I often say that in my head before a commute to work or an errand on the bike. Sometimes the act of doing the right thing can be so labor intensive. Basically I can sit there and justify why driving would be easier…I gotta get my helmet, my bags, my locks, gotta make sure air is in the tires, and etc…
But I slowly learned that keeping motivated in doing something is having to obey what you need to do. I’m sure you’ve felt like I’ve mentioned, but as you know, as soon as you get on your bike, all those lazy feelings subside. In fact you feel even better by doing so.
So I’m curious to know if you struggle with wanting to take the easy route and get in your car. If you do, what motivates you or what gets you off your butt and on your bike?
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I avoid some of that by prepping for rides the night before. Get my lunch together, get my work clothes together and get the bags on the bike so all I have to do is load up and ride.
I do the same with getting ready the night before…makes life much easier especially with our 5 month old! For errands, I also try to remember how lucky I am to live close to a grocery (.75mi) and that I have to practice what I preach (although, i still find myself in the car every now and then…gotta keep those pistons excercised too!
I get that way, especially in Winter. It can get pretty difficult to swing a leg over the top tube when it’s pitch black and 15 degrees outside. This time of year is easier, but I still don’t always feel like riding. But then again my wife will ask me the night before “Are you riding tomorrow?” And it’s so random and out of the blue, not like we have something planned that my riding will conflict with. When she does I’m all “Of course I’m riding!” I’m almost offended she’d ask. So while I don’t always “want” to ride I always “want to ride.” Make sense?
I definitely struggle with that although it’s usually the ride home that’s worse because of the 105°F heat. These days I bike to work and come home on the bus, which has a bike rack on the front. Also, not being too worried about my average speed makes a big difference. I’ll plug in an audiobook and slow down to enjoy the ride if I’m feeling tired.
I did have that problem and solved it by selling my car. Now if I want to go somewhere I know I have to bike so it’s a simple choice and no temptation….
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Sell your car. A family with kids only needs one, and if you don’t have kids or other transportationally-related obligations, you can most likely get by with one car.
Selling the car would be fine…but I do have to use it for work on occasion. I’m an IT guy that covers 3 of our locations.
Besides, my car is paid off…
Sometimes I get up late. :-p Sometimes my wife asks me to tell her to get up late, and then I’m just out of time.
I haven’t hurt too much to ride in a while… but this is also the first season I’ve actually done the bicycle commute. Ask me again when the temperatures fall back into the 40s and snow starts flying. (Tips for riding on icy limestone paths, anyone?
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I struggle with this in the mornings, mainly because there’s a bus that takes me right to work and gets me there faster, so if I don’t get ready quickly enough or if the weather’s bad it’s so easy to throw my bike on the bus and bike commute one way. Add to that the fact that I live halfway up a hill: uphill to bike commute, downhill to the bus stop. I admit there are mornings where I point myself uphill for a few yards, then do a big U-turn and head for the bus stop.
But that’s when there’s a bussing option. I’ve become increasingly resistant to using the car. I took it to the grocery store the other day for the sole reason that I hadn’t started it in three weeks and wanted to keep the battery charged. It’s not really an effort of will but a force of habit. On more than one occasion I’ve biked through questionable weather, taken difficult to schedule bike/bus trips, or just stayed home because I realized I couldn’t get where I wanted to when I wanted to only to realize, well after the fact, that I could have taken the car. It used to be a challenge to see if I could get by without the car, but more and more it’s an effort to remember to start it every once and a while.
My commute is the easy part. It’s showing the resolve to use the bike when I want to run down to the corner store for a couple of six packs. Kudos to you fine people for choosing carless.
We sold our second car so that makes riding to work easy. Even when we had the second car riding to work was always easy. I also subscribe to the “get ready the night before” theory.
Where I struggle is for the errands, especially if I need to take the kids. I’m still battling that one. I think developing a system helps too.
