RANDOM CAR-FREE/ BIKE-COMMUTING THOUGHTS

---The reason I really wanted to start writing was to do two things....1) to chronicle this journey from very casual bike, very frequent car drive to a car free bike riding everywhere enthusiast...to watch my own change, monitor ideas, etc.  and 2) hopefully to help other people who are considering either giving up their car, or going car-lite....
So going forward...I’m going to try and add tips, ideas, etc...that even if the idea of getting rid of the car never enters your mind, maybe some things will register as possibilities to incorporate in your own commuting/errand-doing, moving about town meanderings.

---I like doing errands on the weekends on my bike...It feels adventurous to have to plan them out, what place to stop first, do they have a bike rack to lock my bike up, then what place is next, etc...
But...it’s sort of easy really.  For me it’s usually farthest away first....The bank, then Rite-Aid, Vons, the quick easy stuff...no real need for a car, or moreso, no real need for a trunk to put stuff in.

---I really am liking the evening ride home home, even in the dark.  I hated it the first few days last week after the time change.  But now it feels so cool, relaxing actually.   Of course, I do have three lights which helps a lot! 

---I think what helped me shift into liking the night riding was three different things....
1- a good friend told me to pretty much “just do it” and get used to it. 
2- turning it into an adventure, not an inconvenience....(I wrote about that before)
3-- and this was the biggest...I made a conscious decision to just take my time, go more slowly on the way home and to be more cautious.  I figured out, once I looked at my hesitation about riding in the dark, was that it was all ready just fear.  Our old friend fear rears its ugly head again...

---I was singing yesterday on the way home from work....feeling good, alive, connected to everything....it was a great old Brazilian song I learned years ago, NEGUE, by Maria Bethania....LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that song...reminded me of my wonderful friend Jan back in Baltimore.  (lots of love to you Jan!)

---While I was singing....( I find i do it a lot actually, LOL...) I came upon three teenagers skateboarding by....all laughing etc...one said, “nice, dude...”  It was actually so cool..I just joined in and laughed along.  THAT FELT GOOD. 

---I’m noticing slowly some changes to how I ride...and I’m liking it.  Without really thinking about it...I now, after a dead stop, while start standing up and pedal to get some speed up...Not all the time, but I just started doing it without realizing it.  It’s like it makes me feel more in sync with the bike.  Hard to explain besides just saying that it feels really like I’m part of the bike, together.