Three years since ditching the second car!

In July 2006, our family of four sold our second car (my car for commuting to and from work) and I committed to commuting year-round by bike or carpooling. Three years later... no regrets!

Financially, it was a great decision, even though we owned the second car outright. We sold it for $2,000 (a great deal for a family member who needed a second car), so we immediately had $2,000 cash that we didn't have before. Combine that with annual savings (conservative estimates) from lower insurance ($500/year), no registration/inspection ($100), no gas ($500/year), and no repairs/maintenance ($700/year)... and we are ahead by over $7,000 at the three-year mark.

Physically, it has been mostly good for me. Initially, I lost a bunch of weight (which I have kept off), and got very aerobically fit. However, I found that biking to and from work without a variety of other physical activity has caused some problems. I have overdeveloped muscles in my lower legs, and underdeveloped muscles in a lot of other places. Apparently, this has thrown my body out of whack a bit, leading to calf tightness and some knee and hip pain. I feel like I've figured a lot of this out in a few Physical Therapy sessions, so it is just a matter of keeping physically fit outside of my biking routine.

Environmentally, I feel really good about it. I'm on my way to replacing the demand for 1 car to be built and used. Imagine this impact multiplied by the millions of families like ours with an extra car (or cars) used almost entirely for commuting 5 miles or less. Such a simple way to simultaneously attack the obesity epidemic and global warming.

At this point, it is natural that we make different daily decisions (subconsciously) based on our 1-car status. I find myself putting the girls in the bike trailer and taking them for trips to town when my wife has the car. We walk more. We have chosen doctors, dentists, stores, restaurants, etc. based on convenience/proximity. I think most of these decisions are really positive in terms of community and the "buy local" movement. Interestingly, we put fewer miles on our 1 car now than we used to when we had 2 cars!

One of the outcomes of bike commuting becoming second nature to me is that it feels like a chore to blog about it. Imagine blogging about your daily commute in a car? As much as I enjoy my bike ride to and from work each day, that's all it really is... another commute.

Autofocus Doesn't Work at 15 Below!

This morning was my coldest ride ever. I carried a temperature datalogger with me, and it recorded a temperature of -14.8 degrees F (-26 degrees C) near the mid-way point of my commute. Traveling at a sluggish 10 miles per hour created a wind chill factor of -35 degrees F (-37 degrees C). I was as prepared as I could be for those conditions, and I arrived at work warm... but exhausted. A co-worker took this picture of me with my cell phone camera that I carried in my backpack, but the cold seemed to kill the autofocus! What I wanted to show was that NO skin was exposed - because it would have meant frostbite within minutes. I wore a full face mask with ski googles, with an insulated bike helmet on top. I wore a windproof jacket and pants over 3 layers of fleece/polypro on my body. I wore "Thinsulate" ski gloves on my hands, and Sorel boots with two pairs of heavy socks on my feet.

What I learned is that I can dress up for the extreme low temps... but I wasn't prepared for the impact on the performance of my bike. It seemed like the grease in the axles and my 8-speed internal hub turned to mollases and it made it significantly harder to pedal. On flat, straight sections where I would ordinarily be easily cruising in the 8th gear, I was instead alternating between the 5th and 6th gear. To add even more difficulty, my nice warm Sorel boots are HEAVY. Lifting them up with each pedal stroke seemed to get more and more difficult through the ride.

The only real concern I had during my ride was when my goggles started to fog up with about 2 miles to go. It happened quickly. For the first 3-4 miles of my ride, the goggles performed perfectly. Then, the fog started creeping in - from the top down. By the end of the ride, I could only see clearly through the bottom edge of the lens. At these temps, taking the goggles off really wasn't an option, so I had to continue on - even with limited visibility. I'm going to see if applying an anti-fog treatment makes a difference on the ride home.

Anyway, it was an interesting challenge - but I won't be sad if I don't have to ride in temps this cold again this winter!

Finally.

I finally accumulated the parts I needed to put together my perfect Vermont winter commuter bike. I picked up the two crucial pieces from the Denver craigslist. It seems that there is a lot of honesty in the biking world, and I was able to get exactly what the sellers promised. I ended up with a used Surly 1x1 frame (completely built up as a nice single-speed) and a used Shimano Nexus 8-speed hub, built into a 26-inch wheel. Combine this with the studded Nokians I already owned, and my new MiNewt Mini-USB headlight (and tail lights, of course)... and I now have a dependable, safe commuter bike that will take me through all but the worst of conditions. I've been riding it all this week and LOVE it. Bring on the snow and ice. I'm ready.

Swapped the bike for my skis.

I've wanted to try this for years - and finally pulled the trigger. We've had almost two feet of new snow in the past several days, so I thought it would be cool to ski in to work. The only problems: my skis are pretty crappy, I'm a pretty crappy skier, and my route is pretty crappy. It took my about an hour and a half to ski the 5 miles to work. I was either on plowed bike path/road (sometimes plowed down to asphalt... with some sand/gravel thrown in) or breaking trail through 2 feet of snow (exhausting). I didn't wear double socks, and I ended up getting really bad blisters on the backs of both feet. I also plunged knee-deep in an ice-cold stream near the end of my trip. At least that made my blisters feel better. Anyway, it was cool to try it once - but I think that a bike is the best vehicle for my commute!

First Tracks.

One of my favorite times to ride is right after (or during) a fresh snow. Everything is so quiet, and the ride is super-soft. It is kinda surreal. I'm really fortunate that I can stay off the road for most of my commute, because it was not a day to be sharing the road with cars. The roads were really slick, and the shoulder/bike lane was a mess. I took a route that kept me off the main road entirely (on bike path and condo roads) for the first 5 of my 6 miles, and I walked the last mile in the snow off the side of the road. It took me 50+ minutes to get to work (compared with 18 minutes on my old ten-speed in the summer), but I didn't risk my life or make life more difficult for motorized traffic.

Trip Pics.

These are pictures from today's commute. The top one is from my morning cruise to work, and the bottom one is from my ride home this evening. Most of my ride is paved bike path or bike lane on the side of the road. This is just a little "shortcut" that keeps me off the side of a pretty busy road for more than a mile. The city eventually plans to build a bike path near here, but until then, this path through a marshy field will work just fine.

Zero.

This morning was my first really cold winter ride of the year. Really cold. It was hovering around zero when I rode in - and windy. The wind chill factor was between -15° F and -20°F.

The road conditions were worse than the temperature. Just a few days ago, temps were around 50°, so the roads were pretty warm. Yesterday, it got cold quickly and snowed - and it turned to a layer of glaze ice on the roads. Lots of accidents last night, and it wasn't much better this morning.

I took a route that keeps me off the main roads for all but the last mile of my ride, so at least I didn't have to deal with a couple of tons of steel sliding at me. I just had to worry about keeping myself upright, because I still haven't put the studded snows on. Another evening project for this week...