KC Spokes People: Two woman bicycle commuters tell their tales

BikeWalkKC has launched KC Spokes People, a new blog by two woman bicycle commuters:

Tika Wrisner has been car-free for seven years. Tika lives in the midtown area and commutes down to the Plaza. Our other blogger, Stephanie Isner, recently added cycling to her regular bus commute from the Martini Corner neighborhood to the downtown location of the Kansas City Library.

We hope Tika’s and Stephanie’s posts will educate and hopefully inspire other Kansas City residents to incorporate bicycling into their everyday lives and commute. If you would like to be a future blogger, contact info@bikewalkkc.org.

They have made many interesting posts since the blog launched last month.  Just one sample posted by Stephanie:

Stephanie and her new bike (credit: KC Spokes People)

I’ve been smiling around-the-clock since BikeWalkKC has contacted me and asked me to share with you what it is like to commute by bicycle. There’s plenty to be said and for this reason I can hardly contain my enthusiasm. Over the next 3 months, I want to encourage you to get out there, fight the good fight, sweat it out, and change your life. “A bicycle can change my life!?” Yes. Yes it can. But I don’t blame you for not believing me. I wouldn’t've believed me either 6 years ago.

Buying a bike was one of the most pivotal moments of my life. It was the beginning of a seriously beautiful relationship. I fell in love, madly in love.
And so I divorced my car. We’re over.

I’ve been a car free cyclist for 6 years and over 5,000 miles. I do just about everything on my bicycle except brush my teeth and race. I’m not a competitive cyclist, but rather a “zen cyclist”. I do it for the love of doing it. There are not many things in this world that make me happier than riding my bike. But people, let me tell you something—this is NOT how I felt at first. At first my legs burned a LOT. It wore me out, broke me down, and I made plenty of “rookie” mistakes along the way. It was a struggle: me against the hill, me against the wind, me against traffic, me against myself. And true, I still face the adversity of weather and traffic, but I assure you my friends, it gets easier.

Read more of Stephanie's post here.