MMMMMMk, since I’ve recently seen various online laments about friends’ car misadventures and repair costs, thought I’d share my most recent (or actually, only) bill from bike maintenance that I’ve had in the last year.
I’ve been car free for a little over a year, and use my bike on almost a daily basis for commuting, for shopping, for local errands. Finally, it needed a tuneup and some new parts.
I didn’t have a kickstand, so I asked the good folks at Orange 20 Bikes to put on on. My brakes were worn down, so they needed new pads and tightening and a new cable, which is line-itemed here. Then, of course, was the lube and gear tune up, for which they charge $45 – and where they do a number of other checks such as air pressure, tire truing, tightening bolts, etc. As anti-impotence treatment options are easily accessible, people can generic viagra tab without prescription. cialis on men? Global counts of men are suffering from something called erectile dysfunction. Joyce and free sample levitra Calhoun advocate the formation of ‘Responsible Parties’ to lead the management community in improvement efforts. The mental symptoms may involve you being: Angry Depressed Anxious Always hungry, or having no appetite Crying often Have trouble sleeping and feel tired Have trouble concentrating The physical symptoms may involve: Chest pains Constipation, or tadalafil generic viagra diarrhoea Cramps, or muscle aches Feeling dizzy, or fainting Engaging in nervous behavior like biting your nails Twitches, or experiencing pins and needles Feeling restless Having sexual problems, from erectile dysfunction to lowered sex drive Feeling. The natural blend of herbs is found in the right ratio and in the purest order cialis twomeyautoworks.com form.
The thing about a bicycle is it’s not very complicated, so it’s not going to cost very much to maintain. So here are my current year maintenance costs: $70.62. I got the good guy discount for working on the same block (10%). This I can afford!
When I had a car that needed servicing, seems I could never get out of there without spending at least $300 every time. Guess I don’t have to worry about that anymore.
Yesterday, I had to get to an appointment in Beverly Hills, which is over the hill and far away from where I live, and also not terribly convenient via public transport – meaning in my case, at least, that there is no direct line there, there’s a transfer or two involved.
But never mind – I do take the Rapid 720 bus down Wilshire, and generally I find that it is pretty rapid, at least, when I’ve needed it to be. After my appointment was over, I decided – on the spur of the moment – to take the bus west all the way to the end, which in this case is the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. (We were/are having Santa Anas, which means the weather is hot and windy and full of fire danger – but it’s also quite pleasant if you like hot, dry weather, which I do).
So I loved being able to go to the beach on what was really a whim, and not have to worry about driving myself in traffic or about (my most hated thing) trying to find a place to park and paying exorbitant parking lot rates at the beach. (I saw one sign, it was a $12 fee. . .)
I got there stress-free and read my book on the way. I didn’t go in the water; it was about 5 p.m. when I arrived so I just walked down the strand and watched the gymnasts and yogis for a while. (see photos – not mine, but this is where I was, you get the idea)
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And yes, there was lots of eye candy there, though not as crowded as these pictures might suggest. I stayed down on the strand until it got dark, then had a small dinner in downtown Santa Monica before heading back home on the bus.
I can’t say that the return trip on the Rapid 720 was quick. There was a lot of Friday night traffic — I still have to remember to stay later than 8 p.m. to probably have the best chance of open streets.
To complete my journey I take the Red Line subway from Koreatown back to its end at the North Hollywood Station, where a crew was filming a scene for NCIS. Right – so we emerged from the subway to spotlights and extras. Just a very typical day in L.A., sunset at the beach and TV production — never a dull moment. Still grateful after all these years to all this place home, and can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever been bored for a single moment!
I also love that my total cost for this entire day of travel was $5. No gas, no parking, no driving. Love that!
On my morning walk today, I saw that gas prices were again north of $4 per gallon here in Los Angeles. While happy that I’m now car-free and don’t have to pay anything to fill up my chariot (actually that’s not entirely true; since the bike runs on human muscle-powered energy, I could say that my grocery bill is also my energy bill), I do feel for everyone who does buy gas — here in SoCal, that’s practically everyone.
