I write all kinds of articles, about all kinds of things, here at the Gazette. Many of these stories are interesting, but seemingly have little bearing on my life. Like the story I recently wrote about a local ad campaign that aims to raise awareness about the dangers of crystal meth. Not being a crystal meth addict myself, the ad campaign doesn’t really speak to me. Even so, I don’t mind writing and learning about things that don’t affect me, because I like information. And every once in a while I write an article that’s actually of use to me.

This happened last week, when I wrote an article looking at how more people are commuting to work and running errands on bikes. It’s been a long time since I owned a bike, and I’d been thinking that once things settled down — once I moved into my new apartment, and got my parents’ surprise 60th birthday party out of the way and took my July vacation — I would buy one. I had some vague notion that it would be fun to bike again. I’ve never been what you would call a biker, but there was a time when riding a bike was something I enjoyed and did fairly regularly.

I used to bike to school. I used to bike when helping my friend Jon with his paper route. I used to bike to my friends’ houses. We all owned bikes, and we would often meet up and bike around town together, shouting warnings and moving to the shoulder at the first sign of traffic. None of us wore helmets, which now strikes me as somewhat dangerous, though I did have a rack on my bike that I used to cart around books and groceries and other items. When we moved when I was 14, I got this crazy notion that I wanted to bike the 70 miles between my new town, West Lebanon, and my old town, Hillsboro. My parents were cooperative, mapping out a route that took me and the friends who joined me over winding back roads and through small towns. It was a day-long journey, completed during the summer after my freshman year of high school.

I really did like biking, but I pretty much stopped when I went away to college, and it was only recently that I began thinking I should start again. I had no idea where to begin or what to do. Things have changed since I was riding through town on my blue, 10-speed Schwinn, which I won in a raffle when I was 7. Bikes are much more sophisticated, and I don’t want to sink a lot of money into something that isn’t suitable. Then there’s the fact that I live in Albany. Urban biking is something with which I have no experience, and the idea of biking with traffic — “We are traffic,” the bikers who participate in critical mass, the monthly rides/demonstrations that promote the bicycle as a viable means of transportation, like to say — sort of scares me. The last time I rode a bicycle, I thought it was perfectly fine to hop on sidewalks and weave through pedestrians, but I’ve since learned that this is completely illegal. A few years ago I read a book called “The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power,” in which author Travis Culley recounts his experiences working as a bike messenger in Chicago in the 1990s. The book is a bit uneven, writing-wise, but it’s still a pretty interesting window into an intense, sometimes dangerous subculture, as well as an argument in favor of creating a more bike-friendly society. I appreciated the argument, but the reality — getting hit by cars, dealing with aggressive drivers — only confirmed my fear of urban biking.

But it’s probably time to overcome this fear, what with gas at $4 a -gallon. I’d like to have a bike I could use for riding errands and getting across town, and maybe take on longer rides for fun. Writing the article taught me a number of interesting things. For instance, there’s a couple in Albany that teach Savvy Cyclist courses on how to bike in traffic, what the laws are, what hand signals to use. Should I buy a bike, this is exactly the sort of course I need to take. I also learned that there are bikes designed for commuters, like the Trek Comfort bike. I was thinking I wanted a road bike, but now I’m reconsidering. Maybe I want something slightly more utilitarian and comfortable. I interviewed a Saratoga Springs resident who combines a bus ride with a bike commute to get to his job at Rotterdam Industrial Park. This is much easier to do than it was just two years ago, because all CDTA buses are now outfitted with bike racks. I have a habit of putting the cart before the horse, and I found myself on the CDTA website, looking at bus routes and wondering whether it would be possible to do something similar to get from Albany to Schenectady. Then I remembered that I don’t even have a bicycle.

Anyway, my next little project is looking at bikes and figuring out what I want. Once I have the bicycle, I’ll go from there. Maybe I’ll take the Savvy Cyclist Course. Maybe I’ll get a rack so I can bike out to the food co-op and pick stuff up. Who knows? I’ll keep you updated on how it works out.