vtguy
Posts:298
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| 06/12/2013 12:01 PM |
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A clever argument from James D. Schwartz:
I step outside my front door and hop on my bike because I’m too lazy to go downstairs in the parking garage to get the car. I pull my bike up to the front door at my destination because I’m too lazy to drive around looking for a parking spot then having to walk from the car to the building. … Instead of walking 15 minutes to my destination, I ride my bicycle there in 5. Yes, I ride there because I am too lazy to walk. I ride my bicycle past dozens of cars at rush hour because I’m too lazy to be stressed out sitting in traffic and too lazy to explain why I’m late all the time. I sold the last car I owned in 2010 and bought a couple solid bicycles because I was too lazy to maintain the car*. I was too lazy to renew my license plates each year, too lazy to fill up the gas tank, too lazy to shop around for insurance rates, and too lazy to take it to the car wash. |
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 06/12/2013 12:33 PM |
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Thanks, he has some good essays.
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 06/12/2013 01:06 PM |
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Interesting perspective! Who is James D. Schwartz?
There's definitely some generational subversiveness going on in pockets of the US regarding bikes. Gives me hope, cuz I'll be unleashing 3 new young adults into the world over the next 10 years.
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 06/12/2013 03:28 PM |
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| Reports have said car use and even drivers license applications are down among younger people. maybe there is some hope... |
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C2K_Rider
Posts:173
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| 06/12/2013 03:49 PM |
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How many here have gone without a car during their working years - that is, outside of school?
We went without a car for one year. Got a tandem and rode it all over town to everything we did. Had a kids adapter for our daughter and my wife rode her own bike. The hard parts were parking it at the movie theater and shopping malls and convincing them the let us put it inside - not out where thieves could get at it. At the time it was unique enough that they were amused rather than put out.
The hardest part was dealing with going out of town, especially to places that were not served by transit - which is a lot of places it turns out. You don't even think about that when you have a car. We rented a car several times. And even transit is a pain when it takes 2+ times longer to get somewhere because they stop all over the place. A two hour drive to relatives took almost 5 hours by bus or train, and a half of that was in the two towns just getting to and from the Greyhound or Amtrack station by local bus. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 06/12/2013 03:57 PM |
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| Spot on - I am incredibly lazy. Other than maybe a handful of times a year, I've never had a car to get to work. |
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vtrich
Posts:3
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| 06/12/2013 04:00 PM |
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| I was car-less for 3 years,...last two of college and first year after school. I did have a 125cc two cycle dirt bike which rarely ran so it was the bike that got me around. That and borrowing cars. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 06/12/2013 04:03 PM |
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I took driver's ed in highschol, never took the test. Got my license at 28. Bought a van to move and look for work at 31. At 50, started amping my cycling back up and have been doing roughly equal miles riding and driving the last half dozen years.
Ben |
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ChinookPass
Posts:809
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| 06/12/2013 05:07 PM |
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Not car-free and haven't attempted it. On a day-to-day basis, we are very close. Lately the only day the car comes out of the garage is Saturday. Of course this is all helped by the fact that my wife has epilepsy and is not allowed to drive and my kids hate organized sports (they are more into music).
Funny thing is my son would bike to high school activities (~3 hilly miles away) but other local moms take "pity" on him and give him rides.
There is definitely some freedom to having a car (i.e. getting to hiking and the ski hill!). I think most of us can get through the majority of our days without by making a few strategic choices. Where you live and work are the biggest choices impacting whether you can be car free. |
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Entheo
Posts:317
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| 06/13/2013 08:55 AM |
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here's the SUPER lazy man's bike (hint: it flies)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=8Ovsgui4YWs#! |
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jmdirt
Posts:775
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| 06/13/2013 02:39 PM |
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| I lucked out and worked close enough to home one year that I only drove to work seven times. Work is a solid one hour ride with five death zones and no shower now. If I go slow enough to avoid the need for a shower it adds ~30 minutes (plus my chamois area still needs a shower), if I loop around the death zones it adds ~30 minutes. I ride my motorcycle AMAP which reduces fuel consumption but probably not emissions. As much as anything I ride the moto to save miles on my PU so that it will last more years (I try to get at least 12 years out of vehicles) plus its much more fun. |
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THE SKINNY
Posts:506
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| 06/13/2013 03:02 PM |
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| i don't know about this. i'm pretty friggin' lazy. |
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| How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. |
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Pin0Q0
Posts:229
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| 06/13/2013 05:12 PM |
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On the other hand...When it's cold, dark wet and pouring cats and dogs I am too lazy to get wet cold and numb. When I lived in UK I couldn't afford the gas, nor a car, so I rode my bike everywhere. Now I am just too lazy and old to be uncomfortable.
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 06/14/2013 11:48 PM |
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I've set my life up to be very lazy but just don't seem to be able to cut that umbilical cord. Live less then 2 miles from work, the bank, and all the shopping I need to do. But just can't seem to stop sucking on that auto teet. Best I've done in the last 15 years is maybe 60/40 on the cycling side in any one year. When in reality I could very easily do 80/20 no make that 90/10. It's just a mind set and I guess I have yet to set my mind.
Spent most of my 20's carless but that was a long time ago in a far away land. |
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