Reader Story: The Costs and Savings of Bicycle Commuting
Published on - June 12th, 2011 (by J.D. Roth) This guest post from Duran Valdez is part of the “reader stories” feature at Get Rich Slowly. Some stories contain general advice; others are examples of how a GRS reader achieved financial success — or failure. These stories feature folks from all levels of financial maturity and with all sorts of incomes.
For the past two years, I’ve been riding a bicycle to work. Mostly because I’m cheap. My commute is a 12-mile round trip along residential streets with a nice downhill stretch that leads me into the parking lot of the school where I work. I’ve made this trip in 100-degree weather, in fog, and in rain. I’ve managed to survive pot holes, stray dogs, and the social stigma attached to wearing clothing that looks like it came straight out of an X-Men comic book.
I recently tried to break down the costs and spending of riding for the past year. How much would I have spent on my car if I’d driven instead? How much did the bike cost? What about the commuting equipment? Unfortunately, some of the benefits you can’t quantify (you know: health, enjoyment), but I did what I could.
First, during the last year, I’ve ridden roughly 300 miles a month for strictly utilitarian purposes (I’m not counting my fun rides), which puts me at about 3600 miles for the year. I didn’t actually sell my car; I just drove it when I had to haul a load.
Buying a bike
I’ve primarily ridden a Fuji Cross Comp that I picked up in nearly new condition from someone with buyer’s remorse. The bicycle cost me $700, but unlike most modern road bikes, it’s designed to handle racks, panniers, fenders, and tires wide enough to handle rough city streets. Other commuters could probably get away with older steel touring bicycles that you can buy for as low as $150-200 used.
Realistically, there’s a lot of gear needed to make a bicycle into a form of practical transportation. Here’s a rundown of what I consider to be essentials:
- Rear Rack: $30
- Trunk Bag with folding panniers: $70 — This bag clipped on and off my rear rack, and was big enough to hold my laptop, spare clothes, and locks.
- Wind jacket: $5 from a swap meet. Not bad.
- Tool kit/pump/tubes, etc: Roughly $50.
- Gloves: $15
- Wrist ID Bracelet: $12 — Makes me feel a little safer.
- Helmet: $20 from Target.
- Front and rear lights for evening rides: $80
- Fenders: $30
- Clothing: $0 — A couple of bright workout clothes have worked fine for me.
I expect most of this spending will be one time. Still, $312 is a price that makes my eyes water.
What about maintenance? Well, I’ve had to replace my bike chain once. Also, I had to buy some chain lube to stretch out its life span. Total cost for both? $30. My tires are holding up, but it’s likely that I’ll only get another 1000 miles before they’re worn down to the threads, and I’ll have to buy another set for $50. This year maintenance might have been minimal, but when you figure in things like bottom brackets and brake pads wearing out, a more realistic cost of average annual maintenance is likely to be $100.
Additional costs and benefits
I’ve lost ten pounds (and feel no need to buy a gym membership) in the last year. I show up to work feeling refreshed and energetic and, weather permitting, I get a daily dose of fresh air and sun. I enjoy cycling so much at this point that I avoid driving whenever possible. Two months ago, I challenged myself to get through a month on a single tank of gas–and I managed to finish the month with the tank still half full. And this is while living in Southern California, where even elementary school kids know what color their F-150 will be.
Of course, I’ve fallen in love with bicycles, which can be quite a pricey hobby. The elegant Velo Orange Randonneur bike I plan on building is going to cost me almost $1500. There’s also a time component as well — every work day I spend an extra half an hour commuting to work because I’ve chosen not to drive.
Costs compared to driving
All right, so figuring in the cost of the bike, average maintenance, and equipment, I’ve had to spend about $1112 to get through the year. If I’d gone cheap on the bike, this figure could be cut almost in half.
According to the AAA, the national average cost per mile is 58.5 cents. So after putting a little fourth-grade math to work, I figure my driving costs for the year would have been $2106. This means I saved roughly $994, even with such high starting costs. Next year, my savings should be a little more than $2000. Not bad!
And of course, if I really want to make myself salivate, I could always estimate how much next year’s savings would do for me if I invested it in an index fund for 20 years…
Final thoughts
As gas prices and obesity rates continue to rise, I can’t help but wonder why more Americans don’t choose two wheels over four. Financially, it seems to make a lot more sense, and when you factor in how cycling can prevent the onset of deadly (and expensive to treat) health conditions like diabetes, it seems like a no-brainer.
Still, America is the first country to mass produce cars, and it’s not likely to give up its obsession with cars just yet. However, if gas ever (when?) hits $7 or $8 a gallon, things might change quicker than I imagined.
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Very neat the way you’ve broken down costs. Transportation seems to be pretty expensive no matter how you do it.
I don’t bike because I am a fragile wilting flower who cannot handle the un-airconditioned walking commute between my car in the parking lot and the building. I have colleagues made of sterner stuff who do though, despite the lack of bike paths.
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I realized, when I commuted downtown, that my bike commute was actually a lot easier than most people’s drive, park half a mile from the office, and walk commute – I could bike right up to the door, take off my flat shoes & put on heels, and walk in about 3 yards compared to all the women walking in their heels 6 or 8 blocks.
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My regular parking spot is about 20 feet from the door to my building and I don’t even own a pair of heels. So no, I don’t think that’s the issue. Some of us were not meant to be out in 100 degree temperatures with 80% humidity. More power to those who enjoy it. Also, nothing keeps women from having a pair of flats in their car if it’s really that long a walk.
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Why on earth would you live in a place with 100% humidity if you can’t handle it?
Surely you have poor quality of life if you wilt every time you leave the house.
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There’s a reason I don’t leave the house much in the summer.
As to why, not everybody gets to have the job they like in the place they like. If you’d like to ameliorate the problem for me, I am accepting donations of 10 million dollars. That will allow me to buy a small house in the SF bay area where I will be able to go outside year round and not have to worry about employment.
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But according to another one of your comments you “make a buttload of money” and “had to be kept indoors at preschool in San Francisco” right? So you certainly don’t need a cash injection to move to the Bay Area.
Why not move to a cold part of the world is all I’m saying. You obviously hate the heat and it doesn’t do you any good, so why not move North? Or, let me guess, you’re a freezing flower in the cold? Because you’re coming across as simply pathetic.
The Northern European argument is rubbish too, my Swedish friend today was complaining it was too cold in London. It’s close to 35c in Sweden at the mo.
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Nicole,
Quick thought on the issue of you not being able to handle a biking commute: I disagree that not everyone can handle 100 degree, 80% humidity conditions. The human body is one of, if not THE most amazing adaptors to climate and environment on the planet. We can and do live and thrive in every kind of weather this beautiful world throws at us.
It may be difficult at first, but then again, so is physical therapy. Maybe start with parking 30 feet from the front door, then move up to 40, and so on. You could even start with a nice ride around your block at home, or even just to the end of the street and back. Give yourself and your body a little more credit- the results may surprise you.
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Duran,
I bike commute to work, also – probably averaging 2-3 times/wk – on an 18 mile roundtrip route. The first year I did this (probably 3 or 4 years ago) – I calculated how much I saved in just gas alone – and it easily paid for the bike and all of the supplies I purchased to get myself set for bike commuting (and that was just in the first year!).
And since then, I’ve also started to do some mountain biking (can you really call it mountain biking if you live in Wisconsin?!?!?) with another bike that I’ve picked up – and I’m loving that, too!
Keep on riding, keep on saving, and keep on living healthy!!
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Good on ya for the healthy lifestyle. Would love to see a similar tale of scooter-ing.
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Thanks for this post. It is nice to see the benefits broken down in financial terms, not to mention the health benefits.
I am now walking with my son to school this summer; it saves me two little trips in the car each day. While I am glad not to waste the gas, I am also thankful that I am avoiding some wear and tear on our car. (That will give me a little more time to save to pay cash for a replacement. :0)
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And you’re spending more time with your son! Don’t forget that awesome and unquantifiable benefit
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I’ve been bike commuting for about 6 years now. It’s between 22 and 28 miles round trip depending on route (some days are so nice I take the long route). I ride all year long, including in snow and ice (they make studded tires which make my bike more stable than a car on ice)
For me it’s not about saving money, it’s about getting outside for physical and mental health, environmentalism and just having fun. I’m pushing 50 and during a 3 month period where I buckled down and worked tons of overtime to pay off a long-standing credit card debt last year, I was forced to go onto blood pressure medication. Once I started riding again, my BP went back down again and I’ve lost the weight I put back on.
