If someone’s life feels meaningless and without fulfillment, getting rid of the car and riding a bike instead probably won’t help much. If it brings enlightenment, I haven’t seen it yet. It certainly hasn’t made me rich, or more environmentally aware, or changed my political views. It hasn’t actually necessitated much of a change of lifestyle except for spending more time at home. And not wearing nice clothes. The 80 minutes a day that I spend riding instead of driving, I’d have spent most of it on the couch or at the computer desk. We don’t go for a drive out on a whim. We spent a lot of money going for a drive out on a whim. We don’t race across town trying to get somewhere on time because we were running late. We plan ahead. We would never have understood the true value of our time or quite honestly the actual money we spent without having gone car free.

But my family is my family and everybody is different and at a different place in life with different priorities. It’s why I don’t preach living car free, or anything else, to anyone.

If I preached anything, it might be kindness, but I don’t practice it very well.

Most people can appreciate a bicycle, though, for one reason or another. ;-)