Ride My Bike Song

Enjoy this song written and performed by Jenn Guitart, development director of the California Bicycle Coalition / Cal Bike.

Sing along! Lyrics provided below, including a printable large-type version.

To support Jenn’s Dream Ride Challenge, a fundraiser for CalBike, go to https://www.mightycause.com/story/Aqib7f.

Learn more about the Dream Ride: https://www.cadreamride.org

Ride My Bike

© by Jenn Guitart. Used by permission.

Scroll down for large-type version.

When the day is cold and hazy, and I wake up feeling lazy
I wanna hop into my Ford, cause there’s a heater on the dashboard
But when instead I grab my U-lock, my helmet, and my saddlebag
I feel righteous, slightly badass, yes, but mostly I’m just really glad
 
I get to ride my bike! [4x]
 
I would use a car or truck to go to Mexico or Fargo
Or to haul a grand piano or some other heavy cargo
But I’d rather push the pedals on my beautiful machine
I’d rather do a thing that’s healthy, economical, and green!
So when I’m going off to work, or to the doctor or the dentist
Or to meet a friend for lunch, or to the Bowl to pick up lettuce
Or I’m taking kids to school or to a buddy’s house to play
Or really, any destination ten or twenty blocks away
 
I’m gonna ride my bike [4x] 
 
When I’m riding down the street, I say hello to everyone I meet
To do that from a car, you’d have to holler pretty far
But pedal for a mile, and you’ll see, you’ll start to smile
And when grumpy people catch your eye, the happiness will multiply!
And on the one day out of thirty when I’m feeling introverty
I can zone out meditatively or even think creatively
In fact, I wrote this song while riding to Jack London Square
The sun was up, the sky was blue, the wind was blowing through my hair
 
And I was on my bike! 
I got to ride my bike
I was on my bike
I got to ride my bike
 
As we roll to school down the street, the party can get silly,
With Heather, Anja, Zach, and Clara, Molly, Bruce, and Lillie,
And the rack at Malcolm X is like a party of its own 
With Rashida, Rashid, Kate, Eliza, Nicholas, Rowan, and Dawn
 
You know sometimes after school, at the end of the day
My little boys and I are tired, and home seems very far away
We grump and groan a little bit, but by the time that we get home
We learn again what bicyclists and scientists already know
 
That when you ride your bike
Your endorphins spike
And when you ride your bike
You’ll wanna ride your bike
 
Your bicycle won’t hurt you, it will help you stay alive 
Cause the risk-benefit ratio is one to twenty-five
And you’re a hundred times as likely to die from diabetes
And a thousand times as likely to go from heart disease
And you know, cyclists in their seventies are like folks in their twenties—
Their reflexes, bone density, their muscle mass, and memory,
Endurance, and their strength, and their metabolic health—
If you keep riding a bike, you’ll keep feeling like yourself
 
So get on your bike!
I swear these stats are really right
If you want, I can cite
them, if you’ll try riding your bike
 
I got my raingear at the ready, in case the drought ever ends
And I’m hoping with this song, I will convince all my friends
To try riding in the rain, or on a tandem with a friend,
It might seem far at first, but you’ll get there in the end
So when the day is cold and hazy, and I wake up feeling lazy
Gonna do the thing I like, and hop onto my bike
And I’m hoping that you’ll come along, and ride with me and sing this song
Imagine how the world could be, all bicycling in harmony!
 
So let’s get on our bikes!
Come on, let’s ride our bikes
Come on, let’s go ride our bikes
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bike!

 

For large-type version of “Ride My Bike” lyrics, click the following link. A downloadable PDF is also provided.