A "Green" Christmas

"I'm dreaming of a Green Chiristmas...
Because I biked instead of drove..."


(My apologies to Bing...) It was the Saturday before Christmas, and I needed to finish my Christmas shopping. Unfortunately the wife is out with the car (we're currently limited to one car due to a busted water pump...). It is cloudy and 46 degrees out, so why not use the bike to get to the Waterfront (A former steel mill site converted to a shopping complex)? We hadn't been biking in almost 6 weeks, so I really needed to get back on the bike. With the expected traffic (the Waterfront has notoriously bad traffic problems) I thought it actually might be faster to bike instead of drive.

Using the bikes to run errands is something we have been doing a lot more of this year. With the price of gas and busy schedules, it just makes sense. Our neighborhood is in an excellent location that makes several different shopping areas accessible by bicycle.

So off I went on my "half-bike" (an early-nineties GT hybrid). I got a lot of funny looks from people in the stores, but I wasn't the only crazy out on his bike. A couple on a Cannondale tandem (with a BoB trailer on the back) passed me as I cycled into the Waterfront complex. Of course, we weren't as crazy as the old guy I passed when I was leaving, who was jogging barechested along the access road.

Happy Holidays to All, and a Happy New Year!