I like to ride in the afternoon, I like to ride in the morning, so it fits perfectly for riding to work.
It makes me feel a lot more independent than I am able to just ride my bike whoever I want.
I love meeting my neighbors and seeing things in the community at the speed of a bike.
You feel like you're one of the cars. I connect with drivers right away so they know I'm there.
People are getting a lot better about being aware of cyclists and being appreciative of cyclists on the road.
One day a week I picked the boys up at their school and I would always walk over there.
It was about a half mile from where I teach over to their school and I would walk
and the days I showed up Elliot would say, as soon as he saw me he'd just frown and groan and moan and complain at me
and I was tired of it so I said I'm not the only one who's going to walk and pick them up.
So I got Garrett to say okay yeah I need to walk.
So we'd walk home and Elliot would say we'd be walking on the bike path off and he'd say
why do we have to walk and we'd go through the virtues of walking all the good reasons for it.
And then one day he asked Garrett
why didn't you drive? My friend's dad drove.
And so one day I said well we're saving money if we walk then we're saving money
and if it makes it any easier for you to see we could put some money in a jar when we get home.
By not by me not driving over here I'm saving gas.
We're trying to conserve fuel for this country trying to become less dependent on foreign oil.
We're also trying to cut down on air pollution.
Massachusetts drivers annually produce 24 million tons of carbon dioxide.
That's the equivalent of filling up 24 million blimps every year upon every year upon every year.
It comes out of our tailpipes of our cars and goes into the air and it's causing our world to warm up in the climate to change.
Every gallon of gas burned in a car causes about 20 pounds of CO2 to be emitted into the atmosphere.
So I figure by not driving two cars for an average of 15,000 miles a year
we save something like 10 tons of CO2 per year from being emitted to the atmosphere.
In 2001 Nessie ran a program with local students in schools where we had 1,200 students over one week time
avoid 42 tons of CO2 of carbon dioxide by trying to get around basically without asking mom and dad for a ride.
So they kept track of how they got around by bike, by bus and they calculated that they avoided producing 42 tons of carbon dioxide.
They did that with a trip tally, a trip log.
You can download it and challenge yourself.
Keep track of how many miles you can avoid in a single passenger car.
Can you carpool, chain your trips together so you do multiple things in one trip.
Take a bus, bike for kids, skateboard.
For the trip log, just write down every time you take a trip, write down how many miles you took in each way.
At the end of a week add them up and there's calculations on how to turn that into CO2.
Our decision to bike every day is more dependent on our enjoyment of bicycling and actually going through our community
a little slower, seeing people talking to people, waving to them, feeling like we're really connecting with other people.
We take jobs that we can bike to.
We bring our daughter to a dance class that we can bike to.
We shop in places that we can bike to and we sort of use that as an organizing feature of how we live our lives.
Something to help you if you're trying to get around without using a single passenger car is the getting around cleaning green map
which shows bike routes, bus paths, recommended bicycle lanes on the sides of roads.
Many of the bike paths around go from town to town, not necessarily always going from a home to a business
or from a home to a playground or to a school, but there are many side roads, beautiful back roads
or roads with wide shoulders that can help you link the bike paths together to get around.
The Pioneer Valley is a wonderful place to bike.
All of Franklin and Hampshire County buses have got what I call rack and roll.
There is a rack on the front of the bus that you can attach your bike to and get on the bus
and then when you get off or if you want to go you can take your bike off.
So it's easy to link bike routes and bus paths together because every single bus has got a way to carry a bike.
62, 75.
We wanted to share with people and my dad wanted someone to like write it down or draw it or something.
So I do this comic.
When you're going somewhere, think about whether or not you could bike or walk instead of driving.
Then for each time you don't use the car, put 25 cents in the jar for each person who isn't driving.
Two people, two and from school, 50 cents each. That's a dollar.
You only get money in the jar if you like bike or walk or scooters of somewhere instead of driving there.
If you go a whole day without using the car, put a dollar in in addition to the 25 cents for each person.
If you go consecutive days without using the car, add an extra dollar each day.
So you actually change your plan. You might be on your way out to the car.
And frequently at a kid's insistence because they remember that.
Did we use the car yet? It was a transformation because then it was not why, you know, why didn't you drive?
But why did you try if we came in the car to pick them up?
The drivers themselves have to realize that a bike has a place on the road. It's it is a vehicle.
It's treated with the same general laws as a car is.
The cyclists themselves need to realize that they are vehicles.
You know, you're not supposed to run red lights and you're not supposed to go through red and yellow where people are walking.
You are a vehicle.
I used to be pretty upset when cars would pass me close or when people would yell at me out the window or try to run you off the road.
