tradeoffs

I've had a vehicle now for 32 days.

In this time, I've logged my two lowest weeks of mileage since starting tracking it on April 8 - but not because I've been supporting myself via truck instead of bicycle. In reviewing my Bike Log I can pinpoint a few reason:

• two days immediately following the purchase of the truck, I did not ride at all (playing with my new toy?)


• the following week, I was off the bike for four days - Adria and I went to Tahoe that week, and I was off-bike for three days beforehand, then rode hard in Tahoe for two days, then stayed off-bike for one day after returning


• the third week after the purchase, Adria and I went to Humboldt for an Aslanian family affair and I did not ride

So, I'm OK with how few miles I put in since buying a vehicle, and I don't connect it directly to having access to a vehicle. I think all other things being held constant, I still would have had a couple of low-mileage weeks even if I hadn't bought the truck.

And all that got me thinking about tradeoffs.

I can leave for work 20 minutes later in the mornings if I choose to drive. So, the benefit of driving is extra time. Chilling at home before leaving for work has always been valuable to me. My day is set up so much better when I don't rush out the door for work, but instead enjoy the solitude that morning presents, enjoy some good coffee while reading, make a nice breakfast, or practice yoga.

Then I thought about the cost of that tradeoff. There's the financial cost - $4 round-trip, plus wear-and-tear on the vehicle. There's the mental cost - waiting in lines of cars and not being in control of my world, and the stress that creates. There's the environmental cost - short trips put an inordinate amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. There's the emotional cost - the way I feel when I arrive at work after driving versus riding is the exact opposite of empowering (just knowing that I've ridden for 45 minutes before 7am...super-good feeling).

So, yeah, the benefit of driving to work isn't worth the cost. That being said, I also don't regret having bought the vehicle - it affords me many other benefits that are worth the cost. But I also don't regret leaving it sitting in the driveway more mornings than not as I roll down the street on two wheels.

In celebration of my revelation, I share with you some pictures from my commute to and from work today:

The sky that I got to stare into as I rode my bike:

The funnniest bumper stickers I've seen in a long time:A guy in a lab coat staring at the ocean as two girls walk by:

Actually, the guy isn't real. He's part of a mural on the Shopper's Corner wall:

Three week progress report

So Sunday marked the three-week point of Commute for a Cause.

Turns out that getting people to donate money for my bike riding is not as easy as I thought it would be. This whole "non-profit" thing is all new to me. Turns out it's a lot of work! We can have the greatest ideas in our heads, and as excited as we are about them, we still have to get others excited, too.

I've got three main challenges that I'm working through right now. The first is the technical limitations of this blog. While it's simple to use and update, it's not as customizable as I need. But I'll just have to work around that for now.

My second challenge is rallying support for the cause. I've still got a lot of people to tap into for support and ideas, and I'll get going on that this week.

My third challenge is a physical one. I am still recovering from a crash that happened five weeks ago. I went to a sports medicine doctor last week because the pain wasn't going away. Turns out I've got a small fracture in my left ulna (one of the arm bones). It's affecting my riding a little bit, but shouldn't be a major factor in slowing me down. I just need to be careful when I ride trails. In fact, there's a group of guys I ride with and we're putting together a night ride for this week. One part of me says "Don't do it" but the other part...well, you can probably guess what it says.

And, yeah, really small numbers this week - a whopping 12 miles!! That's what happens when I'm off the bike for four days. I plan on making it up this week, though.

Big miles this week and big news

I put a lot of miles in this week - a great ride (100% trails) over Memorial Day weekend in Tahoe, a couple of good days of commuting, and a 25-miler today.

Today's ride was a little adventure in itself. I loaded my panniers on my touring bike with the intention of riding north along Hwy 1 out to Big Basin to do some hiking. The panniers held a full CamelBak, a WindStopper jacket just in case, a pair of hiking shoes, and my journal. My plan was to ride the 20 miles one way to Big Basin and then hike about 15 miles to a spot called Buzzard's Lookout. Well, I timed my depature wrong, and caught the predictable headwind all the way up Hwy 1. I made it eight miles into the headwind, then when the route became completely exposed along the cliffs near the ocean, I pulled over and did a little self-talk.

