This is a scene from the city that changed my life. This is a triple-decker parking lot for bicycles in front of Centraal Station in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. You can get anywhere by bicycle in Amsterdam, and when you wake up in the morning, what you hear are birds singing, not cars.

When I got back to Sacramento, I decided I would use my bicycle just as much. The weather in Sacramento is paradise compared to the Netherlands. Bicycle riding is instant joy to me, it costs nothing, and there's something about the speed and endorphines combined that lead to a special kind of happiness that non-riders just would not understand.

Additionally, my bicycle is helping my independence movement. What can be a better protest against the war than to stop buying products from the people that brought this war to the world?

I ride only a mile to work, but after a few years of doing this since the war began, I lost 15 pounds. There are so many benefits to bicycle riding that it's almost too many to list. I'll try.

Lose weight
Keep money out of the pockets of oil-war-pigs
Fight inflation
Reduce carbon dioxide emissions
Quiet down your neighborhood
No parking hassles
Bliss