The difference in how I feel every day is amazing. Getting fit is an important first step in improving your life. Getting regular exercise gives you more energy every day (once you get over the hump of being unfit), you get better sleep and you need less sleep. It gives you a basis for every other thing you might want to do, whether it’s travel or whatever, if you are more fit you’re less likely to get sick or not be able to go on that extra short hike at the end of day 6 of your vacation.
Cycling is also an amazing way to destress after work.
All told I have about $1000 in my bike and equipment, less than half of that is the bike. A lot of equipment can be skipped in many cases; you don’t need lighting if you only ride in daylight (though I use it even then). You don’t need rain gear if you don’t ride in the rain (and IMO if it’s > 60 degrees out; I actually like riding in the rain if it’s warm).
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Out of curiosity, do you have shower facilities at your job? My current job is too far to realistically bike commute, though there is a shower there that we can use. But all of the other places I’ve worked didn’t have facilities. I know that after I work out, I would not want to put on business wear without being able to wash up first!
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If there are private bathrooms of any type, you could just do a quick sponge bath. And as long as your route isn’t full of hills, it is likely you won’t get sweaty after awhile of biking — your body gets used to the distance.
I bike commuted a mile each way to school this past year. Not a long ride, but I did get sweaty initially (I am in pretty poor shape). But I found that I air dried pretty quickly and didn’t smell. After awhile, I only sweated on the hot days.
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Lots of people on bikeforums work in a place with no showers. It turns out that if you take a thorough shower before the ride so that the microorganisms that cause the smell are mostly gone to start with, you can clean up quite well with wet wipes in a bathroom.
There are people there who commute 35 miles or even more (I saw one guy doing 45 miles) one way, though I doubt they do it every day.
Another alternative that many people use is a multimodal commute – go part way in your car, leave the car at a park-n-ride and ride the rest of the way. Or part way on the bus. This can save you a TON of money, especially since some people pay as much as a few hundred bucks a MONTH for parking.
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Yay, great post!
My advice to all the naysayers who I know are coming is just try it. It’s fun. And if a 74 year old man in my town can commute 60 miles round trip in hilly upstate NY, you might want to give anything shorter than that a try at least once.
Most people would probably be surprised to find bike commuting is much easier than they think–especially the folks who live in places with flat geography.
My commute is in town so it takes the exact same amount of time to bike as it does to drive. If I didn’t obey traffic laws, it would be faster.
The biggest downsides–potholes are much less fun when the only thing between your delicates and the road is a tiny bicycle seat.
And, as a woman, I find juggling expectations for my appearance to be tougher when biking. You don’t want to know what a bike chain can do to silk slacks (even with tabs around your ankles). Oh, and you haven’t known pain until you spent 20 minutes blow drying your hair just to have it come out shaped like a bike helmet when you get to work.
As for hauling, I second Duran’s suggestion of a rack and panniers. I also invested in a Doggy Ride cart to pull behind my bike. My dog hates it but it’s great for groceries and other hauling jobs. It can hold up to 125 pounds.
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Upstate NY is not the deep South. Just sayin’.
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Is Texas the deep South?
I rode to work last week on Tuesday and Thursday. Those days were 100 degrees and 99 degrees respectively, though at the start of the day it was a pleasant 70-something.
My commute is 12 hilly miles round trip. There are shower facilities at work, but I tend to find that I don’t sweat much in the morning. I use a damp towel and change clothes, comb my hair and stick it into a bun or ponytail, and I am good for the day.
It is remarkable how quickly the human body can adapt if you change the stimulus/environment and give it a little time. If you’ve got a relatively short commute, consider giving it a shot. I spend a fair amount of time enjoying the outdoors and I often find myself freezing in those air conditioning buildings and my car when passengers turn up the AC for their comfort.
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I used to do a 28 mile roundtrip bike commute in a very hilly part of Austin. But… I like biking. Really like it. I think this is a great place to save money if you like it. If you don’t, don’t force it.
I’ve also bike commuted in Chicago (coldest day = negative 35) and NYC (over 4 bridges roundtrip). I’m doing it less these days because after being forced to be a driver for 3 years for my job, I realized how hard it is for cars to see bikes, and became very afraid of being hit. But that just means I walk to work, so no big deal.
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“I can do it therefore everybody can/should do it,” is not actually a valid argument. There’s a reason the population of the South only really started growing after air conditioning was introduced.
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Nicole, of course not everyone can do what I can do. I don’t expect a quadriplegic to ride a bike, someone with a heart problem, old age+lack of fitness, someone who is allergic to their own sweat (some people break out in rashes), someone whose commute would be dangerous to ride their bike to work.
But I’m a “wilting flower” is an excuse, not a reason. You actually sound like you take pride in your daintiness, like it somehow makes you more feminine or lady-like than the rest of us? Why repeatedly make the “wilting flower” excuse?
You don’t want to ride your bike to work, I get that, and obviously no one is going to be able to force you. The bike lobby (does one exist?) isn’t going to start banning cars or mandating riding your bike to work.
I’m not going to start picketing anyone’s front porch, but because I don’t like consequences of everyone using cars for everything (pollution, traffic, urban sprawl, foreign oil dependence, the obesity epidemic, etc) I don’t mind chipping in some personal anecdotes and scientific data.
And maybe no feels the need to step outside their comfort zone and make one experimental run at riding to work. At least that’s something I can’t possibly know.
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Hun, when I was in preschool in San Francisco, they kept me indoors whenever the sun came out because I would PASS OUT. I also literally passed out in PE in high school whenever we did tennis. If anything, wilting flower is an understatement.
I still black out when I overheat. I also get headaches, heat rash, and lots and lots of other things I’d be happier to live without. And yes, that includes being allergic to my own sweat. I spent large portions of my childhood summers in the midwest huddled in the basement because my parents don’t have central air and are fanatical about energy costs and the environment anyway. Schools were also unairconditioned until high school. I swore when I grew up I would never have to suffer being too hot or too cold again. It is one of the reasons I make a buttload of money.
I like swimming. I do better in dry heat then wet so long as I’m constantly drinking, but where I live is humid, so it’s immaterial.
I don’t care if you grew up in New Orleans and love the heat. I don’t. I get seriously bad health problems. My ancestors are pretty much 100% from northern Europe and I figure I just wasn’t built for the heat. If you think I’m protesting too much I hope someday you have to be someplace that’s 10-20 degrees above your comfortable temperature and people mock you too.
This is not something that my human body is “just going to adapt to.” It has had PLENTY of chances to do so and it has not, so I seriously doubt that at my age it is going to suddenly start now.
So whatever, like I said in my first comment some (well, actually just one, and not even he is doing it in the summer) of my colleagues bike to work. That doesn’t mean everybody is going to or even can.
Btw, for everybody who is complaining that people like me are destroying the environment, I am lowering the central air one degree each time. I’m feeling grumpy. I feel less grumpy when I’m cool. (Normally it’s set at 84 during the day when we’re home, just for you all, it is now set at 82.)
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Thanks for clarifying the extent of your heat problems Nicole. Medical issues are never good to mess with and nothing to be ashamed of, though it must get tiring to have to explain them to strangers.
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I hope J.D. will give me a pass and allow me to provide this link: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com
Lots of fashionable ladies and gents biking on the blog, feeling the wind in their hair, feeling healthy and saving transportation costs. I personally had a rough time cycling in the beginning because I was not in shape (and note: I live in a city that is conducive to cycling. Further, note to Nicole, when you overheat, you generally feel *sick* no matter who you are), but it was part of my plan to save my transportation bucks and invest, and get physically stronger. I now feel great as a regular commuting cyclist in New York, where it gets insanely hot in the summer, and snowy in the winter. I only ever drive a car when I leave the city.
It is not for everyone, but for those who can dare put their feet to the pedals, may eventually reap real rewards.
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I do live in the deep south (San Antonio) and I bike to work 12 hilly miles round trip. Last week I biked all week and the high was in the mid to upper 90′s. Heat was no problem at all. I have no shower at work so I carry my clothes and wash up in the bathroom while changing. I do not notice any odors and have not heard anything from the others at the office either(I sure hope they are not just being polite
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I think Nicole made a light and humorous comment early and has been dumped on a lot here. No one should have to defend their choices to a bunch of commenters on a blog.
Just wanted Nicole (and anyone else feeling put upon) that my comment was meant to encourage someone sitting on the fence. Bike commuting really is fun!
But if it’s not for you, don’t do it. And when the comments start getting pushy (and even a little mean), just walk away.
