I ended up coming almost straight home from JCCC after partaking in some Greek food with my wife. One final task awaited me: The Pharmacy.I decided to ride my bike through the drive-through. After all, the prescription was called in and waiting, I had my debit card ready to go, and why park my bike, walk all the way to the back of the store, all the way back around front, and hop back on my bike? Sure, this is the same logic that millions of lazy Americans use anywhere there's a drive-up window. I'll pretend I'm exempt from that because technically I just put six hilly miles on a bicycle just to get to that drive-up window.
I was kind of hoping for a reaction but I got nothing. Talk about a let-down! I've taken my bike through the bank drive-through as well, where I got some wierd looks but no questions asked. One of these days I'm kind of hoping to get challenged on the basis that most drive-through windows don't accept pedestrians just so that I can counter them with the fact that I'm piloting a street legal, road-going vehicle. Either that or I'd make vrooming and sputtering noises and ask if they like my "hog".
That's neither here nor there. I suppose I'll just remain content that I'm enjoying all the benefits (with the exception of speed) of driving a vehicle without actually wasting money on gasoline and expensive car parts that are prone to failure. I'd rather cough up $25 for a "transmission overhaul" (cassette replacement) for my bike than cough up $1,000 for a new transmission for my car.
Have any of you tried this? What have your results been?
By the way, when I filled out my commute log today, I realized that I've blown past my commute/drive ratio goal of 2.2 for the end of this month. I'm really wanting to hit 3.0 cumulative. If I don't drive to work again until March 8th, I will hit 3.0, but from that point on, one single day of driving will set me back a few days from my goal. Technically, my usual 4-day bike-commute week would be a 4.0 C/D ratio but I'm fighting against 11 days of driving to the bus stop (or to work) so far. It would take 11 weeks of 5-day bike commuting to get me to 4.0.
Let's not forget that fueling a bike is a lot more enjoyable than fueling a car. At the fundamental level you don't NEED gasoline; however, you do need to eat and when your burning 200 Calories plus you can pretty much eat whatever you want.
ReplyDeleteI know the look you're talking about when you ride through the drive through at the bank. I get it too. Here's to the day that the look is less common.
ReplyDeleteI am getting a bike soon, in my town everyone drives cars, so lets hope people aren't ignorant and tell me I can't ride through the drive through. I can't afford a car nor do I really want one. Here is to biker tribulation haha.
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