Machka 

Happy New Year! Just sitting here watching the Sydney New Years Eve Fireworks ...

Got any living car free/light goals, plans, hopes, dreams for yourself this year?
Maybe you're thinking of cycling more? or walking more? Maybe a car-free holiday? Maybe you're thinking of getting a folding bicycle or trailer this year? Maybe you're planning to make use of public transportation more often?





[HR][/HR]

Some other threads about goals ... for inspiration ...
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...ans-hopes.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...ing-goals.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...milestone.html
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...-new-goal.html

wolfchild

It looks like a very uncertain and unpredictable start for me at the beginning of the new year...Will I be able to maintain a car-free lifestyle ??..I don't know....If my employment situation changes I may have to purchase a car. I don't practice LCF for ideological reasons, and that means that I am open minded to opportunities and changes which life can bring. If LCF starts to become a barrier and limits opportunities in my life, then I'll make whatever changes I see fit.

badger1

Nothing special. I shall try, as always, to use my bike as much as possible for as much of the year as possible, and the car/public transit as little as possible.

Like wolfchild, I do not have an ideological commitment to being 'car light' (in my case). I simply much prefer riding to driving for various reasons, and like to keep my life as environmentally-friendly as is rationally feasible given my/family's circumstances. That said, I've no issue at all with using the car as and when it is necessary or the more genuinely sensible option -- as it often is.

Walter S

That alone does not distinguish you from anybody else really. Are there posters on BF that would go hungry or homeless so they can avoid owning a car? Presumably you won't change at the very drop of a hat. So we differ as individuals in terms of how much resistance to change we'll each put forth to protect our car free lifestyles.

Machka 

One of my hopes, I guess, is to cycle to work one day this year. I'm only saying one day because I figure I'd like to try it and see how it goes and then decide if I want to do it again.

Machka 

And just generally ... more cycling!!

Roody

That sounds like an excellent goal...specific, challenging, yet not impossible, especially the first one.

You've inspired me to make a specific goal. I'm going to ride my bike at least 100 miles before July 1. After an illness, and with lingering health and financial problems from the illness, this is going to be difficult for me. But I think I can swing it, if I save enough money to buy a bike this spring or early summer. And I have to get cracking on my wlaking exercise, so I'll be in good enough shape to get on the bike when the time comes.

OT--you said recently on another thread that you "don't do New Year's resolutions." But this goal, announced on New Year's Eve, differs from a resolution...exactly how?

Machka 

"A New Year's resolution is a tradition, most common in the Western Hemisphere but also found in the Eastern Hemisphere, in which a person makes a promise to do an act of self-improvement or something slightly nice, such as opening doors for people beginning from New Year's Day." -- Google

"a ​promise that you make to yourself to ​start doing something good or ​stop doing something ​bad on the first ​day of the ​year" --
New Year's resolution Meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary

"a promise to yourself or decision to do something, especially to improve one's behaviour or lifestyle in some way, during the year ahead" --
Definition of ?New Year resolution? | Collins English Dictionary


Generally speaking New Year's Resolutions are vague temporary self-improvement decisions involving starting or stopping something that will involve a change in behaviour or lifestyle. A resolution is a decision. But adding "New Year's" in front of resolution means that the decision is vague, fleeting, temporary, and just to be taken lightly. It is not a serious thing in any way ... just a bit of fun that results in clogged gyms for the first two weeks of January.


A goal is an aim or a desired result, something specific you hope to achieve. "An observable and measurable end result having one or more objectives to be achieved within a more or less fixed timeframe." -- What is a Goal? definition and meaning



I do not do New Year's Resolutions because I have no desire to make a behaviour or lifestyle change. Overall, I want to keep doing what I am doing. However, I will list some goals of specific things I would like to achieve in 2016. I have a Master List of approx. 150 things I would like to do eventually. As I have done in previous years, I have selected some of those things for 2016.


All the best on your goal!

mconlonx

Because of time constraints, I can usually either do yoga or bike commute, but not both. So through the winter, I'll keep doing yoga, but heading into warmer half of the year, I'd like to up my bike commuting.

I have the rustic cabin exterior finished, including roof, steps, walls, and the final flooring down. A bunch of stuff including loft, privy area, kitchen workspace, and daybed need to be built out, woodstove installed. But it is minimally habitable at the moment, so 2016 will be first full year living out of it.

