Lately I’ve been walking. I have walked to work 3-4 days a week for the last month. I’m not even really sure why. I have enjoyed the slow pace. I turn on a podcast and kick it.

Today it’s been raining all day. I walked here in my rain suit; however, my bike was at work all weekend. I have to ride a few miles out of my way to drop off my rent check. I was thinking of all the ways I could get a ride. Today’s one of those days where I really did not feel like riding in the rain.

Then I decided to not be a pansy and go ride. Now I’m actually excited to get out and ride in the rain.

We got hit by a pretty gnarely winter storm Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. As you know I decided to walk on Tuesday because there was no gaurantee what the weather would be like for the ride home. On Wednesday I decided to work from home because the roads were nearly un-ridable. On Thursday I decided to walk because the roads were still pretty bad. I took some pictures of my Thursday walk (below).

Where it looks like water it is actually ice. I have never ridden in ice and doubt my ability. I don’t have studded tires. Shoot I don’t even have a mountain bike! All I have is my Giant road bike.

Today I thought the roads were better. I was all geared up to ride, literally. Well, for some reason I got the smart idea to check my spokes before before I rode. One had come completly unscrewed. Rather than ride on it I decided to walk today. So that’s three out of five days this week that I walked to work (not to mention the times people offered rides).

To be honest I quite like walking. It’s a refreshing way to start the morning. It is a time for me to decompress at the end of the day. I use it as a time to think and pray. This morning I chatted with a guy about the edible properties of cattails. He has some growing in his yard and I told him that he could eat them in about five different ways. He didn’t seem about to try them.

At first I saw walking as a last resort. Now I think there will be times where I will choose walking as a way to relax over riding my bike, even when the roads are fine.

Yesterday morning I woke up to some snow on the ground. Just enough to suck. Plus, they were calling for more snow to start in the late afternoon/early evening. Since I had already walked to work once, I decided to just walk.

I was about three quarters of the way there when a van pulled up in front of me. It was a co-worker (co-worker 3 [it's a running theme]) on her way in. It turns out she turned around to get me. I feel a little sneaky. I was wearing my balaclava in such a way that my entire face was showing. I did that in case a co-worker might pass and pick me up. It worked. I thanked her profusely for turning around.

Then at the end of the day co-worker 4 asked me if I wanted a ride home. He heard that I walked in. I accepted the ride. I thanked him profusely too. Tomorrow I’m even going to put a thank you note in both of their mailboxes. I don’t want there to be any doubt I appreciate every ride I’m given.

After standing up co-worker 2 I couldn’t bring up the nerve to ask him again. I had made up my mind that I wasn’t going to ask anyone for a ride. For pretty much the entire week last week, my girlfriend was “stuck” at her parents’ house. She was having her car worked on and the shop was taking his sweet time. I realized something. People that have cars are at the mercy of a very complex machine and the chosen few that can fix them. I like being car-free. I have poised myself to be self sufficient. Where I am not self sufficient I am learning creative work-arounds.

There is a lesson in all of this. It’s the same lesson I heard when I was dating around. When you stop looking is when you find a girl. It works with getting rides too. When you stop asking for rides is when you get them.

Hale Ride. 1940's program to encourage physical fitness on a bicycle.

My four main motivations for going car-free are: financial savings, environmental benefits, health benefits, and the plain and simple love of riding my bicycle.

Here at Going Carless I’m starting a series. I’m going to explore each of my motivations in more detail. I’m starting off the series with the health benefits of commuting by bicycle. You will see posts related to sleep, eating habits, and weight loss among other things.

This first health related post is more anecdotal than anything.

It is no secret that being healthy is a good thing. Likewise, it’s no secret that a huge component to being healthy is exercise. By simply being active you can help fend off high blood pressure and diabetes. You can build muscle, lose fat, increase energy, and decrease stress. These are just a few of the benefits of exercising.

One authority somewhere said you should exercise for 30 minutes a day 3-5 times a week. Everybody’s been copying that person’s advice since.

