I hate to ride in the wind. Yesterday we had gusts up to 25 mph. Riding in the wind can turn my 2.5 into an unpleasant ride. I don’t like the extra effort it takes to get where I’m going. I don’t like never knowing when a gust will come and force you to get your balance. I would rather ride in ten degrees (which I did over the winter) than ride in the wind. Now if it’s a cold wind then I’d rather stay home.

Yesterday I ended up walking to work. I heard the wind slamming my apartment and made up my mind I’d rather walk. Besides, walking is turning out to be quite pleasant. I end up walking one or two days a week.

Car-free commute has fallen into a normal part of life. This is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact it’s a very good thing. I want to make status-quo not having a car. I want to prove it can be done. Trust me. I used to drive a lot. The fact that not having a car is normal life for me proves that anyone can do it if they really want to. I suppose it’s finding the value in a smaller sustainable life.

I’m looking forward to riding around town and doing stuff after work now that it’s getting warm. Not that I couldn’t do that all winter, but when it was 20 degrees I didn’t venture out when I didn’t have to.

Sorry I haven’t been posting much. I’ve had my head in my photography business: Event Horizon Fotografie. I really should have a blog about that.

I noticed that a local news channel is doing a segment called “Project Economy.” I thought a piece about being intentionally car-free is fitting. So I emailed them and suggested it. Surprisingly they agreed. They are coming to the office on Thursday to “follow me home.” I don’t know if that means they are going to drive beside me or what.

I’ll be sure to post the youtube link when I have one.

This evening I was to go a Technology Gala. My company was nominated for some awards.

It made for a comical situation. I didn’t want to ride because this event needed a suit. I have nowhere to put a suit on my bike, as of yet. I saw my manager’s name on the invite for the event and was assuming he was going. I figured I could get a ride from him. Never assume. He wasn’t going.

I had to ride my bike.

I had my suit rolled up in my panniers. I had forgotten any shoes except my buckle dress shoes. So I was riding towards downtown in my bike gear with dress shoes when my pannier fell off my bike out into traffic! Again!

Fortunately, neither I nor my pannier were hit.

It was the same thing that happened last time. Something snapped the brace off my fender.

My conclusion? SKS plastic fenders suck. A little rock got in there and snapped my fender! I’m going to have to try the chromoplastic. I need fenders, but I don’t want ones that break for no explainable reason.

I ended up walking my bike home and skipping the gala.

My girlriend just sent me a text message that said she killed a butterfly with her car. It was probably the second butterfly of the year. That my, friends, is reason enough to get rid of your car. Think about the butterflies!

First off, hi. I am still here. I’m still car-free. I haven’t written in a while because, honestly, not much has happened. I ride my bike to work most days and walk every so often. The weather has been shifting. It’s been warm for the last few days. That’s pretty exciting.

So far I’m not even tempted to get a car. At this point, it is just a way of life for me now. At first I was getting used to it. I used to make plans and forget I didn’t have  a car. My plans are shaped around whether I can get there and how. It just happens naturally though.

I like that my world has gotten smaller. It’s such a less hectic and cluttered life. The pace is much slower.

The good news is, I paid off my credit cards! I went from $8,500 to $0 in ten months! I’m so excited! I know that selling my car was a large factor in getting there so quickly. I saved several hundred dollars a month that I could put straight towards the debt.

My dad is still trying to get me to get a new car. He’s telling me about all kinds of hybrids and cars that are sold in Europe that may come to the U.S. I am not ready for that. Now that the credit cards are paid off it’s time to tackle my student loans, all $39,000 of them.

On the phone today my mom started telling me a story. She and my dad were eating dinner at a restaurant. It was raining. I’m convinced it was raining to add a dramatic effect. While they were eating they noticed a cyclist wearing a bicycle jacket similar to mine. I’m convinced his jacket was similar to mine for dramatic effect.