Drivers who think that bicyclists should just stick to the bike paths probably are thinking the bicyclists are in the way somehow.
But for the most part they would find that the great majority of the time if somebody's holding them up, it's not a bicyclist but another driver.
And I used to get pretty angry at them and yell at them and maybe even do some sort of rude gesture.
We have the right to the road legally and we're also not taking up a parking space.
So some drivers might thank us for being on a bike instead of in a car.
It didn't help my mindset at all. If I got angry during my bicycle ride, then it kind of ruined the ride for me.
And I also realized yelling at people or being upset at people isn't going to change their perception about cycling.
So now what I try to do is I wave to people, I smile at people, I definitely make a point of waving at people when they pass me safely.
And I feel like that's a positive reinforcement and that people might then realize, hey, that guy appreciates what I'm doing and there's more of a mutual respect.
A couple of very important, very, very simple rules that cyclists should keep in mind for their own safety.
Never ride against traffic, only with traffic.
Another very common mistake that bicyclists make is riding at night without a light.
No driver would think of getting into a car, driving with the lights off on the sidewalk in the wrong direction.
And yet it's something bicyclists do all the time and it's not good for their own safety.
I took a bike safety course and I think the most important thing that I took away from the class was being confident on the road and not being scared of cars.
If you are in a place where they can see you on the road and you're very clear about what you're doing and you drive your bicycle as if you would drive a car,
meaning you follow the rules of the road, then they know what to expect.
When I got my bike, the bike shop offered a beginning riding class and they teach you the rules of the road, as well as some of the things on how to shift your bike and how to brake safely.
And that really is helpful, just learning how to operate your bike.
But there's also very clear rules of the road, how to signal, how to work in traffic.
I'm Jeffrey Vandabra, I'm a police officer of the city of Northampton. I'm also on the bicycle patrol unit.
The basic hand signals that all cyclists and the motorists should be aware of.
To make a left hand turn, you take your left hand extended fully to the left.
If you're going to be taking a right hand turn, you take your hand up and put it at a 90 degree angle.
If you were to stop, you would take your hand below you to show that you were stopping.
Cyclists and motorists should be aware that all laws that apply to vehicles also apply to cyclists.
Some examples are stopping at stop signs, yielding to oncoming traffic when you're taking a left hand turn,
riding on the right hand side of the road.
When you dismount from your bicycle, you become a pedestrian at that point and you should remember the rules of being a pedestrian.
One of the laws that also pertain to bicyclists as it does to people driving a motor vehicle is that you can't wear headphones while riding your bicycle.
You can't hear vehicles come up behind you, you can't hear horns, you can't hear cars driving quickly.
Also, when you come up to a larger truck or tractor trailer or bus at an intersection, it's not a good idea to be on the right of it
because you can get hooked by the rear end of the vehicle as it turns.
A lot of cyclists ride on sidewalks, which is not safe and it's illegal in a lot of communities.
All cyclists should wear a helmet when they're riding their bicycle.
It's still on Massachusetts for cyclists under 18.
We don't need those, do we?
There you go. Now how's your feet feel on the pedals?
I feel.
Look at you, huh?
Ready to go, everybody.
Outside. Let me turn you right around and we'll go that way.
There's some education involved with cycling anywhere.
The schools are our main teaching event.
You know, if we teach them how to vote and we teach them how to act, we should teach them how to act when they're on a bicycle
because they're going to be out there before anything else.
I find that I have a lot more warning when something's about to happen.
I have a lot more senses exposed to the street and I can see when somebody's about to pull out.
I have more time before that happens.
A major concern for me was riding alongside parked cars and having them open up a door right in my path.
And to solve that, I've learned to ride three, four, maybe five feet away from them,
which I thought would be an intrusion on the drivers in their cars.
And it actually has proven that to be a problem at all.
I'm now ten years into city biking, so I feel like I've gained a great deal of comfort.
I've learned how to anticipate drivers' actions and try to navigate,
learned how to navigate a city road in a way that I used to be able to do in paths, off-roading.
And that's certainly something that people need to get used to, but it's really, it's rewarding once you do it.
One of the things I've been doing for years is making eye contact with people who are stopped as stop signs
and are stopped as they're waiting to make turns.
I look at them full in the face and they smile.
It's actually, it's kind of nice.
Sometimes they even wave, they think you're trying to be friendly to them.
It's not what I'm looking for.
What I'm really looking for is to make sure that they see me and that we're communicating.
I can go through a rotary.
I make contact with every driver who's coming into the lane.
If they don't see me, I yell.
I yell, yo.
All day long, yo, yo, make sure I get their attention.
It really makes a difference.
As a family, we bike only on roads that have appropriate shoulders.
