Bike to Work Week 1
May is “Bike Month”. Next week is Bike to Work Week. Actually, every week is Bike to Work Week for me, but I thought I ought to point out that everyone is supposed to make an extra effort this week. The LA Times has surprisingly good coverage. Apparently, Bike to Work Day is this coming Friday, although I’ve seen some confusion as to whether it is Friday or Thursday. Either way, I encourage everyone to give it a go. I assure you, it isn’t nearly as hard as it seems, and there are all kinds nice little benefits to the whole thing. That said, I *do* recommend not making the mistake I did earlier this week: doing Pilates for the first time, for an hour, before biking home for another hour. Ouchy.
One of the fun things to play with is the MTA’s “Bike to Work Calculator” which gives you an idea of the impact you can have by cycling to work. Apparently I’m saving close to $10/week, or ~$500/year in gas (not to mention LA’s insane insurance prices) by biking to work, not to mention 45lbs of CO2 emission reduction. This week I did more cycling than normal, so I actually saved 50% more than that. I expect the CO2 calculation in particular is missing some of the subtleties of the whole thing, but it is still fun.