Too much time and Photoshop on my hands.
Well, I took the plunge last week. I am now 100% commuting by bike. I didn’t for the longest time, for a lot of reasons (some of them true, others not so much).
- I only live 4 miles away. It’s not like I’m using that much gas…
- Parking is free for me
- The bike ride home would be straight up hill
- I hate getting to work muddy
- Bad for my training
- Not enough time
- The traffic to/from work isn’t too bad usually
So I broke those arguments down and added some reasons why I SHOULD.
I only live 4 miles away. It’s not like I’m using that much gas…- Every time I start up my car I’m burning gas ($4/gallon….). Every time I have to idle I’m burning gas, and much of my time idling in on steep uphills, burning out my clutch too.
Parking is free for me- Actually my company pays for it. And they’re thinking of starting up an incentive program to bike/use pub transport.
The bike ride home would be straight up hill- Stop whining. It’s not bad with the miyata’s grannie. Plus, it’s uphill on the way home, who cares if I get sweaty then? I’m just going to workout anyway.
I hate getting to work muddy- I have fenders…I don’t get to work muddy. Besides, there’s a shower in my building if worst comes to worst.
Bad for my training- Not true. If I go slowly, it’s a great recovery. I need more slow miles.
Not enough time
The traffic to/from work isn’t too bad usually- Bad enough. Especially as I mentioned above, it’s bad on the steep up
- I arrive at work more alert
- I save the environment
- I save money (gas, car maintenance, not going to Starbucks every morning…)
- I am part of the solution, not part of the congestion problem
- It’s fun
- I feel good about myself and part of a great community of bike commuters
- I make people jealous/inspire them to want to do it to
- I burn a few more calories
- I get to spend more time outside
- I see more of my neighborhood and the city then I would otherwise
- I save more then the 8 miles–I end up biking around on Friday nights and I tend not to take extra car trips in the evening.
The sad thing is that even if I don’t drive at all Monday-Friday (a worthy goal), I will still end up putting 100+ miles on my car on the weekends. Why? Driving to Portland Velo rides, driving to races, and the worst: driving to the mountains to go mountain biking and camping. That shit is far away. I try to carpool as much as humanly possible, and I certainly will not drive very far if I am alone, but we’re talking at least an hour’s drive away. Kinda ironic, that 90% of the driving I do is to get to places to bike. Sigh.
Good for you…4 miles is definitely in the commute by bike range. I’d also recommend riding to the start of your team ride. I did that all the time except for the rides I knew would be epic and then even sometimes I did that an just ended struggling to get home after putting over 120 miles. Depending on where you live it’s not that bad getting out the stadium area…gas is crazy high so anything to save money for that extra food and race registrations is good.
I have a short commute too, about 6 miles. The main reason I like riding to work is that it is free riding time. Those 12 miles aren’t much, but with work and family responsibilities, sometimes that is all I can do on a weekday. Being on the bike , even for a short distance, certainly beats sitting in a car.
Keep up the commuting. Great post.
Good for you for commuting!! I’ve been riding the 7.5 miles each way all year, and I find I really look forward to it – it’s the best part of my days!
As for the driving on weekends – how about changing that to touring on weekends? We are a family about to take off to ride our bikes from Alaska to Argentina – touring is a wonderful way to get out and about!
You can read about our journey at http://www.familyonbikes.org
Good For you and finding all the right reasons to commute by bike. Today I rode over to the store just so I could watch the numbers on my commuting bike go to 1000. My commute is 22 miles each way so I’m saving a little bit on the gas.
I’m running into the same mind fart as far as weekend rides go. It just seems silly to me to put the bike on the car, sit in traffic, pay a fee and go riding. Last year I went camping for the first time on my 520. That will be the way I go this year for sure.
Pedal On !
>>My commute is 22 miles each way so I’m saving a little bit on the gas.
Wow, that’s quite a commute! You’re saving a LOT of money, that’s for sure. Way to go.
>>Those 12 miles aren’t much, but with work and family responsibilities, sometimes that is all I can do on a weekday. Being on the bike , even for a short distance, certainly beats sitting in a car.
No kidding…I hate sitting in my car, I get so agitated in traffic. I always feel more relaxed after being on my bike. Well, except maybe when it’s pouring out, but it still beats the car
As far as the weekends go…I try to carpool to races, and we’ve been staying closer to town for mountain biking, and I plan on biking to my team’s rides in the future, rather then driving to them (which will make for a very long day in the saddle). But miles are good for you, right ?
Why does the image caption include Photoshop? That’s a real sign on a building in downtown Portland, OR.
That IS a real sign–a sign that say “Go by Streetcar”
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/171/462944552_af1aba0387.jpg?v=0
i can’t afford a bike.
http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/
Huzzar….Though I only work part time, with summers off. I will be riding my 7.5 miles to work starting the coming school year (late August). However, me and my riding buddies, all over 65, ride anywhere between 20 and 50 miles three days a week. Life is wonderful, and I wish more people lived with the joy of riding.
I only live about a mile from work. It actually takes about a minute less to get there by bike then by car.
That’s really interesting! Thanks for sharing this! I’m a student and I always use my bike.