Motor City

I recently had the opportunity to make a new friendship with a lady who lives locally. We had exchanged some chatty emails, getting to know one another. She liked to hike, kayak and be outdoors, so I saw the potential of having a fun companion this summer. She said she was from Detroit. Detroit - - where the heartbeat and history of the city is, in part, CARS. Cars are their pride and soul. Something akin to someone who is from Texas. They are proud to be from the Great Land of Texas... and hey, "Don't Mess With Texas!" as the quote goes. If you took cars out of Detroit and their history....where would it be? Just another quiet Midwestern city....

She was surprised that I was a native Washingtonian (yes, there aren't many of us around here!). In the process of sharing information, I mentioned that I had gone car-free a couple of years ago...that it had started out as an "experimental idea" but it had worked well for me, so I had continued. I shared how I bike to work, and use my bike, subway, bus, Amtrak, Zipcars, and Enterprise rental cars in going places near and far.

As you've read from previous posts here, some people don't have a very good reaction upon hearing that I don't have car. They think "How in the world can you live without a car?? I couldn't possibly!!" They see it as LIMITING their life, whereas I see it as a FREEING experience. It's like it's their God-given RIGHT to own and drive a car - and by God, you aren't gonna take that away from me! Living car-free is not for everyone, but it can work for a lot of people, if they want it to. This lady had a slight old back injury, and hadn't biked since college, because the bumps while biking hurt her back, and I can understand that. I did mention that some people who have back problems sometimes can resolve it by riding a recumbent or trike....

Needless to say, my being car-free "threw her for a loop" and she declined my friendship. I was a bit hurt and sorry to hear this. I mean, it kind of makes you feel like you're not GOOD ENOUGH. Yes, I know, trying to get together with my friends sometimes can be difficult because I don't have car, but I try to work around it and still get together with them. It's NOT impossible.

So, I was sorry to have missed out on a new friendship...but everything happens for a reason, and you move on in life....whether you move onward in a car, or on a bike....

Fun on a Bike! :)

How much fun can you have on a bike, you ask? Last Saturday, I checked out the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race, and saw a number of very creative sculptures added to different kinds of bikes. :) The people on the bikes rode the bikes through the city, then to a waterfront park where they had to enter the water, go around a short pier and back out. The bikes all had various floatation devices and paddles added so they could handle (relatively) this task. It was slow-going in the water, but the hundreds and hundreds of spectators cheered them on. Later they biked to another park where they had to endure going through a sand pit and then a mud pit! It took a lot of muscles to get through each of these obstacles, that's for sure. But it was definitely a lot of fun to watch and I had my bike so I rode along with them in the (slow) race.

I was going to take Amtrak to Baltimore to get to the race, but my roommate had lent me the use of her car while she was away in MN. It cost just a little bit more to take her car and pay for parking and gas, but it also gave me the chance to stop and visit a friend in the Annapolis area on the way home, which I couldn't have done if I had taken the train. As for public transportation to the Annapolis area, there is only a commuter bus service that runs Monday-Friday, not on the weekends, unfortunately. :(

Like a Movie

I was living in California when the movie "L.A. Story" came out. I thought it was hilarious because it REALLY captured the way people are out there. One particular scene often comes to my mind, when Steve Martin leaves his house, gets in his car, and drives just one or two houses down the street, to see someone he knows. :) It's making fun of how Californians often use their car to drive such short distances, but I'm sure they do, just like here.

