Holy crap it's raining here in Kingston today! We don't usually get crazy weather of any kind here, so what we refer to as "a lot of rain" is probably pretty pathetic to some people.
But holy crap!
It wouldn't matter as much if I still drove my car everywhere. You see about eight years ago I decided to do something about the "high" gas prices (at the time about 55 cents per litre) and started to ride my bike to work and back at least three or four times a week.
I'm putting about 5000 kms. a year on my bike(s) now. I stay in pretty good physical condition, and my kids even have a healthier attitude about using "people power" to get to where they need to go.
Back when I started my two-wheeled commute, I was full of reasons why I couldn't do it. The distance! The traffic! No bike lanes! No cool cycling gear! Blah blah blah. First morning I rode in, I was hooked!
Sure you have to buy some cool cycling clothes to feel like you're part of the bike crowd (though the mullet-guys with the backwards ball caps-and-cigarette look have a special panache), and I go through a set of tires every year or so. Yes the traffic is pretty nuts. Oh, and the guy who knocked me off the road a while back lifted my family's anxiety level a bit.
The payoff though has been exactly what I'd hoped for. For the five to ten minutes of extra time it takes me to ride in, I save about 500 bucks a year in gas another couple hundred in parking and a few hundred in car maintenance. Every time I see the gas go over a buck a litre, I get this special, warm screw-the-oil companies feeling.
December gets a bit rough. January and February are killers to ride in, and this time around I'll probably have to take the bus. But stopping by Elevator Bay on the way in to spend a few minutes watching the ducks and geese...or riding the long way through Lemoine Point coming home...and passing 50 cars stuck in traffic at 4:10pm...those are things I'd never get to do with my stupid old car.
Today though. Holy crap it's raining today! It was a dry ride in. And as for going home? I'm gonna get soaked! But tonight, I'll sleep like a baby...wonder if the people who set the prices we pay at the pump will do the same?
But holy crap!
It wouldn't matter as much if I still drove my car everywhere. You see about eight years ago I decided to do something about the "high" gas prices (at the time about 55 cents per litre) and started to ride my bike to work and back at least three or four times a week.
I'm putting about 5000 kms. a year on my bike(s) now. I stay in pretty good physical condition, and my kids even have a healthier attitude about using "people power" to get to where they need to go.
Back when I started my two-wheeled commute, I was full of reasons why I couldn't do it. The distance! The traffic! No bike lanes! No cool cycling gear! Blah blah blah. First morning I rode in, I was hooked!
Sure you have to buy some cool cycling clothes to feel like you're part of the bike crowd (though the mullet-guys with the backwards ball caps-and-cigarette look have a special panache), and I go through a set of tires every year or so. Yes the traffic is pretty nuts. Oh, and the guy who knocked me off the road a while back lifted my family's anxiety level a bit.
The payoff though has been exactly what I'd hoped for. For the five to ten minutes of extra time it takes me to ride in, I save about 500 bucks a year in gas another couple hundred in parking and a few hundred in car maintenance. Every time I see the gas go over a buck a litre, I get this special, warm screw-the-oil companies feeling.
December gets a bit rough. January and February are killers to ride in, and this time around I'll probably have to take the bus. But stopping by Elevator Bay on the way in to spend a few minutes watching the ducks and geese...or riding the long way through Lemoine Point coming home...and passing 50 cars stuck in traffic at 4:10pm...those are things I'd never get to do with my stupid old car.
Today though. Holy crap it's raining today! It was a dry ride in. And as for going home? I'm gonna get soaked! But tonight, I'll sleep like a baby...wonder if the people who set the prices we pay at the pump will do the same?
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