If you travel on any part of the Smith Level Road/Greensboro Street/Estes Drive Extension for your morning commute, you have seen me.

For the last five years I have been commuting eight miles to work by bicycle at least three days a week, year round. A great week is when I can do four days. I have pulled off an entire week of commuting by bike once so far this season.

Car Free Day is a snap! I am striving for the car-free year.

I try to be a courteous bicyclist: I stay on or to the right of the white stripe, that slender strip of supposed safety. I have bright bicycle bling so I know you can see me. I (usually) obey traffic laws. I (usually) use hand signals, and my tough 12-year-old Trek hybrid can handle it if I have to bail off road.

Though I have been known to curse, scream, gesture rudely and even fall over on occasion, the vast majority of the time I am smiling, smooth and serene, delighted to be part of the flow. I recognize many of my fellow morning commuters as we cruise. We acknowledge each other with nods and make space. Some return my smiles; most folks look bemused or confused. I love a friendly wave or toot of greeting (after you have carefully passed me, please), acknowledgement that we are sharing this road, politely, together.

I am smiling because I love my morning ride. It is good for my health and reflexes. I have killer leg muscles. It is good for the environment that I adore. I am reducing the national dependency on foreign oil, which I despise. It slows the pace so my usually racing mind can appreciate, see and smell the scenery. I bird watch. I meditate and breathe deeply. I even occasionally coast. By the time I get to work I feel like I can do anything, empowered, energized, socialized. Sweaty.

Some days when I take the emotional temperature of my fellow commuters there is a distinct hostility in the air. People are rushing, not paying attention, caring less. I am nervous on those days. I could get creamed by any one of these depersonalized vehicles that fly past me, too fast, too close, though when they swerve into the other lane it is just as bad.

“Can we get a wide outside lane on Smith Level Road PLEASE?” I mouth my prayers to the DOT and Carrboro Planning Department, among other powers greater than myself. I grit my teeth, and pull my lips back in a grimace and push my way stubbornly towards work. It looks like a smile, doesn’t it? Eventually, even on those days, it turns into a real one.

I’ll be smiling if you pledge to go car free on Friday.

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Go car free and win

Register now for drawing on Friday

On Friday residents of Carrboro and Chapel Hill will for the third year join others around the world in leaving their cars at home.

The goal of World Car Free Day is to demonstrate that it is possible, fun and healthy to get around without using cars.

"As our fare-free local transit system improves and the network of bikeways and sidewalks grows, getting around without driving is becoming easier," said local coordinator Sarah Bruce. "Rising gas prices and the dangers of climate change have also increased incentives to find alternatives to driving."

Orange County residents who formally pledge to go car free or at least "car lite" (reduced car use) will be entered into a drawing for prizes that include Amtrak tickets to Washington, D.C., and New York City, a new bicycle, gift certificates for Squid's, Spanky's or 411 West, and more. Anyone can pledge on-line at www.gocarfree.com.

Prizes will be drawn at the Car Free Day celebration on the Weaver Street Market lawn from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday. There you'll also find information about public transportation, local biking and walking opportunities, and how to create communities that are less dependent on cars. The Village Project will show its designs and models for transit-oriented, walkable communities, and Chapel Hill Transit will demonstrate how to load bikes and wheelchairs onto buses at the Fitch Lumber parking lot (309 N. Greensboro St.).

Additional activities will take place at the Carrboro Music Festival on Sunday afternoon. The ReCYCLEry will show its new Blue Urban Bikes and will have a free bike tune-up clinic in the parking lot of The Clean Machine (104 W. Main St.) from 2 to 4 p.m. Volunteers will also be on-hand at the downtown shuttle drop-off (Town Hall) to help Festival goers figure out how they can replace car trips and increase walking, biking, carpooling, telecommuting and bus use.

Car Free Day 2006 is presented by Students United for a Responsible Global Environment (SURGE), the ReCYCLEry, and The Village Project, a local nonprofit that promotes walkable communities. Additional event sponsors include the Community Action Network, Chapel Hill Herald, Chapel Hill News, Open Eye Cafe, Weaver Street Market and Chapel Hill Restaurant Group.