Ever Forward

I hear people object to bicycle commuting on the grounds that “I sweat too much”, or “I don’t want to arrive at work smelling like I’ve been working in the fields all day”.  It’s hard to blame them for this objection.  Many offices don’t have showers available for workers to use, and mine is no different.  The CEO has a shower, but I honestly can’t see me running up, and saying, “excuse me, I’ll only be a minute.  Uh, can I borrow your soap?  Thanks!”.  I just go into the Men’s restroom and use No-Rinse for a quick ‘field’ bath.  Recently, No-Rinse really proved its value when I found myself confused over whether I had previously worn a t-shirt.

When I commute by bike, I normally wear a cycling jersey to work, freshen up with the No-Rinse, don my t-shirt and uniform shirt, both fresh out of my hanging bag panniers.  At the end of the day, I change back into a cycling jersey for the trip home.  I usually take out my uniform and t-shirt so I can wash them.  Well, last week was a bit different.  I biked it on Friday night.  For whatever reason, I forgot to take my uniform shirt out until Saturday, and completely forgot the t-shirt.  Yesterday (Tuesday), when I went to put in a fresh t-shirt, I encountered the old one and couldn’t remember if that was a spare or if that was the one I had used last week.

I started smelling the shirt, and Maty, who was with me, looked at me funny.  “Did you forget to put your shirt in the wash?”  She was half-laughing at my forgetfulness.

“I must have, but this smells too fresh.”

She smelled it.  “Yes, this one is clean.  This must be the spare.”

“Fine.  I’ll just wear it.  I can put it in the wash tonight.”

So  I stuffed it back in the pouch and off to work I went.  This time I put the definitely-used t-shirt in the main compartment with my uniform shirt when I put my cycling jersey on for the trip back home.  Today I opened my side pouch again, to see what other spare t-shirts might be lurking.  There was one I know I didn’t wear, along with a tanktop like the one I was confused over.  It smells fresh too.  The bottom line is, I have no idea which of the two tanktop t-shirts I wore, and which was the spare.  I’m sure the No-Rinse is at fault.

No-Rinse is a body wash you can use when you don’t have the ability to take a bath or shower.  It is used in hospitals and camping situations.  I can break a sweat just by walking out into the hot humid Charlotte air.  At 90+ degrees Fahrenheit & muggy-as-all-get-out, I’m usually dripping wet by the time I finish my 8-kilometer commute to work.  I probably smell like last week’s roadkill.  So to use the No-Rinse, and then later find myself confused as to which t-shirt I wore 4 days ago, I can only say the No-Rinse is great stuff!

That’s probably more than you wanted to know, but have a laugh and know that we cyclists have a tool at our disposal for freshening up after the ride to work.

Most people I talk to tell me they can’t get along without a car.  They don’t understand how I can live completely car-free.  I understand where they’re coming from better than they realize.  It was only 2008 that I was still driving a car all by my lonesome 15 miles one way to work.  Change doesn’t just happen though.  You have to make it happen.

In 2008 I moved to within 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) of my workplace.  Not only that, but I had scoped things out pretty well.  I knew I could get a cheap apartment right across from a grocery store, dry cleaners, as well as tax and insurance offices.  To top it off, there are three good restaurants and a pub.  The mall is near my workplace.  Another shopping center is 1.6 km (1 mile) up the street from me.  Bowling alley, movie theater – I got most everything I need.  There are 4 bicycle shops within 3 miles.

Bearing all this in mind, it’s extremely difficult to justify the cost of owning a car.  I mean, really, how do you justify spending $6k-$8k per year to drive 3 miles?  If the bike isn’t good enough, I can usually combine it with the bus.  In some cases, though, you can actually beat a bus across town on the bike, so it’ s not always worth the effort.  Still, it definitely beats walking, and I probably get better quality of exercise in the process.

So I’ve traded a 15-mile one-way daily grind for a 1.5-mile mostly relaxing ride to work everyday, plus more and better exercise, plus more convenience in my lifestyle.  In addition, I’m eliminating roughly around 7 lbs (or more) of CO2 with every trip I make, which contributes to improving our air quality.