Living in car country

I don't know if you'd really call the Portland, Oregon area car country,
but it comes a lot closer to it than NYC. I moved out here in January 05,
and had never driven a car before, much less owned one. Before I had my son
in Sept 03, the bike was my primary mode of transportation, and although I
had some physical issues related to the pregnancy, I assumed that I'd get
back to cycling "full time" at some point, and would use public
transportation out here until I got around to learning to drive.

Things didn't work out that way, though, and I had to turn down a couple of
job offers because there was no way I'd be able to use public
transportation to get my son to daycare and myself to work without it
taking 2+ hours each way. Since it was looking like I wasn't employable
without a car, I bought one with the last of my savings, took a
crash-course in driving, got my license, and immediately got a job a
35-minute freeway drive from my home. So, almost overnight, I became a
fully-fledged member of car culture.

I'd see cyclists on the road and I'd sigh. My physical condition
deteriorated, because as a single mom, there's just no time in my day to
get any exercise. I hardly even walked anywhere...my son as a toddler would
just pick a direction and run, so even going for a walk with him was more
trouble than it was worth. My bikes were in a storage closet in my
apartment, and it would take 20 minutes to get the bike out and assemble
the trailer...I just hated it, all of it. The car kept breaking down, and I
*had* to have it, couldn't get to work without it, so I'd spend money I
didn't have to get it repaired. It needed new tires. It needed new brakes.
It needed a belt, a thermostat, I forget what else. I had to pay as much as
a teenager for insurance because I had no driving record.

Finally, I got a new job in downtown Portland. I could commute most of the
way by public transportation. I still had to get my son to daycare, and
myself to the light rail train, but no more freeway driving! I decided I
needed to start commuting by bike again, replacing the car portion of my
commute by a bike. I rented a garage in my apartment complex and keep the
bikes and trailer in there, and I got a bike locker at my train station.

It's about 2 miles to daycare with my son in his trailer, then another mile
and a half to the train, mostly uphill going home. Not much compared to my
old 14-mile each way commute, but it's still a challenge for me at this
point. I'm so out of shape I wheeze up a hill that I would barely have
noticed before, and I'm only managing 2-3 days a week right now. But I'll
tell ya, it's nice to be able to wave bye bye to my car as I ride off in
the morning.

I used to post here, back in the day. I see a lot of the same folks are
here. Whatever became of Fabs, anyone know? Tell me he's not living in a
trailer park and weighing 400 lbs or anything like that...

--
z e l d a b e e @ p a n i x . c o m http://NewsReader.Com/

On 05 Dec 2006 22:56:45 GMT, zeldabee
wrote:
\
I used to post here, back in the day. I see a lot of the same folks are
here. Whatever became of Fabs, anyone know? Tell me he's not living in a
trailer park and weighing 400 lbs or anything like that...

Welcome back to bicycling. The joys are the same but the pains are
new. Those will pass as the joy constantly increases.
Welcome back to the newsgroup and welcome to wonderful wet Cascadia.

I hope you're enjoying your new job and renewed life.

Portland is hot bed of cycling activity across all the disciplines.
Bike culture is a palatable reality down there in Bridge City.

There's quite a bit of cultural exchange between Vancouver and
Portland. Lots of my freak-bike friends regularly travel there and
Portlanders come here. We're always trying to outdo each other's
hospitality.

Fabrizio is probably still training for his next fantasy team. He's
not been seen here in some time.
--
zk

In article ,
zeldabee writes:

It's about 2 miles to daycare with my son in his trailer, then another mile
and a half to the train, mostly uphill going home. Not much compared to my
old 14-mile each way commute, but it's still a challenge for me at this
point. I'm so out of shape I wheeze up a hill that I would barely have
noticed before, and I'm only managing 2-3 days a week right now. But I'll
tell ya, it's nice to be able to wave bye bye to my car as I ride off in
the morning.

Aw, yer doin' good.

And maybe post-partum cycling for women riders is a
subject that warrants more discussion than it gets.
I've seen some 'zine articles about riding /during/
pregnancy, but nothing about after.

I used to post here, back in the day. I see a lot of the same folks are
here. Whatever became of Fabs, anyone know? Tell me he's not living in a
trailer park and weighing 400 lbs or anything like that...

I intuit he might be leaning toward track.

So your worst fears might be realized.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca