Car-free?

I haven't posted in two weeks, wow!  I guess I was just too busy...a friend had some surgery and I was helping out, works been very busy and hectic, leaving me wiped out at night....

Anyway....this is about car-free, not necessarily just bike stuff.  For a week I was driving a car, my friend who had the surgery lent me his to get back and forth more quickly.  I enjoyed the convenience of getting some errands done for sure.  But...an interesting thing happened...I wasn't filled with a desire to be a car driver again.  It was interesting for me.  I started to miss my bike riding.  I did do some errands on my bike last weekend, and getting back "in the saddle" felt really right. 

What I'm trying to say is....this car-free really resonates with me.  I miss the exercise and the quiet time that biking to work provides.  Really looking forward to Monday's ride to work....

Listening to the most amazing podcast right now....It's a dj in Vegas that a co-worker, former co-worker  :o(, got me into, the dj, Faarsheed, is a friend of his.  This link is to his mixes....one of the mixes that I dare you to listen to and not start swaying back and forth to a bit is 008-1.  Quite a difference from opera, but oh, so, good..........

Weekend bike riding

 

I really like doing my errands on my bike.  It's such a different way to get them done on a bike compared to a car.  Today I rode over to Ralph's to pick up something, about 2 miles.  Then into Trader Joe's....picked up among other things, some amazing persimmons for only $2.49 for four of them...big and plump... then packed up my groceries...and started to head home.....and then stopped at the Hillcrest Farmer's Market.  I didn't need anything there, but I wandered thru after locking up the bike and tried some of the samples and checking out the amazing fruits and veggies, and other people wandering around too....Then...a nice smooth cruise home, backpack full....errands done.  Perfect.

Locking my bike up outside of TJ's was pretty frickin' cool...there were 7 bikes already locked up!  That really gets me going...seeing other people into it as well.  Then when I came out of the store to leave, I got into a conversation with a couple that was also unlocking their bikes.  That kind of instant connection because of the bikes has happened a lot.  LOVE IT.

Wanted to take a pic of the bikes all locked up, but ended up talking and didn't remember till about half way home...

The pic here is me on the way to work right after sunrise.

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.

Inconvenience vs. Adventure

When this all started, the idea of selling the car, going everywhere by bike mostly, bus at times...car free as it were....a very good friend suggested I look at it as an adventure, not an inconvenience.

I have thought about that so, so many times since then!  It keeps coming up for me.  It's usually when I have to go somewhere on bike that I haven't gone yet.  My mind goes to "inconvenience".  It usually takes some time, sometimes a few minutes, sometimes a day or so...but I am able to get around to "adventure" again....and then it is always fun, exhilarating, and a great reminder of what this whole car-free experience is about for me.

A couple examples recently were over this past weekend, leading up to yesterday, Monday....I was going to be in Mission Hills dogsitting for the weekend.  It's only a few miles from where I live, but as the name indicates...there are a lot of hills there!  And...just tacking on a few more miles on the bike seemed daunting, oh, wait, yeah...that's right, an INCONVENIENCE!  Hahahah.

I had to go to a certain store and pick up something on Saturday...I can't tell you how I went around and around about that in my head...it was a different route, where are the bike racks there, I'm pretty tired....those were just three of the thoughts.  So...after all that, I finally got moving, and have this really cool experience.  I rode thru a few busy streets I thought would be intimidating, but weren't....then the bike racks were right in full view...had a short but pleasant conversation with another guy on a bike at the bike racks.

Yesterday I had to leave the house where I was dog sitting...then go to work, then come home, with a detour since they are doing some kind of construction on my beloved Texas hill....(see previous post!!!).  I went thru the same thing as I had over the weekend, not wanting to, I'm tired, etc....

What a day it was!  The extra 20 or so minutes to get to work was tiring, yes....but it felt so good to accomplish it!  And riding thru a nice part of town at 6:30 am....people getting their day started, a couple of firemen walking across the street with coffee right in front of where I was waiting at a light, other people exercising, going to work, etc....was exactly what I needed to feel adventurish again.  Same exact thing with going home.  I didn't want to do a new route for the whole "inconvenience" of it....Now, I am so glad I know that route an have that option.

(this was NOT the fireman walking across the street with the coffee....)

The whole point of all this is for me....how I view this car-free experiment/experience is exactly how it is going to be.  It is going to be an adventure, fun, challenging, tiring, fulfilling....or it will be an inconvenience, and I'll be grouchy, and feel lousy.

I'm opting for the adventure!

And...that pic up top....from yesterday's ride in the morning...right over I-15, close to work...what a sunrise!  I never see that stuff from a car...;o)