Cycling Fashion... or lack there of...

Hello, friends!

A few weeks ago I posted about how I don't care about looking ridiculous when it comes to biking because I need to stay warm and dry more than anything. At the time, I was really only concerned with my clothing. A few days ago, I realized that the same principles also apply to my head/hair when it comes to biking. Here's what went down.

I was biking back from campus when I decided to stop by my bike shop to ask a few questions about a new bike I'd heard about (more on that later). I hung out with the folk at the shop for while then started on my way home. As I was about to put my helmet back on my head, I saw my reflection in the window and the photo below is what I saw...

Let me break it down for you. When it's cold, I wear a ski mask type thing so that my face doesn't get frozen. It's super warm and I love it. It's made of fleece which means it can get a little statc-y. What you see is the how my head looks when I take off my helmet.

Here's what happened next. I walked back into the store and said to my friend who works there, "Hey, why didn't you tell me my hair looked like this while we were talking?!" His answer was priceless.

"Dude, this is a bike shop. Everyone's hair looks like that. I didn't even notice." =0).

This is what I love about biking. There's a certain fraternity of bikers. We get why folk have their right pant leg rolled up to their knee. No one blinks when someone walks in looking like they're working on a Don King impression. Cycling fashion is just a different beast and I love it.

Stats:
Distance: 9 miles ($.35)
Meters: 15 hours ($15)

Total: $15.35
Grand Total: $711.75 (Past $700! Hooray!)
In the Positive: $108.74 (Past $100! Hooray again!)

Happy Biking!

~Adam

New Meters!

Hello, friends!

With the beginning of the new year, comes new laws in the city that don't directly affect bikers but definitely affect this blog.

Starting 2 weeks ago, there have been 2 major changes:

- Meters downtown have now been changed to $1/hour to match meters on campus

- Meters downtown are now active until 7pm, which is 2 hours later from last year.

On the one hand, this doesn't really affect bikers like me. I don't pay meters (thus, the reason for this blog) so how much they cost or how long they go don't actually affect me directly.

HOWEVER, this entire blog is based on the money that I save because I bike and don't drive either on campus or downtown. That means that when the meters go for later and are more expensive, I actually save more money by biking and not driving. Which means, we get that much closer to our goal of saving another $600 that much faster. Hooray!

There's also the chance that the increase in meter rates means that more people will try biking. The weather has been relatively mild and dry, which may mean that more people are willing to brave the elements and pedal a bit. If that's the case, then I may see some increased traffic around town. It shouldn't affect me too much but I'll definitely be sure to keep wearing my helmet. (Safety is no accident!). 

Below you'll see a change in the stats. I've stopped making a distinction between meters downtown and meters on campus. It's all just the same rate now so we'll count it as such. Here's to some great biking!

Stats:
Distance: 9 miles ($.32)
Meters: 12 hours ($12)

Total: $12.32
Grand Total: $696.40
In the Positive: $93.39

Happy Biking!

~Adam

Lost Lock!

Hello, friends!

An interesting thing happened to me a few days ago. I was getting ready to bike downtown when I noticed that my bike lock was missing! I retraced my steps along my ride but I couldn't find it anywhere. I honestly have no idea what happened to it. I have another bike lock so it's not actually that big of a deal but definitely an oddity.

This isn't the first time I've lost a bike lock, nor is it the oddest time that's happened. When I was in high school I biked to school. I only lived less than a mile from campus so it was a pretty quick trip. There was a rack outside the parking lot to my high school that was pretty much a horizontal bar that ran about 50 feet or so. There were usually about 2 dozen bikes locked up next to mine on any given day. Being the slightly OCD guy that I am, I always locked my bike in just about the same place.

One day I came out of class at the end of the day and noticed that something was off. My bike was at the wrong end of the bike rack. Added to that, the gears had been shifted and the bike lock was gone. To this day, I have no idea what happened but I'm glad that my bike wasn't stolen. My best guess is that someone just took my bike for a joyride but I'm still not entirely sure as to why they didn't steal the thing. (Fun note: that bike was later stolen in college.)

Stats:
Distance: 11 miles ($.41)
Meters: 3 hours on campus ($3) + 4 hours downtown ($2.40)

Total: $5.81
Grand Total: $684.08
In the Positive: $81.07

Happy Biking!

~Adam

The Joys of Donating My Laptop

Hello, friends!

Happy 2015 to you. Here's hoping that 2015 kicks 2014's butt in every possible way. I know that I'm ready for a new year. =0).

I was thinking about the past year and all the biking I did and didn't do over the course of the year. One thought that came to mind was how much more biking I did after I donated my laptop in the Fall.

Let me set the stage for you. In early 2014 I bought a new tablet and spent most of the year getting used to its usage, essentially trying to see if I could use it to replace my laptop, which was functional but heavy and kind of cumbersome. From a biking standpoint, a chance to replace my 7lb laptop with a less than 1lb tablet was might enticing.

Honestly, things were going well but not perfectly. The truth is that a tablet is not the same as a laptop. I could do most of the things that I wanted to do but not everything. The hardest was definitely using office products like Word, Excel, etc. Tablets are good but the experience isn't as easy as a regular computer. As I used the tablet more and more, I got more and more comfortable with the functionality of it but not 100% then.

Then, right before the semester started, a coworker was asking around to see if anyone had an old laptop they would be willing to donate to one of the interns he was supervising. This was my chance. I was getting used to the tablet but could I wean myself completely off of the laptop. How would I survive?

Well, I finally decided to donate the laptop and I figured out how I was going to survive: by biking more. =0).

My solution was simple: now that I don't have a laptop, I have to bike to campus to use the free campus computers more. Before I could have an "admin" day at home and just stayed glued to my couch while doing work (and watching cartoons). Now, if I want to be REALLY productive, it means biking to campus and hanging out a few hours there. That means more miles biked and more meters saved. It was an unforeseen benefit but one I definitely don't mind.

Ironically, these past few weeks I haven't biked much at all because of travel and such. Still, once the semester starts, I'm sure we'll be right back to it.

Stats:
Miles: 9 miles ($.34)
Hours: 9 hours on campus ($9)

Total: $9.34
Grand Total: $678.27
In the Positive: $75.26

Happy Biking!

~Adam