Breaking it down
I've always commuted to work on my bike and I've run the odd errand on my bike as well. Still, I feel as though I should run more errands on my bike if I can.
I enjoy cycling and often it's faster, cheaper, and more convienent than the car but I still do run most errands in the car.
After Ken Kifer died, as a new years resolution, I decided to note on my bike miladge log, the errands I run on my bike. Nothing too anal. Just an E highlighted by a green felt pen, to be easily visable at a glance to see just how many errands I do run on my bike over the course of the year.
Recently, I decided to keep track of the errands I run in my car. Maybe some of those I could do on the bike, so I've tried to do a break down of the car errands to see if I can run more on my bike.
The restrictions that I have broken down are,
1) passengers - most often I'll run errands with 1 or 2 others
2) cargo - I know I can buy a trailer, but I can fit a lot of volume and weight in the car
3) weather - in pouring rain, or strong windy days, it's just easier to return the video in the car
4) entertainment - there are just some events where you have to primp and coddle yourself
5) long distance / time considerations - short rides locally can be done, but sometimes riding 2 hours to do something that can be accomplished in 30 minutes leaves you time to do other things
I'm going to note on a pad my errands in the car to see if most of them fall under these catagories.