Author Topic: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year  (Read 5712 times)

johnny847

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Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« on: September 06, 2014, 12:49:45 PM »
I got a car in late July, and I've been keeping track of how many miles I've driven since I drove it down here. I also got a bicycle at the same time, although I didn't reset the odometer on my bike for at least a week or two after I got here. Also, there was a period of 5 days when my odometer stopped working for some reason, so there should be some more miles on my bicycle than I'm actually reporting, but hey, that makes the challenge more interesting!

Per the title, I'm going to try to log more miles on my bicycle than in my car. Currently, I am at:

Car: 156 miles
Bicycle: 61.4 miles
so I've got some catching up to do!

I live about 7 minutes from work by foot, so I don't take either to get to work. Maybe I should try logging my walking miles too, but I bike basically everywhere except to get to work, so I'm going to stick with just biking vs driving.


If I decide to drive instead of fly back to my parents for the holidays, I won't count those miles towards the challenge (that'd be ~650 miles one way).


Update: Decided to up the challenge to 2x bicycle to car miles
« Last Edit: September 27, 2014, 08:56:48 PM by johnny847 »

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2014, 01:50:35 PM »
I'm almost 50/50 even factoring in one big vacation trip a year. Without vacations, I'm about 400-600 miles on the bike, about 100-200 miles on the car per month.

My challenge right now is to get my bike expenses below (and ideally WELL below) my car expenses. So far the initial setup costs for me and the family have my CPM for biking way too high, but I know they'll fall quickly enough.

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2014, 02:07:19 PM »
Damn nice.

Currently, I drive about once a month to an ethnic grocery store about 13 miles away. I really want to be able to bike there, but I need to get in shape and get a bike trailer.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2014, 05:15:04 PM »
Damn nice.

Currently, I drive about once a month to an ethnic grocery store about 13 miles away. I really want to be able to bike there, but I need to get in shape and get a bike trailer.

Fall is a great time of year to pick up trailers used. I got an old school Burley with the solid plastic body tub - can easily carry 300 pounds, unlike the canvas crap everyone makes these days, where weight is 100-150 tops - for $60 last year.

That said, if you buy a lot of produce and stuff there, you might still be better off driving. Really hard to pack things to survive that long without getting really bruised up - especially in a trailer. Most things do fine in panniers, but trailers are really better for dry goods or sturdy perishables (root veggies, greens, NOT fruit). And whatever you do, don't put eggs anywhere on the bike unless they're wrapped in plastic. Ask me how I know that :P

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2014, 05:59:25 PM »
Damn nice.

Currently, I drive about once a month to an ethnic grocery store about 13 miles away. I really want to be able to bike there, but I need to get in shape and get a bike trailer.

Fall is a great time of year to pick up trailers used. I got an old school Burley with the solid plastic body tub - can easily carry 300 pounds, unlike the canvas crap everyone makes these days, where weight is 100-150 tops - for $60 last year.

That said, if you buy a lot of produce and stuff there, you might still be better off driving. Really hard to pack things to survive that long without getting really bruised up - especially in a trailer. Most things do fine in panniers, but trailers are really better for dry goods or sturdy perishables (root veggies, greens, NOT fruit). And whatever you do, don't put eggs anywhere on the bike unless they're wrapped in plastic. Ask me how I know that :P

Hmm. I might be able to make do by using a sturdy box and some padding. I'll have to try it out and see.
Heh I wasn't planning on getting eggs from there, but that doesn't sound like a fun cleanup.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2014, 06:06:48 PM »
Padding would work, but keep in mind you also have to pad the produce against each other - bouncing against another piece of fruit will bruise just as much as bouncing on the hard trailer...

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2014, 07:29:31 PM »
Padding would work, but keep in mind you also have to pad the produce against each other - bouncing against another piece of fruit will bruise just as much as bouncing on the hard trailer...

Ah right. I'll have to think more about this, and maybe just get panniers too. I get non produce there that I can't buy at any American grocery store, so I will end up going there via some method regardless.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2014, 10:39:06 PM »
I hope I'm not coming off as being discouraging! I'm just trying to help you not repeat the same mistakes I've just gone through in the past few weeks :)

DutchGirl

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2014, 05:03:30 AM »
You could try a backpack for the vulnerable produce. Put it in your trailer on your way out, then put in on your back on the way back. You will probably get sweaty, but you can change clothes when you come home. Your body should handle most of the blows from your bike, so that could help keep fruit whole.

