Commuting - Sudden revelation

It hit me this morning (not a car.) It's funny how you can be minding your own business, going through all the motions of your daily routine, and a revelation suddenly appears. There it is, right in front of your nose, like a purple elephant (or helmet.) It just stands out in front of everything else and can't be ignored.

Not that this particular thought was new to me, or that it wasn't already a part of the fabric of my knowledge and experience. It just sort of interrupted my programming like the Emergency Broadcast System and wouldn't allow
any other transmissions. As I said, it may not seem revolutionary, because it is not unknown or rare. So don't be disappointed by it's humble appearance. Like Popeye the Sailor Man said, "I am what I am and that's all that I am." So here it is:

One very compelling reason I love my bike is that I am not bound by the rules everyone else is bound by. I am free. People who are more dependent upon their cars are prisoners of a cruel system that seeks only to reach
as deeply into their wallets and purses as possible, as often as possible, forever and ever, if possible. But GM can't touch me. Exxon can go fly. Auto mechanics don't even know my name. I don't need any of them (as much.) The whole sorry system of "one person, one car" is not only an evil deception, but a waste of time and money. You see, what I don't spend on a second car I don't have to earn. I am free.

Peace.

Oh, Great Guru, I bask in the radiance of your revelation. I am thinking seriously about getting rid of my second car (an aged rattletrap anyway) and not replacing it. I feel that sense of freedom also. I experienced something similar when I used to run a lot. It dawned on me one day that if I broke down in the middle of nowhere, I could run to the next exit, even if it was 20-25 miles. It was quite a little confidence booster. Freedom is a wonderful thing.

BTW, as I read this post, your message count stood at 600. Congratulations, Dude.
Your friend,
Rainman

Freedom...

I have no car
I have no cable
I have no home pc

When I leave work, there is nothing between me and a great night on the bike.

Those SUV drivers want the image of rugged self reliance. We have the reality.

Steelebike wrote:

"I have no car
I have no cable
I have no home pc"


Hey, I love it! No SUV, no car payments, no cable TV (garbage dump) in my living room, definitely no home pc for me...I get enough of it a work! :dance:

If you're not oozin' it...You're losin' it!

Mark

Originally posted by Pete Clark
It's funny how you can be minding your own business, going through all the motions of your daily routine, and a revelation suddenly appears.

You see, what I don't spend on a second car I don't have to earn. I am free.

Peace.

All this time I've been wondering where you've been and youre having Zen moments.

It's funny, I had this conversation with a friend yesterday. What we are all shackled by is our PERCEPTION. Your heart is free, always. What is it that holds us back?

I am one of those people that is bothered by NOTHING. I have a good job, good guy, good kid. If a day is stressfull, I leave it at home.

People want to know how I do it. It's simple and kind of trite.

I count my blessings every day.

Not in the "Holy", "Godly" way, but in the look at my life and find the good way. Thankfully I don't have to slide into a wheelchair every morning, I can speak and hear and see. I can smell the spring flowers, the rain storm approaching, the salt air at the shore. I can climb on the bike and ride. I can hold the people I love in my arms. I can get all sappy and weepy writing this diatribe.

These are the things that make me free. ;)

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er
Geez... I wish I could get away with not having a computer at home. It drives me crazy sometimes, all I ever do is work with one and it's starting to cause my brain to melt.

I know the feeling. I'm getting a little sick of that problem myself.

Chris

Pete, you are so right. I just got rid of my car, watched the man drive off in it and felt liberated. No more registration, inspections, insurance, maintanence, repairs, gas bills, etc...

Quote from the Fight Club:

The things you own end up owning you.

Hey Badger, do you think you could give me some info on Flagstaff. I'm thinking of spending some time there this summer. My plan is to head down to Mexico for a much needed time-out and i'd like to stop off in Arizona to have some fun Mountain-biking. Any local insights you could give me would be great. For instance, what's my chances of finding affordable lodging. how are the trails? Will i have problems getting around town on my bike? Thanks

Originally posted by thbirks
I just got rid of my car, watched the man drive off in it and felt liberated. No more registration, inspections, insurance, maintanence, repairs, gas bills, etc...


thbirks hails from Cartopia, USA.