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I used to do an occasional bike commute (when not carpooling) – now I work from home so the bike is for errands & recreation
My commute was very short (under 4 miles roundtrip), but with some steep parts (both ways – net elevation gain zero). As a female, my strategies included: wearing my hair braided or otherwise pulled back; changing into my work clothes @ work (my dad did the same thing when he biked to work); a quick washcloth-wipe-off and renewal of deodorant when changing into work clothes (restrooms but no shower at work).
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Pamela etc.,
It seems a bit vain but I’m especially interested in how women deal with their hair. I have fine hair that gets pretty limp after a bike ride with helmet. It frustrates me. I’m 58 and just starting to show my age : ) – so I hate to add frumpy hair to the equation.
Otherwise I love how I feel when I ride to work – just 6 miles through lovely residential streets. I arrive energized and ready to go.
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Well, don’t tell the spandexy types, but I don’t wear a helmet to commute – I feel like I can hear what the cars are doing better without it, and it makes me more cautious when I’m in traffic.
Also, if I wash my hair & let it dry in the wind on the way to work, it looks GREAT with just a quick brushing before I sit down at my desk. Way more body than any other kind of hairstyling for my fine, straight hair.
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Oh, pleeeease consider a helmet, even if you feel safer without one. I’ve seen firsthand in a close family member how a not-serious-seeming-at-the-time closed head injury can cause permanent and severe impairment. (Not to mention cyclists who die from head injuries.) Protect your brain!
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I agree with Roberta. A bike helmet saved my friend Shawn’s life when he was hit by a driver high on heroin. I’d rather have hair made ugly by a bike helmet than a head made ugly by being split open on the pavement.
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Please wear a helmet.
If you really care about your hair, protect permanent scaring that would later prohibit hair from growing in patches on your head from skull cracking.
Your logic is really short-sighted.
And I always think people riding on bikes with no helmets and hair flying back look so foolish, and unprofessional. It’s like they don’t know what they’re doing. And motorists will take you more seriously if you wear a helmet.
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I just want to point out to all y’all that Chuck admitted to driving drunk and receiving a DUI on the insurance thread, and didn’t get instant negative comments like I did for not wearing a helmet.
People really need to rethink their ideas about relative danger.
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I didn’t read the insurance thread or Chuck’s DUI admissions. I’m guessing he was repentant about his DUI while you are completely un-apologetic about your decision not to and to continue not wearing a helmet.
So that plus the impression that helmets help more than they actually do is probably why you got so many people telling you to wear a helmet. This article talks about what bike helmets are designed for and their limitations:
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf
To summarize, bike helmets are made to protect the head in low speed situations where the individual simply falls off their bike onto a flat surface. Great for kids.
Not great for traveling at a high speed, being hit by another vehicle, and can make falling onto an irregular (not flat) surface worse than no helmet.
I’m looking forward to these head air bags being introduced for cyclists:
http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/10/22/we-live-in-the-future-introducing-invisible-bike-helmet/
In the meantime, I wear my helmet just because, in the event that some driver is texting while driving and hits me, I don’t want the mention of me in the news to say that I wasn’t wearing a helmet. Then everyone will shake their head and think if only I’d been wearing a helmet I could have been saved, when the driver was moving at >20mph and my helmet hit the corner of the curb instead of a nice flat surface.
Greater safety for cyclists needs to come from better infrastructure and driver education, because helmets are nothing more than a fig leaf for most of us.
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Hi, I am a 23-year old bicyclist in a mountain Valley in Western Mass (just east of the Berkshires), and it… is… hilly. And it… is… muggy. I’m a serious bicyclist, and I’m smart and like protecting my brain, so of course, I ALWAYS wear a helmet. How does the continuous sweating underneath a helmet effect my hair when I go into work? It doesn’t. Here’s my trick: All you do is tilt your head back while putting the helmet on so no hair is sticking to your forehead the whole time. Now, I have bangs. Geez… didn’t think of that when I decided on that one, but how do I manage?… Well, I just french braid them to the side of my head, and it’s actually a really cute style. So, the helmet + sweating does nothing bad to my hair. But seriously, with the risk of brain injuries, wearing a helmet is always worth me not being able to wear my bangs. Also, make sure your hair is freshly washed before your trip.
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I bike a couple times per week and luckily if I don’t get too sweaty my hair comes out looking okay. For days that it does not I rely on either a headband (a simple one so it looks professional, not one with flowers and bling all over it) or a ponytail. Not my favorite look, but I figure the benefits of biking outweigh the annoyance of my hair not being styled exactly how I want. I like the french braid idea too. Unfortunately I am completely incompetent at braiding my hair!
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When my hair was a bit shorter I would wash it at home and leave with it wet. When I got to work I’d brush it, put in some curling cream and anti-frizz and then let it air dry. Now that it’s longer, I pull it back into a low pony while I ride and then put it up when I get to work (French twist, bun, braid, high pony).
I found it important to let my hair stylist know that I was a bike commuter and figure that into the cut.
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I have long hair and put it in a low ponytail before I leave and when I get to work I run a brush though it pull it back in a barett or another ponytail. I then put on some more blush, lip gloss and powder.
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I have the same problem with my hair under a bike helmet. I like to put my hair up in a French braid. It fits neatly under a helmet and looks both classy and classic after wearing the hemet. With some practice, you can even do it yourself. The only limitation is that your hair needs to be at least shoulder length to make it work.
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Great post. I have a bike that I got a couple of years ago. I put on a ton of km the first two years, and this year have been struggling to get out on it. I’ve tried commuting, but I don’t like showing up all sweaty – and adding in extra time to change/shower when I may only need to be at school for 1-2 hours doesn’t make it worth it. Also, starting this year, I know have a bus pass all summer.
However, I’m always impressed with all the people I see out on their bikes. If only more cities would get on board and create/maintain bike paths.
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I love the idea of biking, but I only do so in parks now or on bike paths. The dangers of biking in South Florida auto traffic convinces me it isn’t worth the danger.
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Last month, I was hit by a car when biking to work. The driver was making an illegal left turn – the accident was entirely their fault and not mine. It was a hit and run and the driver has not been identified. The medical bills from that accident offset any financial benefits that came from giving up my car commute.
I look forward to being recovered enough to start biking again, but taking the cost of injury into account, it would be several more years of bicycle commuting before it starts saving me money.
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My husband was a bike commuter until January 25, 2011, when he hit a patch of black ice, fell and broke his hip. He’ll be a bike commuter again, I’m sure, but no longer during the winter. Even with insurance, the cost of surgery, etc. was more than expected so any savings of the last three years of commuting are out the door. And his hip will never be the same again. But with that said, that kind of stuff happens infrequently. Be sure to always wear a helmet!
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For anyone who plans to ride in the winter, two words: Studded tires.
I have ridden with no problems at all on days when walking was dangerous and driving a car would have been a really bad idea. The main problem when riding with studs is remembering that there’s ice on the ground, because you can easily fall when you get off the bike and your shoes don’t get traction.
Studded tires are a bit steep at $100 to $180 a pair but they allow me to ride all winter and a good set will last at least 3 or 4 years.
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My 76-year-old father has been bike commuting since 1965 and has never been hit but a car, and these are his tips:
– Always assume that the driver cannot see you, and there is no “right of way.”
– Choose residential streets over busy streets always, even if it lengthens your ride.
– Never, ever listen to an iPod while cycling. Being able to hear cars is an extremely important part of your safety.
– Wear your helmet, wear your helmet, wear your helmet.
And by the way, my father rides a 1960′s 3-speed bike with a baby seat on the back. He uses a bungee cord to wrap up his belongings, which he then crams into the seat. He wears shorts year round even in the rain. The way says it, “I can dry off my legs easier than I can dry off my pants.”
And his commute? I just looked it up and it’s 12 miles each way.
Me? I live in an extremely walkable neighborhood, and will often go days without getting in the car. Unfortunately, I do drive my 2-day-a-week commute as the hours are awful and it’s not cycle-able.
Thanks for the great post!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
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Good rules!
I want to add making eye contact with the driver when at intersections. If they’re looking for on-coming traffic then they’re not looking at you.
Act like you’re a car except in any cases where it makes you unsafe.
For people with a long commute, that’s a choice that depends on your priorities. I made the choice originally that I did not want to live somewhere where my car commute was over 20 minutes to work. I enjoy not spending my time in traffic, exercising, and doing stuff. When I started riding my bike the short bike distance (plotted as much as possible through neighborhoods) that was just bonus.
