How I Rode My Bike More Than I Drove My Car This Year

I did it readers!  Barring a major catastrophe in the last three days of 2018 that requires me to drive over 450 miles, I rode my bikes more miles than I drove my car this year!

Yes, you read that correctly.  The current tally is about 4780 miles on my bikes, and 4350 miles on my car. And I’ll probably get another 50 – 60 miles in on the bike this weekend.

I lamented in this post from March that I had my biggest year cycling ever in 2017 but still wasn’t able to beat my driving miles.  But here’s the thing, my cycling miles went way down this year, from 6350 in 2017 to 4780 in 2018. 

That’s a drop of 25%.  Ouch.

Weirdly enough, I had more time than ever to ride this year as it was my first full calendar year as a part-time W2 employee.  In 2017 I worked full time most of the year and still rode 6350 miles. 

Why did I ride so much less this year?

I found that I didn’t need as many miles, plain and simple.  Going part time has changed things in my brain, and you can read about that here.  Turning the pedals burns stress, and I just didn’t have as much to burn.

So with a 25% decrease in cycling miles how did I still manage to ride my bikes more than drive?  Well, I had a 44% decrease in driving miles on my car!  I went from 7800 miles on my car in 2017 to 4350 in 2018. 

Beaming with pride.

How did I manage that?  Easy answer – I rode my bike! (funny how this works…)  Instead of defaulting to the car when I need something, I default to the bike. 

The library, grocery store, and barbershop, I ride to all of them.  Being financially independent and going part time has given me enough free time that I can afford to take longer to do these things. 

And funny enough, our traffic is so bad in the DC area it’s frequently faster to run errands by bike anyway.  No parking to deal with, and I can take shortcuts through parks, alleyways, and bike trails that usually make the journey shorter. 

Of course I also get to bunny-hop curbs, jump walkway ramps, run a stairwell here and there, and have fun.  I’m still a kid at heart and that’s not going to change anytime soon.

 

My Job Helps

One of the main sources of miles on my bike has been commuting two days a week to my part-time job.  For me it’s 11 miles each way, so that’s 44 miles a week just to go to work twice. 

I only missed riding my bike to work 2 times all year.  Once I wussed out when there was a chance of ice on the roads.  Another time I had to drive because I had a mid-day meeting that was far from my main job site.

Besides those two days, I rode my bike to work every day. 

And the DC region has had it’s wettest year in recorded history.  That means I rode in the rain.  A lot. 

People are funny with water.  They voluntarily let it pour down on them once or twice a day in a shower, but treat it like acid from the sky at other times. 

First off, I have good rain gear for the bike.  It’s 2018 and modern performance clothing is better and more affordable than ever.  As I like to say, there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choices.

Secondly if I get a bit wet on the way in, well I’m going to shower anyway when I get there – it’s all water!! 

And if it rains when I’m on the way home, I’m going to shower when I get home anyway – it’s all wa…  you get where I’m going. 

It’s water people, an essential element.  Learn to love it.

Discipline is freedom.

 

How Can You Do This

If you’re reading this and thinking “there’s no way I could ride a bike to work” then you likely have one of two issues to deal with.

You don’t own a bike – First off, we might not be able to be friends.  Just kidding, but maybe not kidding 😉  I can’t say it better than MMM himself as to why you need a bike.  Just read. 

You live too far from work to ride a bike – Ahh yes.  If there’s one thing I could tell you that has been my secret sauce and that expedited my journey to financial independence, it’s that you should live pretty close to your job. 

A long commute will drain your budget, endanger your life, and slowly kill your health, moral, and happiness. 

Sure, I realize some of you live in rural areas or perhaps even farm country and you may even have a job in farming or something similar.  You may not be able to live near your job in those circumstances. 

But the majority of Americans live near urban areas, and the #1 thing you can do for a happy life and to save money is to live near your workplace.  That way you can ride a bike there, get exercise, and ditch the polluting money-pit that your car really is.  And your body and brain will benefit.  

Consider where I’m at now, only driving 4350 miles a year.  At that rate I can go almost seven full years between the dreaded 30,000 mile vehicle check up that always requires fixing and replacing things and that drains your wallet. 

The average American drives 13,476 miles a year, which means they get to that dreaded check up every 2.2 years.  That’s not the life for me.  I’ll take that money and invest it, thanks.

 

To Be Clear….

I’m being careful in my wording by saying I rode my bikes more than I “drove my car” instead of just plain “drove”.  I did my usual climbing trip to Colorado in July to finish up the 14ers and drove about 800 miles on a rental car during the trip. 

But I do not count that against myself as I didn’t have my bikes with me.  And even if I did it would have taken almost a week to just ride from Denver to southwest Colorado where I needed to climb.  Plus, I have ridden my bike across Colorado – twice actually – so I’ve already banked that credit thank you 😉

 

Do Both

One of the great conversations in the financial independence community is whether you should try to earn more or save more to get to FI.   

I say you should do both. 

Similarly, to reduce the money that your car and all things associated with it drain from your wallet, should you ride a bike more or drive less? 

Again, I say both.  Unfortunately I was not able to ride more this year than in 2017. And I may never hit that level of miles again – 6350 miles on a bike in a year is a lot, even for me. 

But this year I “saved” way more – meaning I cut my car miles down a ton.  I may not also be able to keep that up.  The reality is that many of the outdoor sports that make me happy require a long drive sometimes.  I have the Shenandoah mountains and the Atlantic Ocean nearby, but both still require 2 or 3 hour drives. 

Common advice from FI bloggers is to avoid saving so much that you start sacrificing your happiness.  I wholeheartedly agree with that. 

Likewise, I’ll continue to do my best to minimize my driving, but I won’t sacrifice my happiness or adventures for it. 

I will, however, continue to ride my bike wherever and whenever possible.  So let’s make our legs great again financial warriors and get out there on our bikes!

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