I love it! Car-less in Cartopia! :D

OK, Techogirl may be "Sweetheart" of the Commuting Forum this year, but I hereby nominate Cheryl for next year. (I bet she wears cycling shorts, jersey and shoes for both the evening gown AND bathing suit competition. :) ) Great philosphy, Cheryl; it is how I try to be.

The Shakers had a hymn " 'Tis a gift to be simple". By taking a simple approach, even small things, and especially natural things, are fascinating. And I am easily entertained. The world is a fascinating and entertaining place if you open your eyes and other senses.

I was thinking just a couple of days ago about dropping cable (just have basic, no HBO or anything). Then, like Ba-Dg-Er, I remembered the Thursday evening races. Rats! Gotta have it. Flech-Wallone tonight. Giro Saturday.
Rainman

Originally posted by RainmanP
OK, Techogirl may be "Sweetheart" of the Commuting Forum this year, but I hereby nominate Cheryl for next year. (I bet she wears cycling shorts, jersey and shoes for both the evening gown AND bathing suit competition. :) ) Great philosphy, Cheryl; it is how I try to be.


I was thinking just a couple of days ago about dropping cable (just have basic, no HBO or anything). Then, like Ba-Dg-Er, I remembered the Thursday evening races. Rats! Gotta have it. Flech-Wallone tonight. Giro Saturday.
Rainman

You are a sweetie!!
I wear all of the "gear" all of the time!!!!

NO CABLE???? NO TOUR???? NO LANCE??? What would I do????

Life is too short to worry about "stuff".

I confess. I own a car. A really nice car.

Errr, but I don't actually drive it...

See, where I grew up, there was no good reason to have a car. We had the Metró, we had our bikes, we had our feet. At 19 I had a Lambretta 150, which would have been laughable had I grown up in America, but in France, that was considered baba-cool! I was 22 before I learned to drive, and even then, I did so badly and very infrequently.

About twenty years ago, I moved my parents to a newly renovated appartement in Passy, on Paris' really nice west side. Papa had a car at the time, so we rented a space in the underground garage for him to park it.

At the back of that garage, parked all by itself, was an Italian exotic... a Lamborghini Miura SV, in bright orange. (This is a kind of holy grail for lovers of all things italian... not as well known as Ferrari, but just as unobtainable... perhaps more so.) One day, I spied an "à vendre..." card on its windscreen... "for sale."

If you've not seen one of these: http://www.lambo.dk/The%20models/modelf.htm

I called. The owner wanted the equivalent of $16 000US, and would allow me to take over the lease on the parking as well.

At the time, I was making a good salary as an electrical engineer, and I had no family to support, or any other real debts. My brother was just out of school, and was just as in lust with the Lambo as was I... so we split the purchase price and bought it.

That was in 1980. Since then, together, we have managed to put about 300 miles on the car, and I doubt that the engine has been started in the past five years.
It has not been registered, nor inspected, since about 1994. Driving it on Parisienne streets was too scary, and taking a handcrafted italian exotic on a longer road trip would have been madness. For years, it was our "date car." As in... want to go see my car? No, I never drove it on a date, nor did my brother. There was something about that car that appealed to the girls... perhaps the image it presented of me as a "rich" guy.
The sound of that V12 howl as it revved in the underground garage was magical! The car was, however, dissapointingly short of make-out space inside.

When the exotic car market peaked in the late 1980s, I thought about selling it... It would have brought perhaps $70 000US or more... but I also was thinking of moving to Nice, and was entertaining fantasies of riding the Mediterranean coast roads in it, maybe taking it to Monte Carlo. (I dream BIG.) Whatever the reason, I've kept it... I don't think my brother would sell his share.

This has been a truly wonderful car... It never breaks, parking is easy, and it uses hardly any gasoline!

I show pictures of the Miura, and explain to people that this is my reward for NOT NEEDING a car... I can own a perfectly impractical (useless?) car, and never have to suffer for it.

