Roody

Any day--late night ride--east side--pancakes at Theio's--you buy.

Seriously, time and place are negotiable, and I'll buy if it's after next payday.

overthere

Newly car-free and find myself dealing with not being able to drive to where I can get things cheaper farther away. SIlly, cause I save so much by not driving in gas. BUT I find myself resisting my bike more than before, because now it's related to a chore- and the idea of making multiple trips if stuff is heavy (I have 2 baskets on my bike) and time when some places are further away...and the time to pile on the warm clothes instead of walk over and climb in. I mean theres the layers, the hood under the helmet, the gloves, the lock, the packing. Sheesh.

I find myself eyeing compact trucks on craiglist. Something to throw in bags of leaves, compost, bales of hay, lumber without having to borrow a vehicle. I spend a lot of time figuring out when I can borrow it and the whole contact back and forth thing.

SO I may end up car-lite. I'll try it a bit longer. I come here for encouragement from people that do it.

Platy

Way to go, overthere!! Even a brief carfree experience will provide you with a lot of new insights.

lala

Emotional/psychological support!


We are not alone!

Roody

Of course, like anything else, using your bike as transportation gets easier as you go on. You will become more adept and efficient with the clothing layers and so forth. When I get to work, it only takes me 4 minutes to change into my work clothes, and I change everything down to the skin. After work I change even faster, but then need a minute to to unlock and put my lights on the bike.

After some experience with the bike, I discovered that there are some things that are not really needed. For example, I wear much fewer layers than I used to for normal rides around town. If you're only going to ride for 30 minutes, you won't get real cold, so you don't need as many layers as if you were riding a century or something. You start to plan your trips better, too, so you don't waste as much time on the bike.

When you finally get to be in better shape (and you will, but it might take a few months), you come to a point when you realize that you can ride a long time, with heavy loads, without getting tired anymore. That is a great feeling!

Although you do spend more time getting ready than cagers do, you save time in other ways. No more oil changes! No more waiting rooms at Midas Muffler and Discount Tire! I can change a tube in less than 15 minutes, and I'm no speed demon. Could you do that with a car?

Another time saver is that you don't have to spend much extra time exercising. My short round trip commute gives me 30 minutes of vigorous exercise every day. Driving round trip would take almost 20 minutes, and I would still have to find 30 minutes to exercise, so I save about 20 minutes a day. Of course most days I spend a lot more time on the bike, so I get more exercise than just about anybody I know who isn't a professional athlete.

As for fun, I can honestly say that I enjoy riding as much now as I did back in the days when I rode only for recreation and exercise. I still go on fun rides in the nice weather--road rides in the country, trail riding, slow rides around town with a friend, etc. But the best thing is that most of the time, even my commute or a trip to the store is a fun ride too!

Bikemiker

Cheers! It does help. I don't know anybody else around here that is car-free. I've had some positive influence on some of my friends and co-workers, but being car-free still makes me a bit of an oddity. I can live with that, but it is nice to hear from other oddities.

XM DUDE

I was car free for many years, though interisting, it dosen't work well in LA and where I live it gets up to 11o* in the summer and I have 2 small kids and it dosen't work to well, how ever I like to ride when I can.

schiavonec

Have a two car family with one taking public transit from a park and ride and the other dealing with family concerns during the week. Just looking for additional advice on how others become less dependent, etc.

tfahrner

You can carry all those things (and passengers) on a bicycle: https://xtracycle.com/gallery/view_al...ame=real_loads

sbhikes

I had a hippie nudist roommate once. Grew organic food out back and foraged for backyard fruits hanging over fences and wild edibles on his bike. Had a part time job handing out condoms. Had a cabinet full of herbs. Gave me the nastiest-tasting tea for a cold. House had no furniture because it was more natural to sit on the floor. Couldn't handle sitting on the floor while the hippie nudist stood in front of me to chat. Certain outwardly facing anatomy was always in my face. And it was quite distracting having his female partner being nude around the house as well. So much anatomy! So much difficulty focusing your gaze in neutral places.

Nope, I don't come for the hippies. Hippies are nice and all, but I'm more interested in people who just don't want to blindly follow the rest of the sheep. People who actually made conscious choices about the mundane parts of ordinary life: how to get from here to there, how to get this watermelon home, what to do if...when you don't have a car. It's interesting.

I wanted to be like those hippies but I just couldn't. Nope. I'm an ordinary middle-class white lady who grew up in a strict Lutheran church, but I try not to be as much as I can. I couldn't be like those hippies even thought I thought I wanted to. I probably can't be like a lot of you. But I still am interested in aspiring to it.

Roody

You're not like the hippies, and you're not like us (whoever "us" is!)

You're like you!

legot73

I'm one who wants to reduce car use. When I was younger and single, I was extremely car-light. Lifestyle, location, and desire were in harmony. Now I have a family, and it is very tough to get back to that.

I did bike to work for some time, and enjoyed it. I had a really close call one morning with a 85+mph car. The thought of my infant/toddler kids put me back in a car. I'd like to get back, but having a difficult time convincing my wife.

I'm here for inspiration and ideas.