One never knows how things will work out in life. Alternately, if the cabin situation goes sour, there could plausibly be another van in which to dwell before the year is out.

JBHoren

I rode 1,860 miles in 2014, 4,290 miles in 2015, and my goal for 2016 is 6,000-7,000. We'll see. I'm car-free, and ride for both sport and transport.

Other than this, my goals are to continue with a frugal lifestyle, to eat less and move more, keep up finding and reading new (to me) authors (chronologically, when possible), and live more of my life in the immediate/short-term.

All the best, in this new year, to everyone.

wipekitty

Main cycling goals: (1) Maintain at least 50 miles a week through the winter months; (2) more long distance riding in the summer. There's a few 100/125 mile loops that start near my house, and I've upgraded my gear and body enough to feel comfortable riding them solo.

I'd also like to get more involved in the local cycling community. It's been hard to get started: I'm not interested in testosterone-fueled road racing, but I also have no interest in events in which the main event is booze. There must be other rogue riders who just want to ride.

Unless there's an injury, I plan to keep riding fixed this year. I have enough old bikes, and financially, it's best for me to wait until I know what I really want before purchasing something nice. Timed distance riding and touring are both appealing; for now, I'll continue to test the waters using the equipment I have.

Roody

You should check out Facebook and Twitter for "slow ride" or "slow bikes." Slow rides have come to many communities. Some involve booze and music, others do not.

cooker

As I've mentioned a bit, I plan to do a big project in 2017, so I'll have to do some prep work for that in 2016. The 2017 project is a 2 month working and tourism trek across Northern Ontario. It won't specifically be a bike tour, but rather multimodal, involving cars, buses, trains, planes and maybe ferries, ships and even canoes, but I'll have a bike with me and it may involve a few bike segments or else side bike tours - I want to visit quite a few scenic spots like Ouimet Canyon and others. So I will try to do at least a couple of overnighters this year, to develop some rudimentary touring skills like how to pack only essentials, and so on.

Regarding normal day to day stuff, in 2016 I want to resume my previous level of bike commuting. I took the bus/subway to work a lot more than usual in 2015 due to several factors.

Roody

I'm so jealous, having vacationed a lot in Ontario over the years. I especially love the Lake Huron shore, from Sarnia, to Goderich, where my great-grandmother's family settled for a while, and all the way up to the cliffs of Tobermory. I hope someday to make it up to Hudson Bay to see the polar bears, before they are gone. I hope you'll keep us posted on your trek, and on the preparations for it.

cooker

I will. I'm actually a little worried as I've had some back and knee issues this year (not disabling...yet!) so I hope to be healthy enough to do this. Fortunately neither have limited my commuter cycling very much, but traveling and wrangling luggage for 2 months might be a different story!

Roody

You'll probably be OK. Work up to it gradually, and have a "rescue plan" in case you are hurt while on the journey. Maybe a credit card and a cell phone will rescue you in all but the most remote areas. Another idea would be to have somebody go with you. I would love to take my son and grandson on a trip like that.

Machka 

How are your preparations going for your 2017 plans?

cooker

Thanks for asking! As mentioned it is a two month work and tourism trek across northern Ontario, partly by bike.

From the work point of view, great - I have discussed it at the office and there is a fair amount of support and coverage available and a couple of client sites have already said they will participate. There's a work-related conference in Thunder Bay in October when I plan to sort of "launch" talks with various others players and I expect it will be moving along.

From the biking point of view, I haven't done as much as I intended - one of my kids got married last week so I was a bit preoccupied with that, and didn't get around to ordering a bike trailer - I actually started looking at them again the day after. I need to get moving on that part so I have some riding with it this fall - probably something like a one night motel trip out and back, as I am not planning on bike camping. Or I'll take the train out 80 or 100 km and ride home.

As I mentioned, biking will only be part of a multimodal travel plan, so I might do a bike segment like Kenora to Dryden, and then take the Greyhound on to Thunder Bay, etc. That's why I probably need to get the Bike Friday suitcase trailer as I will not be biking all the time. I learned when I went to the BF website the other day that they once again have a BF dealer in Toronto and I was going to go there tomorrow, and see if they have the trailer, and if not order it online. I will also use the bike for day trips on days off between work gigs, but of course I don't need the trailer for that.

Last year and earlier this year I had some back and knee pain but it has resolved and I had no trouble with the 50 km Ride for Heart or daily commuting, but of course that wasn't with a loaded trailer.