Car-Free Challenge

WizWheelz is sponsoring the Bentrider Online Car-Free Challenge. Join us in the challenge to do without your car for one month! The rules of the Car-Free Challenge are fairly simple. You go without your car as much as humanly possible from May 15th to June 15th. Once the month is up, you write up your experiences in essay form and e-mail them to bryan@bentrideronline.com. They will judge the essays and pick a winner on July 1st. That lucky winner gets a brand new 2007 WizWheelz Cruiser! We’ll also throw in a flag and a seat bag along with free assembly and shipping (a $1547 value!). So step up to the challenge, leave your car in the garage, and live a healthier life. You can do this!

It’s strange to think that two years have passed since we bought our first (only) car. Before buying the car we walked most places. Every day I walked to work. We walked to the grocery store. We were even training to walk a marathon. But then my feet started hurting. Both feet became very sore. A few years earlier I had a cheap bike but it broke and ended up being discarded in favor of walking. I didn’t really think about it much, but I missed riding a bike.

Since buying the car things have changed, and not all of it good. In the plus column my feet feel much better than they did two years ago. We don’t drive the car much at all and have put less than 5,000 miles on the car since we bought it. On the other hand I’ve gotten in worse shape since buying the car. I’ve put on weight. I haven’t been sleeping as well. Lack of fitness is sneaky. I didn’t use the time saved by driving the car to do other exercise. Although I’ve done a little yoga it has been too infrequent to be much use. With my feet sore I didn’t feel up to walking or running. I didn’t like the idea of joining a gym.

But now I have the new bike. My Citizen folding bike is a convenient bike right now. It doesn’t take up much room in the apartment or in my office at work. Getting on the bike for that first ride was interesting — I hurt afterward. Part of that came from having the seat too high but most of it was just that I’m out of shape. Since the first ride I’ve ridden the bike to work several times. Already there is improvement. I’ve been able to ride up the little hill that had me off the bike and walking the first time. It feels good.

Over the past several years I’ve read about the WizWheelz recumbent trikes. I didn’t think about getting a bike much, but when I did I wished I could afford one of these recumbents. I read touring journals at crazyguyonabike.com that featured recumbent trikes. The other day I just happened to pull up their site again and noticed the car-free challenge. What a great opportunity! I don’t know what chance I’d have to actually win but I’d be very happy to end up with the trike. I figure I’ll just have to give it a shot. Most days it shouldn’t be a problem to ride instead of using the car. There might be a day or two when I have to drive for work because I have to go to other buildings and we’ll probably still drive to get groceries — maybe. I’ll post about some of the rides here and then write the essay, cross my fingers, and hopefully end up with the trike!

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