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.

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!

I have been driving my car a lot. My excuse has been that I will drive it until I get it cleaned up enough to bother posting it on Craigslist. That excuse has worked for almost two weeks. I made up my mind that I’m going to do a major clean of my car on Sunday. Then have my car listed by Sunday evening. It’s time. I fear that if I don’t sell it soon I’ll rationalize my way out of selling it at all.

I have been doing very well with my finances. I have only $393 left on my first card. I’ve brought it down from $3200 in 10 months! I’m so close to paying it off! I’ve been saving a little along the way. It’s a piece of mind thing. I have $600 saved so far. So I’m still focused on getting out of debt.

As I did mention. I rode my bike to my girlfriend’s for the first time last Saturday. It was a perfect ride. The roads are in good shape. There are very few hills. It takes me through some beautiful scenery. Said and done it is a 23 mile ride. That’s not bad at all. I made a few detours and stops along the way, so I don’t have a good feel for how long it takes me. I imagine I’ll be making the ride a lot more now that I know how pleasant it is.

We went camping the next night, so I had to carry all the camping gear. Even with the extra weight it was a good ride!

I didn’t think about taking pics until I was about 17 miles into the ride, so you miss most of it. I took them with my phone so the quality may not be the best. Also, I figured out how to embed latitude and longitude with my phone, so in the future you may get maps of images of my rides you can interact with. Honestly, this is the prettiest stuff. It’s Autumn in Pennsylvania. It’s gorgeous! I’ll be back soon with some more posts, but I wanted to fill in the blanks with what’s been happening.

Click an image for more information. You can click the image on the next page for an even bigger shot.

I was happy to have my bike back from the shop. My wheel was all trued up. I had just wiped down and lubed up my components. I was excited to be out riding on this gorgeous day. Not only that, but I was actually on time for work! I’ve noticed that since I started riding I sleep in more, but that’s another post.

I noticed that it was hard to ride. My back tire was low. No problem. It had been a few days since I’ve ridden. I was about a mile and a half into the ride. I pulled over to pump it up. Not even ten feet in I realized that there was a flat.

Yet again. No problem. Flats are part and parcel of riding a bicycle. Although all of my flats have been from malfunctioning tubes and not road debris. The problem is, the tubes I had just purchased were in my car!

I had to turn around and walk home. In the interest of time I just hopped into my car. I wasn’t necessary late, but later than I wanted considering my new goal of coming in earlier.

About the time I get home I take my phone out of my pannier and realize my boss called me. I called him back. One of our clients needed some dates filled in for her newsletter. Of course, she wanted them 20 minutes ago! So I had to rush in and fill out this spreadsheet in lightning time.

I realize that I could have simply changed my tire and ridden my bike, but today I was glad I had my car. That document would have gotten out even later!

The results of my survey are in. Thank you to the twelve people who responded. Over 70 people abandoned the survey without answering. You can see the stats below. I’ll break it down under the image.

First of, thank you to the one honest person that said they don’t care; it’s easy to change an apathetic world because no one cares what you do. For a while there the “NOs” were leading. It actually got to me. It started making me think that this experiment is not logical. Then the “YESs” pulled through for me in the clutch.

Here are a few of my favorite “why” comments and my responses. Let’s start with the “NOs.”

NO:

it doesn’t hurt you much, does it?

My first reaction was to agree. I thought, “you know, it’s really not that big of a deal to keep it around. It’s paid off, and I’ve had a car for ten years.” Then I thought of the $5000 credit card debt and the $41,000 student loans. The car doesn’t hurt me much, but the debt does. I’m in the ever continuing quest to slim my expenses.

Being completely car free is not practical. But try and not use it for any short trips (even laundry) and try and keep it to a couple long trips (gf, parents) a month.

When I first got the car back from the shop that was one of my ways to rationalize keeping the it. Using it for longer trips only. Then I started thinking about the fact that the car doesn’t have a fourth gear. My girlfriend lives thirty miles and my parents fifty; it’s probably not the best car for longer distances. In the comments someone gave the suggestion of putting the money saved in gas and insurance towards rentals. If I were to put 100% of it towards rentals then there is no point of me selling the car. But I was thinking of a hybrid version. I could put half or a third towards rentals and use the rest to pay off debt, of course. I have done the math. It’s still cheaper to rent a car twice a month (on the weekends) than own a car.

Use it for backup. Get your insurance reduced to ‘leisure driving’ only for a better rate.

This one has gotten me seriously thinking. I am going to call my insurance company and see what the “leisure driving” rates are. It can’t hurt to find out.

YES:

1) To get the extra cash to pay down credit cards.
2) To save more money. (This blog has a strong financial undertone.) Even though I suggested only spending $30/month in gas, how much would you be spending with Insurance, registration, inspections. . .?
3) You’ve said you’d drive a car if you had one, and it doesn’t sound like you’ve missed a car so far.
4) I don’t know what you demand of a car, but you can probably buy a mostly-reliable older used car for what you would have paid for the transmission.
5) If the car is parked, you’ll start having other problems if you don’t run it every so often.
6) You’re going carless, dammit!!

1 & 2) I really do want to pay my credit cards off. I’ve been slimming down everywhere else. This seems like a good time to try the carless thing.
3) I really have been getting by just fine so far. It’s been three weeks. I only drove the car from when I picked it up to my house.
4) Honestly, this experiment has changed my perception about cars. My coworker made an offhand comment that her friend buys $1000 beaters and drives them into the ground. $1000 a year? That would be four months of a new car payment.
5) You’re right. A car develops problems whether you’re driving it a lot or not.
6) I’m going carless, dammit!!

I sold my car, then recently my scooter…now I just bike everywhere. Someone at work saw me riding the bike and asked: “How do you stay motivated?” my reply: “If you want to get motivated to bike more….sell your car”

That pretty much sums it up!

Conclusion:

I believe you can tell which direction I’m leaning. I agree with the sentiment that I haven’t really missed the car so far. I realize it’s going to get colder for bike riding, but that’s why I got the winter gear. I’m taking a few days to process everything. I have to go through the hoops of trying to sell a car with no fourth gear. Any ideas?

I will leave the survey open as I continue to think about what to do and how to go about it. I have even created a page (link above).

I will keep you in the loop about developments.

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?

Purchasing bike gear for winter is interesting. A lot of the gear is for racing cyclists. Since I am a commuter with a relatively short distance I don’t see the need to get all geared up. I like the ability to show up where I’m going without having to do much changing. So here are a few of the items I think I will need. I’m trying to start light and add on as I find I need something.

• Bike Jacket for winter wind and rain
• Wicking base layers
• Wind proof pants (preferably to put over jeans or long underwear)
• Headband for my ears (I have a non-biking balaclavaa for very cold days)
• Gloves (I’m going to try the non-biking pair I have for now)
• Wool socks (a few pairs)
• Another front light
• Another rear light
• Thinking about pogies (moose mitts). A wind blocking fabric over the handle bars
• Thinking about sewing wind blocking material over the clips on my pedals

Late last week I purchased a Gore Bike Wear jacket. It’s waterproof and windproof. It is bright yellow and reflective. The sleeves zip off to become a vest. The jacket arrived today. From what I read it’s comfortable down to freezing with only a wicking layer underneath. I’ll let you know how it holds up.

Speaking of wicking layers. I purchased 3 short sleeved Army wicking t-shirts. The Army shirts are considerably cheaper. I also purchased one long sleeve wicking shirt.

I think I have what I need to get through the cool mornings of the fall.

Do you have any tips on what has worked well for you while riding in the winter?

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.