Comments (5)

By Johnny, October 14, 2009 1:58 am

I reached the half-way point of my 2 month trial period of being car-free. The first month wasn’t too bad. I actually traveled more than I thought I would. I rode about 500+ miles so far. There were days I felt that I was struggling to stay on the bike. Most of the time I’ve been happy riding to and from work. I realize I can’t stay out during school nights too long. Riding home at 11PM or 12AM really sucks when you’re exhausted. I also don’t like to bring my Xtracycle on a train. This limits my mobility since the bike is much longer than normal and I feel like a jerk for blocking people’s way. Plus, I can’t throw it on the bus since their bike racks are built for normal length bikes. Those are pretty much the major challenges for the first month of being car-free.

Now that I just finished the 2nd day into my second month, I was presented some new challenges. I visit my folks weekly and when I got there this week, I did not have the keys to their place. I was locked out in the cold and couldn’t get a hold of them and friends. If I had a car, I would have the keys with my car keys. No, that did not discourage me but made me realize that I need to be more conscious about having keys with me or perhaps stashed away somewhere in case I forget again. Another challenge comes from the weather. Early in the week I saw rain in my forecast. Since I haven’t purchased rain gear for riding, I’m not going to ride the bike home. Instead I’ve planned it out so that I got a ride from a co-worker after my CERT training at work. The rain has raised more awareness as far as going to destinations like the library. Luckily I bribed a friend at work to take me in exchange for joining him for a lunch out. Otherwise, that would have been coming into work later than normal and taking 2 bus rides and a train stop to the library and then work, in the rain. The last but least significant thing I am experience is that I may be socially out casted from my friends who are planning to have monthly / bi-monthly poker games during the week. There’s no way in hell I’m riding over to Culver City on a school night for a poker game. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy so I’m glad I have these challenges. But this is definitely something I’m willing to live with. My spirits are high and I can’t wait till November 14th when the 8 week is done. Hopefully, nothing will change from now until then. I’ll be glad to announce that the car is for sale!