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I would add, don’t be shy to kick or hit a car that’s turning left into you – I’ve saved myself more than a few times when a driver was looking right and I was in the bike lane on the left. The sound scares the shit out of drivers.
They’re usually highly apologetic, but the one time the driver was aggro I just let him know that his car being in kicking distance meant he was about to hit me with it and earn a lot of points on his insurance.
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I live in New England- so lots of snow in the winter!! Can some experienced cold weather bikers share insights into how to make the winter bike commute work? I’m interested in equipment (i.e. the studded tires- how much are they?), how you dress, how many lights you use, if you’ve ever gotten completely stuck, what amount of snow is bike-able, and so on. I’d love to hear about this!
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I’ve biked down to zero degrees Fahrenheit (not counting windchill) so it is doable in winter in most places.
For the amount of snow, I’d say that anything a car can go through, you can go through, though slush really, really, really sucks.
You do look a bit ridiculous, but here are my tips on what to wear:
(1) Ski goggles. I can’t emphasize how much warmer they make you and how much easier it is to see when it’s that cold.
(2) A wind-proof outer jacket. You’re creating plenty of your own wind when you’re biking.
(3) Thin, wind-proof gloves (see above).
(4) Insulated wind-pants (again with the wind).
(5) I also used a ski mask which I modified to fit my goggles.
By the way, biking with snow on the ground in traffic should be classed as an extreme sport. Despite having flashing strobes and being covered with reflectors, I’ve almost been hit dozens of times. However, if you pretend you’re invisible and everyone else is drunk, you should be fine.
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I bike commute in the summer in New England, I would NEVER do it in our winters, and rarely see people that do. If people who are giving advice on bike commuting in the winter are no from here, don’t take it! It is a much bigger risk here with smaller roads, more dense/slushy snow, and you saw the winter we had here! Can you imagine being on a bike in that?! Yikes a bikes! If you really don’t want to drive your car in the winter invest in some good snow shoes!!
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I’m from NE originally (now in VA). I would bike part of the time in winter if I was still there. Snow over 6-8″ gets pretty rough, especially if you’re trying to go any distance. As far as the roads go – yes, many are narrow (and twisty), but that’s hardly unique to New England!
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I use studded tires on occasion in winter – they help a lot with ice and smaller amounts of snow. They cost about $100, and I expect them to last at least 3 winters.
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Check out this website: http://www.icebike.org/
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I don’t bike in the winter because I don’t like to bike in the dark. Just too dangerous, and I’m biking through a greenway most of the time.
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I have been looking online for a cheap (or free!) bike to use to get around. I live within a 10 minute walk of work and the grocery store, so I don’t need one for those purposes, but for exercise and enjoyment I’d really like to have a bike again.
The biggest thing for me this year is having my car in storage. I moved across the country for a one year contract and left my car behind. I am saving so much money not having my car on the road! It was costing about 120 a month in insurance, plus gas and maintenance… HUGE costs. I thought I’d miss it more than I do. It’s nice to have to use for going on trips, taking the canoe to a body of water, etc., but man is it hard on the wallet. And no benefits to your body like biking, obviously.
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I am currently in Japan and I am amazed by the number of people that ride bikes here. Japan also doesn’t have a obesity problem. I think the 2 are connected. Thanks for your information.
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thanks for sharing this.
also: the savings of biking become gigantic when you get the point of getting rid of your car altogether.
Of course this isn’t always possible at all and even when it is, might require moving closer to an urban center, which can be pricey. But when it works, it’s a great financial benefit. And if you live in a city with Zipcar or other carsharing, you can still use a car when you really need one.
happy cycling.
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You hit the nail on the head. Yes, gas is expensive, but add a car payment and insurance to the mix and it really adds up. We have been able to get by in a family of five with one car. It is unlikely that as the kids get older we will be able to limit ourselves to one vehicle. But in the time that I have been bicycle commuting, it has allowed me to pay off all debts (mortgage and the one car), save for retirement, and create a load of money for investment. I understand that not everyone has the personal infrastructure or will to give up the car for the bike. It saves me thousands of dollars annually, burns a few calories along the way, and helps the environment. People tell me I am crazy for biking to work year round- I say they are crazy not to do it!
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I respect your decision to commute by bike, but if I’m honest, I find your whole mentality very alien. The money you saved by cycling to work wouldn’t have been “wasted” by driving, it would just have been spent on getting you to work faster and in more comfort. I just hate that anti-modern, spoilsport attitude that so many cyclists have. This is the 21st century; Traveling in a lovely car shouldn’t be problematic, and we shouldn’t have to go back to using an inferior two-wheeled method of transport any more than we’d go back to watching black and white TV. Let’s be honest, cycling is sweaty, dangerous and unpleasant, which is a serious price to pay for saving a few dollars. I also find that beneath the I’m-green, fit-and-healthy, just-give-it-a-try, breezy veneer that cyclists have when trying to “convert” others, there is a strong undercurrent of anger, intolerance and holier-than-thou preaching. Good luck to anyone who enjoys cycling, and thereby stays fit and saves money, but I’ve read one too many article on this subject to hide my feelings any longer.
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sorry you feel this way. I would like to share that cycling is only dangerous because we as a society haven’t chosen to invest in safe facilities/infrastructure for bike travel. In some of the areas where biking is more popular in the US, infrastructure is beginning to get built, and it makes a huge difference in safety and psychological comfort.
for you, cycling may be unpleasant. for many others, it is wonderful, a highlight of the day. Different strokes for different folks…
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Curious to know what articles you are talking about. Here’s someone who did the math using child fatality rates (which are higher than for adults).
“Suppose an individual cycled 100 000 miles in their life, all at the fatality rate of a child cyclist. The accumulated lifetime risk of death would be less than 0.5%….This will account for the great disparity in mobility between humanpowered and mechanised travel.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1761669/
I’ll repeat the relevant portion, “accumulated lifetime risk of death would be less than 0.5%”.
That’s ignoring the health benefits and resulting risk reduction from moving around instead of sitting in a car.
I’m sorry you’ve had a lot of experience with “holier-than-thou” cyclists. You seem to have become quite sensitized to the attitude if you found it in Valdez’s article.
But if you backed up your “dangerous, inferior” assertions instead of making vague mention of articles you have read while throwing a lot of ad-hominems (“anti-modern, spoilsport”) it wouldn’t sound like you were returning the “holier-than-thou” attitude.
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I find it interesting that you measure the dangers of biking in terms of fatalities. I am sorry that I do not have statistics for you at this moment, but anecdotally I can tell you that commuting by bicycle can be extremely dangerous. I have numerous friends who have incurred serious injuries landing them in the emergency room. The majority of their minor injuries they do not even report, so you will never find accurate data recording the true number of bike injuries.
I am not saying any of this to dissuade anyone from riding their bike, I just disagree with your narrow view of the word “danger.”
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You MUST be joking! Driving is VERY dangerous, that’s why so much money is constantly being invested to make it safer. Go spend the night in an ER and come back and tell us how many people were there from a bike accident and how many were there from a CAR accident! Driving is more dangerous and deadly then war(I know I drive, and I’ve been to war!) I find biking to work to be quite safe, I haven’t been hit by a car, and pot holes aren’t as bad as I expected(they hurt yes, but you get over it quickly, I live in New England so LOTS of pot holes and bad drivers). The only one here who has a holier-then-thou attitude is you by the way, so when you talk about “those people” to might want to look in the mirror first!! Also, our country wouldn’t have an obesity epidemic if more people were biking!!
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I don’t think cycling needs to be sweaty, nor unpleasant, nor dangerous. I studied abroad in the Netherlands, and biking there was a delightful treat. During my four months there, I never drove a car and only rode in one a handful of times. Of course, in NL, there are dedicated bike lanes on almost every street, or dedicated bike paths that take shortcuts a car can’t take. Once you’ve done a bit of biking, it’s no longer sweaty (and, really, you can bike at a leisurely pace that doesn’t bring up sweat). I always enjoyed the beautiful views and fresh air I got while biking. And it is much easier to stop to enjoy sight when you’re not in a car.
It’s fine for you to chose your car and chose to spend your money in that way. But I wouldn’t consider biking primitive.
And I would argue that many bikers are angry because of the occasional drive that is truly rude. This isn’t the majority of drivers, but I find that there is at least one car that is rude or aggressive toward me on every trip I take that is greater than a mile. I’ve had people honk at me, scream at me, and swerve toward me. Wouldn’t you be angry if people did that toward you in your car?
