Editor:
Somehow I've become "that guy"... the one showing up at the office, supermarket or community meeting with sweat on the brow and a mud-spackled safety vest. I am the suburban cyclist - one of several who commute daily along Delta's roads.
I wasn't always that guy. Like many, I began adulthood with a car - call it "Freedom 18" - quickly leveraging the road network to shuttle myself around.
Back then I enjoyed the mobility of the modern chariot, freeing me from making difficult choices about how to live, work and play.
It is no surprise the automobile template has reigned supreme. A poster-child for 20th century ideals, the car has become both a "convenience store" on wheels and a commuter's best friend.
Metro Vancouver's most recent Journey to Work data affirms this, highlighting Deltans' overwhelming preference for the automobile (78 per cent) over transit (nine per cent) and cycling (one per cent).
Fast-forward 20 years, I find myself in the minority - car-less in Tsawwassen - a hinterland heretic, paddling against the current.
When I relocated here two years ago, I treated it as a social experiment. "How long can I remain auto-independent?" I mused, with embedded skepticism.
After two decades of car-free urban living - from Beantown to Buenos Aires - the formative training was there. So was the defiance. But the truth is, having a car in those locations would have been more burden than bliss. The inconvenience factor alone played a big part in keeping my carbon footprint small.
Living in South Delta would be a different beast. Or so I thought.
From the get-go, the context instructed me to get hitched. The sprawling community was heavy on bedrooms; light on jobs, entertainment or industry.
Transit supported a wide coverage area, but feebly. Point Roberts gas stations beckoned nearby.
Reaching into my toolbox, I responded in the way I knew how. I situated myself close to my base necessities - the grocery store, the bank and the bus. I bought a bicycle at a garage sale and parked it in my vacant stall. I pedaled to work, and everywhere in between, swapping composure for a clumsier version of control.
In other words, I figured it out.
To be sure, this is not a pronouncement about what others ought to do. Different lifestyles, and life challenges, require different solutions. Rather, it is a testimonial about an alternative to the status quo - one of many that could be piloted by the curious or concerned.
The presumption that every adult needs a car manifests itself into many suburban anxieties facing Delta - most acutely, traffic.
When lamenting over tunnel congestion or development impacts, remember there's a 78 per cent chance you are part of the problem.
Of course it's tempting to wish for others to take the initiative, or to raise the drawbridge altogether, but sometimes figuring things out requires individual change and responsibility.
Patrick Thompson
