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!

*This article contains affiliate links. Using those links throws some change in my pocket at no additional cost to you. Here’s my disclosure.

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Dave @ Accidental FIRE

I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid-40's through hard work, smart living, and investing. This blog chronicles my journey and explores many aspects of personal finance including the psychological and behavioral factors that drive our habits.

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41 Responses

  1. Xrayvsn says:

    Very impressive feat Dave. The health benefits of doing that is incredible as well. I am one of those folks that lives quite a bit a ways from work (37 miles each way) and if you add in an extra 20 miles or so when I drop my daughter off to school on the way to work each morning then it really adds up quickly (I have been averaging 25k/yr for the past 3 yrs driving).

    For me the long commute is enjoyable because I don’t have to deal with traffic (drive 70+ mph on the highway each way) and use it to decompress coming home from work

  2. M says:

    This is quite remarkable, especially the “i only drove to work twice” part….Congratulations.
    I bike for fun, and exercise, in nice weather. Bikes are amazing machines and the pure joy
    of motion riding them is amazing.

    Best wishes for a great 2019!

  3. 4780! That’s over 13 miles a day. That is a lot of miles. Back in the day when my husband marathoned, we both kept running logs and he logged over 5000 miles while on my best year I just broke 2000. So when I see 4780, it jumps out of the page as WOW!

    Rain or shine. A friend or mine likes to say “I’ve been wet before, and I’ve always dried”. Congratulations! Also, your graphics are fantastic.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Holy smokes, 2000 miles running is a TON of running! 5000 is like pro-level, amazing. I only have about 330 miles running this year but have been battling some sciatica, probably from too much sitting. Speaking of which, time to go out and run… 🙂

  4. Badass man, way to go. I haven’t put much on the MTB but very happy with my distance on feet this year though, that was my challenge. I didn’t track all my hikes, walks and runs but easily pushed passed 1000. Seriously well done on the change at work and keeping 2 wheels above the 4 wheels.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      My mtb has some issues and I’ve been procrastinating fixing it. My miles this year have been almost all pavement with some good gravel outings mixed in. I need to get back on the mtb next year.

  5. PFI says:

    Congratulations! I’m jealous – especially of the commute miles. I try to ride once a week, because most days I have those type of mid-day offsite meetings you mentioned. I’m shooting for 4500 miles in 2019, but less than 1000 of those will be commute miles. Nature of the job…for now.

    I love the goal of cycling miles > driving miles. I’ll have to put that into my goals when I start to phase out of work.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yes, it’s a great goal to have. Driving less means being safer, polluting less, and being healthier – what’s not to like?

  6. Sorry to be that guy.. But i’m looking for good cycling rain gear. Do you have any recommendations?

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      First thing to understand is that I only wear the fully waterproof stuff when it’s cold and raining (say, below 50 degrees). The reason is that even though waterproof clothing always claims it’s “breathable”, the truth is that it’s barely breathable. Even expensive Gore-tex barely breathes. So when it’s warmer than 50 degrees and raining the waterproof stuff is just going to make you sweat from the inside too much anyway. You’ll still get wet, just with your own sweat.

      That said, when it’s cold and raining you can get fully waterproof stuff without breaking the bank on the expensive Gore-tex stuff that costs hundreds. I have a Canari jacket and some Sierra Design pants that are years old now so I couldn’t find the models online. But Columbia is a great brand that prices reasonably. I’d go with something like these pants which look like a great deal at $50.

      And this jacket, also at $50.

      With the jacket, having pit-zips is ESSENTIAL! You will still build up a lot of heat and being able to air it out will prevent you from sweating on the inside. Again, I don’t own those but I own lots of Columbia gear and have always had good experiences with them.

      Good luck!

  7. Hmmmm. Now I want to start tracking my vehicle miles next year 🤔

    And about that bike…..

  8. Freedom says:

    Congratulations!
    I actually run more than I drove my car (maybe the truck is that I don’t have a car since long time…!!!) 🙂

  9. I completely agree, cars are expensive and bad for the enviroment, unfortunately sometimes you just have to use them. Luckily for me as a Dutch person it’s very easy to use a bike in this country and I don’t even own a car. Saves me a lot of money! Congratulations on a great accomplishment and keep it going!

    DI

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Unfortunately they are a necessity in many cases. And America is so big that they’re unavoidable for many or even most. But we should focus on safety more and punish bad driving behavior way more severely than we do. Forty-thousand dead every year is more than unacceptable.

      I’m jealous of your country and the bike infrastructure. I’ve been a few times and it blows me away! Thanks for the kudos!

  10. Tonya says:

    That’s pretty awesome! In Boise everything is pretty bikable but I hate the cold so much I can’t even imagine biking in it. I think we are all built so differently. 🙂

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Ha, you are LA through and through. There’s SO MUCH great clothing out there that’s affordable now – insulation is your friend 🙂

  11. Bob says:

    Biking is really the way to go. I’ve had to drive to the club the last two days because it has been heavy rain and snow and very slippery here in Minnesota. But for the last two months I have been able to bike everyday so I’m happy overall. This time of the year is tough though because of the weather here but I usually am able to bike most days. I just looked at my bike miles this year and am at 5300 and change, but driving miles might be a little higher with 2 trips to Colorado in my truck. I thought about biking there but haven’t yet mustered the courage to do that, though I am considering it along with a possible Canada to Mexico jaunt also. Big talk though, we’ll see. Great article!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Wow, 5300 miles, huge congrats! That’s my normal target, 100 every week. I killed it in 2017 but fell a tad short this year. No biggie.

