Except for a brief part of the time when I was married and the X "needed" a car, I have been car-free . . . . and I have to say, I don't miss it a bit. I am a year-round commuter, although I have only a 4.77-mile commute to work, mostly on bike path. (One of the first things I did when moving out of my marriage nine years ago was to relocate near a bike path; second was to make sure the city kept the bike paths clear of ice and excessive snow every day of the year--we still have a minor problem with windrows on cross-streets, but that's a minor problem.)
It's like people who want to go down to just one cigarette a day--it doesn't work. Soon you're back up to five. Don't pretend you can keep a car around and only use it for emergency pet transportation. Cars are addictive, and you will find yourself using it for many other things. That is why I have always contended that "bicycle advocates" on the various city committees need to be totally car-free. Otherwise, it is difficult to really make decisions for people who can't fall back on a car in "emergency" situations, defined perhaps as when it's raining, icy, snowing, too hot, too cold, too lazy, "oh, it's just a short trip and I don't usually do this," "I have a lot of stuff to haul," "it's only the planet," etc., etc, ad nauseam. There are many reasons why I refer to a car as a "motorized noose."
You really don't need to do much to switch to carfree. My city bike is the cheapest thing I could get at Willy St. Bikes five years ago when my earlier one wore out. I have a back rack on it and clunky old metal baskets that technically fold (I suppose mine did before they rusted open), and carry a lot of stuff. Then I have a bike trailer that I used to use to haul the kids to daycare and pick up from school and now use to do my once-a-week grocery shopping. Mine is larger than the ones you see people hauling their kids around in nowadays. I got mine at Yellow Jersey in the mid-80s; it's a Blue Sky. I've replaced one tire and that's it. It's getting a little rusty, but I'd consider it a very good $250 investment, even in mid-80s dollars.
I don't have any special tires, nor do I have a clunker bike for winter. I wiped out once in 1992 on the corner of Ingersoll and Jenifer, before the east rail corridor bike path was built. Those who know the intersection know that the street slants downward and that's where buses sit for driver changes. It was ice-covered and hazardous. Other than that, though, even in freezing rain, I've had no trouble with regular hybrid tires. There may be a day or two in the winter that I don't feel safe riding my bike, but it is only for fear of being hit by motorists who drive poorly and shouldn't be driving under those conditions either.
Also, car-free is not only for people who are kid-free. I think John W. also has kids. First of all, there are millions of people in this country who do not own cars, whether by choice or economic necessity, including thousands of people in Madison. Despite the extremely poor bus service in this town (and don't get me started on how or why the dim bulbs run the buses in packs through neighborhoods where ridership is heaviest), there are buses, bikes, and feet as alternatives, and even cabs and cars to rent. Kids can adjust as well or better than adults.
Lastly, there is a pet food store on the 1000 block of Williamson that sells the kind of stuff my cats eat, and it's cheaper there than anywhere except when now-defunct pets.com sold me two 20-pound bags of Science Diet catfood (normally around $25) for $5 each. Wonder why they went out of business?
"No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare." --James Madison, April 20, 1795
"Facts do not cease to exist just because they are ignored." -- Aldous Huxley
-----Original Message-----
From: John Moxness [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 9:12 AM
To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]'
Subject: [Bikies] gone carless?
i'm thinking of selling my truck and not replacing it. whoa! big move
here. so i figured i ask if any other bikies have done the same to find out