Originally posted by RainmanP
OK, Techogirl may be "Sweetheart" of the Commuting Forum this year, but I hereby nominate Cheryl for next year. (I bet she wears cycling shorts, jersey and shoes for both the evening gown AND bathing suit competition. :) ) Rainman

Ugh, Rainman, I didn't think I was a "Sweetheart" of anything! I'd like to step down from that title and just be simply be "Least Likely to Be Sane" title. :)

Cheryl's very cool--I consider her as a SCC (Super Cyclist Chick)--AND she won't say during the personality competition, that the most important thing for her is "To Bring World Peace" It's ridin!!!! :thumbup:

Ah, but I still have pcs at home...but ya know, that's one of the reasons why they call me "technogirl". :)

Life can still be simple with technological devices. I think the complication occurs when you become dependent too much on something, that it becomes a problem. I guess that goes without saying with anything in life.

Originally posted by technogirl

Life can still be simple with technological devices. I think the complication occurs when you become dependent too much on something, that it becomes a problem. I guess that goes without saying with anything in life.

I generally feel more liberated than trapped, by my PC and other tech tools. My Palm IIIx is a great convenience. The cell phone, which I seldom use, has been an enormous help in some sudden situations. And I would hate to be without the Internet, which is my sole source for news. (Not to mention this forum.)

Everything is complicated and technological--even bicycles. But most of those things can be big helps, not hindrances.

Originally posted by RainmanP

I was thinking just a couple of days ago about dropping cable (just have basic, no HBO or anything). Then, like Ba-Dg-Er, I remembered the Thursday evening races. Rats! Gotta have it. Flech-Wallone tonight. Giro Saturday.
Rainman

You should consider yourself somewhat fortunate. Here in Australia it isn't even a choice. No Giro, no Flech-Wallone, in fact, all we actually get here is 1/2 hour daily highlights of the TdF. Oh yeah, and we also got 1 hour highlights from Paris-Roubaix, delayed by two weeks (an hour more than last year at least).

Chris

Originally posted by Cambronne
I confess. I own a car. A really nice car.

...an Italian exotic... a Lamborghini Miura SV, in bright orange.

...If you've not seen one of these: http://www.lambo.dk/The%20models/modelf.htm
Serge, you make me sick...

I will race you in my 1990 Toyota Corolla (it's still kickin').

Better yet, I will race you on my $600 Trek roadbike.

Bring that dusty heap to Gawgia, make all them SUV's eat s**t.

Pete, if it makes you feel any better, my Miura is parked just about 5 000 miles from where I now sit, and for all I know, Paris' lovable pre-teen street gangs might have already stolen, then overturned the car, and set it alight.

Paris is a life-size pinball machine, and TILT means the same in french.

In an effort to bring the exotic into our daily lives, behold the Lamborghini bicycle... a dual-suspension VTT in Miura Orange!

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/5849/

Originally posted by technogirl



Cheryl's very cool--I consider her as a SCC (Super Cyclist Chick)--AND she won't say during the personality competition, that the most important thing for her is "To Bring World Peace"


Whatcha got against world peace?? :D

Freedom is a state of mind.......WOW...that's my new mantra!!! I am sooooooo cool. (oops, sorry Hunter)

Originally posted by Cambronne
At the back of that garage, parked all by itself, was an Italian exotic... a Lamborghini Miura SV, in bright orange.
THAT car is the ONLY thing that would make me give up cycling.

Just an update. after many months, I eventually got my Benotto $10 yard sale bike restored (I replaced the seat post, the handlebar and a few other minor things). What a threat to ride!

I never experienced such a smooth ride. The bike is light and very smooth (perhaps because it is a steel frame). I like riding it better than my new Bianchi Volpe. This bike is unbelievable. I will take care of it, threat it with a paint job sometimes and perhaps upgrade some components to make it a read road racer!

:) :) :)I am sorry I don't know how this post got here. It was meant for an old "old bikes" threat (where I started by bragging about an old bike I found at a yard sale for $10

Originally posted by Steele-Bike
Freedom...

I have no car
I have no cable
I have no home pc


I even have no tv (getting rid of it was the best thing I ever did since I quite smoking).

I am thinking of getting rid of my flat but I sense this could be harder.

Also I have no wife (I know these do not count as material possession), no kids. Just me my bike and my puppy dog! FREEDOM I AM FREEEEEEE!

I've still got a TV. I haven't had time to get rid of it yet.