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Someone pointed this out on a bike blog I read this spring, and I’ve been noticing that it’s true, at least where I live – other drivers DO do that to you in a car. It’s not a special anti-bike thing. They honk at people who stop to let pedestrians cross, they veer into oncoming traffic to make illegal turns on red lights, they tailgate, they routinely stop all the way past the stop sign at 4-way stops.
It just is easier to ignore when you’re sealed in your own little car-bubble. It’s quieter and the threat feels less.
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I don’t really disagree with Annaliese, and I do commute by bike. I my particular community, I consider it to be less dangerous to bike than in many others of similar size. The commute is about 10 miles a day, I stop biking when it gets icy, and I’ve found that clean up at work (no showers but nice large br stall) is not a problem.
Personally, I’d rather walk. It would take about 1.25 hours, and I found that I wasn’t sweaty at all on arrival. If I didn’t have a back problem precluding it, I would walk in every day. Ironically, I can do the walk if I don’t carry anything, but I haven’t been able to come up with a solution to carrying things (for example, lunch, work I’ve had to take home, iPad, etc.).
So, I bike, even though I don’t particularly like it.
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Back-pack on wheels? My mom has one.
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Annelise -
I’m not sure why this is your reaction to this particular article. It’s no different than many other guest posts, where someone shares how they save/make money doing something that might not work for everyone, but works for them. If you feel accused whenever someone mentions bike commuting, then perhaps you haven’t resolved your own choices fully?
From what you say, you obviously value the comfort and convenience of using a car to get everywhere over any of the alternatives. That’s fine – but you have to realize that your car-related costs are driven by your choices.
On safety – for what it’s worth, I’ve been biking on roads longer than I’ve been driving (16 years vs. 12 years). I’ve been in 1 car accident and 0 bike accidents. A lot of it has to do with where and how you drive/ride.
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“there is a strong undercurrent of anger, intolerance and holier-than-thou preaching”
Ohhh, the irony, the irony!
I read lots of things (here and other places) that won’t likely apply to me, but then I just move on. This one made me giggle, though and forced me to comment.
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How is it “anti-modern” to want to distance yourself from car/fossil fuel use? It’s not very modern, in my opinion, to want to stay hooked up to that petroleum IV.
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Two words for you:
Peak Oil
I dislike the ‘all progress is good progress’ brigade almost as much as you dislike cycling evangelists.
I’ll tolerate a little smugness (or perceived smugness) in cyclists whose sensible choices are prolonging the inevitable end of useful fossil fuels, but I can’t abide drivers who pretend that everyone owning their own car is ‘natural’ and a good thing.
I don’t drive (or cycle), but I do walk wherever I can and take the most efficient methods of public transport to try and minimalise my environmental footprint.
The death of the petroleum economy is going to be tough.
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I’ve actually had more than one commute that was faster, cheaper, more comfortable, and less stressful by bike or foot than it would have been driving. There are now plenty of resources for finding bike paths in many areas and you might be surprised at what’s available to you. As others have said you adapt and get into better shape when you commute under your own power and it’s amazing how much nicer a commute can be when you don’t have to deal with traffic or finding a parking spot.
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Well, yes, cycling is sweaty (although that gets less with increasing fitness, and I find I dry down within half an hour of arriving at work; then I change into my office clothes) and potentially dangerous. But unpleasant? Like many others here, I absolutely love the fresh air and the experience of nature – I cycle to work alongside a lovely historic canal. (No, not in Amsterdam!) And my 3-mile each direction inner city commute takes me a reliable 25 minutes on the bike, whereas it can be up to 90 minutes each way in the car. And sitting in that sort of traffic jam just drives me nuts.
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I really enjoy riding my bike to work.
You left out a couple of costs however:
1) A good bike lock
2) Replacing everything every couple of years when it gets stolen.
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If you are really lucky, you can store your bike indoors both at home & at work. Errands, you still need that bike lock!
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I live in Toronto and have been commuting to work by bike for years. Thanks to the snow and salt, my yearly maintenance costs run closer to $300, because siezed and corroded parts need to be replaced. A monthly transit pass runs $120 ($1440 yearly) and parking where I work costs about $10/day (over $2000 yearly, not even counting gas). So, for me, the costs come out pretty heavily in favour of biking. Also, with a guaranteed 5 hours of biking a week, I don’t need a gym membership either!
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Great post, Duran. It’s amazing how a little “4th grade math” can help us make intelligent decisions. Thanks for this.
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But aren’t you concerned about inhaling gas fumes and particulate matter? I’m not sure where in southern California you are commuting, but in some parts of Los Angeles, this would be a serious consideration. Not to mention the fact that certain commutes require using roads that put your life at risk from unobservant car drivers. I had a friend who was quite dedicated to bike commuting but gave it up after several terrifying close calls with cars. Best of luck to you, though. It sounds like it works very well for you, and I’m sure you are inspiring drivers who see you to consider doing the same.
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As show in this survey of 23 scientific studies, air pollution can be more severe inside of a car in traffic than outside of that car:
http://www.icta.org/doc/In-car%20pollution%20report.pdf
“The reports show that the air inside of cars typically contains more carbon monoxide, benzene, toluene, fine particulate matter, and nitrogen oxides than ambient air at nearby monitoring stations used to calculate government air-quality statistics. In-car pollution is often even worse than pollution in the air at the side of the
road. The air pollution accumulating in the interior of automobiles consists almost exclusively of gasoline and diesel exhaust. This toxic soup of gases, aerosols, and microscopic particles includes ben-
zene (a known carcinogen), carbon monoxide
(which interferes with the bloods ability to trans-port oxygen), particulate matter (which studies have associated with increased death rates), and a host of other hazardous chemical”
Sorry to hear it was so dangerous for your friend. Hopefully over time we can improve the situation with better infrastructure and driver awareness.
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I think I’d be more concerned about contributing to the problem.
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Where do you think the air in your car comes from? You may have an air filter, but it’s going to be very similar to the biker outside I would imagine. A biker on a bike path or back roads might actually inhale fewer pollutants in addition to not forcing others to inhale pollutants they created.
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Nice post. I’ve got a bike and am a total bike chicken about traffic, no facilities once I arrive at work, and everything else related to my bike. I’m moving to another country this summer and am actually going to take the bike because I refuse to give up; I stalked this bike because it was hard to fit me. I’m going to get mine out today for the first time in two years.
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This is very inspiring to me. I also live in SoCal, but I’m a good 45 miles from where I work. Not happening here.
But my wife and I will soon be relocating to an area near St. Louis, and the house we’re looking at is only six miles from my new office, nearly all on rural farm roads. Time to dust off the ol’ bike!
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I’m not sure what part of St. Louis you’re moving to, but the city itself is trying to be more bike friendly, having created the “Bike St. Louis” route. It’s a nice idea, but parts of the route are on busy streets and most people are not friendly towards bicycles. I’d like to make the 18 mile roundtrip, but I have a healthy fear about it.
They also recently opened the Downtown St. Louis Commuter Bike Station where you can store your bike, shower, and lock up your valuables. At least we’re moving in the right direction!
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I live in St. Louis too and can second that it really isn’t a bad place to cycle. The old street grids in the city proper and in some of the older inner-ring suburbs make for very pleasant rides with lots of side streets for safer riding. I used to live in a larger city that was more pedestrian-friendly, but honestly, the sheer volume of traffic there (both vehicle and pedestrian) made it a much scarier place to ride.
If you’re living out on rural roads, you might not be able to ride directly in, but I hope you’ll come in sometime and enjoy the architecture and ambiance of the city on two wheels!
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Annelise,
I live in Seattle and many days I can get to work faster on my bike (a single speed, heavy steel frame) than I can by bus or by car. If more American cities prioritized bike and pedestrian infrastructure like they do autos, it would be even faster. And I do consider money spent on driving or taking the bus to be “wasted.” It’s not in my pocket any more is it? It’s working it’s way to those oh, so friendly folks at ExxonMobil and those oh so clean governments in Saudi Arabia, Russia, Nigeria, Venezuela…the list goes on and on. And I know I won’t change your mind with any of this, but one final note: I have fun every day I ride to work. Every. Single. Day. Can you say the same about commuting in your car?
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Well, yes I can. I don’t work steady anymore but I used to commute round trip just under 100 miles per day and behind the wheel of my Honda del Sol SI every trip was relaxing compared to the stress of the job once I got there.
