Last year was such a big record-breaker (132 days - 76% bike-to-work average) that this year seems decidedly "not-brag-worthy." Between lousy weather and different commitments/arrangements with my kids, I simply wasn't able to come close to the kind of numbers I've had for the past couple of years. There were a lot of days that, regardless of weather, I simply couldn't take the time to bike to work.
This was the 7th full year that I've been challenging myself to ride to work, and I start each year with the goal of riding at least 50% of the time. Unfortunately I didn't make that this year. We had a pretty wet Fall, and Winter was . . . well . . . Winter. I went into Christmas break with just under 50% average, and though I did manage to ride some in January and February, my average bottomed out at 40% by early March. Back around Spring Break, I thought I might be in a position where, if Spring weather was good, I might be able to make it back up to 50% - but then this turned out to be a really wet Spring, and crazy busy with the kids after school.
So, how far did I get?
As of today, I have 79 days and I'm just hoping to reach 80 by the end of the week (with strong thunderstorms in the forecast nearly every day), but either way, I'll probably finish the year with about 45.something% average. It could have been worse. In 2015, I had finished with 61 days/35% - and 2014 I had 76 days/42.9%. So it's officially only my third-worst year.
Nevertheless, my long-term 7-year average is still about 53% - so that's still pretty good in the big picture.
At 28.5 miles per day, 79 days gives me 2251 miles, and I estimate that I've saved about 75 gallons of gas (based on my car's typical 30 mpg avg). At today's gas prices (about $2.50/gal), that's about $187. Spread out over the past 7 years, I've ridden 657 days to/from work - for 18,724.5 miles - and probably saved roughly 625 gallons of fuel.
Some pictures:
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| Snow on April 1st. Notice the cat paw prints on the shoulder. |
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| Early morning glow over a snow-covered road. |
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| Red skies at morning, cyclists take warning. |
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| A brilliant May morning. Sad to say it, but these farm fields will soon be houses. |
$6.32 per US gallon here at moment! Your government is clearly colluding with the motor industry!
ReplyDeleteOf course they are! How else could people in the US afford to drive huge SUVs everywhere?
DeleteWhy did you say "Red skies at morning, cyclists take warning"?
ReplyDeleteThere's a superstitious old saying about weather that goes "red skies at morning, sailors take warning - red skies at night, sailors delight." I just changed it up a little.
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