-
Website
http://www.adampieniazek.com/ -
Original page
http://www.adampieniazek.com/personal-achievements/car-free-for-nearly-a-year/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
All Comments
I wish I didn't have to commute 25 miles up 128 every day. I miss my bicycle days.
As for the toll on your body, the toll on your body from driving a car instead of biking would be much higher.
I certainly don't envy your commute, Conflict, and I won't preach to you but just know this, it can be done! It'd be rough and tough, especially for six months of the year (winter and summer), but it is possible. Check out this Canadian cyclist who commutes 180 kilometres (112 miles)! Sure it takes him 2.5 hours each way (and he only does it twice a week) but I'm sure you've been in traffic on 128 that takes that long to get through!
If you ever give the 25 mile cycle commute a shot, let me know how it goes!
Way to be Kerry! I don't think you're a wuss for not braving the elements 365 days a year. There's been times where the wind literally almost knocks me over, or just slows me down to a crawl so I emphasize with avoiding mother nature when she's angry at us.
I've turned into quite an advocate for cycling and have gotten a few people to convert. I think once one person in a group starts cycling and shows how awesome it is, more and more people will join. And though I agree with you that Conflict isn't necessarily required to commute by car, I do understand why she doesn't commute 25 miles (especially if that's one way). Personally, I'd probably still ride my bike for that commute (especially if 25 miles is round trip, that's a quick trip once you get in riding shape) but at the same time I realize not everyone is going to cycle everywhere.
I'm 100% with you, Kerry, on companies offering work from home opportunities. It's one of the many reasons I left my corporate cubicle job. Sometimes I really wonder if big corporations even want their employees to be productive, because a lot of them do make it tough to do so.
<abbr>Kerrys last blog post..Monday Happenings</abbr>
<abbr>Mike Johnstons last blog post..Announcing the new public release of AxCMS.net 8.5</abbr>
I have two grocery stores within a ten minute walk from my house and a subway station 5 minutes away. I haven't moved over the past year, but even then I could rent a bike trailer to move my stuff.
Plus, if I really, really need a car for something I can always rent one, take a cab, get a zip car or ask a friend and it works out to be much cheaper than owning a car for a whole year. I haven't needed to use any of these options yet but if need be they are there.
Even better point about the expensive and/or rare parking spots! Via bike you can literally park almost anywhere and it's really made me start to forget just how insanely tough it is to find parking spots in this city.
Kudos and congratulations on your nearly three decades of being carless!
the model i have, the sofrider, puts you about eye level with a regular small car. i have not had any problem with car drivers not seeing me. rear visibility is achieved by using a handelbar, helmet, or eyeglass mounted mirror.
EDIT by Adam: Here's the link to the store for when it does come back online: http://www.cruzbike.com/silvio.html
I'm actually very intrigued by that silvio model, I'll have to check out where they have it in stock when their site is back up online (see all that traffic I drove them crashed their servers! hehe!). I'm honestly a little skeptical still about the visibility issue, not so much from my end but from the perspective of a person in a car. On a traditional bike, I can stand up on my pedals and extend myself to make sure that drivers in big trucks and buses can see me. Plus, that way it seems I can see further down the road too if need be, whereas my vision might get blocked by an SUV or truck being that low to the ground.
Still, I'm all for new experiences so I'm going to check out that silvio when I get a chance. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.
P.S. As an amateur economics geek, I'm a big fan of mises.org!
Same here. It's funny, when I my eyes cross "carlessly" in your post I keep reading it as "carelessly". I take the commuter rail so that's not exactly the case all the time. I'll take a slow ride on the train over a 30 minute drive on Route 9 any day.
Living without a car in the Boston area is a great lifestyle choice. Nice work.
<abbr>Jeff Egnaczyk´s last blog post..Today's Supposed to be the Day</abbr>
Right on munca, biking is quite addictive.
Well Jeff, Boston might be a good city to live carelessly in too? We've got a pretty good public hospital (relatively), relatively good public education (especially the exams schools and Umass Boston is a ridiculously good value), and it's small enough that getting around by solely by foot or bike is extremely doable.
I'm with you on the train being better than driving. You can read a book or take care of some work or even take a nap on the train, tasks I would not advise doing while driving, though I've seen it done.
<abbr>Domy Gryfino´s last blog post..Dzia?ki budowlane - B?dgoszcz</abbr>
<abbr>Management Education´s last blog post..sucools Intro</abbr>
I have tried avoiding vehicles for about a month, and just used to run on bicycles. It was really hard. I can feel the troubles you might have faced the whole year. Keep it up. you rock.
<abbr>work at home´s last blog post..Ways to Earn Money Online Fast?</abbr>
If you have a second, please stumble my post about living car-free for a year! http://bit.ly/3K32U Please RT! :-)
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
I admire and envy you for going car free. I long so much to be able to do that, hence all of the law schools I am applying to are located in areas (with the exception of Vermont Law) with excellent public transportation. I considered doing that here, but in San Diego our public transportation is not so good. A 10 minute drive would take me almost an hour by bus, and the pass per month was more than my gas. It just doesn't make sense. Hooray for you for doing this. The environment thanks you.
Still, if you get a bicycle you can then cut out a lot of those short little car trips, like going to the market that's less than a mile away for a bottle of milk could be instead done via bike.
Thanks Brandon, it's 7 to 8 years, not 78! That would be quite impressive if I was 94, eh? Yeah, I find cars very claustrophobia inducing now and I don't have claustrophobia!
Another big persuasion point was that I became very sick of feeling constrained inside a car and being stuck on a path with the countless other "trapped" souls in their boxes on wheels. I really think of more people gave bicycles an honest chance they'd fall in love with them too.
Ditch the car for the T & save $12, 632 http://bit.ly/jN4Bm | Save even more by ditching both and riding a bike! http://bit.ly/3K32U
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
You are doing a great favor to our ecological system and the quality of air we breath.
You should try a cruzbike, it is pretty fast, eco-friendly and rather fun to ride.
Thumbs up! More people should follow your example!