Climbinskier,
Not sure if you already have one, but an Xtracycle is great for errands involving kids.
I’d love to be only a one car family. But with little ones and seniors living in the household, that’s just not feasible. Wife works out of town and drops the kids off at school which is a quite a distance. I bike to work and try to make my errands work while on the way home. Hate it when I have to go a short distance by car just to get something simple.
I always keep all of my stuff ready for my commute and never even think about getting in the car. The idea of driving to work and paying for parking in San Francisco is more than enough motivation for me.
I always struggle to get out of bed extra early so I can ride my bike to work. It is so easy to just sleep in and then drive to work. While the idea of driving seems like less work, it is easy to forget how much it actually sucks. Sure riding the bike might take a little extra effort and time but at least you are not stuck in traffic. Dealing with all the aggro people on the road is enough to get me on the saddle and pedaling. I always feel better once I am riding and I know I made the right choice. Despite riding being better for you health wise, it is also cheaper. Just another thing that helps to think about then you are burning gas and wearing down your car in traffic
I know I do.
I don’t drive but I do ride the bus when lazy. Especially when it’s hot outside! Struggling up the hill to work when it’s hot outside is just too much bother… I’d much rather ride in the rain.
Leave a spare lock at work…that way you’ll never forget it!
We sold one of our cars…and the other one gathers dust. It really reduced the temptation to drive — and adding an Xtracycle to the fleet definitely helps with the angst of hauling things. I actually look forward to grocery shopping now!
We sold our second car. It helps. I do struggle with the bus/train vs. bike, but I don’t have to decide until I’ve biked about 4 miles, and then I figure either way is fine. If I’m in the middle of a good book, I’m more likely to take the train, if my mileage for the week is low, I’ll go the distance. I don’t think the right approach is one based on purity but based on continuous change – just bike 2% more per week than the previous week
–Chris
I’m still working my way to cycling every day. (I ride to work maybe three days out of the week, and I cycle on weekends for my errands.) There are days when my body hurts too much or when I didn’t sleep well, so I take it as my cue to take a break and drive.
I pack the night before much like everyone else. However, my struggle is how do you get motivated riding to work when there is a very good chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon? I think it is better to drive than risk getting run over in a downpour that may last an hour. Either way, I still get to ride 2-4 times a week mostly.
I’m with Kris – selling my car helped! But even when I had my car, driving and parking in Chicago is such a pain, that it’s often not that much easier than pulling the bike out. So the temptation I fight is to take the el train, which is conveniently located only a block away. Usually I can overcome that laziness by reminding myself how much I love to cycle and hate to ride the train
p.s. Funny what Chris said about being in the middle of a good book as an incentive to take the train. I must admit that leaving work today, I wish I had not ridden my bike because I was exhausted, cranky and wanted nothing more than to sink into Mrs. Dalloway. Of course, my mood lifted as soon as I got onto my bike anyway.
Yeah… for about one second. Then I remember that to own and maintain a car costs $8,000 a year and doesn’t guarantee monstrous legs.
“Besides, my car is paid off…”
Is a car really EVER paid off? Sure, you might not have a finance payment for it, but with maintenance, depreciation, gas, insurance, licensing and all those other fees, it’s a never-ending hole you pour money into!
When I’m being lazy or it’s too hot outside and I don’t feel like being outside, baking in the sun, while waiting for that bus that never comes, I will jump on my electric bike I bought myself after getting rid of my car. It is heavier than my other bikes but still gets me out to where I need to be with much less sweat. Plus it gets much better gas milage than ANY CAR.
I always think “This will feel so good when it’s over” – lol. I hate getting on my bike… I hate climbing hills on my 50lbs of bike/clothes/laptop. I hate riding 30 miles round trip with people honking because they think they own the road.
But when I get to work and sit down at my desk, it feels great. It’s an investment in health and happiness.
