Have Bike, Will Travel

“Hochkk! Hochkk!”  That was the sound coming from the middle-aged man sitting behind me as I rode the bus into work Tuesday morning.  Earlier that morning, while sitting down to two scrambled eggs and an orange juice I had decided to abandon my car and catch the DASH bus headed to Old Town.  I had determined that the most logical way to reduce my carbon and ecological footprints was to use alternative forms of transportation to get around town. And so I found myself sharing oxygen with a total stranger who seemed to have come down with an early case of the autumn flu.  With each “hochkk” I held back a flinch to try to appear unaffected. Across from me, a man in a suit played on his iphone so I too decide to distract myself and pull out my not-so-smart Verizon phone and log on to Facebook. “Hochkk! Hochkk!” Two more miles ‘til King Street Metro.

 
The bus riding experiment reinforced my initial thought that it’s a more time-consuming method of commuting and takes planning and commitment.  The time it took to travel from my front door to my work cubicle was approximately 35 minutes compared to the 15 to 20 minutes in the car.   Waiting for the bus was no big deal, riding the bus proved to be an interesting ordeal in itself, and once I got off the bus at King Street Metro there was another 12 -15 minutes left to my commute.  Walking seven blocks to my office in 60-degree temperature was a fresh start to the day even though I had to re-apply my aluminum-free deodorant as soon as I arrived there.  In the evening, I caught the bus home and could feel a bit of soreness in my legs--a feeling I’ve missed since classes started in August. 

 

That's me biking in a grass skirt.

On Wednesday, I drove my car to work give myself a day to relax before Thursday’s bike commute.  I had all the proper gear, padded shorts, shirt with reflective stripes, water bottle, helmet, spare tube, multi-tool, and my beloved 2004 Specialized Hardrock mountain bike with clipless pedals.   I’ve spent many hours biking up and down hills in various trails around Northern Virginia, but rarely take my baby blue out on the streets.  It was a wonderful feeling getting back on the bike Thursday morning. My adrenalin and endorphins immediately started flowing, and with a smile plastered on my face, I headed down Seminary Road.   I left earlier than usual that morning, to avoid traffic and to ensure a timely arrival to work.  As cars passed me on my left I paid close attention to the cars turning onto Seminary from side roads.  I made it to King Street without a hitch, coasted down the hill past the metro station, and pedaled my way through traffic for seven blocks until I reached the office.  That was the fun part of the commute, the next few minutes were spent preparing for the day ahead. Without a shower facility at my convenience, I washed up in the ladies room with a washrag and soap from home.  I threw on my clothes ignoring the wrinkles and started the workday. 

Besides the feeling of dried sweat all over my body for the remainder of the day, the ride in was a success!  I had more energy than usual and I looked forward to the ride home.  Leaving the office at 5:00 p.m. in a car has its challenges—on a bike there are additional obstacles.  I took secondary, less congested streets from the office to the top King Street.  And then re-traced my trip onto Seminary to home.  Overall the commute to work and back wasn’t that bad, I had to pay close attention to what the cars were doing around me and look out for myself because I knew they weren’t looking out for me.  A bike lane would have been helpful to give cars enough room to get around me.  I always feel badly when I slow cars down or make them feel like they have to swerve in the other lane to get past me.  Alexandria does have some bike lanes on secondary roads, but none on the quickest route to my office.

Folding Cart

My next journey was to take the Metro bus to Trader Joe's to pick up groceries.  It was Friday around 6:00 p.m. and the last thing I felt like doing was dragging out my newly purchased grocery-getter and hopping on the bus.  This was the only day of the week I could get groceries so I really had no choice, happy hour would have to wait until I got home.  The ride to the store was uneventful and took about 20 minutes.  I walked from the stop to the store and began filling up my cart.  It was crowded that day but surprisingly I didn’t get any odd looks at my cart. The bus had a ramp for my cart and me to ride on.  I pushed my cart to the handicapped area hoping to keep my seat for the whole ride.  The starts and stops of the bus did jerk the cart around a bit.  All and all it was a good trip, that took about double the time it would have taken in my car 60 minutes versus 30 minutes.  I would do it again, the walking was minimal and the bus wasn’t crowded going those directions at that time of the day.

These alternative forms of transportation proved to be not all that bad.  Proper planning and willingness to deal with strangers in my personal space is a must.  I can imagine the bike ride won’t always be the smooth, my deodorant won’t cut it some days, and the buses will occasionally breakdown, but if I can get into the habit of using these alternatives and accept these inconveniences, I will have a significant impact on my carbon and ecological footprints.

Here are links I found helpful last week:

• Alexandria Trail Map
• Fairfax County Trail Map 
• Alexandria Bike Shops (for regular maintenance and those unexpected malfunctions)
• Big Wheel Bikes
• Spokes Etc.
• Bicycle Pro Shop
• Bike and Roll
• King Street Trolley
• Walk Score (how walkable is your neighborhood?)
• EnvironCab (will only pick up in Arlington)

Next week's lifestyle change:  Goods & Services