I like bikes! I love having an office packed with them. They imply the world I want to live in–a sunny day, shorts and t-shirts. Efficient. Inexpensive. Green. They scream “civitas”–people out in the city, going about their business, slowly enjoying the urban environment from the ground up.

I ride to most of my meetings in Philadelphia on the office war horse of a bicycle–my partner’s daughter’s old green mountain bike. Fat tires, crummy gears, perfect for hopping sidewalks. I can get anywhere in Center City in 10 minutes. 15 minutes to UPenn.

As long as I don’t lose the bike. Sometimes I am a little distracted. I went out for a quick lunch with a friend, locked up the bike and walked back to the office without it… it wasn’t until I needed a ride later in the week that I realized that l had left it tied up somewhere. It had been so long that I couldn’t remember where it was. About two months later I came across it… my old friend waiting for our next ride.