So we choose our route according to the safety of our children.
All of the gear that we have to protect our children, obviously the obvious ones are helmets,
but also just the health of our bikes, the health of our bodies,
are getting used to having this type of weight distribution with our kids.
So we've really become, come to a level of comfort in having our kids around
and built confidence as that has progressed with their ages.
I love to bike because I love the feel of the bike underneath me.
I love getting up in the morning and having the streets to myself
because I get up early for that reason.
I love rolling into work, feeling refreshed and completely exercised for the day.
Many people go out for a run once a day and it takes up half an hour a day.
Well, I bike to work, it takes a half hour, and I've gotten to work and I've gotten my exercise done.
One of the nice things about riding a bike is that it's a great leveler.
Many of the members of my family can all ride a bike together,
including my mother who's really quite incapacitated by her being overweight,
but her knees can handle being on a bike, and so it's a really gentle form of exercise.
As you age, you can ride a bike because it doesn't have the stress that running or hiking has,
and also the little kids can ride a bike.
I have friends who've had knee problems or ankle problems or hip problems,
and they can't do a different sport, but they can all ride a bike.
And cycling is something that they can do their whole lives.
I can measure distance, time, altitude, temperature, and speed.
I'm a joe, always.
I want 16 and then either head up River Road or through a whole deer field.
Sounds good, right?
I don't know if anybody is up for a cave hill.
That's for neck and roll.
Use the money in the jar to buy gas
and this is the fun part.
If there's money left over, use that to buy a treat for the family.
With the extra money, we each got to get our own dessert
instead of all getting one or two to share.
We each got to get our own.
The kids were initially surprised when we had to pull $35 out to pay for a tank of gas.
They said it cost that much, and so seeing the depletion of the jar with a single fill-up was useful.
At first, the gas jar was really motivating, but now I got so used to biking
that you just do it all the time.
That was our goal with you, was to get you to see that it wasn't really work.
It was just the way that we liked to get there, but you got a prize out of it.
I have a vehicle that I've had now for 16 years because I only drive about 5 or 6,000 miles a year.
Over a lifetime, if I've been doing this for 10 years, then you're talking about maybe 1,000 or more gallons of gas
and that starts adding up at $3 a gallon, $3,000.
You start to see some figures, and you definitely spend a lot less on maintenance of your vehicle as well.
I guess the average driver drives 15,000 miles a year, and I drive 5,000.
That's a 10,000 mile per year difference.
That's about $4,500 a year. I don't have to spend.
And $4,500 I don't have to spend is about $6,000 I don't have to earn
by the time you figure in income tax and social security contributions, etc.
The number one choice we made was to buy a house that is close to town and close to school and close to shopping
and is in a community that has many of the things that we need to sustain us.
I bicycled when I was in graduate school in Boston and found that it was even faster for me to get to school on my bicycle than it was on the subway.
And more importantly, it got me outside. I bicycled because I love to be outside, and I feel like it helps me sort of appreciate the seasons and the weather.
The kids are outside. They can see things. They can sort of interact with the environment in a way that a car doesn't allow, and that is exciting to us.
Hi, Mari. Hi, Dan. Hi, Steve. Will you help me? I am!
It makes me feel a lot more independent that I am able to just ride my bike whoever I want.
When I am like running late for the bus or my mom and dad can't drive me, I can just get on my bike and ride to school,
and that's a lot better than having to wait for a vehicle to drive me.
It's often a lot faster because I don't have to deal with cars and I get a parking space right at the door.
I just pull up to the front door and get off my bike.
I have a snack for each of you, okay? Do you want a carrot or should I put it in the pan?
I think that's just right for your tires. Avery, the way we're going to go is...
I know my bike reminds me of when I first learned to ride a bike without training wheels,
and I had this sense of freedom and being independent, and when I ride my bike, I feel that all over again.
We have the most beautiful rides in this area along the rivers where the flood plains are.
Sometimes they'll be filled with flowers, they'll be sparkling rivers. It's lovely.
Music
I know it's worth it for me just to relax and enjoy the bike ride, which helps me start my whole day off in a more relaxed way.
And that really does, that really does help me.
I then come in and I'm not so stressed about what I'm going to do that day.
My perspective is calmer by the time I get to work because of that.
I think sometimes it's really important to slow down and to reflect a little bit,
especially after work on my way home. I love bicycling because it gives me a chance to reflect on what I've done,
and I still get home pretty quickly.
You know, it's funny people ask about whether I get sweaty, but I think it happens a lot less than you think,
and it's a lot less of a problem than you think. First of all, when you're on a bike, you've got the wind
and you've got a breeze and you're going fairly fast.