Seeing three cars honk at each and fight for one parking spot at the grocery store motivates me! They had still not worked it out by the time I parked, locked and entered the store. Agree with Ghost on having spare accessories.
Good question. I have a couple of nice bikes. I could have done with one cheaper bike, but I’m a cyclists and that’s what I do. I sometimes hesitate to upgrade a pannier, or a helmet, or shoes, or whatever, but then I usually do because I’m a cyclists and that’s what I do.
So this morning it’s 50Deg and raining, but I ride anyway because I’m a cyclists and that’s what I do.
For commuting, the bike always wins… even in the winter (beats being crammed in the el or waiting on the corner in freezing weather for a bus). But for errands — if it’s rainy or cold, I often struggle to use the bike.
For my weekend outings to the burbs, though, I do give my car a workout. And that’s also when all the BIG errands get done. I’m still hoping suburbia’s infrastructure improves for cyclists.
Iron Man, I’m with you — “while I don’t always “want” to ride I always “want to ride.”” Makes perfect sense.
I did what Kris did–sold the car.
However, the feeling of being on the bike is the extra motivation when I’m thinking of driving. After a long day at work and I wish I could teleport home, pulling out of the parking lot and cruising away from the campus makes me glad i’m a bike commuter.
First, I canceled my parking pass for work. Then, I sold my car.
Now I feel like I’ve lost a battle if I have to drive for any reason.
I take inclement weather as a challenge, and I hate to admit defeat (getting a ride).
I try to see how long I can keep my “streak” of riding to work. Last year I made it eight months without using the car to commute before a December snow in New Jersey ended it. Most mornings the motivation to extend the streak gets me out of bed into the whatever the weather happens to be. Last week a vicious thunderstorm cut me off at four months.
It’s very true that a car is never truly “paid off.”
They continue to burden your income until you come to terms and get rid of it. Gas, Insurance, Maintenance et-cetera. You could sell your car and buy a nice cargo bike such as the Surly Big Dummy or a Madsen.
I personally don’t have any issues getting up and getting ready. How long does it take to inflate some f’ing tires and get ready for work? It’s a routine, day in and day out. It should become comfortable and natural.
Even if I get physically tired some days, and I get passed by a zillion cars too close, it helps my mood overall. Plus whenever it seems cold at first, I adjust to the weather and am glad to be out in it, even the rain. But some days I’ve been wimpy and taken the car then felt rotten for not riding. Now, my car’s got a leaky gasket, too much $ to fix, so I have no choice but to ride bus/bike. However, biking doesn’t cost me $2.50 per trip, and with the money I save, I can buy more cycling stuff.
For me, the answer is “No, I never wish I could take the car instead” — but I feel like I’m cheating on this one. One of the reasons I ride a bike in the first place, is that I dislike driving, particularly through congested areas. Being stuck inside a car often makes me nauseous and claustrophobic, and I arrive at my destination feeling downright battered. The memories of this are usually strong enough to compel me to cycle.
I would never drive unless there’s a reason to do so, usually an after work reason like carpooling to the lake to use a friend’s boat for the afternoon. So it would make riding home from the lake pretty much impossible. Or I’ll take my motorcycle to a Dr. app’t that may be too far out of the way or take too long to get to by bicycle. But those are only a couple times a year. The bus takes longer and gets stuck in traffic. The motor vehicles get stuck in traffic. I only have to think about a baseball/football/soccer game or even just a minor fender-bender and how it can cluge up traffic from every direction and I’m on by bicycle.
I’ve found that not having a car is really good motivation for cycling to work.
But sometimes when it’s cold and raining it’s incredibly tempting to get the train. At those times I cycle just to get the kudos from people at work. A few “you cycled to work *today*?!?!?” comments make the sheer bloody mindedness of it all worthwhile.
It was 103 today (heat index 112) and if I owned a car you can be absolutely sure that I would have opted for some sweet non-human powered locomotion. Deep respect to those who own cars and still ride on days like today.