Apparently this chap was lying in the middle of the road. His bike was off to the side. It’s not clear how he got there. A kind woman stopped and held an umbrella over him until the ambulance came.

My mom said, “that could be my baby boy (as she sometimes calls me).” Now, she knew it wasn’t actually me because I live fifty miles away. What she meant was, “Bicycles are dangerous. My son rides his bicycle. Therefore my son is in danger!”

My parents have expressed their displeasure with my car-free lifestyle. They are not displeased that I come across as some environmentalist hippie. They are not worried about the great lengths I am going to save money.

They are worried about my safety.

Seeing a guy lying in the middle of road in the rain was not the best thing for them to see.  Now, no matter what argument I throw at them my parents will see my face mentally photoshopped over this guy’s face.

Speaking of bicycle safety. I have never felt unsafe on my bicycle. I can think of a host of reasons why it is a safe form of transportation. I have 180 degree eyesight (not including my mirror). I can hear my surroundings in stereo. I’m a smaller target. I have multiple lights, and I wear bright and clothes. Most importantly, I obey traffic laws. I am a predictable rider.

Ken Kifer makes an interesting point. He says that 90% of bicycle accidents are caused by motor vehicles hitting the cyclist. Also, out of the 5,600 pedestrians that are hit each year, only a small fraction are hit by bicycles. No automobile drivers are killed by bicycles. Sounds to me like the car is really the dangerous thing here. As a matter of fact the table (taken from Ken’s site) proves that point. 1 in 6,000 (and I’m rounding down) is killed in car accidents while 1 in 75,000 is killed in bicycle accidents.

Ken makes another interesting point. He lists the top ten causes of death in 1995 (it’s dated now, but the point remains). Notice that 5 of 10 causes of death could have been prevented by cycling. So it is more dangerous not to ride.

The Top Ten Causes of Death for 1995
Cause	No. of deaths		How to avoid (cycling-related methods only)
Heart Disease	737,563		Exercise	Diet	Stress Management
Cancer	538,455
Strokes	157,991		Exercise		Stress Management
Lung Disease	102,899		Exercise
Adverse effects	93,320
Pneumonia, flu	82,920
Diabetes	59,254		Exercise	Diet	Weight Management
AIDS	43,115
Suicide	31,284		Exercise
Liver Disease	25,222
National Center for Health Statistics

So there you go mom; that guy wasn’t hit. He slipped on a banana peel. That could have happened to anyone.

I ride to and from work just about every day. We had a solid month where the weather didn’t get above freezing, even during the day. That meant every evening as I was gearing up at the office at least one person would say, “you’re crazy.” or “you’re insane,” and the ever creative, “there’s something wrong with your head!”

For a while I’d just reply, “yup!” Then, I thought about it. These same people go skiing and don’t think that’s crazy. In my opinion skiing is even worse because you’re out playing in the snow. I usually remind whoever is calling me crazy that while I might be crazy I’m actually quite warm. At which point I bore the person with a winded description of my gear.

Last week we had a day in the 60s and it’s been over 40 every day since last Monday. A few fellow riders actually rode in last week. I even rode home with another rider. Something I haven’t done in a long time. While the weather is supposed to drop back into the 30s this week I think the worst of the winter is over.

The other night I stayed late after work.  The cleaning crew was there and they had a little boy of about eight with them. I was all geared up and getting ready to leave. It was pretty cold that day. I heard the kid ask the woman with him in amazement, “Why does he have a bike?”

The woman answered, “He’s going to ride it home.”

“Doesn’t he have a car?” he asked.

“No,” she replied.

I didn’t catch the rest because they went out of earshot.

Honestly, the most interesting thing to me about that exchange was his amazement.  Like I said, he was probably seven or eight years old. Even at that age he was already under the impression that cars are an expected part of life. Even at that age he thought I was abnormal for not owning a car and riding a bike. Granted, I am abnormal for riding my bike in twenty degree weather. At least in Harrisburg I am.