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2014, 05:59:22 AM »
Thegoblinchief: Oh no not at all! I need to be prepared.

DutchGirl: I could try a backpack. I've been doing that recently because I don't have a trailer yet, so I know how hot and sweaty it gets, particularly down here in the South. I'd rather avoid that if at all possible, but it may end up being the best solution.

ohyonghao

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2014, 02:32:09 PM »
I haven't had the bad luck that thegoblincheif has had with eggs.  Mine survived just fine, but the fruit, on the other hand, was a complaint my wife had.  It think the kink in our setup is the train tracks that we have to go over which have some strange asphalt bumps.

I've logged all my miles so far this year, and I'm about 1:2 ratio on miles, mostly due to my brother who was incarcerated until last week (acquitted of all charges!).  Now that I don't have to make a weekly 60 mile round trip I should see my mileage go way down.

I don't include my 20mi scenic rides with the cycling club, or the extra 3 miles when I take the long route home for exercise.  I only include miles that biking replaces driving my car.

With this challenge it looks like I have another 1600 miles to log in the next 3.5 months :-D

Happy trails!

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2014, 02:36:20 PM »
I've decided to count "recreational" bike miles. It would be a bit hard for me to meet my goal if I didn't considering I live within walking distance to work.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2014, 02:44:30 PM »
I count all bike miles, which are probably 60/40 transportation/recreation.

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2014, 08:35:13 PM »
Update:

I currently have biking sandals, and I want biking shoes because as it gets colder the sandals just aren't going to cut it. So I hit three bicycling shops around town on Friday, and by the time I got back I realized I had biked 22 miles! My previous longest ride was about 7 miles.
And when I got home, I found the shoes I wanted at a 57% discount online =)

Today, I went out for a joy ride, which is normally about 6 miles. But I thought well what happens if I go this way? Well, I end up riding for 22 miles, that's what!

Now my biking miles are at 80% of my car miles. I think I need to make this challenge a lot harder. When I issued this to myself I hadn't gone on a somewhat long ride before, and over this weekend I realized that 22 miles isn't really that long a ride (recreationally, at least. I'm sure a 22 mile bike commute wouldn't be pretty).

ohyonghao

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2014, 12:07:41 PM »
Update:

I currently have biking sandals, and I want biking shoes because as it gets colder the sandals just aren't going to cut it. So I hit three bicycling shops around town on Friday, and by the time I got back I realized I had biked 22 miles! My previous longest ride was about 7 miles.
And when I got home, I found the shoes I wanted at a 57% discount online =)

Today, I went out for a joy ride, which is normally about 6 miles. But I thought well what happens if I go this way? Well, I end up riding for 22 miles, that's what!

Now my biking miles are at 80% of my car miles. I think I need to make this challenge a lot harder. When I issued this to myself I hadn't gone on a somewhat long ride before, and over this weekend I realized that 22 miles isn't really that long a ride (recreationally, at least. I'm sure a 22 mile bike commute wouldn't be pretty).

Great work there!  It's amazing how much little detours can add up.

My friend and I started using Strava.  On Saturday I rode to Costco to get dinner for my wife and I, along with some bacon, which all fits in my storage container with cooler, and I knew my friend was going on a 8.6mi ride that day.  I looked at Strava while I was there, Costco being 5.4mi away, and found out he had gone on a 17mi ride.  Well, I couldn't just let him beat me, I've been riding for 9 months now, no way this guy riding for a week is going to log more miles.  So I check out google maps, find a couple parks that I'd been wanting to go to, and map out a 12 mile route home.

The parks were exhilarating, the wooden bridges, bike paths, hills, an amazing ride.  When I got home I had logged over 18 miles in less time than my friend logged 17 miles.  A little bit of friendly competition can go a long way.

From Saturday I have done an 18mi ride, a 2mi ride, and a 10mi scenic route home in addition to my normal 3mi each way commute.

Happy Trails.

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #15 on: September 27, 2014, 08:56:22 PM »
Currently at 208 bicycle to 192 car miles. I project that I will be able to keep this up, and my initial challenge was too easy. So I'm going to update the challenge to 2x bicycle to car miles. I might not succeed, but hey if you aim for the stars you might land on the moon.

johnny847

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Re: Log more bicycle than car miles for the year
« Reply #16 on: October 25, 2014, 04:49:23 PM »
I finally made it out to that grocery store I was talking about! Man pulling a trailer is hard work. And to add onto that, I bought a whole bunch of meat, so I threw a whole bunch of ice in my cooler.