So as long as I'm not really, really putting a lot of effort into it, just go someplace.
I'm not really sweating. And then when I arrive, I look all sporty with my helmet and that leaves a really good impression.
Have you ever heard about how much higher opinion people have of people they think work out?
I strongly recommend that if you've had a lot of exertion and you're still sweating or it's very hot out when you walk in,
that you sit down, you answer a few phone calls, check your email before you wipe down.
I mean, one solution is, for me, it's just the bike is hard.
So if I really just kind of relax coming in, I don't come in all sweaty, but it takes me longer to get in then.
One of the things I really like the best about riding my bike is riding with my children because they seem to have so much fun riding.
And I really have good talks with them while we're riding.
The things we notice as we ride along, the houses, the cars, people, smells,
that we would completely miss if we were in the car.
Then let's see.
Did you carry this in the pan here?
Sure.
Can I get there? Thanks.
How are your brakes?
They're fine. I just went down the hill.
When yours seemed to be okay.
Can you put your bag back in there?
Much better than the trip after last time when I could squeeze them all the way down.
That's right. We fixed them, didn't we?
Avery, the route that we're going to use is we're going to go up to the end of the street,
walk down the sidewalk to the crosswalk,
cross the street, and then ride down Massasoi, okay?
I put Avery in the front when we're riding together because he learns so much about
paying attention when he's on the road.
And he learns a lot of responsibility that way.
And I think he's a pretty good rider.
I think he'll be a pretty good driver just because of the way things that he's learning
to pay attention to as a bicycle rider.
We're basically raising our child not in the backseat of a car,
and that's a conscious decision.
We also are now teaching our daughter who's about to turn four how to ride her own bike.
And we're doing that in a way that seems to be working so far,
not with training wheels, but just a bike her size that we took the pedals off of
and put the seat really low so she just sits on it, she can put both feet on the ground
and use it sort of like a scooter.
She just scoots along, pushing with her feet,
and she gets the sense of the balance automatically.
So she's practically ready now to just put the pedals on and no need for training wheels.
You don't have to dress up into, you know,
slick wear with all kinds of logos and all kinds of people's names,
all over stuff in order to go cycling and to be comfortable on your bike.
There's a very wide arrangement of different clothing
that's very plain and very, you know, everyday wear.
One of the main issues why people tend to not ride their bikes
is because of the saddle and the sourness that a company's riding sometimes.
And there's a lot of different saddles.
There's just too many to name.
Most of the better manufacturers actually take their seats and guarantee them for comfort.
If you take one out and you don't like it, you can return it.
One of the things about riding my bike to work
that really helped me was figuring out how to carry things.
You can make your own panniers out of an old backpack,
out of a waste basket, a plastic waste basket,
and we've made panniers out of kitty litter buckets
from very cheap hardware at the store.
So you can get creative about how to make things, make this possible.
That's one of the things I really love about biking.
It can be an inexpensive hobby.
We actually have a trailer that allows us to pick up bigger things that we need.
And it's really amazing if you have a bike outfitted for it,
how much you really can carry on a bike.
And my husband was just coming home from work the other night
and he had 100 pounds of things just sort of in backpacks and his panniers.
So people think that you can't carry that much on a bike, but you can.
The main way we do it as a family is that we plan smaller trips
and we pick up things all the time for our use at home.
And that fits easily on a bike.
Parking is pretty much maxed out in most towns, including here.
And one way to alleviate that pressure is to make bicycling easier.
It would be great if local stores would support bicycling clientele
by either buying bike racks or helping the city install them right outside their stores.
I run a restaurant and people love gift certificates.
So we give out gift certificates to people who use their bicycles in place of their cars.
People fill out a form every month and mail it in to us.
And we give out a dollar for every 10 miles they bicycle in place of their cars.
It's a trust system, but it seems to be working well
and people appreciate when they go to a business
that it's not just about those goods and products,
that it really is that the business owners have a bigger picture
and want to try to enhance the community in as many ways as they can.
Another way would be to offer a small discount to bicyclists who show up with their bike helmet.
You could offer 5 or 10% discount to anybody who shows up with a bike.
And everybody who shows up with a bike is not taking up a parking space there.
So it allows somebody else to drive from farther away who has no choice but to come by car.
So that way you get more people without needing more cars.
I'd love to see more people riding a bike
because then cars would be more aware that there's going to be cyclists out on the roads.
And I think the more people who do it, the safer it'll be.
To make a difference, I don't have to take my bike everywhere I go.
But I do take it whenever I can.
If your commute is too long, you can drive part way, park,
and then ride your bike the rest of the way.
I feel like it strengthens not only my body but my commitment to the type of world that I want to live in.
Thank you.