      Cycling across the US is a bucket list thing for me, as well as Canada-Mexico. Possibly the Tour Divide. So many cool things to get to, so little time!

  12. drmcfrugal says:

    Wow. Color me impressed! One day, it would be awesome if I had the ability just like you to bike more than I drive my car. Unfortunately in my current situation and environment, it wouldn’t be practical. I have to travel to different surgery centers up and down the county, some of them up to 30 miles away. It would be great if I just worked at just one place and I lived closer… then I’d definitely do it. Another dilemma that many people here in Southern California encounter is that it is so expensive to live close to your work place, it may not be the safest area with decent schools, and the overall region is not very bike friendly and could be unsafe to bike with all the cars on the road.

    Maybe when I retire, don’t have to drive to different places to work, and geoarbitrage to a place that is much more bike friendly… then I would do it 🙂

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yes, SoCal is a car-centric mess isn’t it? And the travel required in your job obviously makes a car essential.

      When you’re ready to buy a good bike in your next act Doc, hit me up 😉

  13. Crispy Doc says:

    Dave,

    Can I ask a would-be role model how to go from where I’m at to where I want to be? This is going to be completely candid, so at the risk of letting a committed fanatic and friends rip on a newbie, here goes:

    Still riding the 14 year old bike I bought with the AmEx points accumulated from that first college credit card. I’ve never oiled the chain or anything else more technical than inflating the (still original) tires. My fantasy is to volunteer at a local bike shop to learn how to care for and maintain a bike, figure out what I’d like in one, and then buy a reasonable used bike that meets my needs and gradually ramp up use.

    Currently ride every other week 5 miles. Not sedentary – I’m at the beach kayaking or bodyboarding, hiking foothills or walking the neighborhood 2-3x a week. I live in a cyclist’s paradise and would like to develop my affinity beyond just a fantasy that keeps getting postponed.

    Open to baby step suggestions. Genuinely looking for advice – go for the jugular if you must, but gentle correctives might get the job done more effectively.

    Thanks for considering,

    CD

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Yes – I’d love to help! But it might require a bit of back and forth.

      My first and main question is: What kind of cycling do you want to do – commute to work, casual ride on paved trails, ride for fitness/performance? Or possibly mountain bike on dirt trails?

      The main thing you have to think about is how you’ll mostly be using the bike and what you want to get out of it. I would recommend a different kind of bike for all of the things I listed in the question. And I don’t know what kind of bike you have now, but I do know you probably need a new chain, and if not, it definitely needs to be lubed 🙂

      Hit me up in my contact page page and that will go to my email. We can continue the discussion from there.

      Thanks for reaching out Doc and I’d love to help you get started in cycling more!

  14. Bob Haegele says:

    That is awesome. I wish I could bike more than I drive, but I am really not in a bike-able city. I really wish I were, honestly.

  15. i have no excuses. i bought a new bike when i got this job about 14 years ago and don’t think i have ridden it 100 miles. i’m guessing my work is only about 8 miles from my house but i haven’t biked there yet. maybe this is the year but i’m not doing it in winter.

    helluva job by you, though. that’s a lot of miles. make it a habit and lifestyle and it’s bound to work.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      I can totally see not riding in Buffalo in winter. That’s just a bridge too far. But give her a go in spring when things warm up!

  16. Genx FIRE says:

    My son goes from daycare to actual school next year. I will be very sad to not have our drop off and pick up time. (Cue Cat Stevens) My compensation is that I can then switch to walking or riding to work. I am very happy with that possibility.

    Now I just have to stop hurting my knees with tripping or over doing it in the gym.

  17. Doc G says:

    I’m still not a huge bike enthusiast. I like to walk or jog more. It’s all better than driving.

  18. Congratulations on the laudable feat. I’ve considered biking to and from work but in New Orleans, you’d be drenched in sweat 9 months out of the year compliments of the saturating humidity. I did, however, walk to work for 2 and a half years and loved every step of it. Now, I feel so lazy and defeated driving my daily commute. Plus, it costs me $60/month to park! What a rip-off.

    Regardless, your accomplishment is one worth celebrating. I’m running my first half marathon in a couple years next weekend. At least that’ll make me feel less guilty because I still run regularly.

  19. Nice work Dave! I’ll be attempting your challenge this year. I am blessed with a closer committ (4 miles) but am in love with biking it. I put over a thousand miles on my Mtn bike last year. Your 4-7000 mile years are incredible

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      1000 mtn bike miles is a lot since you generally can’t ride mtn as long as rode in a session. Kudos man!

  20. John G says:

    Congratulations on cycling more than driving. That’s a good way to go green and get some exercise.

    I retired at 55 three years ago. At my one job, I rode my bike to/from work twice a week. I would check the weather forecast and ride on days when it was unlikely to rain. I would take a fresh change of clothes on the day I drove. I was lucky because the company had a workout room, locker, and showers. So I was able to shower and change to business casual before working. I found it interesting that I was able to avoid some traffic by using bike trails that prior to this, I did not know existed. Bike riding home was always a great way to de-stress and I always looked forward to it.

    Since retiring I have ridden my bike over 100 miles a week for exercise. In 2017, I rode over 7000 miles, just to see how many miles I could do in a year. I typically, only put gas in my car about once every month or two (and it only holds about 12 gallons). So, at least twice the cycling miles as the car miles.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Wow, 7k miles. Awesome man! My best was 6350 in 2017 and maybe I’ll beat that one day but who knows.

      As for refueling the vehicle, I agree. I do it so rarely that I usually forget which side the gas tank door is on. #winning

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