Bikes V. Cars

I was reading about Charlie Cunningham yesterday on Wikipedia. He was an early Pioneer of the Mtn. Bike and went on to become a founder of Wilderness Trail Bikes. He worked with the company back in the day when they made a host of boutique items and also made a little over 180 lifetime warranteed bikes himself.

"By age twenty five he realized that automobile use in the USA is largely wasteful, polluting and socially ruinous. His solution: Bicycles"

Socially ruinous? Maybe not. But the way the auto is used in the states is definately silly and a little bit sad even. There are scores of students are UGA who pile into 300+lb boxes to make a trip to class that is less than two/three miles for most and less than 1mi for many.

Lets look at just the financial aspects of the bike vs car in commuting.

My brand new bike costs about $660. It's a hardtail MTB, perfect for four years of any biker hopping curbs, jumping stairs, doing more or less anything urban you can think of. It will easily last four years of college with minor repairs such as $10 brake pads.

Parking at UGA costs an average of about $315.00 per academic (9mth) year. Driving to and from school probably burns a minimum of 5 gallons a week when taking into account starting the car and running various systems like heat and AC. Thats $12.50 a week, minimum for gas, which comes to $50 a month. Cost for gas for the year then comes to $450. Add the 315 for parking and the total cost to commute to school comes out to about $765/yr. This is assuming an average cost for parking spaces at UGA and a cost of gasoline of 2.50/gal, which is really pretty fair if not low at this point in time.

AS YOU FOLKS CAN SEE

I spent less money on my BRAND NEW, BEAUTIFUL Fisher hardtail this year than many people spend driving to and from school every morning. And my bike is money folks. I love it, it brings me great joy when I see it in my living room every morning. Next year I could put this kinda money into my bike again and my lowly Marlin would probably be race-ready.

None of this takes into account the pure joy of cycling, or the supurb and abundant health benefits (I've def. shed some lbs).

Now, I just have to figure out a way to squeeze some of this saved $$$ out of my rents hands to put some Carbon Fiber on my bike, or better yet, save up for a 29er :)

GET ON A BIKE