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As part of my rant against the futility (and down right ignorance) of a one day “gas strike” I offered up some suggestions on making an actual difference, which ran the gamut from contacting legislators directly to lobby for clean, renewable energy sources, to eating locally grown sustainable food (better yet, growing our own) to making daily (or even weekly) changes in our driving habits to reduce consumption of and dependency on fossil fuel.

I was challenged by someone on a Facebook page demanding to know if I “walk to work one day a week.”

Uh, no… 21 miles (one way) is a bit more of a walk than I’m up for on a daily basis.

I work a compressed schedule (4/10s), taking me out of the commuter pool one day a week.

I am taking public transit (the train)

But in order to really walk pedal the talk, I’m making a bigger change.

I took money that had been earmarked for a vacation (sigh, no Alaska cruse for me) and instead put it into a commuter bicycle.

Starting tomorrow (I don’t work on Mondays) I will not be using a car, or even a metro van pool to get to or from the train station. I will ride my bike on each end of the journey.

Yes, you can take your bike on the train or bus.

Meet Xena… (name that because she’s a road warrior)

She’s a Scott Sub 20 urban bike with a strong frame, wide tires, and disk brakes to get me safely down the steep plunge off of the hilltop, and 11/32 gears on the rear cog to get me back up that hill at the end of the day (which is going to totally suck for the first few weeks)

Here she is “naked”

and here she is all geared up with a trunk bag, panniers, and lots and lots of lights for those dark mornings.

The first place I rode her was to the Farmer’s Market in Proctor for some Feisty Gals Coffee… (which just happens to be roasted a mere four blocks from me)

Where I also danced in the rain with a farmer… (hey, there was music)

This is actually going to be an interesting experience coming down off the Hilltop-I’ve ridden my road bike (which would never withstand nor be safe for daily all season commuting on this hill) down from my old place in the Stadium district (much gentler hill) but this is going to be an entirely different animal.

There will be video once we get a dry morning.

Wish me luck, I think I’ll need it for the first few weeks.

~L

Mood: Mildly Tredpidatious

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