In fact, it happened just the other weekend when I got together with a friend. I biked to meet her at a bike store in Arlington so she could test ride some high-end bikes. After a few hours, she decided on a pretty expensive racing bike and racing wheels. She had her old bike in the back of her car. We had planned to get some dinner, so I suggested we just bike to some place nearby. She said, "Bike??" I said, "Sure - there's lots of places nearby." She said, "But, will they let us into the restaurant in our biking clothes?" I said, "Sure - no problem." (It's not like we were going to be eating at a 5-star restaurant!). She said, "But, how do I carry my things?" I asked her what she needed to carry, and she said her wallet and keys. I told her that I had my bike bag and also back pockets in my jersey. Then she said, "But, what will we do with the bikes when we get there?" I smiled and said, "Well, we'll lock the bikes up." It didn't dawn on me that this could actually be the FIRST time she had done such a process. She was a bit flustered and hesitant. I didn't want her to be nervous about it all, so I gave in, and put my bike in the back of her car, and she was quite happy about that resolution. We leave the parking lot and I kid you not, we drive just a block or two, and pass a Mexican restaurant to eat at, and she pulls over to park at a metered spot. She pays $2 to park at that meter and we walk across the street to have dinner outside. I was thinking how funny it was, and that we could have easily biked there in about a minute.

When we finished dinner, I got my bike out of her car and she asked where my next "adventure" would be. I thought maybe she meant perhaps an upcoming bike trip or something. No, she meant where was I headed off to right now. :) I said that I wanted to go downtown to see the Cherry Blossom Festival fireworks that were going to happen at 8 p.m. I had my reflective vest, blinking lights and headlight, so I was set. She asked if she could drop me off somewhere, and I said no, I'd be just fine. It was a nice night out and the riding would be enjoyable. She looked at me kind of funny/oddly and said she couldn't live without her car. I guess she'd feel vulnerable or something? I know being in a car, you feel somewhat safe and protected. But I feel comfortable and happy on my bike, and I feel safe, as long as I'm not out way late - when some of the "crazies" come out. :)

Stress Levels

My brother called me a little while ago, driving to take a bike ride on a nearby bike trail, since we're having some nice Spring weather. The smooth-going traffic came to a sudden halt and his happy mood changed immediately. He said, "Be GLAD you don't have a car!" and he started to fuss and fume about the traffic jam, and other drivers multi-tasking while driving and nearly ramming into other cars. He has RARELY said that I should be happy that I don't have a car. :) Most of the time, he thinks I OUGHT to have a car to get out of town on the weekends, etc.

I have rented a car a few times this year already, though, to get out of town, and it IS nice to have that option from time-to-time. This month, I rented a car to drive down to Richmond, Virginia to check out the Handmade Bike Show. (Funny, to rent a car and drive to a bike show...). I would have taken Amtrak, but unfortunately, they were doing track maintenance and the train station that services the line between D.C. and Richmond, was not available. :/ Anyway, when I went to pick up my rental car from Enterprise, the lady agent walked me out to the car to do an inspection, and I had my small folding bike, the Tikit, to put in the trunk. She said, "Okay, do the magic!" She saw how quick it folded up and fit in the trunk, and said, "My bike SOOO does not do that!!" :)

Renting the car from Enterprise for the weekend is kind of nice. The office is located about 2 miles from my house, and it takes about 15 min. to bike over there. I pick up the car on Saturday morning at 9 a.m., when their office opens. Within a half hour, the paperwork is done and I'm off down the road. Their office closes at noon on Saturday, and isn't open on Sunday. So I return the car on Monday morning, at 7:30, and take my bike out of the trunk and can head off to work from there. So it gives me two full days use of the car. I have scheduled visits with friends and family in other locations, and also load up on groceries on the way home, so I feel I make the best of my rental car time. After I return the rental car, I'm kind of happy to get back on the bike and have a slower, quieter pace of life. :)

No Shoveling Needed

The past month, we have seen MORE than our fair share of snow in the area here. Usually, we may get a big dump of snow every 10 years or so. But not this winter season...we've had at least 3 big snowfalls of 10-20 inches. As I write this, it's snowing and we are due to get 6-16 inches.... That's ON TOP of the over 20 inches we have on the ground....

