"A human on a bike moves more efficiently than anything else nature or humans have ever devised. Pound for pound, I use less energy biking a mile than any animal or machine covering the same distance. Even a salmon uses more than twice as much energy per pound to swim a mile!" - Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things by Alan Durning and John C. Ryan.

Interesting, isn't it? Let me tell you a little story, if you will.

I learned to ride a bike when I was young, in the playground of my elementary school. Most people do, although I knew a person at 18 who did not yet know how to ride a bike. But that's not the important part of my story.

I've never owned a car, and for that reason I don't have my license. I'm 21. Laugh, if you want. My parents divorced when I was also very young, but much after I learned to ride a bike. Neither of them thought it was an important enough issue to bestow upon me a car. My dads reasoning was that he never had a car bought for him so I shouldn't either. My mom almost got me a car, but then didn't. Which is fine, I could have gotten a job and paid for one myself, but I didn't.

Fast forward to my freshman orientation, at Chico State. My friend drove me to Chico, and during that same day I had orientation, moved into the off campus dorms, we drove to Target and fit a big, blue, bike into her small Honda Accord.

Now, my dorm wasn't terribly far away from campus. It was about a 10 minute bike ride on flat roads to get from my shared room and into my seat for my first class. My commute to school to start the day turned into something I never knew I would enjoy so much.

I loved it. I loved being able to rely on myself to get somewhere, I loved being outside, cutting through parking lots of mini marts, going over the train crossing, looking at all the life around me.

That bike has now been sold to my mother, who I don't think uses it much.

So now you know that I don't have my license, I've used a bike as my main source of transportation for awhile now, and it's safe to say I still do.

Which I do, I believe it's been about four years.

I was gifted an amazing bike, which I hold such a high value for, as one would with a car.

I don't know what it is, about cruising around on my blue bike, I'm so in-sync with it, I mean it gets from A to B but it's such an important part of my life, I wouldn't be the same person without it. So I guess it's pretty alright that my parents never got me a car.

One of the things that I am most jazzed on about not having a car and instead a bike, is that I know I don't contribute to air pollution, which is really important to me. I also get to exercise everyday. Have you seen the hills around here?

A short ride to the Arcata Marsh: Tarah Moleski

Another very enjoyable part about riding my bike in hilly Humboldt, is that I get to go very fast. That is, if I don't have to stop. Now I value my life, I do stop at all stop signs, if there are cars there of course. After about 6 or 7pm on any given day there isn't as much traffic as there is at 4 or 5pm, so that makes it easier to go very fast down the hills. One thing that bothers me though is that bikers get a bad rep for not stopping at stop signs and jutting out in front of cars, which I have seen happen, but I just want you to know that there are good bikers out there! And if you are one of the bad bikers reading this, just stop, you're making all the other good bikers look bad and plus it's very dangerous.

Except, another part of living in Humboldt is dealing with the very rainy weather, for that I have fenders, which protect me somewhat from flying rain drops ricocheting off my spinning front and back tires, but it doesn't stop all the rain. So if you see me around campus and I am all wet on a rainy day, you'll know why.

I don't know if I will every have a car, albeit my boyfriend does have a car that he uses to take us both to grocery stores, for right now I very much enjoy my little single speed.

I really think more people should bike as their main source of transportation, it really is great for the environment, and miles mean nothing! Anyone can bike far enough if they really want to. And maybe if they practice a bit. Just a bit.

"My favorite thing; after 5 classes, I'm gasping for breath as a bike up a steep hill on my way home; when I get to the top, the song I'm listening to drops and air is there to greet me as I sail down. It makes me smile." -A Facebook status I wrote, same time last year.

Thanks for reading and remember to always stay aware of your surroundings, regardless if you are a walker (a pedy I call them), biker, skater, or those angry people in cars. Op, a driver.