Hi to everyone, I am very glad I found this forum! I've been lurking here for a few months, but had to join the fray on a couple of cycling threads.
My whole experience with "reducing my carbon footprint" started by cycling to work as a way to lose weight. As I did more riding, I realized that I am in a wonderful location to ride all year. Even though I'm in Colorado, I live in the Front Range region where we get over 300 sunny days a year on average. When it snows here, it is usually off the roads within 2 days, so I rarely had to drive. I purchased some winter riding clothes, and improved my wardrobe as time went on. I added lights to my bike and my helmet so I could see and others would notice me (amazing how quickly an SUV will brake when a little flashing LED is pointed at them), and basically got myself setup for riding everywhere I went. In the spring of '06 my wife and I decided to sell our second car since it had been sitting in the driveway with two flat tires for 3 months. At that point I rode everywhere I had to go unless the roads were icy, or it was actively snowing, or below 0 degrees (f).
This all ended on March 1st '07, when a young driver rear ended me at 50mph! I "woke up" in the ICU wing of the local hospital 6 hours later with a broken ankle (read: broken off!), and a brain injury. I give kudos to my Gyro Pneumo helmet for saving my life! Happily my ankle was fixed by an excellent surgeon and two 3" stainless steel screws, so I am walking, running, mountain biking, and enjoy a full range of motion again. My brain injury is also healing, but I still have a ways to go before I'm back to normal there. I am working with a wonderful occupational therapist and we are making good progress.
Which all brings me to EcoModder! Since commuting by bike was pretty much out of the question, I went looking for a car. My most important criteria was that it had to get over 30mpg at its worst. I also couldn't afford a hybrid, so I went looking at little cars. I was reducing my list of cars and had almost given up on finding one that could get 30mpg and wasn't too old when a co-worker told me he was selling a Mazda MX-3 RS. As soon as I saw it, I knew that if the mileage was right, I would own it. He let me test drive it for a weekend, and never got it back.
I am now looking at ways to get even better mileage by some aero mods and probably switching the transmission to one with a taller final drive ratio. I think with a little work, I can get my combined mileage over 40mpg which would make me very happy. I'm also very glad to have found this forum and look forward to learning even more!
Cheers!
Vol