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why I ride

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

waiting in Yokohama

Riding for me was about corners taken too quickly, long skid marks, and gullies too steep for wheels. Later it was for getting home before curfew. Then it was for commuting and carrying pressed clothes in my panniers. Now I ride to take my son to day care.

But as a street photographer in Tokyo, my bicycle is my key to the city's warren of lanes, pedestrian shopping streets, and neon corridors. Cycling lets me really see.

So riding is happening upon things hidden from drivers and passengers. But it is also stopping to talk to people. Riding is knowing where to find that special store. And it is getting caught in the warm rain of a foreign land. Riding is toned thighs and a better posture as forty rolls around.

Riding gives. Riding is living.

This is why I ride.