A bead of sweat slips down the curve of my nose, settling on the top of my lip. I see the pedestrian ticker counting down the seconds to Don’t Walk 200 feet away with four seconds left and I think, “Easy,” as my hands slip to the drops. I rise out of the saddle and the taste of salt fuels me as my cranks turn faster. My eyes flicker to the car ahead – no turn signal, no fade to the right. They flicker to the far right corner of the intersection – no pedestrians, no one turning. They flicker to the approaching left hand turn lane – no cars. They flicker again to the car to my left. I line up with the driver so he can see me. Then they’re back to the countdown, at one second now, and I hammer through the intersection as the light changes to yellow, settle back into my seat and laugh at the line of cars stuck at the light.

This is my commute. Every morning, I’m engaged and excited and clipped into my bike. On the bike, roads aren’t point A to point B, they are the point. And instead of the quickest route, you look for the windiest, steepest and most unexpected. You look for roads that no one takes. No one would because these roads are more than just routes – they’re destinations in themselves. And you are present for the whole journey, pumping and pulling on your handlebars, pushing through the sprint to take your position in the lane as the shoulder disappears. Your eyes are on the road, on the lane, on the horizon, on the view, on the tire in front of you, on the compatriot beside you, on where you are and what you need to do only in that moment to stay in line, stay strong, stay up and stay in it. Even when all your focus is on speeding ahead, you can’t help but notice a road you never saw before peeling off quietly to the right and think, “Where does that road go? Where can it take me? Who built it, what’s on it and when can I come back for it?”

Cycling brought back my curiosity to explore. It introduced wonder where there was previously road rage, impatience at traffic-filled highways and the complacency of headphones and subways.