One very good thing about not having a car in weather like this, is that I don't have to spend time worrying about getting my car DUG OUT (nor worry about being able to navigate the difficult roads). :) Although, I do admit that when I did have my car, I didn't shovel snow then either...I could walk to the Metro, and just let the sunshine do its work of melting the snow. It would take a week or so, but I didn't mind much. It's weather like this that makes me glad I can walk to stores that I need to get to. This afternoon, I strapped on my backpack and walked the 15 minutes to the strip mall nearby, and took care of several errands: the bank, post office, lunch, and getting groceries. Of course, carrying the heavy groceries in my backpack wasn't that fun, but it wasn't back-breaking either. On my way to the store, a lady on her bike passed me. :) I was thinking I could have probably ridden my mountain bike, because the main roads were down to pavement and easy to ride on. But, sometimes I like to just walk, I like the exercise of walking. It uses different muscles than biking. :)

Another Enterprise Weekend

I had a 3-day weekend over the Martin Luther King holiday - and I felt like getting out of town, so I rented a car from Enterprise. This time I rented from a location close to my house - just a little over a mile away. The bad thing is that the office didn't open til 9 a.m., but the good thing was that you could take their rental cars out of the D.C. area. The airport location (where I have rented before) states that their cars are required to stay in the DC/VA/MD area. Since I wanted to drive up to PA and NY, I didn't want to breach the contract terms, so I rented from this particular location.

The agent preparing the paperwork for the car in the office saw my folding bike propped against the office window and was curious about it. I told him it was a folding bike, and I'd be folding it to put it in the trunk. He thought a folding bike was pretty ingenious. It's fun to open people's eyes about folding bikes and even living car-free. It's a concept they don't think about. Of course, he asked the normal question of how do I get groceries. :) I showed him the panniers that were on my bike, and told him that I just fill those up - you can fit a lot in them. I told him I also have a trailer I can use to put groceries in, if need be. I told him I bike to work everyday, and he was asking where I rode. Perhaps he lives in DC or MD, and didn't know about the Mt. Vernon Trail or that you can ride on a sidewalk that crosses the various bridges into DC. It's almost as if these bike routes are "invisible" to people in their cars. :)

Anyway, I enjoyed getting out of town - stopping in MD at a friend's place, and to PA to visit my sister, and then up to NY to spend the weekend with a friend. A rental car comes in handy for trips like this, when I want to make multiple stops. The cost of the rental car, though, was about the same as a flight up to NY...so I didn't save money on the trip, but it was fun to see my family and friends. I realized I hadn't rented a car since mid-October (when I drove up to Philly for the weekend).

Christmas Concert

When I was in 3rd grade and lived in suburban Maryland, the teacher showed a slideshow of the new subway system that was to be built in Washington, D.C. The year was 1967. The picture, very similar to the one here, looked VERY futuristic to me. I was in awe of how cool it looked. The subway was finished in 1976, and I was a senior in high school. I remember the first day it opened, and how they offered free rides, so people could check it out. :) Little did I know then that I would come to use the Metro often in the future. Without a car, the Metro comes in handy in covering distances fairly quickly. Sometimes though, if there are delays in the system, and adding in transfer times at various stations, I can cover some of those distances on my bike just as fast.

This past weekend, I decided I'd like to go to a Christmas concert in a community theatre in Arlington. It was about 5:20 p.m., and the concert would start at 7:30. Could I make it in time? Well, long story short, it took me about 2 hrs. using both the Metro and biking. If I had ridden my bike only, it may have taken just a little less time.

But sometimes it's nice to make use of the Metro. If I've already done a bit of biking during the day (as I had that day - I had done 30-35 miles), it's nice to have the lift on Metro vs. riding (as much as I love to ride!!). I take a book along and get some reading in, which I rarely seem to have time for. I can chat with friends/family on my cell phone while waiting for the train to come.

When I arrived at the theatre for the concert, there was a bike rack outside. I was going to lock my bike up there, but after buying my concert ticket, I saw that the lobby atrium was large. I inquired if I could just bring my bike inside and put it over in a corner. They said that would be fine, so I brought it in and locked it to a long fold-up table. When I gave my ticket to the lady usher, she looked at me and said I was a "brave" person to be out there riding in the 30-degree temps. :) Really, if you're dressed right, you warm up in a few miles, and you are fine and toasty for riding...I hardly notice the cold (unless the wind chill is really low). :)