"I wouldn't ride into this headwind if I was touring."
"Big Basin will be there next weekend."
"Wilder Ranch sounds pretty fun!"

So I turned around and shot into Wilder Ranch, enjoying the push on my back from the strong north wind.

When I got into Wilder Ranch, I rode six miles on loose, rocky fire road from Hwy 1 to Empire Grade Road. Passed a bunch of moutain bikers, a few hikers, and one lady on a horse. My SOMA felt good underneath me - it's a great, solid, steel bike, and I had some flashbacks to the New Zealand tour that I did a couple of months ago.

When you get to the highest point in Wilder Ranch, the fire road is bisected by Empire Grade - if you cross Empire Grade it puts you into the insanely fun trails of UCSC. I hung a right onto Empire and descended the two-lane road back into Santa Cruz.

I descended the 8 to 14% downhill very s-l-o-w-l-y. Since a major wipeout nearly four weeks ago on the road, followed by a minor one on the trails, followed by another minor one on the road, I have been very cautious about going fast. And I'm OK with that. I got home safely today - stoked that I got to enjoy three separate view on my ride today - the coast along Hwy 1, the tall, grassy plains of Wilder Ranch, and the redwoods on Empire Grade.

So that's the "big miles" part of the blog entry. And now here's the "big news" of the blog entry.
Long-time followers of this blog (those who have read all four previous posts!) will know that I sold my car over eighteen months ago to fully support myself on a bike. Well, that ended a couple of weeks ago when I bought a used truck.

There are two reasons I bought it. First, I'm ready for my world to expand again. When I moved here from Philly over three years ago I was amazed that my 'big world' on the East Coast could be shrunk and allow me to live car-free. I did it, loved it, learned so much, and now I'm ready to start exploring what's outside my reach on bicycle. Second, I want to start competing in endurance mountain bike events and most of those are held NOT in Santa Cruz. I still plan on supporting myself on bicycle, and I don't expect a big decrease in the amount of miles I put on a bike.

mountain biking in Tahoe - Memorial Day weekend

Adria and I went to Lake Tahoe over Memorial Day Weekend to ride mountain bikes.


On our first day of riding we rode the world-famous "Tahoe Flume Trail" - a trail that early in the century was designed for flumes to move lumber from the top of the summit down the mountain. A mountain bike advocate in the mid 1900's conviced the state to turn it into a multi-use trail.


After a brutal climb for the first four miles that maxed out at a 17% incline (!) we were rewarded with beautiful views of Lake Tahoe.

There were sections that were very rocky and technical - this is Adria on a rocky singletrack section. Don't look down!

On our second day of riding we rode an out 'n back along the Emigrant Trail - nearly 30 miles round trip. We climbed 3,200 feet in the four hour ride. Here's the profile from my GPS.

Beautiful riding on a flat section - snow-capped peaks in the background and spring flowers in bloom in the foreground.

Singletrack. Singlespeed.

Good times.

There was a lot of snow melt that made for some fun creek crossings. I ended up over the bars on this one, though, because it turned out to be too deep to cross.

How does "Commute for a Cause" work?

It's simple, really.

I am going to contribute a fixed dollar amount to the Homeless Garden Project for every mile that I ride my bicycles.
And I am going to encourage others to do the same.

Here are some questions I've been asked that you may be asking yourself:

Q: How long are you going to do this?
A: For 27 weeks - starting Mon., May 18 through Sun., Nov. 29th.

Q: How much are you going to contribute?
A: I am going to give .10/mile for every mile that I ride.

Q: How many miles per week do you ride?
A: I ride anywhere from 50 - 120 miles per week. A conservative estimate of my mileage for the 27 week period is 1,600 miles (*). At that mileage my contribution would be $160.

Q: How can I contribute?
A: You can contribute a couple of ways. On a "per-mile" basis at whatever dollar amount works for you. You can do a penny per mile, a nickel per mile, a dollar per mile. Or you can just give a flat amount. $10. $29. $107. Whatver amount works best for you.

Q: What if you ride so many miles that I can't match the contribution at the end of the time period?
A: Then you just pay what you can.

