Machka 

Do you, personally, have any car-free or car-light highlights in 2015?

Perhaps you cycled to work 80% of the time? Maybe you made use of public transportation for most of your trips? You might have opted to do a car-free vacation. Possibly you used your motorised vehicle only once a week or once a month? Perhaps you walked to do most of your errands? Or ... ??



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As a reminder, these are the highlights from last year:
https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...ts-2014-a.html

Artkansas 

Not many highlights this year. Just my on-going struggle with Cedar Hill Road, which I must ride in my commute to work. You can see it in the link. Riding down it is fun to terrifying. Riding up it depends on my attitude. Even months after being able to climb it without stopping, often I just don't have the mojo to climb it after work.

My Sunday rides to work that are the full length of the trip have shifted around, so I now take a hillier but shorter route to trim off a few minutes of riding time. Most days I take the bus for the majority of the route. It drops me off near the top of Cedar Hill Road.

tandempower

I biked 150 miles in one day this summer, which is a lot for me. My tendons were sore for days afterward. I would have preferred to split the trip up into two days but after a long period of debating the legitimacy of free camping, I decided I just didn't want to risk getting harassed by people who would view me as a free loader. I'm hoping 2016 will bring new hope, new long distance trails, and new rules allowing free camping in uninhabited areas along those trails for cyclists on multiday trips. I'm also hoping for an app or some other way to easily find shower/laundry facilities along bike routes.

Machka 

There will be more, but ... similar to last year ...

I took the bus + walking to work, rather than driving or riding in a private automobile, just about every work day.

I have been able to run most of the household errands by walking where I need to go at lunch ... and those household errands have been aided by the use of the internet. I can search for what I need on the internet, and take care of a lot of the details of various matters, and then if I need to go out to deal with something in person, it's an efficient trip.

Roody

The big event for me was a major health problem. This left me more dependent on the family car for a six moth period of illness and recovery. If there was no car, I probably would have taken the bus a lot more, and maybe even the shuttle service that the bus company provides for disabled people.

Now I'm back to walking for most of my trips, and just for relaxation and exercise. In the springtime I'm going to try to get back on the bike! My son and grandson just got new bikes, so they said they will ride with me for a while to provide support.

Invidia Luxe

I took a year of opera singing lessons. During the second half of this year, I traveled by bus and bicycle every Saturday. I took the bus part of the way to get through the roundabouts on the freeway (yes, the roundabouts are part of the freeway, so weird), and then rode my bicycle the rest of the way. Cycling was 12 miles each way. Some days I thought I wasn't going to make it because of strong winds, heat, and ignorant motorists. But I cycled to every lesson, except the time I got sick with a cold. The cycling didn't negatively impact my singing ability at all.

Buffalo Buff

2015 was the first time I made the commitment to bike commute full time year round.

I bought a road bike a little over $1000, and the amount of money I saved by not paying for gas etc., paid for that awesome bike.

I'm a much stronger cyclist now. Before I bought the road bike I hadn't done a century. Now doing back to back centuries on an overnighter is no big deal, and I did 10 back to back one tour.

I'm much happier too, which you can't put a dollar value on. I enjoy my days so much more when I get a few bike rides in, even if it just running errands and getting to work.

Not sure that I'm going to completely get rid of my car, but I've learned to not be dependent on it.

Machka 

I did a whole lot of walking to and from the university. In my first semester, I was able to take a bus there, and then I walked back to work. In my second semester, my classes were first thing in the morning so I took the bus about 3/4 of the way there, then walked the rest of the way, and then walked to work after class.

Walking to work after class was a much needed break!


Rowan and I have also done quite a few car-free or car-light weekend trips.

Car-free ... where we cycle from home to go to events, explore, etc. This has been a little bit more of a challenge give that we live south of the city now in a little beach community, but there are still places to cycle out here.

Car-light ... where we drive a certain portion of the trip, and then park the van and cycle the rest of the time. We often drive into Hobart, park the van in a central location, and cycle from there.

We've also done a number of hub and spoke tours, as usual, and one overnight tour.


We've done more cycling this year than we have in the last couple years, including two centuries (100 miles in one day) and several 100 km rides.

Machka 

How did your goals from 2015 go?

https://www.bikeforums.net/living-car...ans-hopes.html

rossiny

Probably helped u, Lucianno Pavarotti once said first u have to be a very good athlete and then train for opera . He said he had played a lot of soccer and was a very good soccer player ...at one time..

Ekdog

Then why are so many of the great opera singers obese?

I-Like-To-Bike

They don't ride bicycles to the opera house?

CrippledKonaBoy

The family surviving 2015 is the biggest thing I can point to. My sister's ex is now doing hard time for what he tried to do to her 1 year and 12 hours ago. Hope he dies there.

Although the degree od it is still open to interpretation, I became mildly disabled during 2015 -- not altogether bad, since I'm no longer a Walfart peon.

Roody

I hope 2016 is a better year for you and your family. (But not for the former BIL.)

timsataurus

Hello

My biggest highlight is completing my first interstate tour. I rode from Portland OR to San Francisco CA. I also got off of the main route from the 101 coast book by taking suggestions along the way. For instance I road inland to see the Smith River and stay at the JEdediah Smith Redwoods state park. Which also allowed to take Howland Hills road to Crescent City. This also allowed me to see Stout Grove on my way to Crescent City CA. In Crescent City I heard about Nickel Creek campground which is free and reserved for non car users.

Here's a few pictures I took during the trip.

rossiny

I think the middle guy is him as young man..I guess all the traveling and restaurant food made him gain a few pounds

Ekdog

I must admit that I cycle with a rather portly fellow who can ride circles around me, so the simple fact that one is of ample proportions does not mean that one isn't fit.

tarwheel 

I had a good year in my quest to go car-light. I bike commuted 146 times, totaling 4,789 miles. That was just shy of my goal of 5,000 miles, but not bad considering all the rain we had -- about 14" above normal for the year and the most rainy days on record. My total "green miles" was 6,086 -- which were rides that did not involve vehicles in any way. These were rides in which I left from home rather than driving to meet other people or start from some other destination. For the 9th year in a row, I cycled more miles than I drove my car, which has been my trend ever since I started bike commuting. I rode one long, loaded bike tour from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the GAP-C&O Canal trails. Although we drove to DC (4 of us) in an SUV, we took the Amtrak train from DC to Pittsburgh, and then rode our bikes all the way back.

Ekdog

Amazing! Keep it up!