rediscovered my senses... and my bike

[poorboyrichman]

I have been on the path to financial freedom for 5 months now, and somewhere near the start of this journey I stumbled upon this blog. When I saw the the hatin' on 'clown cars' I decided MMM wasn't for me and tootled on elsewhere looking for a more relaxed method of getting my sh*t together... after all, I was a bona fide clown car driver and loved my brand spanking new car.

Fast forward 5 months, I've made some serious headway on paying down my silly consumer debts, have a pretty robust budget in place and have been putting away at least 25% of my income on a monthly basis. Last week I happened back upon this blog after researching apple cider of all things http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2014/04/22/brew-your-own-cider, my batch is fermenting away as we speak!

I'm just about to start a new job, which will result in a substantial pay increase meaning I could bring my monthly savings to around 50% of my income. Towards the end of the summer my partner and I are planning to move in together, with shared bills and economies of scale I could finally be in a position to be putting away 75% of my income. Suddenly MMMs approach doesn't seem so out of reach.

I've decided that I would give the blog another chance now that I'm taking the whole financial responsibility thing a lot more seriously. I have started reading from the very beginning and have read several times about the beauty of the bicycle. Well it had me thinking, I have a perfectly good bike in the garage just collecting dust. Previously, cycling was always a hobby and never a means of getting about (well, nowhere important). Ever since getting a car, I had stupidly assumed it was the only means of getting about (no public transport in my neck of the woods). To me, cycling to work always seemed like a far fetched idea and frankly suicidal as my route to work is insanely busy, but I have started paying more attention to the other cyclists travelling on the same route. Its has clearly been working for them, so why not for me?

I live about 8 miles from my new job, technically 4 miles further away than my old one, but I've decided to take the plunge and give cycling a go. The bike needs a good clean down, batteries replacing on the lights, chain oiling, break maintenance and need to get some appropriate clothing etc, but this should all be relatively inexpensive. I'm going to see if I can sort it all out this weekend (with minimal expense of course!) I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how its going. I just wanted to say hi and thanks for inspiring me to give it a go!

Sadly I'm stuck with my clown car for a little longer as I'm in a lease contract with my employer's fleet scheme, and it would cost me way more in early termination fees than I would save right now, but maybe in January I'll be downgrading or going car free entirely?!

Can't wait!

[plantingourpennies]

Good luck!  I started my 9 mile bike commute to/from work about a year ago, and after about a year of making sure it works in all seasons, we finally bit the bullet and sold our second car this month. 

[SDREMNGR]

Yeah it should be inexpensive to get the bike tuned up..... because you guessed it!  YOU SHOULD BE DOING IT!  It's really not that hard.  About 2 hours of watching some youtube videos and ordering about $50 worth of stuff from Amazon should do it.  Get the chain washer tool, lube, bike pump, and tire tools.  Maybe replace the tube if they are really old.

Seriously though, congrats.  I was in similar shoes and the 1st time I did it (on a Saturday.  Try it out on a weekend first.) and I have to say, it's weird to get used to it, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.  8 miles is pretty good distance (mine is only 3.6) but very doable.  Probably only 15-20 min longer than by car.

I now keep several changes of clothes in my office at my cabinet and I bike to and from in my smexy red bike kit.  I just do a baby wipe shower when I get there.

[poorboyrichman]

Some great tips SDREMNGR.

I pumped up the wheels last night and there's definitely either a slow puncture or they have degraded in some way (this particular bike has been stood still 6 years at least :)).

Do you think my disk brakes will need require any attention, they seem ok to me, aside from a slight squeaking...

I have ordered most of what you recommended as goodness know where my cleaning equipment has gon to, as well as a heavy duty D lock so its costing me a bit more than I expected to get up and running, but I'm sure it will pay for itself in the long run :)

[frompa]

Your mention of disc brakes makes me think yours is a mountain bike.  While it's possible to ride a mountain bike on the roads, you are setting yourself up for a greater challenge than necessary if you are riding that distance on knobbies.  At the very least, since it sounds like your tires are shot anyway (not unusual for some dry rot to set in, given how long the bike say unused), consider replacing them with smaller smoother treaded ones.  Eight miles is a great distance -- I biked a ten mile each way commute for years, and I still miss it.  It's enough to wake you up in the morning, and let you decompress on the way home.  HAVE A BALL!!!

[poorboyrichman]

It's a hybrid, with a really awesomely light frame, but great idea on the replacing the tyres, hadn't thought about that! I'll see how it goes first!

[NinetyFour]

That was a great turnaround in your attitude, OP!  Good luck with the biking--I think you will enjoy it.  In fact, after a while, you will probably wonder why you didn't start doing it long ago!

[chardog]

That's Awesome OP.

I bike commuted for about 20 years before retiring.  It's the one thing I miss about having a job.  Even if you didn't save money riding a bike over driving a car, the health and lifestyle benefits alone make it a total winner of a decision. 

One more word of advice.  As soon as you get the details worked out on your bike commute, commit to riding EVERY DAY, regardless of the weather.  When I first started bike commuting, I would only do it when the conditions were just right and I got up early enough.  So I wasn't bike commuting nearly enough to get the benefits.  I finally decided I would ride every day, regardless of weather.  Those rare commutes in heavy rain, snow and ice (Austin TX) are some of my fondest memories.  :)

[MoneyCat]

It's nice to hear that I'm not the only person on here who has recently dusted off an old bicycle to start riding.  For me, it's not possible to bike to work, because my job is ten miles away by a highway inaccessible to anything other to motor vehicles, so I have to drive my hybrid to work.  However, for pretty much everything else I do, the bicycle is perfect.  Today, I rode my bicycle to the supermarket and to run other errands.  I was able to get around just fine without wasting any money on gas and I got some good exercise.  It felt good.

[CaliToCayman]

I'm finally at a place where I can ride my bike to work and it feels awesome. I'm a little over a mile away as opposed to when I was 23 miles away from work. We don't even have a car, my fiance uses a scooter to get to work.

[poorboyrichman]

I'm certainly jealous of your 1 mile commute! 8.5 miles is quite daunting especially on my busy route. Fortunately I'm reasonably fit and regularly run 10k. I'm hoping I can do this without breaking too much of a sweat. My locks, cleaning equipment etc has mostly arrived, so I'm going to head out on a dry run this weekend. Hopefully I can get a hold of some road tyres to to checkout the difference in effort required also.

I'm wondering how you guys have addressed concerns of family with the safety of cycling on roads. I'm a grown man (27!), yet my parents and extended family have been quite vocal, and mum going as far as to plead with me to reconsider commuting, for some reason they see no harm coming to me when it comes to off-roading (arguably more risky???), yet want me to stick to driving to work every day...

[Eric]

I'm wondering how you guys have addressed concerns of family with the safety of cycling on roads. I'm a grown man (27!), yet my parents and extended family have been quite vocal, and mum going as far as to plead with me to reconsider commuting, for some reason they see no harm coming to me when it comes to off-roading (arguably more risky???), yet want me to stick to driving to work every day...

Why do they think it's a safety concern?  You could make the argument, as MMM did, that riding your bike is actually safer.

http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/

[William]

That's awesome.  But I even had a rented car (other one got totaled by a crazy person) and I still rode my bike everywhere.