I’m not trying to be rudimentary here. Actually, I’m breaking out the phys ed basics in order to stress my point. What’s my point? I’m lazy. I don’t go to the gym. I go hiking sometimes, but certainly not 3-5 times a week. I didn’t even get into biking for athletic or recreational reasons. I got my bicycle for almost exclusively financial reasons.Thankfully I love to ride now!

But here I am. I have plunged headlong into a car-free experiment. That means the vast majority of days I go to work I’m riding there. When I want to go grocery shopping then I get on my bicycle and push my pedals.

I started riding my bike a lot over the summer, easily hitting that 3-5 times a week mark. Now that I don’t have my car I’m well over that!

Cycling is an aerobic exercise. That means it get’s the heart pumping. It also builds your leg muscles like nobody’s business. Actually, it is other people’s business. I am going to weigh myself and measure my waist and thighs. I’ll start checking in once a week on the weekends with the stats.

Cycling does not build the upper body very well at all. How do you supplement upper body exercises?

Just think, I probably still wouldn’t exercise if I wasn’t such a cheapskate.

When I put my car up for sale I cleaned my car. I mean, I gave it the best cleaning it had had in a long time. My girlfriend and I wiped, vacuumed, buffed every inch of that car. I also bagged up all the trash and removed any unnecessary items.

In April 2008 I moved to 2.5 miles from work. Before that I had always worked 40 to 50 miles from home. That means I lived out of my car, so despite this intense cleaning I still had a lot of things in my car.

This is one of the unexpected benefits of not having a car. It forces me to simplify. I really did see my car as a mobile storage unit. I would keep all kinds of stuff in my car! Now I don’t have room for those items. So not only am I getting rid of the car I’m getting rid of two umbrellas, an LED flare, an automobile organizer (a big thing with tons of pockets), windshield shades, my cigarette lighter plug, and so much more. It’s quite refreshing to not have to worry about all of this stuff!

So not only am getting rid of more items than I expected, I am also removing a large area to clean. I didn’t clean my car too often. I would get around to it maybe once a month or so. When I finally did decide to clean I would clean like crazy! It seems like a small thing, but it will save me all of the stress of watching my car fill up with trash. I won’t have to see the coffee spilled down the console and being to lazy to clean it. Not having a car will save me the actual time of cleaning the car. It may not have been much, but combined with the stress of watching the mess grow it is quite a lot off of my shoulders.

Similarly, not having the room of a car will help me save money. I will be less likely to drive to the store on a whim. Then if I do decide to ride to the store I am limited to the size of my panniers. That means I can’t just go buy tons ofitems without planning ahead. This, of course, can be a huge limitation if I’m trying to get a case of beer.

The Bicycle Commuter Benefits Act was passed on Friday. It was hidden in the “bailout.” Basically, it offers $20/mo towards bicycle related expenses if you ride a “substantial” amount. I would consider that another benefit of going carless, and even more motivation to sell my car! Getting paid to ride: yes!

In an attempt to get this benefit at my company I have drafted an email to my HR representative. You can read the email below. I have emailed it around to fellow cyclists. We are going to use this as a catalyst for a more bike friendly environment. Not that my company is hostile. We could use a few better perks like a bike rack or a shower. Those types of things.

Hello [kept anonymous],

I came across the Bicycle Commuter Benefits Act that was passed into law on Friday. Here are some highlights of the bill:

· Employers reimburse employees $20 per month, tax free, for “reasonable” expenses related to bike commute (including equipment purchases, bike purchases, repairs, and bike storage)

· Bike must be used as a “substantial part” of the commuter’s trip to work for the month

· Begins 1/1/09

Both the Green Team [I’ll ask for official blessing tomorrow at the meeting] and  JPL bicycle enthusiasts agree that offering this benefit would do exactly that: benefit JPL.

We believe it would encourage more people to ride their bicycles to work which would decrease our carbon footprint as a company. Offering this benefit is even press release worthy, and is yet another thing we could put on the Best Places to Work list. Also, it is tax deductable for JPL.