Q: How else can I contribute to HGP?
A: Check out their website - you can make a donation there AND there's a list of equipment that they need replaced from a fire in winter, 2007. http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/Donate.htm#wishlist. Or buy a gift from their retail store in Santa Cruz, or their online store here: http://www.homelessgardenproject.org/store/index.html

Q: What if I want to contribute after the start date of 5/18?
A: No problem. You can just make your contribution based on the mileage that I put in starting on that date. For example, if you want to start contributing on August 3, your contribution will be based on my mileage from August 3 to November 29.

Q: How do I get the money to you?
A: I'm still working with HGP folks on this - stay tuned!

Q: How will you update us on your mileage?
A: Every Sunday I will update this blog with my weekly mileage. I keep a little log of how many miles I ride every day, what bike I rode (I've got 6), and what the purpose was (commuting, mountain biking, road riding, or touring.) I will also post other bike-commuting related stuff - GPS maps of cool rides, pics of stuff I take on my rides, silly commentary about stuff I see on the rides, and updates and information about the HGP.

(*) I am planning a three week bike tour from Banff in Canada down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming in September. That will add about 800 miles that I did not include in this 1,600.

Why donate to the Homeless Garden Project

I heard about the Homeless Garden Project when I moved to Santa Cruz a few years ago.

On a clear and cool Decemeber day last year, I visited the 2.5 acre community organic garden to find out more about what they do.

Paul, the farm director, told us that the garden provides work opportunties for homeless people. In addition to teaching them basic gardening skills, they learn other skills that make them valuable employees when their job at the garden is over.

The bounty from the fields is sold at the HGP retail store in Santa Cruz and also through a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program - basically a weekly foodbox of fresh organic fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

Near the end of the walk, Paul stopped between a couple of rows of veggies, turned to me and said, "Our main goal is to get people to see the honesty in farming."

That visit was over six months ago, but what Paul said that day stuck with me. I am proud to be raising money for a non-profit organization that has found a way to promote organic farming, compassion for people, and stewardship of our Earth.

How "Commute for a Cause" came to be

I sold my car in October of 2007 to see if I could live well by supporting myself on a bicycle.

My inspiration was a book titled How to Live Well Without a Car. The premise of the book is this: If you can get to work without a car you don't need one. It's a pretty aggressive stance, but it made sense to me because my world was pretty small at the time.

About a year and a half before going car-free, my job brought me to Santa Cruz from the East Coast. Santa Cruz is a small town, so I never lived more than three miles from work - right there I had met the author's requirements for living well without a car. In addition to living close to work, I was close to the beach, close to the market, and close to my favorite yoga studio. Work, surf, food, yoga - my life in Santa Cruz existed within a 4-mile radius of my home. This car-free thing was really making sense to me at this point.

In addition to making sense on a map, it made sense some other ways, too. I was attracted to the discipline of living without a car. I was attracted to the environmental aspect of living without a car. And I was attracted to the idea of becoming a bicycle advocate.

But before I sold my car, I took the author's suggestion and put myself on a "car diet" for 30 days. I remember the day the diet started....I washed and waxed the outside of the car, detailed the inside, and wrote down the mileage in a little notebook. I put the notebook on the driver's seat and shut the door. Then I backed the car into my parking spot, covered it, and walked away. Every time I used the car for the next 30 days I wrote down the mileage and purpose. At the end of the "diet" I looked at my log. In 30 days I used the car two times! I sold the car the following week.

Fast forward 18 months. I can say that I have truly learned to live well without a car. Supporting myself on a bicycle has taught me to be grateful for my health, to listen to and honor my body, and to really evaluate "things" before I bring them into my life. I have learned the value of planning ahead (no pants at work one day) and consolidating trips ("I'm going to the drug store...do you need anything?").

The bottom line: being car-free has made me evaluate what is really important in my life.

And this little nugget is the impetus for my "Commute for a Cause" movement.

Through a series of very fortunate events since being car-free, I have come to create my own personal mission statement. It's six sentences that sum up how I want to live my life. I carry it with me, and I read it a few times a day.

Having read it so many times, there are a few phrases in my personal mission statement that stand out and started me thinking, "I wonder how I could combine those into one thing?"

So..."Commute for a Cause" is my way of living each day with respect for my environment and community, being a bicycle advocate, volunteering, and engaging in daily physical exercise.

I hope you'll join me in raising money for the Homeless Garden Project.