Another car day

In a rare break from the norm I took the family car to work yesterday. No excuses, I was absolutely knackered in the morning and with the kids on summer holiday, my wife didn't need it.  The drive in and back weren't even that bad traffic-wise but I still didn't enjoy it more than cycling.  There is a big difference between car and bike commuting and to me, it's one of engagement with your surroundings.

On the bike, you can see, touch, smell and speak to what's around you. In the car you are sectioned away from all of that behind metal, plastic and glass. Throw in some music on the car stereo and air-con and the car-commuter really does drive around in a bubble. In their own little world.  We then only see other vehicles competing for the road with us and not the humans driving them.  We lose connection and empathy with our fellow road-users and they become an adversary - someone to be beaten across a roundabout or overtaken as soon as possible.  The unpleasantness of "road rage" is inevitable!

On my bike I feel much more closely connected with my environment, immersed in it and part of it and, because I move at a slower speed than a car, much better able to notice things.  Although the railway station is pretty busy each evening (even more so now that the city where I work is hosting some Olympic sports) it is also vibrant. I love the variety of people that I see and sometimes chat to and you really don't get that experience in the car.

For all that, I'm not anti-car at all. We have one for the family and until recently owned two. I sold my old Peugeot (complete with 175,000 miles on the clock) recently as I had not driven it in months and it was going to cost too much to get through the annual MOT test. A faithful old thing but too costly and unused so it had to go.  A family car is a necessity for my wife as we live a distance away from down and I'd have had a tough time towing our trailer tent on holiday behind the Dahon!

Cars certainly have their place but as a society we've just become too dependant on them.  Jumping in the car has, for most, become the default position and journeys that could be accomplished by another means become just another road-clogging car trip.

I'd love to see more people out on their bikes and using public transport to get to work.  Pricing and services (which I don't find too bad personally) will only get better when volume of use goes up.  In our privatised world, it's all about supply and demand.

I did enjoy a bit of a physical rest yesterday but I won't be making too much of a habit of car commuting.  Been there, done that, had the blood pressure and growing waistline to prove it.  So despite being tired at the end of the week, I was very happy to jump back on my bike this morning and head off down the lane to work.

I bailed out!

A combination of some running around to do this afternoon and the fact that my legs (and the rest of me) are feeling pretty knackered mean that I commuted by car again today.  I keep telling myself all sorts of reasons why I should be driving today and not cycling.  I have plenty of excuses. 

The simple truth is though, that when I woke up tired this morning, the little voice in my head that said “Take it easy today, use the car!” won over the determination to cycle.  There’s no more to it than that as I could have managed all of the jobs I have to do today on my bike.  Sure I’d have to lug my laptop around as well, which makes my rucksack heavier, but it’s not like I have to cycle mega-distances. 

It is very easy to jump in the car though – too easy.  As SaddleAmericana commented yesterday, it does make you realise how dependant on cars we have become and how our lifestyles are set up around the ownership of one.  If our family didn’t have the luxury of two cars, I’d have had to do something different.  I could have rescheduled a meeting (which I ended up doing anyway) and working from home or I could’ve manned-up and cycled.  I could even use a bus as well as the train to reduce the total distance on the bike if I’d needed to. 

But I did none of those things, I jumped in the car.  The easiest but most expensive, least healthy for me and worst for the environment option.  Maybe I should sell it and try out life as a one car family.  It would need a bit of planning and creative thinking but would, I think, be an interesting experiment. 

Food for thought…

Another car day

Yes it was another "needed to use the car" days today. I took my old runaround to the garage to price up a couple of things that need doing to it. The price quoted made me turn greyer - more than the car's worth to be honest - so there's a tough decision to be made there I think. I digress.

While some parts of me (not least my war-worn legs) were glad for the much shorter commute, I had to sit through a dreadful pile of traffic on the way home:

As ever I arrived back feeling dreadful and in dire need of fresh air and exercise!

I realise my cycle-commuter evangelism might read with a similar zeal to the rantings of, say, a reformed smoker. It's true though - commuting by car sucks and cycling is the way forward!

Once more into the car again...

I needed to use the car to get to work today.  Occasionally, I have to be in at a time that doesn't work with the train that I would usually get when bike-commuting.  It doesn't happen too often but today was one of those days.  The journey in was OK but coming home was awful!  Nose-to-tail traffic all the way across the city and despite the heavy rain showers, I spent most of the journey wishing I was on my bike.

To crown it all I arrived home feeling wound up and stressed so I doubt my family has had the best of me this evening either.  In short, car commuting sucks.  On every level.

On the plus side, a good friend sent me this today via Facebook:

It kind of explains something of the madness of the modern world, no?