NAME: Beaux Jones
LOCATION: Baton Rouge, LA
OCCUPATION: Environmental Lawyer
Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
I live in Baton Rouge, LA and riding in the city can be tough due to the lack of biking culture and infrastructure. People often look at me crazy when I walk into work in the morning covered in sweat or when I “click clack” through the line at the coffee shop trying not to slip in my cleats. Many people don’t understand why I ride. But every once in a while I make eye contact with someone in their car and I see that glint in their eye where they rethink the way they are getting around.
Why do you love riding in the city?
I choose to live in the city because I enjoy people and I love to ride in the city because I love to connect with those people. In the country (where I grew up) every person essentially lived on islands that were connected by their trucks. In the city, on a bike, I feel like I understand why people move to the cities—to experience and be a part of their community. On a bike there are no barriers between me and the rest of the world. There are no windshields to “protect” me from the elements. No radio to drown out the sounds of the world.
Or just say whatever you want about riding in the city… Poetry anyone?
No matter how chaotic the world around me is, when I look down and I see the simplicity of the chain and the repetition of my pedaling it brings me peace. It is like the breath in meditation. If you focus on it, the simplicity will always trump the chaos.
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