Isaiahc72

Whether it's hearing your friend's stories about how much it cost them to fill up at the pump or blazing by backed-up 5 o'clock traffic, we all have things that make us proud and make us feel good about being car free. It's a nice idea to share things that happened recently that made you feel this way.

Artkansas 

Well, not much of my self-image is tied up in being car-free. I'm neither proud nor ashamed. It's just how I turned out.

But I'm glad that I work towards making things better for people who are car-free and hope that I increase understanding from motorists. For that, I feel slightly that perhaps I'm part of the wave of the future.

Isaiahc72

Somewhere on here I read that bike commuting is on the rise

B. Carfree

About the only thing about being car free that I am proud of is, after decades of whining about how poorly the cities I have lived in do things, I am finally getting off my hind quarters and working with city staff to make things better for cyclists and pedestrians (or at least less bad than they would have made things). The car free aspect of my lifestyle gives me a detailed knowledge of specific failures, since I encounter them from a non-motorized perspective, and seems to lend a bit of credibility to my arguments.

Roody

I feel proud that I've made being carfree a lifelong quest. I stuck with it pretty good for about 40 years now. There were times when I had cars, but when I did I worked hard to get rid of them. I feel now more than ever that carfree living is on the rise, and finally some people think I'm more of a pioneer than a nut job.

ka0use

+25 on the last sentence. we're leading the pack- though they're pretty far back!
always lead by example- something politicians should do.

Artkansas 

+1 I served on the Bike Friendly Cities planning subcommittee. I see this work reflected in Google maps which has specific routes that I suggested in those meetings and were later incorporated into the final document.

gerv 

Congratulations. We need people to work with city hall just to make sure we don't end up with bike trails to nowhere.

Of course, we are all happy to be part of a wave of the future, but that future won't happen if walkers and cyclists don't feel both safe and well accommodated on city streets.

Bluish Green

There have been a few times lately when I have seen an old friend or relative and they do a double-take and comment on how good I look now. I've lost 65 pounds by bicycle commuting and eating just a little bit better (over the past year and a half). Plus I got my blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar numbers all back in normal range. I feel good about that. The compliments are nice, too, but being in the best shape of my adult life feels so great. It's hard to believe that giving up a car and riding six miles to and from work every day can have that big of an effect on life, but it can.

I'm also proud of not purchasing gasoline, of toughing it out and beating bad weather, of getting it done with my own horsepower. I could go on, there are so many great things. It's been a radically good lifestyle change for me.

Dahon.Steve

I don't know if I'm proud to be car free since the feeling is more relief than anything else. The relief of having rid myself of extra bills each month. I happen to think the car is a beautiful thing to look at especially the expensive models. However, I'm glad those cars are not my bills but someone elses. Being able to admire and look away from materialism is what I'm proud of today.

plustax

proud? nothing much really. I'm proud of biking 60 miles in 25 degrees, but that isn't tied to carfree. Just me being a nutjob.

cycleobsidian

I don't feel proud as much as I feel appreciative of the opportunity to conduct my life car free (actually car lite, my husband uses the car)

I am lucky enough to be able to afford to live in a location where I can get to where I need to go by bike or on foot. I am lucky enough to be employed on a day shift so that I don't have to commute when I think it's unsafe. I am lucky that my family has grown so that I don't really have any one I need to schlep around anymore.

gerv 

Some of this is luck and some is how you designed your life. So maybe you should be proud of your accomplishments.

ro-monster

Pride is sort of an alien concept to me, but I am grateful to live in circumstances that make being car-free easy. I have the sense that it is incumbent upon each of us to live in ways that are to the common benefit of all beings, rather than just our personal benefit. Thus, I attempt to limit my consumption of shared resources, and riding my bike is one way of doing this.