September 2006 Archives

With the sun rising in the distance, I found myself staring at a golden bicycle, abandoned by a dumpster. I'm not talking about a standard golden paint job. This was an all-over, no holds barred spray paint job. The seat was golden. The tires were golden. The water bottle cage was golden.

I stood there contemplating it, awestruck and contemplating it's story. Was this an Earlham "Community" bike, a re-habbed free ride, intentionally ugly to avoid theft? Perhaps it was stolen, painted gold to mask it's true identity. Or It could have been an art project. One last golden hurrah before the junk pile.

This post is available as an audio clip.

This is the story of why I traded in my car for a bicycle.

It's not that many people have asked about this. Rather I have sensed that people wonder about this unusual lifestyle choice and do not ask.

My story isn't going to be about lifestyle comparison or counting karma points. I want to convey the emotional parts of this transition.

I had some selfish reasons for wanting to get rid of my car. I don't particularly like driving them or riding in them. I don't know how to fix them if they break, and I'm not interested to learn. I didn't like car down payments, car insurance payments, car gas payments, car breakdown payments and car break-in payments.

 "Let's Race!"

I challenged Ehren to a three mile crosstown race. I would ride my bicycle (as fast as I could!), and Ehren would drive his Volvo, taking a normal route and traveling average speeds in his car.

The destination was slightly uphill from us.

 "Go!"

Soon the routes we chose to follow diverged, and I didn't see Ehren until the destination.

He pulled in about 30 seconds after me, complaining about traffic.