Enjoy the ride
This was the 4th year into this little adventure with cargo-bikes with almost 14,000 miles in the saddle.
That’s 14,000 miles not behind the wheel of a car but on a bike.
14,000 miles of car emissions diverted and 14,000 miles of pure biking delight.
In 2020, I up’ed the game and increased my yearly miles by 25% to just over 4000 miles between 2 cargo bikes across San Francisco and Marin.
I managed to bike 330 days in 2020- nearly 90% of the available days.
It became a daily part of my lifestyle with riding every day of the month for 7 months of the year.
On average. I rode 333 miles each month with a peak in April with 527 miles and only 118 miles in August.
I crossed the golden gate bridge 117 times in 2020 with the bike saving nearly $860 in bridge tolls.
By putting nearly 4000 miles on the bike vs that in a car, I saved nearly $1000 in car related cost.
The real cost, however, remains unmeasurable.
I slowed down and really started to enjoy the ride.
Sure a car might have gotten me to my destination faster but would I have stopped to climb that tree with my daughter or make time for the sunset at a coastal overlook? These are the moments the bike really pays off with an abundance of laughter coming from 3 kids squeezed into the front of the bike on the last block to school to riding in the front of a socially distanced halloween bike parade down Lake street with 50 neighbors in costumes in tow.
I bike not only to become part of the solution vs part of the problem but because of the pure joy that it still brings.
Electric cargo bikes are a game changer in how one gets around their urban environment.
It’s no longer a burden to cross town in a car with traffic and look for parking at a destination but rather an adventure in getting there with a bike.
Rain or shine, it’s always more fun on a bike.
2020 was the year I really took advantage of the cargo bike with 65 bike/kite trips to Crissy Field.
I loaded up boards, kites, wings, foils & wetsuits in the front and back of the cargo bike and commuted up and over the Presidio and down to Crissy Field while the parking lot was restricted in first months on the pandemic.
My mantra of ‘enjoy the ride’ was paying off both on and off the water.
After a while, riding a bike becomes its own reward.
Riding a cargo bike is like hitting the jackpot everyday as you zip across town and up hills without ever breaking a sweat.
Some of the year’s highlights from twitter.
To follow the adventure even further, you can follow my twitter feed & instagram feeds where I chronicle my rides, golden gate sunsets and other on the water adventures.
Year three’s adventures can be found here
Year twos’ biking frolics can be found here
Year ones’ biking adventure can be found here
Steve Bodner
USA-4
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