Mon 28 Apr 2008
I’ve been thinking a lot about the horrible air pollution we have here in Utah Valley. Clearly, I’m a part of the problem; my SUV (a sleak new 4Runner, by the way) consumes an obscene amount of gas. Really. I should be ashamed. Or at least I should do something about it. In the postscript of my earth day blog post, I remarked that I had some earth betterment ideas. Top on that list was my desire to reduce the amount of gas I use. I brainstormed the following ways of reducing oil consumption.
- Ride a scooter
- Car pool
- Biodiesel
- Ride a motorcycle
- Ride a bicycle
- Telecommuting
Riding a bike seemed to me the easiest of the ideas. Irritated by another ravishment at the gas pump, I stopped by a local bike shop on the way home from work Friday and picked up a decent mountain bike and a helmet. Today I rode to work and back (six miles each way.)
What I learned from riding the bike:
1- My backside hurts (they tell me it will stop hurting in a few days after it numbs. Question: do I want a numb bum?)
2- My wrists and hands hurt from the downward pressure on the handlebars. Obviously it has been a while since I’ve ridden.
3- It is downhill from home to work. That means it’s a brisk 20 minute ride in, but a brutal 40 minute return.
Did I ride around the cubicle farm at my office once people left for the day? Maybe…
April 29th, 2008 at 12:24 am
LoL @ cubicle farm. your helmet, by the way, looks mechanical…like a robot haha. but you probably picked it out just because of that huh. you certainly have lots of reflectors, so i better not hear about you getting hit by any moving vehicle or any stationary vehicles for that matter! nice job with keeping to your goals!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I am so proud. Let’s just say you had a fantastic example to follow in your decision to ride a bike to work. Now we just need to go to Moab and get our butts kicked there.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:33 am
Hannah– the helmet is kind of robotic, now that you point it out. perhaps my love of robots has reached the subconscious level
I once had a girlfriend who asked me what I liked better, robots or her. I paused for a moment before, very seriously replying, “I don’t know, I really like robots.” unsurprisingly, that relationship didn’t last much longer
BJ– apologies for not mentioning that you were the inspiration for my bike commuting– you da man!