Reflections on My 8-Week Bike Commute: The Car is Sold

After Our First Test Run Ride

The car is sold and I am committed. The bike commute is a good thing. It is great for me to get exercise in my daily routine, I am able to appreciate and enjoy my neighborhood and the bike commute has made me more aware of all the great spots in my neighborhood. South Lake Union and Eastlake are changing so much and so fast and new restaurants and services are popping up all the time. Now that I am on my bike, I see the new restaurants and new services every day and I am more likely to remember the new spots and even old spots and give them a try. I even went to Serious Pie and Banya 5 for the first time ever. (Note to retailers: SLU and/or Eastlake needs a great shoe shop.)

Since our daycare moved my route has changed and I now ride through the Amazon.com campus. This is a busier route and previously it would have been a more intimidating route for me to try. Since my first blog entry, I am a much more confident rider. I am still a very safe and mindful rider, and seeing my son on my handlebars helps keep that in check.

It is great to be part of all the activity in my neighborhood and I love being social with people and I do feel more connected to the community. I even found out about two (count them: two) farmer's markets on my route.  I never would have found these in a car! One is on the Amazon.com campus and the other is on a boat at South Lake Union Park. A farmer's market on a boat is fun.

My son is pretty cute-looking sitting on the handlebars and we get tons of smiles and waves when we ride. It is a very nice way to start the day. I am not big on being a spectacle or attention-seeking and tend to shy away from engaging with strangers -- especially before my second cup of coffee! But I have to admit it is pretty nice to make people smile and that makes me smile and the day starts out pretty good.

I Should Not Have Gone Shopping This Day

My son loves to ride by the construction at the Mercer freeway exit and on-ramps. He has suggested that my next car should be a dump truck and he is hopeful that he can ride the “little bulldozer.” I think he is enjoying cycling too.

I started the bike commute hopeful that I could keep it going but not sure that I could. I am a working mom, I am busy and so many things that I want to do just do not get started, or if they get started they do not get done.

Another challenge with bike commuting is the extra time it takes and the challenge of transporting all of the stuff my toddler needs at daycare and the stuff I need for my job. I was not sure I could get myself, my son and all of our stuff back and forth. Me, I can manage if I forget something, but it is a lot harder to explain to a toddler and his teachers at his daycare if I forget something. That has been a challenge.

For the most part, I have the transportation of the day-to-day stuff figured out and sometimes we have had to drive or take the bus. I try and keep that at a minimum but if I am very tired I do not ride. That is just not safe. Other times, I catch a ride with my husband mostly because I can. I am not a hardcore rider.

Now that the rains have come and the weather is changing I will still ride my bike on dry days.  I bought a bus pass and I have a Zipcar membership. I am committed to alternatives to the car commute but you will not see me riding with my son in the dark in the rain. For my personal comfort level, that is too much.

On Our Way Home We Play in the Park

So far, I am happy with my cycling success. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I finally got it started. Initially, I did not want to invest any money into it just in case I could not keep the bike commute going. In the past, my bike has been used for recreation and only occasionally. In other words, I have been leisurely riding my bike about four times a year.

It is easy and fun to go out and invest in new gear. I like that it is called investing -- investing in your health and safety I guess, but really it feels like shopping to me. Years ago, I spent good money after deciding to take up rollerblading and I bought all the gear. I went once, it was scary and then five years later I donated the equipment to Goodwill. But if I keep this commute up, I think I will splurge. This winter, I am going to look into buying a new bike or a new used bike. That will be fun!

I Got on the Slippery Slope: No Bike Ride for TWO WEEKS

The good kind of Slippery Slope that we use
when we bike home.

What do all the things in this list have in common?

My work got busy.

I had to travel.

I had to lug equipment.

I was tired.

I worked from home.

I had errands to run.

I overslept.

These are all reasons (excuses) I gave over the last two weeks that prevented me from riding my bike to work.  

My son even asked, “Ride bike?” and I said, “No, not today.”  I missed a lot by not riding my bike.  I especially felt the effects of not getting exercise.  I am not sure if there was more stress but I do know that it was harder to shake the stress.  It took longer for me to fall asleep and wake up and I was tired and less motivated to do anything.

I sure missed the whimsical time with my son on the ride.  We do things like stop to look at a dump truck, ride over a bridge that is out of the way, sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame together, talk about the boats we want to ride and what seaplane we will take to the islands someday.  My son wants to take a blue plane but it looks a little rickety to me and I am pushing for a white one that looks like it has a few less miles on it.

My car commute is about 10 minutes one way; my bike commute is about 30 minutes one way.  I spend about an hour each day riding my bike or 20 minutes each day in my car. For a working mom, 40 minutes is a lot of time and time is the most valuable thing to me.  For my birthday, I just want a little time, time to do something or even do nothing.

When I look at all the effects of not riding, the 40 minutes that I added to my commute could be the best 40 minutes of my day. When I am behind or overwhelmed, it seems so beneficial to drive and I get that 40 minutes back. In reality, the benefits of the exercise are what really help me stay on top of things and help me deal with stress, and I get more done with a better attitude.

That’s what I mean by slippery slope -- I am running late so I drive, so I do not exercise, so I take my stress home with me and my stress causes me to toss and turn in bed, and I get to sleep late so I have a hard time waking up, and then I am running late so I take the car, again, and again, and again. 

This week, I will now break the cycle and ride my bicycle.