Living Car Free - spreading the virus

I biked to the grocery store today. Ordinarily no big deal. But I had a fairly massive grocery list (for me). So I stuffed my panniers in a cart, and got to work. Lettuce, peppers, potatoes, laundry soap, a chicken and a giant pile of other things later, I got in line to check out. Plunk plunk plunk. By the time the cashier was done ringing me up, I had one pannier loaded. She very kindly finished the second, and was in awe. "Wait, these are for your bike? They're waterproof?" She told me how sad she was that she couldn't do the same on her bike.

Well, now she knows a place to go search for panniers :D. And I feel good. One more person knows it doesn't *have* to suck to get groceries by bike.

(I didn't weigh this load, since there's no way it was even slightly remarkable... was almost a piece of cake hauling the bike up to the front door)

I like it when the lightbulbs go off in other people's heads. I'm often still wearing my clear sunglasses with take-a-look mirror when I go into stores, and sometimes get comments, wow I've never seen anything like that, you mean you can see the cars behind you?

Once I was riding on wintry day. A guy said, "I'm having enough trouble just walking on this slippery stuff. I could never ride my bike on it." I showed him my studded tires and said it was actually steadier to ride than to walk on that particular day. The lightbulb went on....

That was great work spreading the word by example.

At my new job I've met about fifteen new people. I lock my bicycle in front of the small building where everyone can see it. Several people use the public door-to-door bus service and that encourages my faith that people can change. One of those people said that he sometimes walks home from work. It takes him forty-five minutes. When I said he could probably ride a bicycle in way less time he had that lightbulb look on his face.

Others on this board were walkers for a long time until the idea of using a bicycle came into their minds. It just takes someone or something to bring that idea into their consciousness and BINGO, they get it.

I rode to the local (to where I am at) store a couple of weeks ago I was loading up my groceries and a guy started playing Twenty Questions...:rolleyes:

Last week when I rode to the store, there was another bike locked up to the picnic table that I lock up to (only damned thing in the whole parking lot to lock to!) It was Twenty Questions guy. He is trying to figure out how to ride to work, we went down the strip mall for a beer and I helped him plan out a route.:D He is in the Navy, the roads leading to the base suck for bike riding but I think we may have something that will work.:thumb: We agreed to meet at the pub again this Saturday and see how he is making out.;)

Aaron:)

I get that a lot when I am in the store. Someone will always comment on how cute my bag is. Same happens at the gym.

Looks like a lot of us spread the virus :). Woot :D

It does seem like our gear speaks louder than words can.

Looks like a lot of us spread the virus :). Woot :D

It does seem like our gear speaks louder than words can.

Well, the only bike gear people see on the media have to do with professional racing or MTB. When they see gear that relates to their daily lives, it blows them away!

Recently I was loading groceries into my trailer out the front of the store when a typical bipedal cager says dismissively "you won't last 5 minutes towing that thing, you'll end up as roadkill" so I said "yeah, I was run over and killed 3 times yesterday" I wonder if his lightbulb went on to the fact that he's a tool?

I've pretty much given up on the 99.9999% of the lemmings that make up this population because they'll keep right on motoring even if they have to boil the fat out of their babies to keep their cars running.

I biked to the grocery store today. Ordinarily no big deal. But I had a fairly massive grocery list (for me). So I stuffed my panniers in a cart, and got to work. Lettuce, peppers, potatoes, laundry soap, a chicken and a giant pile of other things later, I got in line to check out. Plunk plunk plunk. By the time the cashier was done ringing me up, I had one pannier loaded. She very kindly finished the second, and was in awe. "Wait, these are for your bike? They're waterproof?" She told me how sad she was that she couldn't do the same on her bike.
A good example of the viral effect is how 5 years ago I was seeing almost no one bringing in their disposable bags.

I now notice very few people who don't bring their own bags. And those who don't seem very conscious that they are out-of-place with all their plastic bags.

Around here, bring your own bag isn't universal. At Trader Joe's, it's no big deal. The cashiers expect most people to have their own bags. Capital Center Market ditto. And the new grocery at University Square is good. Whole Paycheck, you have to fight off the bags. Same with Copp's and Cub Food and the local co-ops.

So the divide isn't so much about smaller or more organic around here... It's are you a new grocery store or an old one. If I come home with a plastic bag, odds are I was tired and not fast enough to stop them.

I manage four stores in a busy urban environment. 2 of my employees are now riding to work, and there's a few more to come with the nicer weather. I always park my bike inside, right next to the computer I'm using. My employees love telling customers, usually on snowy days, "yeah, he rides in...and then he rides to all the stores...and he lives 20 miles away. He'll ride home after work". The look on their faces is priceless, but I see more bikes every day.

I've had a few co-workers talk about wanting to ride to work, as they don't live too far (< 5mi.); one started when his car quit on him, then started taking the bus when his bike "quit" (flat tire, he couldn't afford a tube, apparently). I told him I'd help him out during my lunch hour, but he hasn't done a thing yet.

Once, while standing in line at the cash register, the cashier commented to the customer in front of me (when she saw the woman glance curiously at my helmeted head), "He rides to work every day, he rides everywhere." The woman looked at me again, asked how far; since it was about 25F out, snow all over the place, I said, "Right now, only 2 miles." She shook her head all the way to the front door.

Two days ago, a newer worker rode his Target bike in, wondering where he could park it (he had no lock, our employer has no bike rack); I showed him a good, out-of-the-way spot. He thanked me, and started talking about his troubles of the day before -- snapped a rusted chain, and needed new bearings, "just from two rides." He didn't look intelligent enough to absorb the idea of maintenance....

I ride almost everywhere in town, except when I have to drive somewhere for work. I'm the only one who rides to church year-round. A week ago, as I was unlocking my bike after the service, a little kid came up and wanted to ask me everything about my bike — why I use the straps to keep my pants out of the chains, how cleat shoes work, why I have bike racks and what I've hauled. His dad later told me the guy is learning to ride and loves his bike.

I'm a real weirdo at my place of work. I bike commute from one side of the city to the other, rain or shine. Every last employee here drives--even those who live within a few miles. New folks and office visitors comments on my bike sitting in the corner of my office. "You ride a bike to work? Doesn't that take a long time? I could never do that! Aren't you scared?" A lot of the comments are because our office is located in a bad neighborhood with open drug sales and occasional shootings, so yeah, I worry about getting stranded with a flat. But if I do, I can just fold my bike up and hop on the nearest bus or taxi. No big deal.

So far, I haven't managed to convince anyone else to ride to work, but I have opened some eyes to the wonders of the folding bike and what it's capable of! The thing that really gets me is when people say it must be "so hard" to ride over an hour per day. Really? Would you say the same to someone who spends an hour in the gym every night?

I'm a real weirdo at my place of work. I bike commute from one side of the city to the other, rain or shine. Every last employee here drives--even those who live within a few miles. New folks and office visitors comments on my bike sitting in the corner of my office. "You ride a bike to work? Doesn't that take a long time? I could never do that! Aren't you scared?"

This won't last long. A few people will admit to wanting to ride themselves and a few of them might even take it up. The rest of them couldn't care less how you get to work. It makes for great conversation for a while. Then it doesn't.