Landon's Epic Vlog Thread: living without a car in a car-happy world

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by Peakster

How far is your workplace from home, Arminius?

It's aprox. 20 miles. The lowest speed limit is 45 mph, and there are only gravel shoulders for about 50%. The first 25% are winding country roads, strewn with the bodies of former bike riders.

[Peakster]

Ouch. I can see that being a problem.

The fastest road I travelled on today was 60-km/h (37 MPH) and even that is kind of a threshold as a lot of drivers do more like 70-km/h. I didn't get honked at all though. That surprised me. And there was one, maybe 2 drivers that passed me too close.

[Arminius]

Perhaps you've mentioned this already, but I didn't read the entire thread yet..... I hope that you get/have lights on that thing that can be seen in the daytime. I see that you bought lights already -- I just hope they are bright enough.

[Peakster]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it in any of my Vlogs here, but yes, I did buy lights for my bike.

There's a small (but really bright) white led light for the front that you can see just 3 seconds into the 5th Vlog, and I also bought a large rear red light that can be set to oscillation, solid, or blinking. It's not shown in the video.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Arminius

It's aprox. 20 miles. The lowest speed limit is 45 mph, and there are only gravel shoulders for about 50%. The first 25% are winding country roads, strewn with the bodies of former bike riders.

Are there any alternate route you can take? My commute ends up about 2.5 miles further because I have to take roads that are safe to travel, which is the important thing.

[Peakster]

Vlog #6.0 and 6.1: Landon's an ANGRY driver! (note: these two videos total 20 minutes in length)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36wC_Dd-Yx8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yChQ1NV0FKI

The Ford Tempo is on its last gallon or two on fuel and the insurance runs out in early May. Time to spill the beans about how I feel about driving. (and finally sell my last automobile)

I've just discovered how much I really dislike driving now that I've gone back to biking. I feel stressed, numbed from the sounds and actions going on around me and road rage people! There's something about navigating several thousand pounds of steel that makes me feel angry inside .

[metroschultz]

Bye Bye,
horrid wretched machine reminder of the materialistic world we live in.
I applaud and commend you on your choice.
I hope your mom doesn't really run you over when you are trying to save you best friends life.
When I get in better shape I will also bike or walk.(I sometimes walk now to the nearby essentials)
I live in an area where everything you need, except employment, is right around the corner.
Our world will be better when all have the same attitude as you.
Keep up your spirits, don't let others get you down,
S.

[GenKreton]

Phew that was a lenghty one! As I've been riding more and more this spring (well it snowed today, not sure about it being spring yet....) I have to completely agree. I must say one of the more noticeable benefits is how I feel after riding too. Getting a decent amount of exercise is doing wonders for my day-to-day attitude simply because I wasn't active enough before.

[Peakster]

Yeah, it is very long. Sorry for not warning . But yeah, that's the finale. I'm going to definitely sell the Tempo this weekend (let's see if my parents disown me).

EDIT: If you pause Vlog 6.1 precisely at 3:15, you can see the gas price of $1.279 a litre ($4.86 a gallon!).

[Peakster]

New milestone achieved! I just surpassed the 500 kilometre mark (310 miles) tonight riding home from work on my trusty High-School Bike. Considering I've only invested $38.41 in the bicycle's entirety, that means I'm already down to a mere 7.68 cents per kilometre ridden (12.39 cents per mile) in just a little over 1 month!

In comparison, even after the insurance pay-out, my previous Geo Metro still cost 14.69 cents per kilometre (23.69 per mile) after a whopping 21 months! (and over 60,000-kms driven)

Saving money has never felt so good!