoy the smells on the streets? Is there something else that brings joy to you while biking?
If you ride through the neighborhood just south of the community center in the evening when the weather is velvet to your skin, you’ll be carried along by the smell of home made refried beans and fresh tortillas being grilled. Wonderful.
I much prefer the smell of the open road to the smells I encounter on the bus.
Nothing like passing a food truck making Sonoran tacos. Oh wait, I don’t pass it … I stop and refuel!
The smell of donuts passing a donut shop is one I enjoy. And, riding through many neigborhoods on a Sunday morning, one often smells bacon!
I just love the sense of freedom. It’s as close to flying as I’m ever going to get (parasailing not for me)
For me nothing beats the smell of the creosote in mesquite after a monsoonal downpour.
That dirt lot on the west side of South Park just north of I-10 smells like poo.
The smell of the pine trees when you reach Bear Canyon is always amazing after grinding up the first part of Lemmon.
I agree. I’d pay big bucks for a cologne that smells like that.