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06-02-06, 11:16 AM
A post by pedex reminded me that this week marks six years since I dumped the car. It was in the first week of June 2000. I've rented cars a few times and driven friends cars a few times since then so I haven't been a car free saint. At June 2000 I had been experimenting with transportational cycling since the early 1990s. As I experimented, my car use diminished until it almost vanished.
In June 2000 I weighed 216. Today I weigh 180. My doctor thinks the weight loss is a good thing. The funny thing is that in 2000 I used to take these long 50 - 70 mile rides on weekends and was probably a faster and more sporty rider. I still enjoy recreational bike trips but they have a different quality now. I don't take them as often and long rides usually involve some other goal than just biking around in a circuit.
Confession: I used to tell myself the same lies that the car apologists try to post on this forum; traffic is too dangerous, biking is too slow, I won't be able to meet members of the opposite sex, the boss won't like it, clients won't like it, bikes don't work in snow, and probably others too stupid to remember. These fallacies are floating around our culture, I didn't have a TV so I can't blame TV for directly implanting these falsehoods in my mind.
I used to sit in traffic for 45 minutes or more to go to the rec center to work out. Now I don't go to the rec center but feel healthier. I feel stupid when I remember how I used to live. Last month I saw an old housemate from my car owning days. He went nuts. "You look great! I mean it. Whatevery you're doing keep it up. You look like you did in college, a lot better than when we shared a house." But he gave me the old deer in headlights stare when I tried to tell him about living downtown and biking everywhere. He couldn't make the connection. He now lives in a suburban neighborhood without side walks and drives everywhere. He's very disciplined about working out yet finds it difficult to keep the extra weight off just like I used to.
In June 2000 I weighed 216. Today I weigh 180. My doctor thinks the weight loss is a good thing. The funny thing is that in 2000 I used to take these long 50 - 70 mile rides on weekends and was probably a faster and more sporty rider. I still enjoy recreational bike trips but they have a different quality now. I don't take them as often and long rides usually involve some other goal than just biking around in a circuit.
Confession: I used to tell myself the same lies that the car apologists try to post on this forum; traffic is too dangerous, biking is too slow, I won't be able to meet members of the opposite sex, the boss won't like it, clients won't like it, bikes don't work in snow, and probably others too stupid to remember. These fallacies are floating around our culture, I didn't have a TV so I can't blame TV for directly implanting these falsehoods in my mind.
I used to sit in traffic for 45 minutes or more to go to the rec center to work out. Now I don't go to the rec center but feel healthier. I feel stupid when I remember how I used to live. Last month I saw an old housemate from my car owning days. He went nuts. "You look great! I mean it. Whatevery you're doing keep it up. You look like you did in college, a lot better than when we shared a house." But he gave me the old deer in headlights stare when I tried to tell him about living downtown and biking everywhere. He couldn't make the connection. He now lives in a suburban neighborhood without side walks and drives everywhere. He's very disciplined about working out yet finds it difficult to keep the extra weight off just like I used to.