:)

stolen from here

Moonlight Madness

We just had an amazing baltimore bicycling event. It's called the Moonlight Madness Memorial bike ride. I'm not sure who it's in memory of, but I assume it's someone who was killed in a bicycle accident. The idea is perfect - get about 100 bicyclists together and just ride around the city. It shows everyone that there are many of us out here who ride on city streets and basically raises awareness and allows us all to have fun at the same time. Part of the route went through East Baltimore, which some of my friends thought was a really bad idea because of the crime, but it turned out fantastic. I rode some streets I'd never riden before and since there was so many of us there was really no danger. There were a lot of kids outside waving at us and stuff. It was a great ride overall.

Here's the website that had all the information:

http://www.socializr.com/event/465093292

Here's the route we took:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Moonlight-Madness-2010

I took some pictures with my iPhone and posted them on my flickr here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eedanjo/sets/72157624687168445/

Living Better on Less

My dad sent me this article today in an email.

It's a great piece about many different ways to live better for less and he specifically sent me the article because there's a section on reducing the amount you use your car, or even going car free (page 4). It says it increases exercise, reduces stress, eliminates car costs (payments, gas, insurance, parking, maintenance), and helps to reduce smog and global warming. It's good to get a fresh reminder of all those fantastic reasons to bike more and drive less. Anybody else want to join me in my car-free quest?

No More Car

It is done. I have finally given away my car. We drove the old '01 Pontiac Sunfire from Baltimore to Fulton, MO to give to my parents. My dad's going to use it pretty heavily to do his job and even drive to St. Louis to teach a class! They definitely need it more than me. The last two or three weeks I've been riding my bike consistently to work. I even used the JHU shuttle a few times when I had to get to Bayview. I feel very good about this decision and I look forward to my new car-free lifestyle.

I am definitely going to miss the old Sunfire. We had some amazing road trips and times together. I'm going to miss the cool breeze from the sunroof, listening to my iPod on long trips, having friends sleep while I drive them, etc.

My apologies for the hiatus from this blog. During the interim between my last post I've been contemplating if I really should get rid of the car. I got married in June and I felt that I should at least keep the car till then since I'd need it to transport friends and family around. We also used it for the wedding 'Just married' getaway car.

I felt I couldn't rightly post on this blog since I successfully passed my 30 days without driving yet still didn't sell or give the car away. Now that it's done, hopefully you'll see more posts on here in the months to come. Stories of biking/public transit hardships and triumphs as we head into the early fall.

Alas, I still have backups for the car lifestyle. My wife Suzanne still owns a Subaru which I'm sure I'll ride in and likely drive for special cases. Also as a final fail-safe, I still have a membership with Zipcar in case Suzanne and I both desperately need a car. I know it's not exactly a clean break with the automobile since I have these fail-safes, but it's a start.

Wish me luck!