Going Carless and Choosing the Bicycle

With gasoline prices running an insane assault on all our wallets, you may be considering using a bicycle to get around. There are several things to think about when going this human-powered route to sidestep the Great Petroleum Gouging Dragon.

1) Basic Physical Fitness - make sure you are in fairly good shape to do this. You don't have to be in Iron Man Triathlete condition to get around the block or even across town. But if you're no longer in your teens and have had a few health issues since you last rode a bike, perhaps some honest assessment by a healthcare professional may help address your concerns, or discuss some things that you didn't anticipate. Some warning indicators could include, but are not limited to, high blood pressure, chronic joint pain, asthma, family history of heart disease, insulin dependent diabetes, and so on. In your eagerness to save some precious dollars, you may be incurring some unwanted risk. Make sure to consult with your doctor to make sure you know how to make arrangements (e.g. packing your asthma spray or other medication on the road) to be ready for riding.

On the plus side, if you are only slightly out of shape and genuinely have no health concerns, your body will benefit enormously from the extra exercise. As long as you give yourself a week or so to get accustomed to the extra effort of getting things done, and recognize that you will be experiencing a bit more fatigue at the end of the day, you should be able to adjust nicely.

All the same, I still recommend trying to follow a healthier diet while you're pedalling all over the city. Some might say that the extra exercise will offset a bit of overeating, but I have the opposite opinion on that. Your diet will matter more than ever, perhaps more than the kind of gasoline you buy for your car. Not only will it help you lose extra pounds, but proper nutrition can give you more endurance and get you to your destinatons a bit faster. Might as well get healthy from both the diet and exercise angles.

2) Your Backpack Is Your Trunk - That is, if you choose not to invest in a rack or set of pannier bags to help carry groceries and other items. Just like your car's trunk, you will have to carry a few emergency things - pump, extra inner tube, first aid kit, and possibly food and clothes. I wasn't too thrilled about getting extra luggage bolted onto my slick ride, but as soon as I realized that boxy little compartment behind my seat could store up to three soda cans, or a considerable amount of small groceries or DVD's, it soon became indispensible for handling the overflow from the backpack and grocery bags.
Also remember that you can't haul squat! Last week one of the fluorescent lights in the garage had to be replaced, and I was tempted to automatically jump on the bike and head for the hardware store. Then I realized that I can't transport a 48" long fluorescent light-tube-- at least not safely; that brittle glass cylinder would never make it, backpack or no. For that one I have to use a car.

3) No More Weekday Road Warrior - Or impulsive trips using the freeway, at least. Unless you are faster than Lance Armstrong, and can avoid the cops.
Almost everything will have to be local: work within an hour's bicycle ride (no longer a car ride) from home, do groceries within a couple of miles. Otherwise, everything will take too long, and you will get too tired trying to get to the end of the day. This means waking up earlier to get to work, and if your employer is understanding enough, leave earlier so you can make time for chores and family. This may even open up a discussion about telecommuting at your company, which is a nice possibility sometimes.

4) Shower Whenever You Can - You may have to make arrangements to bring work-clothes in your bag, and find a gym or private shower to freshen up before work starts. Some cyclists have found that leaving a fresh set of clothes at work on a hanger actually helps, and they take the dirty clothes home at the end of the day. Also make sure to shower when you get home, so you don't risk offending family members as well.

Another item of personal hygiene I didn't anticipate is brushing your teeth: you will be surprised how much stuff in the air gets scooped up by your mouth even while on a short ride in the city or countryside. Dirt, grit, bugs, mosquitoes, sand, dust, smog, small spiders, plant detritus, ashes...the list goes on! Your mouth seems to act like an organic vacuum cleaner for such airborne bric-a-brac, and it can't possibly be healthy. Get rid of them by a good swish-and-gargle as soon as you can.

5) Clothing as Equipment - If you've ever gone on a really long bike trip with jeans on, you may have experienced the Infamous Chafing Monster of the Inner Thighs. After a little thought (as well as some skin cream down there for a couple of days), you will begin to consider getting bicycle pants for actual bicycle use. Such hard lessons make it easy to accept that certain athletic clothes are not just for looking cool. Although I hope for your sake you don't have to go the hard way about being convinced about wearing gloves--or a bicycle helmet!

6) Family Involvement - I'm assuming you are not part of a Chinese acrobat troupe that can ride with 17 people on one bike. Plus I have a nagging suspicion that is illegal to ride like that on the streets of the United States. Unless you have a tandem bike or a sidecar, you will need wheels for your family members as well. So far my son uses a skateboard, and is loving the "playtime" he gets when we are running short errands. Eventually the older kids and/or spouse will need bicycles of their own. Hopefully you can locate used ones in decent quality at a garage sale, or relatives who are no longer using theirs. Although in this gasoline-starved period, they may have dusted off their bicycles for the road as well.

I hope the above does not deter you in considering a bike as a replacement vehicle, because it is a wonderful form of exercise that actually helps get things done during the day. The gasoline expense vanishes to zero, as well as the dread of getting stuck in rush-hour traffic. Just as long as you have at least considered the points I mentioned, it may help you figure out a few more ways to think ahead about improving your individual bicycle experience, and give you months, if not years of happy riding.