#117 I Want To Ride My Bicycle
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Pop quiz, hotshot. Gas costs a little more than four dollars a gallon. Kevin’s rattletrap minivan gets a little less than twenty miles to the gallon. The drive to work is exactly nine-point-nine miles each way. What do you do?
That’s the question I’ve been wrestling with. I pay four dollars a day for the round-trip to my place of semi-involuntary-servitude. The most tempting response is to quit work, but my wife has a violent emotional reaction every time I broach the subject of an income-free lifestyle. The less tempting responses include public transit or bicycling.
I’m in favor of public transit in theory, but opposed to it in practice. Like most people, I believe that public transit is a good idea for the public which is a term applied to anyone who isn’t me.
No car? No bus? That leaves bicycling………
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NOTES:
- I write these essays about two months before I record them. So, since I originally put pen to paper, I’ve upgraded my bike. You can read all about the kind of bike I bought at:
http://tinyurl.com/5h648m - I’ve picked up some useful tips and interesting news at the Bike Commuter Tips blog. You’ll find it at:
http://bikecommutetips.blogspot.com - A great site for information about bicycling as an alternative to driving is the 1 World 2 Wheels site. Check it out at:
http://www.1world2wheels.org/ - I was pleased to find out that I have a listener in Singapore. She even linked to this site from her blog. You can find out more at:
http://nekoscratchpad.blogspot.com/ - As I mentioned in the episode, Short Cummings Audio was selected as the Comedy/Parody winner at the Parsec Awards. You can find out more at:
http://www.parsecawards.com/node/542
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OK, you have already bought the new bike and thus incurred a commute-amortization period extending well past your retirement age, BUT… had you only asked first, some of us could have told you about RECUMBENT bikes which have two big differences from that nice upright commuter Trek.
One, their seats are almost as wide as your seat — and thank you so much for going with the Torquemada analogy on bike seats and avoiding the proctologist one — so just take a look at any of the bikes at http://www.easyracers.com and consider the fanny factor.
By way of compensation, they make you look like 3 or 4 times the dork that a regular bike does. But as long as you don’t care how you look, a recumbent is much nicer to ride.
Thanks for the great (and hilarious) comment.
My brother-in-law is a bent biker and he’s the one who recommended the Trek. Of course, he followed the recommendation with some mumbled comment about my being a cheap so-and-so.
Great site, by the way! Love the bikes…perhaps for my next one…
Hey Kevin! Thanks for linking to my blog! I’m glad you found it interesting.
Congratulations again on your well-deserved Parsec win! Whoever it was that nominated you sure has good taste for humor!
You’re welcome for the link and thanks for the kind words!