Category Archives: Biking

Car costs

Are you one of the millions of Americans who jumps in your car alone every day?  Click here to calculate the cost of your commute.  I’ve heard of some people where the cost was as over $14,000 a year!  That’s a lot of money.

And the calculator does not take into account other “costs” of driving, including environmental and health impacts.

Is it worth it?  Are there other ways you can get where you’re going?  What about carpooling, to cut down the number of days you drive your car?  What about making some trips by bicycle?

What would you do with the money you save?  At $14,000/year, you could buy a very nice bicycle and still have lots of money left over 🙂

Broken system

Saturday dawned freezing (as in 0° F, minus some degrees for windchill), with plenty of snow and slick spots still on our smaller streets (i.e., not so great for biking).  Question of the morning: How will we get to the farmer’s market?

With the bike option off of the table, that left a bus/walk combination . . . or driving.  I really hated the idea of driving the relatively short distance (2 1/4 miles) to the farmer’s market.  In fact, I had a bit of an outburst:

“Just drive there?  That’s the typical response.  We insist on having transportation exactly when we want it, with as little effort or inconvenience as possible.  [Walking and public transit] take too long, are inconvenient, don’t go exactly where we want to travel, and require some effort.  Plenty of excuses and lots of laziness!  So we just end up getting in our car and driving, just like everybody else, and nothing changes!”

Of course, my husband was on the receiving end of my little tirade, for suggesting that it might make more sense, in this case, to go ahead and drive.

My frustration was not really with him, but with the systems and structures that have made, and continue to make, driving the easy choice in almost all communities in the U.S.  That, combined with the fact that, unlike us (want to place bets on how few households have discussions about how they’re getting somewhere?  0.00001%?), so many people are completely unaware that there ARE alternatives to driving everywhere, frustrates me to no end (thank you, Captain Obvious).

In the end, we drove to the farmer’s market, and made the trip worthwhile by combining it with a trip to the local hardware store.  Later in the day, I walked/bussed to the library and grocery store, very much enjoying the car-free trip.

Business and pleasure

Last night, as I passed my lonely and forlorn bike in the basement, I ran my hand along it, and said, “Mama still loves you.”  In truth, we had not been apart for all that long, because I rode it on Sunday (in the snow, no less).   I’m just still not happy about trading my bike commute for a car commute.

This morning (the start of a four day weekend — great happiness), I finally convinced myself to bundle up and leave the house.  I planned to bike to the grocery store and then straight back home, but it was warmer than I expected, and I was on a roll.  I rode right past the grocery store and into the park for a bit of extra bike action.

This detour led me to stop by Local Harvest (a small neighborhood grocery store), where I found a treasure — a big, beautiful head of locally-grown red cabbage.  My eyes were almost bigger than my panniers, but I managed to stuff everything into them and make it home on my fully-laden bike.

Full moon bike ride

Instead of biking straight home the past two Tuesday nights, we took some fun detours.  Last week we went to Sweet Art for some cupcake deliciousness.

The moon has been rising very early lately (before 4pm).  I biked to last night’s destination (a pizza place) under a gorgeous full moon in the dusky dark blue sky.  Although there are plenty of times that I wish I had it, last night being one, I generally don’t carry the camera because it is just one more thing to lug around.  I enjoyed the moon very much in the moment.

On the way home, we biked through Tower Grove Park.  It’s a bit risky in the dark because it’s hard to see all of the speed bumps.  However, the dark has advantages: two raccoons scurried across our path, and a bit later, something large swooped right in front of us!  We think it was an owl.

The lovely, although chilly, evening, complete with full moon and owl, provided a great backdrop for the ride.  As I pedaled up our alley, it seemed an appropriate ride to cap my 4 years and 5 months of bike commuting.  Le sigh . . . .