On my way to work today my bike took a dump.

I heard an ambulance coming up behind me, so out of habit I starting pulling over to the right. I was even slowing down to a stop like I would in a car. The sirens can be disconcerting when I’m riding. It’s a good thing I did slow down. Right when the ambulance passed me all of a sudden things popped and snapped and panniers were flying everywhere and my wheel locked up. My bike came to a grinding halt. It was bedlam!

My first thought was that it was somehow related to the ambulance. The loud siren and then my bike locking up. As far as I can tell it was a coincidence I didn’t have much time to look at it. I fiddled with it for a minute and ended up walking the bike to work.

After some investigation I sort-of found out what happened. I say “sort=of” because I found out all the symptoms, but I still can’t figure out what caused it all. A screw that holds my fender to my rack broke. I think it must have fallen out a while ago. The bracket got caught on the tire and bent the whole way back to my brakes. It locked up the tire. I’m still a little baffled as to how my pannier broke. There is s a knob type thing that tightens to the side of the rack. The entire brace that holds the knob to the pannier snapped into pieces. I’m hoping I can get just a new piece.

There are pictures explaining the aftermath below.

I must have been a  funny site later that day at work. I was outside my cubicle with my bike flipped over. I had the wheel off and my hands were covered in grease. Luckily we had the perfect sized screw in the warehouse. I got the fender all fixed up. I’ll have to see about the pannier.

To top it off, it started sleeting/snowing. I rode home in a wintery mix with a pannier that didn’t want to stay on!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I wrote a post a while back about adventure. I still consider this an adventure! Every day you don’t know what will happen. Will my bike disassemble itself? Will it sleet on me? I guess I should get used to sleet. Puxatony Phil says we’re in for six more weeks.

Yesterday, where did I find myself but the Harrisburg Car Show.

My dad asked me about a week ago if I wanted to go with him to the Car Show. I’ve mentioned before in this blog about how my dad loves cars, and it’s his primary way of connecting with me. It put a unique twist on our relationship. He and used to always talk about my car. Now he talks about what kind of car I should get.

So we go to the Car Show which was $8 to get in. I paid it to hang out with my dad. Honestly, I was interested in seeing some of the hybrids and concept cars. Below are some pictures from the car show. I only took pictures of the exotic and expensive cars. Obviously I didn’t get any shots of the camerys and accords.

About twenty minutes in I realized why my dad invited me. He swears it was an afterthought, but he is shrewd enough to plan this. He knew that once he got me sitting in new cars I would be dazzled. “Oh look, heated seats. Wouldn’t it be nice to have heated seats in your car Ryan? Or even seats at all?” “Look Ryan, this one has an auxiliary jack for your iPod.” “Mmmm, that new-car smell is wonderful, isn’t it?” “You had an Elantra for six years. Think about how reliable the new ones are!” “This color is hot!”

…and so on.

To be honest, I started getting the new-car itch. First, I rationalized it by thinking, “I make a lot of money. Even though cars depreciate it’s still a sound decision to have a reliable vehicle.” Then I’d get out of the car and look at the sticker price. New Elantras loaded were around $18,000. Then I started saying, “Even like a three or four year old Elantra would be OK.” Somewhere in the $3,000 to $5,000 range. Then I remembered my $1,100 credit card debt (that’s right! I’m down from $8,000 to $1,100 in credit card debt!) and $39,000 college loans. That $3000 (not to mention insurance, gas, yadda yadda) could go straight towards my debt. Think about all of the interest that would save me!

I came to a conclusion.

The car will come eventually. When I set out to be car-free I pretty much knew it wouldn’t be forever. I don’t have a plan in mind. I did picture it being for at least a year or so. Plus, by that time I will hopefully be married. Joy is not as hardcore as I am. So we will have at least one car. So my conclusion is, don’t get a car! Pay off my debt!