Bicycling from Waltham to Cambridge is as much a physical activity as it is a spiritual journey for Martha Creedon.
The 55-year-old mother of two will join thousands of bicyclists across the state next week as part of Bay State Bike Week. The event coincides with National Bike Month in May. The purpose is to encourage people to ride bicycles to and from work Monday, May 12 through Sunday, May 18 to cut down on car pollution.
Creedon said she's hoping to encourage a couple of co-workers who also live in Waltham to join her next week on her commute to Harvard University Library Office for Information Systems in Cambridge. The university is sponsoring a breakfast on Wednesday, May 14 and also giving out T-shirts to the first 50 Harvard affiliates who register for the bike week.
But for Creedon cycling is more than a way to save the environment. She said she started bicycling to cope with her late mother's illness.
In January 2007, Creedon's mother Regina Keightley was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Born and raised in Nantucket, Keightley moved back to the island for her mother's final days.
"Towards the last month and a half of her life I was down there all the time," Creedon said. "At that time I discovered that it was really rejuvenating for me to hop on a bicycle. I'd come back really refreshed and ready to keep going ... taking care of someone that's dying is probably one of the most profound moments of your life, but you do need to rejuvenate."
Cycling through paths on the island, Creedon found a way to cope with the situation, she said.
"It was surreal experience to be in that place ... I would be on the bike paths working it all through in my mind as I rode," she said. "I felt like I was flying."
Keightley died July 4, 2007.
"I came back to Waltham. I really missed that daily bike ride and started thinking about how important that became to me," she said. "It was really rejuvenating and allowed me to focus on myself."
Creeden bikes about 10 miles a day, five days a week to Cambridge from her home near Brandeis University.
"Due to the foresight of Watertown and Waltham, they have all these bike paths so I can get there in 45 minutes," she said. "For me it's not really a way of saving time or not saving time. It's a fabulous way to start or end the day."
As part of her journey, she rides through Mount Feake Cemetery.
"I feel this connection," she said. "I really do think about riding through there and about all the other people I see there and about all the peoples' lives that are represented there. It's a very reflective thing for me."
Since she began cycling to work, Creedon said she feels she's done her part to help the environment as well.
"I very strongly believe in staying out of cars as much as possible and I really have thought that way for a number of years, but I think it was the last couple years that I've put it into practice," she said. "My husband and I were able to get rid of one of our cars between bicycling and public transportation."
Creedon said anyone who wishes to join her on a bike-to-work-convoy next week can contact her at mlcreedon@yahoo.com.
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or at jgilbrid@cnc.com