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I commuted a round trip of about 24 miles a day (summer only) before children. Once I made the decision to bike daily, I changed my car insurance to “pleasure use only”. For the 5 months I biked I received a credit of $60. Not particularly inspiring, but it made sure I didn’t cheat on days when the weather wasn’t perfect. The gas and parking gave me more savings. However, the additional exercise over what I consider “enough” likely had its own fuel costs associated with it. I can’t quantify them, but I was eating continuously!
In Canada, bike couriers can claim their lunch as a fuel expense related to their employment on their income tax.
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Do you have pegs?
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I just have one small point about the “4th grade math”. AAA’s figure includes the cost of finance charges and depreciation, which you can’t really cut out unless you got rid of your car completely, and the $0.585 per mile is a function of fixed and variable costs on 15,000 miles per year.
I’d be interested to know how your transportation costs compared year-over-year, because I’ve found with my own spending that there are hidden effects that only show up in the numbers, and how that compares with transportation alternatives in your area (for example, a bus pass).
Fourth grade math is good, and not used enough today, but sometimes breaking out the ninth grade algebra can give us more information.
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I’ve bike commuted for 15 years, and co-owned a car for about 10 of that. My bike-related spending has varied widely – the early, poorer years, about $100/year (free bikes are possible, and so are doing your own repairs). Most years, about $250-$500 (or, a new bike every other year plus some upkeep & gear). That cost is for the 6 months we don’t have snow – so, I average about $50-$100 in bike costs/mo during the warm months, and a monthly bus pass is $76/mo pre-tax.
The difference is, the bike spending is pretty voluntary – this year I spent $1500 on a fancy new cargo bike. But I didn’t have to. I just wanted to. My old bike ($250 three years ago) still runs fine. Car costs are almost always necessary to keep the car running & legal, and they can just kill a budget when things are tight.
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I recently started bike commuting in a large northeastern city, a few days a week. It’s a commitment, since my commute is 20 miles round trip. About 4/5 is on a greenway (protected bike path) about 1/5 of that is in traffic, which is much less intimidating after taking a couple of smart/safe cycling courses (I never thought I would feel confident enough to ride in traffic, period). It takes longer than the train, but that time equals the amount of time a trip to the gym would take. Despite the traffic and hot days, I’ve found myself preferring the bike — the fresh air, the (moderate) exercise, the feeling of being on a bike. And I save about $4.50/day on transit fare.
It can be sweaty, but as one bike ad says “If you think you’re going to sweat, slow down.” I’ve found that’s true except on the hottest days. You can put in as much effort as you would on a casual stroll, or you can gun it like you would for a race. Even on hot days, the mornings tend to be cool enough that a quick trip to the restroom to clean up/change works fine, and if I get sweaty on the trip home I hop in the shower.
I do think it would have been helpful for the article to have compared the total cost of car ownership (lease/payments, gas, maintenance, parking, insurance). That averages about $8,000/annually, depending on what part of the country you are in/type of car, etc. When you look at those numbers, for some people it might be feasible to give up a car, take up a bike, and use a combination of zip car and taxi as needed.
Commuting by bike may not be a realistic or attractive choice for everyone, but I am grateful that I have the choice, and glad to see GRS covering the topic.
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I’ve always dreamed of being able to bike to work, but it’s just never been realistic. No shower there and a commute that is 27 miles each way (up hill on the way to work) are not compatible.
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I am a southern California resident too and an avid bicyclist. Frankly, the only reason I don’t commute to work (school) is the streets are not very bike friendly. I had an accident thanks to driver of a parked car opening their door. I will continue to use bicycle paths and wait to commute until there is a path that is safe.
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What an inspirational post! I love the idea of biking to work (or any other short trip), but the reality is, many towns are NOT cyclist or pedestrian-friendly.
In my area, many suburbs boomed in the 1950s and 60s, when gas was cheap and plentiful – planning for a time when people would want to/have to walk to the store for a gallon of milk was unheard of. I think there’s a connection – many of the older suburbs in my area are really small cities, and are planned on a grid with easy access to grocery stores. ‘Burbs planned after WWII have big subdivisions and are miles from any kind of grocery store. (sorry for going off-topic)
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Unless you’re talking about getting rid of your car entirely, the AAA’s 58 cents a mile number is way high. That includes depreciation, insurance, loan financing, and registration costs that you’ll have to pay even if you’re driving less. I track the costs on my car and the marginal cost (including maintenance and gas, but not fixed costs like insurance and registration) is between 15 and 20 cents a mile.
Using those numbers, you’re saving between $520 and $750 at a cost of $1100 the first year.
Riding a bicycle is great for your health and the environment, but it doesn’t save you much money unless you can use it to get rid of a car entirely.
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Annelise, I agree with you. I also have a problem with the “holier-than-thou preaching”. Cycling might be a “no-brainer” for someone with a 12 mile round trip commute in sunny California, but for those of us with a 30 minute Highway commute it is not an option.
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Harmony –
It’s true that sometimes you just can’t bike somewhere. Usually, it’s more accurate to state that you don’t want to… I normally bike to work (6 miles), but occasionally have to go to a job site 30 miles away – and don’t bike because it would take a long time and not be a pleasant ride.
Also – this may or may not apply to you – but a lot of people appear to be willing to have a longer commute in order to get a nicer place to live. I chose the opposite intentionally – I live in a smaller house, but am close enough to work that my wife and I have only had 1 car for the last 2 years. That’s saved us a ton of money, and I love being able to exercise on the way to/from work and have more time with my family than if I worked a long ways away.
As we’re frequently reminded on this site, our choices all have associated costs. It’s up to us to choose our priorities.
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I just want to echo the points here. We usually have some control over whether we’re within ‘biking distance’ of our most frequent destinations. I put a huge priority on being within walking distance, which I define as <2 miles in New England. Before moving here, I negotiated my salary to be sure I could afford a place close enough to work that I could walk safely to it.
Come to think of it, I have never bought or rented without a walking/biking commute foremost in mind. If I haven’t been able to bike/walk to work, I at least make sure I can bike/walk to the grocery store and social spots. I do all this partly because I find driving really boring, and partly because, yes, I care about other people and want to hurt them less by reducing my impact on the environment. If this makes me annoyingly sanctimonious, so be it.
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I’m looking for a flat to live in London while I finish my degree over the next to years, and having real problems finding flatmates who want to live in the same area as me.
They would rather live in a bigger place in the suburbs and commute in by tube, I’d rather live within walking distance of my central London university (cycling in London can be very dangerous). For me, it is partially an environmental thing, but it’s also because I love being outdoors and seeing my local community. Walking gets my brain in gear for the rest of the day and helps me keep my weight down!
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Again, it feels like sanctimonious people are expecting everyone else to have the same priorities as they do and modify their life accordingly. I work in a downtown area. Living in an unsafe area is not an option. I could quit and find a job closer to home, but a longer commute is worth it to have a job that I love.
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Was this sanctimonious?:
“Also – this may or may not apply to you – but a lot of people appear to be willing to have a longer commute in order to get a nicer place to live.”
A nicer place to live is just that, a nicer place to live. There was no judgment or sanctimony there. You’ve chosen not to live in an unsafe area while doing a job you love, and I think many of the people who responded to you agree with those priorities.
Or
“They would rather live in a bigger place in the suburbs and commute in by tube, *I’d* rather live within walking distance of *my* central London university (cycling in London can be very dangerous). For *me*…because *I* love…Walking gets my brain…helps *me* keep my weight down!”
I’m not sure when expressing one’s personal preference while *not* saying a single negative thing about a choice other people might make differently, became sanctimonious. He’s using personal anecdote to demonstrate how, if one were inclined, one could make similar choices.
Or
“…We usually have some control over whether we’re within ‘biking distance’ of our most frequent destinations. I put a huge priority on…If I haven’t been able to bike/walk to work, I at least make sure I can bike/walk to the grocery store and social spots. I do all this partly because I find driving really boring…I care about other people and want …reducing my impact on the environment. If this makes me annoyingly sanctimonious, so be it.”
def sanctimonious:affecting piety or making a display of holiness
I guess that last one I excerpted from is a tad, since I think declaring you don’t care if your choices make yourself “annoyingly sanctimonious” kind of automatically gives you an air of “affecting piety/making a display of holiness”.
As for the biking, I don’t see people affecting an air of biking/their priorities. They list their priorities and biking is pretty clearly in line with them. In people’s responses I do see recognition of other people’s different priorities, focus on their personal experiences and priorities while not trashing other’s priorities (such as living in a nice place), and offering what might be helpful advice to others. Obviously, people can take the advice or leave it.