We,  the growing number of bicycle commuters at JPL, ask you to consider offering this benefit.

http://www.cyclelicio.us/2008/10/bike-commuter-benefits-act-passes.html

http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2008/10/bike-commuter-a.html

I would spend my $20 on some equipment I still need. Then probably on regular tune-ups. How about you?

I am constantly trying to engage the people around me when I ride. If I have time I will stop and talk with walkers. If it’s a driver I make eye contact. Occasionally, I have talked with drivers at red lights (usually about their unique car). If it’s another rider I wave. I’m eternally let down by how apathetic the other riders are. I want it to be like motorcyclists or bus drivers. I want to wave at every cyclist. They - more often than not - don’t even look (that’s another post).

My town, Steelton, is on a steep hill. Like 29% grade in 1/4 mile. I practically need a ladder. I live about a third of the way up the hill. Needless to say, I’m not to the point where I can ride up the whole thing. Especially, first thing in the morning on my way to work. So I do what any serious cyclist would do. I walk it.

Every morning when I make it to the top I get on and ride at the same spot. It is at the end of a driveway. Sometimes I see the family, but have never had the chance to talk with them. This morning I saw the woman who lives there in the driveway. I said, “Shew. I’m usually worn out walking that hill before I even get on my bike!” She laughed. Then we talked for a few minutes about my ride. She couldn’t believe that I chose to ride every day. It was good to finally meet her.

As I rode away I felt good. It was a crisp autumn morning. I had a genuine neighborly conversation. I stopped and watched a large bird I had never seen. I passed the kids in gym class.

I like the different pace of riding my bike. It’s gets me out in the open. I can interact with the things and people around me.

What are some things you enjoy about being in the open on your bike? How do you handle big hills? Are you serious enough that you take them all? Do you notice that other cyclists don’t wave or is that just me?

This weekend I came to visit my friend and her family about fifty miles from my home. She took the train in from Philly to the Harrisburg station. Her dad picked us up and took us the fifty miles to Fairfield.

When I had a car I would have just driven down here anyway in order to have the freedom. Even though the train station is two miles from my house.

But I realized something the other day when a co-worker gave me a ride home from work. The ride from the train station just drove the point home (no pun intended).

Here is an unexpected reward of being carless: the human interaction. Instead of driving in my car alone I am engaging with people.

Shouldn't he be watching the road? He's about to go into a river!

I used get so annoyed when people would turn up their music and say “listen to this” and then play half the song before putting something else on that they wouldn’t let me finish. Instead of talking I ended up listening to about 40 half songs. I am trying to shake that. I am trying to see the music that means so much to them as an extension of their personality. Being in other people’s cars means a lot of other people’s music. What a great chance to get to know people.

I have found that conversation in the car is often better. Some people are not comfortable with eye contact. The car is a good chance for people talk comfortably. I can remember some of my favorite conversations were riding in someone’s car.

Although, this is a double edged sword. There are times when I don’t want to be around people. It hasn’t happened yet, but I am sure there will be days when I don’t want to be in the car with someone.

I am looking forward to the undiscovered music and many great conversations to come.

Do you have any interesting stories about riding in a car with someone? Have you discovered good music from someone playing music in their car? Do you even see being forced to interact with someone as a good thing?

The Associated Press

Prices at midstate gasoline pumps have started to fall. Today’s Patriot-News survey of 10 stations in the region put the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded at $3.517, down 14.2 cents from last week.

An average price of $3.51. First, I recognize that Pennsylvania traditionally has some of the lowest fuel prices in the country and that it’s better than $4.00/gallon. Still, don’t be duped into believing that $3.51 is a good price for gas.

I, for one, am glad that I can actually read this article and not care at all about whether the prices are going up or down. I have completely removed “gas” as a line item on my budget and reallocated it into savings. What a liberating feeling.

That is the unexpected reward. While the people around me are rejoicing over $3.51/gallon I am rejoicing over $0.00 00/100 a gallon.