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I’ve been making the best of January and now February. It’s been pretty miserable weather months, but I’ve been able to average 2-3 days per week bicycle commuting. The other days I ride my bicycle to the bus stop, which is about a mile, and take the bus the rest of the way to my office. It’s actually a nice change as I can wear my work clothes. We’ve had a wet few weeks in Charlotte, so I wear rain gear over my work clothes. Bicycling in the winter months is an interesting way to connect with the outside world at a time when many people don’t bother to do much outside. I’ve had a few nice surpirses in the last few weeks. Charlotte often delivers a January surprise this time of year. Morning temps in the 20-30s are not uncommon and there are some days which don’t get out of the 30’s. Luckily the norm is for 40-50 degree high temps this time of year, and sometimes even higher. I recently had a few late night (8-9PM) bicycle commutes in the 40’s well lit by clear moonlit nights. Getting to spend that time outdoors is rejuvenating, and I feel connected to where I live because of my daily close up view of the trees, streams, and winter nature in this part of the US.
About 2 years ago I decided to start wearing normal athletic gear for my bicycle commute of about 7.5 miles. The main reason for this was affordability and comfort. I wanted to be able to walk in to a coffee shop in the morning without turning to many heads. Additionally it’s much more affordable to wear general athletic gear I’ve purchased at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. In the winter this is even more affordable. Winter cycling specific gear is very expensive. Mostly I wear nylon and wind proof gear with base wicking layers, and fleece in between.
For the record, I have not driven in my car by myself for 38 days. I have driven with my family, or on 2 occasions with cargo, but I’m learning how to deal with those situations.
 I’ve been commuting multi-modal using the awesome feature of Charlotte Area Transit buses to loaded a bicycle on the bus front rack. Although, I would prefer to be bicycling the whole way, I do like being able to wear my work close on my bike from the house. Depending on the climate, the type of commuting bicycle you use, your average speed, and distance to travel, this is a very real option for many people.
It’s freezing by Charlotte standards, which for me means I took the bus instead of bicycling to the office today. I have a bus stop about a mile from my house, which with a ~25 minute bus ride makes my door to door commute time about 35 minutes. That’s only about 5 minutes more than my drive time of 30 minutes.
Riding public transportation can be an interesting experience for someone like me who didn’t grow up with it. It’s something that participants in the auto-culture are missing out on. I was reminded of this fact on the bus home today by some folks who were not going to take no for an answer to idle chit-chat. Some of my generation (born in the late 70s) hate this “small talk”, but I think our cultural conversation abilities are being lost. I know for one that I am not very good at making conversation. It is part of what makes being a human-being unique.
I honestly would not normally take the bus from where I live. It’s over a mile walk to the nearest bus  station, and driving to a bus stop doesn’t work for me. However, the bicycle trip is very quick and it’s enjoyable on my relaxed single speed. Yes, I am inconveniencing the other bus riders by taking the time to load my bicycle, but it’s probably a relatively rare occasion when the bike rack is used.
Having the bike-bus option is a good cold weather option when commuting by bike is too cold. Realistically, a bicycle is not a good option for most people when the weather outside goes below 40ish, however there are hearty people who do commute by bike in the serious cold.
Already on January 2nd, I had to drive by myself in a vehicle about 2 miles. I guess technically, I had to carry cargo, which currently my bicycle or public transportation could not easily accommodate. I was brewing beer with my friend Jay, and as part of the process you have to rapidyl cool down the conncoction from a boiling temperature to room termperature, so I needed a cooler full of ice. I drove about 1 mile to pick up ice and back home again.
How could I have solved this problem differently? Well there do exist cargo traillers for bicycles but they are not that common in this country. I certainly could not go to my local bicycle shop and purchase one, but they could probably order one for me. A lot of people use more common kid hauling traillers as double duty to haul other things as well. That might be a good solution that can allow me to haul my son around too.
Needless to say, I broke my own rules already, but I didn’t have much of a choice given what I wanted to do. I could have not brewed beer, but that doesn’t seem like a good alternative. I will begin shopping around for a trailer to solve this and similar cargo problems in the future.
 Let me first tell you – I am a liar. I don’t live a car free life and I probably could not live a car free life. What I aspire to do is more akin to what would be called living car lite, but that’s not the point. The point is that I have created this blog to tell my story of my personal choices to live my life without using a car for personal transportation. In the spirit of Morgan Spurlock (30 Days and Super Size Me), I pledge to live without using a car for personal transportation from January 1st 2010 to December 31st 2010.
In the process, I will (with spousal permission) sell my car and tell the story of that process. Aghast – A one car family of 3 in a major city! The reaction I’ve received to this has ranged from fear, “What if you need to get your son to the hospital!” ; to indifference, “Why?”
It’s important to understand I am an average Joe, in my thirties, working a 9-5 desk job. I have a wife and a one year old son. I live in an average size city, with an average public transportation infrastructure, and I live 7 miles from the city center. My wife is not a zealous bicyclist, and truthfully, not very supportive of this project! My wife does own a car and I will probably occasionally drive it with my family in the car. I am not an anti-car zealot, but what I want to highlight are the challenges and choices I will face in my every day life and the impact they will have on me as I live this (sadly) “alternative lifestyle.” These decisions may be banal but they just might be something more.
 I am choosing not to transport myself individually in a vehicle designed to fit 5. It’s ludicrous, and we all have grown numb to the impact we have on our communities, to our country men and women, and to the world. If I can do it, there are millions of other people in this country who can do the same thing, and that’s the story I plan to tell.
carfree.us will begin publishing in January 2010.
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