Such as asking if you can’t help driving to work, are there other things that you frequently drive to that you would like to bike to? You can take it or leave it.
I tend to get annoyed with my boyfriend because he takes his car to go running (he doesn’t own a bike, though he says he’s thinking of getting one. Maybe I’ll get him a Christmas gift). I tried biking to the grocery store once, but I definitely need a trailer to hold groceries for two. Stuff didn’t all fit in my backpack and I felt like an accident waiting to happen with all those bags swinging from my handle bars. If I ever went swimming I know I could bike to the pool (and used to all the time when I was a kid with my parents). I’ve biked to the library many times.
Don’t bike to work. It is too long a commute for you and the area around there isn’t even safe. Be true to your priorities, which it sounds like does include your health, frugality, and maybe pollution. I say that I think those are your priorities, because that’s the only way I see someone feeling offended when other people talk about their own riding supporting those priorities. They (I) are not simultaneously qualifying our statements with all the other alternate activities someone who shares our priorities might be engaging in. The omission might make someone who cares deeply about those things feel judged.
But if we’re not merely making a “display of our holiness”, then you can bet we’ll all add supportive comments when someone (could be you) writes a story about those alternate activities.
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Timely post. i just did a trial 24 mile round trip commute to my office today, with the intent of cycling to work 2-3 times a week once my mornning kid-school-drop-off responsiblities are fullfilled for the year at the end of this week!
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For the first two years that I lived in Phoenix, I didn’t have a car and biked almost everywhere. (Occasionally took a bus or got a ride.)
Some side benefits of not having a car at all: very little impulse shopping — too hard to carry stuff; errands planned more carefully, especially in the summer (112 degrees isn’t joyful to bike in); built-in exercise every day.
Then I got a job that required traveling within strict time limits, and biking/bussing was not feasible. Now, my job is 18 miles each way, and several of those miles are through really rough neighborhoods that I’m not comfortable biking through. I do still use the bike for errands sometimes, or to go to doctor’s appointments and the like.
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When I got my latest job 3 miles from my house, I opted not to invest in the $1000/yr parking pass. I’ve spent 6 months playing with transportation options, and have concluded that I can walk (~45 mins), bus (25-50 mins, depending on traffic, time of day, and whether it’s on time), or bike (~20 mins). Even getting dropped off isn’t much faster, if traffic is bad.
I am fortunate that my work dress code is casual, and there are bike lanes or low-traffic streets the entire route. I live in a city of hills, and have definitely gotten into better physical shape.
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Interesting article- I’ve occasionally run across people who bike to work but never been able to do it. Many of them plot out routes that keep them away from the main roads and on more back roads/subdivisions. My current job is doing home visits with children and I can log upwards of 60 miles/day, much of it on the freeway. The time increase that biking would trigger would do me in.
This has inspired me to think about biking the mile or so to the grocery store when we go to pick up a few things. Unfortunately, the drivers here (Phoenix) are terrifying as is the thought of riding in traffic and in many places there aren’t even sidewalks.
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I LOVE this! I’m a newly minted bike commuter myself, my ride is 22 miles each way. I wrote about it recently on my own blog…
http://dreamingthepossible.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/riders-on-the-cheap/
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I’d kill to be able to bike to work, but even if the range didn’t rule it out, not being able to shower would be a non starter, Texas summers are brutal.
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Love this! I am European and moved over to the USA just a few months ago. I love walking and biking. Yet even in a little town like Manassas, even outside the rush hour, there are hardly any safe hours to bike or walk. Had a couple of very near misses. Germany is very car driven too, yet most of the participants on the road whether pedestrian, biker or car drivers are considerate of one another.
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My main reason for not be able to bike to work, is not be ABLE to bike to work. lol. I’m in terrible shape and a roughly 32 mile roundtrip by bike would likely give me a heart attack. Then, there’s the roughly 32 mile roundtrip courtesy of google maps, it’s 26 by car but bicycling would mean avoiding the highway. I’m a sweater and there are no showers at work. If I biked slowly enough not to break a sweat, it would likely take me 2 days to reach my workplace.
Then there’s the almost complete lack of infrastructure for people biking. Even off the highway, I would consider a 16 mile route fairly dangerous. Then there’s the fact that I afternoons/evenings, getting off at midnight. Commuting at night would be dangerous, though cooler, but commuting in at 2pm would be the height of heat in the summer. KS summers are not pleasant. I defy anyone, even people who are in excellent shape and experienced bikers, to stave off copius sweat on a 16 mi bike commute at 2 pm in the heat and humidity that is a KS summer. I also have allergies and asthma. Google maps says it would take 1.5 hours to bike to work. ummm, no thanks.
Now, if I only had to commute a mile, or maybe 6 miles then I would consider it. I could certainly use the exercise and I like to bike actually. When I lived in Lawrence, I used to ride my bike from my house to KU and didn’t sweat too too much. That was only 1.8 mi on a flat route and it was done quickly and easily (google maps again). I wish the whole KC metro had bike lanes and I definitely wish we had sidewalks everywhere. Even when I’m tempted to walk somewhere, I’ll often find that the sidewalk peters out and then I’m forced to the side of the road, or to turn back when there’s a drop off. It’s amazing how much of the city doesn’t have sidewalks. There’s some people campaigning for sidewalks on Mission drive by Westport (http://ineedasidewalk.blogspot.com/) because there isn’t enough safe walking for children to walk to a nearby park.
So anyway, instead of getting outside for my exercise I bought a treadmill. Not as much fun, but at least I’m in the a/c, my allergies are calm and I’m close to a bathroom should I need a pitstop.
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I have been a bike commuter for about a year. I drive one or two days a week. I usually drive on days when it is supposed to rain, or days where I have to go somewhere after work. I am a teacher and I see it as a good way to try to motivate my students by example.
On my way to work I ride at an easy pace in order to keep from sweating too much. I just keep a stockpile of clothes at work to use for the week. I bring those on the days that I drive.
My ride home from school is when I really get my exercise! I challenge myself to cover the 4 miles in under 15 minutes. It is a fun challenge that oftentimes comes down to whether I get a green light at the end or not. It keeps it interesting and makes things fun.
I think everyone who can should at least give it a try!
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I’m jealous that you can do this (yet very glad you can)!
I have a 33 mile commute to work, and that’s 90% major highway. Biking it would be impossible due to the major distance on back roads, as well as time. I even looked at driving part of the way, and finishing it off via bike, but there’s not many good points I can make the swap.
Plus it would be quite hot, and no shower facilities at work unless I pay for an at-work gym membership. I also sweat VERY easily (Maryland here, recent days of 100 degree weather).
I want to do it not only to save money, but to get back in shape and be green, but am upset I live so far away from work.
I need a new bike anyway, I’m still rocking my POS 18speeder WalMart special from 15 years ago which doesn’t have front brakes, so I often use my wife’s 12sp walmart special from 10 years ago
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I would be surprised if you can realise that saving unless you can do without a car entirely, because a large proportion of a cars running cost cannot be reduced by driving fewer miles.
This is probably even more true in America, since the price of petrol is so much lower than here in the UK (it’s been over $8 / us gallon here since last Christmas, but it doesn’t seem to have put anyone off driving yet)
In more detail:
If you can’t rely on a bike alone (because you need to do longer trips, go shopping, don’t always have the time, etc), then the saving isn’t nearly as great, because a car has lots of costs which aren’t closely related to how far you drive.
For example, I drive around 8000 miles a year, which costs around £1600 ($2600) in petrol.
Even if I cycled to work every day, I would still need to pay for insurance (£200 / $325), road tax (£160 / $260), annual servicing (£200 / $325), and MOT – a mandatory vehicle health check here in the UK- (£50 / $80). All of these remain the same, even if I don’t drive to work at all. That adds up to £610 ($990)
Aside from that, I also budget £240 ($390) a year towards replacement tires / break pads and disks / exhaust. I could reduce this budget slightly if I cycled to work, but not much because tires have to be replaced approximately every 5 years due to the rubber perishing even if the treads have not worn out. Also, some allowance has to be made for punctures (I have had 2 tires destroyed by screws / nails /glass on the road in 8 years of driving).
The biggest cost other than fuel is the car itself. If you don’t have the money, you need to get finance which costs even more – if you have a poor credit rating or don’t search for the best deal on credit, you could end up paying twice as much as the car is worth due to interest payments.
