folder fanatic

I have been riding bikes for transportation purposes (and a 100% car-free practitioner-in the car worshiping Los Angeles vicinity area) for most of my adult life. I had to return to driving recently for health reasons just until I heal enough to return to my bikes (they are in storage) via a rental car & car pooling. Is that backsliding?

gerv 

folder fanatic, Backsliding is OK. Carfree/carLight isn't a religion. At best, it's a state of mind.
FWIW, I've been off the bike for the last month, also for health reasons [although the weather was pretty crappy,too.]. One nice thing about backsliding is that when you start up again, it's like doing it for the first time.

Robert Foster

Well, in reality you are no longer car free, but not a traitor. And with the sorry state of our public transportation in our state it is a practical response to a medical difficulty, at least in my opinion.

Smallwheels

Unless you consider yourself at war with automobiles you aren't a traitor.

I like bicycles because they don't pollute as much as cars. I think that automobiles and trucks are just fine when used efficiently.

Today I took my dog to the veterinarian and back in a taxi. I would have preferred to do it via bicycle but that wasn't possible. Even if I had a trailer I wouldn't have done it. My dog has a back injury and I wouldn't put her through all of that jarring a trailer would produce.

Arcanum

Don't worry about it. Use whatever works best for your life and goals. If that means renting a car from time to time (including something like ZipCar), by all means do.

Define what you want out of life, then use appropriate tools to get it. Don't select the tools and then try figure out what kind of life you can get with them.

Artkansas 

Car-free is a day to day thing. Some days you are, some days you aren't. In this culture, no one can escape the car completely. So you just do what you can and get on with your life.

Roody

Some carfree people might call you a traitor, but not most. I haven't been able to ride much due to ongoing problems with my hands. I take the bus and also walk a lot. I take a cab home from work, or get a ride, becuse the buses don't run that late and I don't like to walk through one neighborhood after dark.

So if you're a traitor, I'm one too!

Nightshade

No, that just being practical based on the situation at the time.

UnsafeAlpine

Yes! Traitor! I don't give a **** if you just dropped both your lungs and broke your kneecaps, you better not take a ride in an ambulance, hop on that bike and ride to the hospital...

Rollfast

Just destroy the earth as slowly and efficiently as you can manage. The angels dancing on pinheads need orthopedic shoes.

folder fanatic

Thank you all for your insightful comments. I have been given the green light by my doctor to resume cycling once again. I have only had an opportunity to ride once (a very short trip I might add) before the almost week long rain kind of put a "damper" on cycling at least for now as I don't have the proper cycling rain gear. The weather is expected to clear up very soon. Then I will make some hard decisions about not only cars but the cell/mobile phone (the contract has expired thus liberating me), basic computer access (I will keep it for sure as it is so handy), and looking into alternatives to the Los Angeles area's rather limited public transit (car sharing programs when I really need one and the bikes cannot handle the loads, car pooling and the like), and of course, the possible purchase of another utility bike's purchase! This time a non folding bike to better handle the loads I can take on.

By the way, even if I do drive any car, be it rental or shared with others, one of my folding bikes always will be placed in it's trunk or boot ready for any use.

Roody

I'm glad you're healing well. BTW, in warm rain, consider just wearing quick-dry clothing (shorts and Tshirt), then changing when you reach your destination. IMO rain gear is far from perfected, even if you spend a lot of money on it.

luderart

As much as cars? Do bicycles pollutes at all? I don't think so.

Roody

:

UnsafeAlpine

There are several ways to answer this. Yes and no.

A car is useless without an engine, which is the source of gaseous emissions. A bike is useless without an engine, also the source of gaseous emissions. If you want to look at it that way, then yes, a bike does pollute.

A bike also requires pollutants to be manufactured and all of the components and accessories need to be manufactured. This is a cause of emission.

A bike or accessories/components will end up in a landfill eventually. Throwing away that old tube or tire to be replaced by a new one? It becomes a pollutant.

Take this as you will. I believe the net pollutants of a bicycle are drastically lower than the net pollutants of a car, but I believe it's erroneous to say that bicycles don't pollute.

gerv 

Happy trails! I hope you have many more miles to pedal.

AsanaCycles

i wonder how many people were conceived in the back of a car.

Artkansas 

Great observation. Well, lets look at some of the songs. What comes to mind immediately is...

"Love in an FJ" by Daddy Cool from Australia.

"Love in an FJ. I found the right way ay ay!"