Living Car Free - What do you do if you aren't healthy enough to ride?

Assuming you don't have easy access to public transportation. I'm not talking about a runny nose, but what if you break your leg, have a bad case of saddle sores, etc and really can't feasibly ride your bike for a period of time?

I'm getting ready to get rid of my car and was just wondering.

Thanks :)

Personally, I've never broken a bone, and have rarely been so sick that I didn't feel like riding at least a little ways. Now that I'm car-free, I'm even healthier, and so less likely to be so sick that I couldn't/wouldn't ride. I don't have any PT where I live, but then, I can walk to work - in fact, I almost never ride because it's so close.

I recently broke four bones on my commute home, so while I was off the bike I carpooled with a friend.

When I broke some body parts and couldn't ride, i walked most places. But I also took a bus, which I guess you don't have there. Sometimes friends gave me rides.

What do people do if they have a car but break their leg? They're just as bad off as we are, aren't they?

What do people do if they have a car but break their leg? They're just as bad off as we are, aren't they?

That happened to my brother. He broke his tibia clean in half and had to have his right leg put in a cast. No way could he get his foot onto the accelerator pedal without stomping on the brake at the same time in his Chevette. So he had to have me drive him around.

What do people do if they have a car but break their leg? They're just as bad off as we are, aren't they?
good point :)

I guess I'm just having a hard time convincing myself that I'll be happy completely car free and all these what ifs keep coming up in my head. Thanks all.

Assuming you don't have easy access to public transportation. I'm not talking about a runny nose, but what if you break your leg, have a bad case of saddle sores, etc and really can't feasibly ride your bike for a period of time?

It would depend on the situation. Lots of car-free people know where to find the taxi company's phone number, in case of emergency. Some people who are car-free because they're young or poor are able to depend on housemates, friends, or relatives to get around*. Some people are able to move or choose to live in a place where public transit is available-- my great aunt gets around in a wheelchair and I suspect she moved to her current place largely because she can get to the subway easily. Not having or using a car for a year would easily save you enough money to rent a car for a few weeks. You can buy another car, too, in the unlikely event that you are seriously injured and need a car on a more long-term basis. Selling your car is not a lifetime commitment to being car free.


*people will probably be happy to help you on a short-term basis if you're seriously injured!

good point :)

I guess I'm just having a hard time convincing myself that I'll be happy completely car free and all these what ifs keep coming up in my head. Thanks all.
Update us on how it goes. I had anxiety the first week after dumping the car, and a flat tire in the rain 10 miles from home. After that, no anxiety. It may be the best decision I've ever made.

good point :)

I guess I'm just having a hard time convincing myself that I'll be happy completely car free and all these what ifs keep coming up in my head. Thanks all.

There's only one cure for what ifs. Start pedaling; the rest will work itself out.

I guess I'm just having a hard time convincing myself that I'll be happy completely car free and all these what ifs keep coming up in my head. Thanks all.

Props for considering it, and wanting to do it. Ask as many "what ifs" questions as you like, that's why this forum is here. I hope you can do it, and it works out well for you.

Here's an idea for you, and anyone else who would like to go car-free but aren't quite ready to give up the car, and yet don't want the temptation of having it available. Freeze your keys! It's often recommended to people with budgeting issues to freeze their credit cards in a block of ice - you can get them in an emergency, but if you want them for an impulse purchase, you have some time to think about it while you wait for the ice to melt. Try the same thing with your car keys.

If you're too sick to ride, then you're also to sick to walk, work and do most anything else. The point is that happy, healthy people don't get sick nearly as often as depressed, unhealthy.

If you're too sick to ride, then you're also to sick to walk, work and do most anything else. The point is that happy, healthy people don't get sick nearly as often as depressed, unhealthy.

Often when I'm too sick to work the cure is a good bike ride!

For me part of 'carless living'* is part of a wider lifestyle change that means living close to work, working places that treat me well (even if it means a pay cut), and having lots of close friends around. A few years back when I was sick for three weeks in the middle of a big contract job I took a taxi to work most days and had a coworker pick me up on her way in others. All together the taxi bills were less than car payment and insurace would have been, and in my case were completely tax-deductable.


*now I'm just mostly carless, as I married into car co-ownership...thankfully it sits idle the majority of days.

If you're too sick to ride, then you're also to sick to walk, work and do most anything else. The point is that happy, healthy people don't get sick nearly as often as depressed, unhealthy.
So true. Since I started riding over 4 years ago, I've had only one cold and no other sicknesses. i used to get sick all the time!

Riding itself is good for your health, but it also seems to inspire people to make other healthy choices. If you want to ride better, you're motivated to eat better, lose weight, give up smoking, etc.....

i guess i've got three answers to this question:

1) too injured to ride = take the bus.
2) too sick to ride = too sick to work, so i stay home.
3) sick of work = go for a ride.

#1 has only happened once, after i got hit by a car. bussed for about week. got a lot of reading done.
#2 happens once or twice a year. don't get sick often, but occasionally the flu catches me.
#3 is really what sick days are for.

just for a bit of context -- we're car-free, live in a small city with tolerable public transit, and my commute is 32.5 miles round trip. it takes me nearly an hour to get to work, whether i cycle or ride the bus.

I'd have to say that riding/general physical activity does boost the immune system. However, that one time you come down with flu, 104 temp and all, nothing cures it like a set of hill repeats, vomit be damned. :D

I keep one round in the chamber just in case .... ;)

On a more serious note - if you are too sick to ride then maybe you should just stay home and not infect your co-workers. I sure wish some sicko's where I work would heed that advice. This is especially important now that we beginning to worry about pandemic viruses and such!

For me I like having an easy alternative if I don't feel like biking to work. Maybe I'm just a little tired - or I look out the window and rain is blowing horizontal. On those days I walk a couple of blocks to the Metro station.

I think a big part of getting car-free to work is getting the geography right - where you live in relation to work and to essential services and entertainment.

I think a big part of getting car-free to work is getting the geography right - where you live in relation to work and to essential services and entertainment.

exactly -- this part of the car-free equation is too often ignored, even by those who want to or are car-free.

i can't even begin to count the times i've heard that "i'm so lucky to not need a car". i especially hear this from my co-workers, some of whom live in the next county and spend half their lives in their cars. of course, they can't imagine being car-free....

well, when we were house-hunting, we identified areas with close (within 2 blocks) access to public transit, that were bike-friendly, and that were near essential services like the grocery store, liquor store, public library, post office, vet, and so forth.

so now we live 2 blocks from a half-dozen bus lines, 2 blocks from the grocery store and post office, and less than a mile from the public library branch. the entire area is bike friendly and a real neighbhorhood.

my wife's commute is 5 miles of easy biking, or a short bus-ride. my commute is longer, but only because i switched jobs after we'd bought the house. not that i mind -- i get to cycle for 2 hours every day.

with the saddle sores you always just stand up and ride ;)

I rent a car for the week, or use a cab if it's a one trip thing.

I hurt my lower back running two weeks ago. I worked from home one day (have remote access so real easy), saw the chiropractor the next. Did a real easy going bike commute the next day.

Oddly enough the only position that I wasn't in pain was leaning forward on my bike.

Lesson learned stick to biking, or learn to run properly with good shoes and form. My bad - but I'm better.