I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase my car outright, but still need to budget for its replacement in due course. Either it will rust so much that it will fail its MOT, it will become uneconomical to repair it, or it will be written off in an accident. My aim is to buy nearly new (around two years old, with low mileage), and to run the car until one of the above occurs.
Based on my mileage, it is most likely to be rust that ends my cars useful life, so I budget enough to replace it after 10 years (this is when the anti corrosion warranty runs out). If it last longer – bonus, motoring has worked out cheaper than I expected.
On the assumption that the replacement car will cost £10000 ($16250), I need to save £83 ($136) a month over the expected life of the car.
So adding that all up, the car costs me £3280 ($5330) a year, or $0.67/mile.
My commute to work adds up to 3300 miles per year. If I assumed that I was saving $0.67/ mile, then cycling to work would save me £1355 ($2200) per year.
However this is clearly not the case, because the only cost I can make significant savings on by cycling to work is fuel, and that would only save me £600 ($975) per year.
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Both of us mostly bike commuting has meant that, as a family, we have never had more than one car. Our car is also generally available to lend out, which has allowed several bike-only friends to get by even though they occasionally need to use a car.
Unless you live completely alone out in the countryside, chances are you can rent, borrow, or share a car occasionally while using a bike most of the time. Renting a car one weekend every other month is about half the cost of owning a car, where I live.
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Since the whole point was to calculate your true cost (all the way down to one-time $5 items), it needs to reflect some cost for your time. Whether that’s $15 or $3 or $100/hour depends on you, but 0.5 hours/day * 22 workdays/month is 132 hours/year. 6 extra days has value.
If you regularly pay someone for a household service – cleaning, gardening – that’s a good baseline.
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If it replaces or augments my exercise time, then what has it cost me in time? Not much.
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Then again, if I cut out a 25 minute drive by biking 45 minutes, and I would have worked out for 45 minutes anyway before or after work, I’m actually gaining 20 minutes on my day.
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Just thought I’d mention another savings benefit of biking: If you also do own a a car, you can change the insurance to “leisure use” and the cost will likely go down.
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This was enough to convince me to ditch the car. When I get home I’m going to begin preparations to put it on craig’s list. We have been a two car family for years but the reality is one of them was more for fun and show than anything. Time for me to buy a bike and enjoy the ride.
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One other thing I’d like to add. Biking has many benefits and I’m glad so many are all for it. Someday, I’ll be in good enough shape to bike more and will join you.
However, everyone please be realistic about your abilities. I recently almost ran over a man because he was too unsteady to ride a bicycle on a city street. I had changed lanes to pass him and he still almost swerved into my car. Also, I spent 3 months in England several years ago where I saw the same thing. Most of the people cycling were just fine, but occassionally you’d come across someone who couldn’t keep their bike steady. So please, if your balance or strength isn’t up to keeping your bicycle steady then get off and walk or call for a ride. Safer for you and everyone else too.
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Bicycling is all well and good, and I have tried it on the designated greenbelt trails in my community on my short 1.2 mile commute each way to the Park and Ride lot. Why did I stop bicycling? I could not find a reasonable way to keep my pants from getting ruined by road grime and chain grease. The cost benefits quickly went away, and that was with a secondhand bicycle I already had, not to mention the hassle and cost of replacing the pants (and the drive to the shopping areas on dangerous-for-bicycle streets and roads).
My solution has been to purchase a Ninja sport motorcycle…the fun factor is huge, the maintenance is actually fun (for an engineer), I get an average city/highway mpg of 48, and find it is useful for all sorts of things I used to use my 262,000 mile Honda Accord for, such as going to the airport for business trips and the like.
I get my exercise while at work at our corporate fitness center and recently ran a Boston-qualifying 3:20 marathon, so fitness by using the motorcycle is not an issue.
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It is not so hard to change pants when you get to work – if you’re bringing a laptop bag or backpack anyway they dress slacks would likely fit inside. I find that if you neatly roll or fold the pants they have minimal wrinkles when you get to work.
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I started cycling to work for my summer job in my home town where the public transport is terrible (I can’t drive and if I could, couldn’t afford a car). The bus stop was a mile away and the bus was always late and took a very indirect route and cost £4.50! I hated it, so I bought myself a nice 7 gear city bike with a basket on the front for my handbag.
Using it over the summer will pay for itself in terms of public transport saving. While my commute isn’t great (it’s pretty hilly and there’s a fair bit of overhanging vegetation), it’s only 3 miles each way and actually saves me time. Walking to the bus stop and taking the bus used to take me 40-50mins, but the bike takes about 20-30mins.
We are a family of bicycle commuters- my dad has been cycling to work since forever (he sometimes takes the bus in winter) and my brother cycles too. I think I’ve inherited my mum’s hatred of cycling because I’m not a very confident cyclist, but it’s nice to feel independent.
To the people here going “oh no I live in a hot and humid place where I can’t cope without my AC in my car and home”- why the hell do you live in a tropical nightmare where you’re reliant on vast amounts of electricity and fossil fuels?
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Like I said, if you’re willing to fund my financial independence someplace with nice weather, I will gladly accept.
I notice you’re using pounds… perhaps you don’t realize how large and separated the US is and how not commuter friendly it is outside of very specific cities. Also how crappy the weather is for at least one season in most of the country (generally summer or winter or both), except a few areas along the West coast where the weather is fantastic but prices are insane. If where I live had nice weather year round, I would probably not be able to afford to live here.
I love the US, but it if everybody in the US only lived where the weather was nice year round, California (and to some extent Oregon and Washington) would sink into the ocean from all the weight.
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People don’t only bike (or only drive) when the weather’s nice, though – I’m a wimp, I take the bus when there’s snow on the ground. But I live with a year-round bike commuter. In Minneapolis. He’s not alone, either.
I hear a lot about the dangers of biking in bad weather, but this last winter there was a big snow that was causing fistfights in the street when cars got stuck blocking the road. Our old roomate got stuck in waist-deep snow and carried his bike home while all the drivers were waiting for the tow truck.
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I live in the Minneapolis area, and yes, the snow last year was insane. BUT there were people who rode their bikes to school every single day through it all. They’re an inspiration, and made me wish my road bike could handle the snow and ice.
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I live in Minneapolis as well and am always impressed by the people biking in the winter. I’ve been wanting to start biking for ages but was too scared to so this year I got a Nice Ride subscription (Bike sharing) and love it. There is a kiosk by my apartment and one by my work so I bike to work most days.
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Yeah, because the weather in the UK is awesome year round!
Oh wait, no it isn’t, it sucks. England doesn’t do nice weather- it has been raining for pretty much the whole month of June, last winter there was more snow than any of us had seen in a long time, and when it’s hot, it can be very dusty. We have maybe a week of perfect weather a year.
And yes, I’ve been to several places in the USA, so I understand how badly planned your towns are. English towns are crazy because they’ve evolved over more than a thousand years, but we usually have a grocery store within 2 or 3 miles in a town. You’re finally seeing an increase in fuel prices, so I’m interested to know what will happen in the future when it costs you $20 to drive the 20 miles to the grocery store because you live in some awful out of town suburb.
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The thing that interests me the most about this post is the thought of trying to quantify the health benefit from living the ride-a-bike lifestyle. It would probably be pretty difficult to do, but who knows the ailments that could have possibly happened in the future that living this lifestyle may have prevented. Additionally, something even harder to quantify would be the added productivity packed into each day that being in shape and getting your blood flowing every morning and evening produces. It’s pretty much proven that those who are in shape feel better, get more done, and are sick less than their sedentary counterparts.
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One of the reasons I moved a mile and a half from my job was so that the commute would be simple, whether by car or by bike. I bike 95% of the time. My $75 used bike, with a basket, has lasted me ten years so far. I’m amazed by how much one can spend on fancier bike gear, but I suppose a longer commute demands hardier gear.
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Agreed!
When we moved part of our decision was the distance to work. I looked at our vehicle savings here: http://sustainablepersonalfinance.com/save-gas-the-financial-and-health-benefits-of-walking-or-biking-to-work/
Love not paying increased insurance and car maintenance, paying for parking and fuel — plus the health benefits rock.
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I don’t trust the AAA number either, but unlike other comments I think it’s too low! Keep in mind that AAA’s goal is to get as many people driving as possible, so they’re motivated to make driving seem like a sensible choice.
It’s going to depend on where you live, but the true cost is closer to $1 a mile, in major cities. Here’s a cost calculator to figure out your true cost per mile (along with indirect costs to the environment):
http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm
I’m a cyclist so I’ll admit my bias in this matter.
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