Wednesday, October 1, 2008

11 years of car-free commuting

As September 2008 rolls to an end, I celebrate another anniversary.

The last time I drove a car to work - in downtown Boise, Idaho - was in the month of September, 1997.

Since then, it's been essentially all bicycle transportation, with occasional forays into motorcycle (but not for 3 years), bus, and the ever-so-occasional carpool. (The carpool thing has always been when I was running a car-specific errand, like dropping the wife's Family Truckster off at the shop, or something like that.)

Ah, freedom.
Free from being at the mercy of Big Oil.
Free from parking hassles.
Free from being on Algore's black list.
Free from bumper-to-bumper, stop-and-go, traffic jams, etc. (For me, that is probably the sweetest of all. I hate driving in heavy traffic!)

Yep, I'm breathing deeply of the fresh air of freedom.

5 comments:

Abhishek said...

that is impressive.
My car is up for sale and I am all set to go car free. Your post is an inspiration.

Bikeboy said...

Thanks, shek.

(I don't know if I have the commitment to go TOTALLY car free. The Missus has her minivan, and a motorized vehicle definitely comes in handy for hauling big loads, transporting multiple people, taking intercity trips, etc. But if I were the only driver, that car would probably only be driven 20 days a year.)

Michael Carpenter said...

Congratulations. You are an inspiration.

I know one of your concerns is how long the "fair weather" cyclists will last. Now that it is dark when I go to work I'm still seeing crazy people on their bikes with little lights on.

I think that's a good sign. We'll have to check back next week when it starts to get cold.

Anonymous said...

Good on ya, mate - check this one out: http://tinyurl.com/5yhx9p Val

Clancy said...

Impressive but I think 123,456 miles on September 21, 2008 is more impressive. Either way keep on peddlin.