Today was a great example of one of the intangible benefits of bicycle commuting. My son has a golf tournament this morning across town. She was going to drop him off and then run some other errands, so I headed out for a run before work.

While I was gone, they left the house and made it about a mile before her car died. She was able to milk it home, but it wasn't going to go much further. Knowing that I wouldn't be using my truck today they hopped in it and took that to the golf tournament. I got home from my run and didn't even notice that her car was in the garage and my truck was gone, until after I'd showered and went out to hop on my bike for the ride to work.

Had I not been a full-time cycle commuter (or even a part-time one, for that matter) things would have been a lot more difficult. She would have had to either wait until I got back from my run and had me take my son, or left me a note and I would have had to come up with a different way to work. There would have been a lot of schedule re-arranging to figure out how we were both getting around.

Because I'm on my bike she can drive my truck the next few days while her car is being fixed. I probably won't even notice that we're down a vehicle (well, until I pay the repair bill anyway.) Bicycling sure lessens a lot of the logistical hassle when a car is in the shop.