What to do when you just can’t not drive? You want to be part of the solution on climate change, but what can any one person do? (At times it really does seem ridiculous to me to be the lone bicyclist on a street of multi-ton vehicles, any one of which could easily pulverize yours truly.) Well, there are things you can do to mitigate greenhouse gases and help your filthy, dirty car to be more efficient.
This is an easy list. Probably most people know about these tips and try to follow them already. One that surprised me (or that I just didn’t think of): taking superfluous items out of your trunk, to decrease weight/increase fuel economy. And of course, when I had a car, I was remiss regarding tire pressure. I blame that on just being lazy. Of course, tire pressure is also crucial for bicycles, and it’s really easy to see the benefit of proper inflation when it relates directly to your poor ass!
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Well, it’s been a month! I sold my car on June 7. It’s been 30 days without a car, and so far the world has not come crashing in on me.
Mostly, I knew what I would encounter. Since I work at home, there was no commute for that on a daily basis.
I’d already experimented with grocery shopping using my bike, now outfitted with panniers. So I knew that worked – if anything, the only thing I’d say about this month with no car at my beck and call, is that there were fewer to no impulse “treats” bought — like if I really really wanted that Haagen-Dazs or chilly refreshing root beer, I’d have to walk over or get on the bike. So there was less of that. My waistline is grateful.
I did experiment with going to the beach using public transport. I took the Red Line subway to the Wilshire Boulevard Rapid Bus #720, picking it up at Vermont. It deposits you right at Palisades Park, Ocean Avenue and Wilshire in Santa Monica, so you get right to the beach (a short walk down the steps and over the pedestrian bridge spanning Pacific Coast Freeway Highway). The good: it gets you right there, for a total cost of $3 (that’s with 1 transfer, I bought a day pass for $5 which made more sense), I was able to read on the bus (Kindle on Android) and I got a seat both ways, which surprised me since it was a heat-wave Sunday, there was very little waiting time — that bus runs every few minutes, and the subway runs about every 10 minutes. No paying for parking at the beach or searching endlessly for a free space somewhere. The not-so-good: it takes forever to get there and get back, between 1.5 hours and 2 hours each way!
So, if you’re spending a couple of hours on the sand, is it worth it to make what is basically a 4 hour round trip (it’s around 20 miles, give or take a few, across the urban congestion of L.A. and West L.A.)? I think that for me personally, next time I’ll plan to spend the day there doing things in addition to my sunworshipping on the sand. That way, it seems more reasonable for the distance and also, travel times would be both later and earlier, thus hopefully a bit shorter.
Then again, one of the tenets to car-free living in a gigantic place like Los Angeles is that you basically “live” in your neighborhood. The beach is not in my neighborhood, so I have to accept that. What I will say is that it’s pretty much a nightmare getting there from the valley with a car as well — unless you leave at 4 a.m.
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I had one minor accident/mishap, totally my fault, and not on the street. It was in the lobby of my apartment building, where I foolishly decided to back up while still astride my bike. I got my foot caught in the pedals and fell backwards on top of the thing. I’m OK, and so it the bicycle, but it was a little bloody.
Another in my series of the occasional challenges of getting around town without a car.
This one being, the dentist — that I’ve gone to for over 20 years and is no longer near where I live. I moved (many, many times); he didn’t. So, I was presented with a couple of options: one of the philosophies around CarFree living is to live local, as in, to patronize and support your neighborhood businesses. I guess that means including dentists and doctors. So, I could’ve easily found several within walking distance of my home. They are legion, actually.
But there you have the rub: I didn’t want to change dentists. He’s a great dentist. He knows my mouth intimately (wait, that didn’t come out quite right . . .) But you know what I mean. There’s a fortune invested in those chompers.
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So, I vowed to get to him, and I did. I live in Valley Village, west and south of North Hollywood, north of Studio City, and east of Sherman Oaks, in the San Fernando Valley. The dentist’s office is in West Hollywood near the Beverly Center. For those non-Angelenos reading this, it’s about a 10 mile trip if you’re a crow. There’s also an ancient mountain range between these two locations, sometimes known as the Hollywood Hills.
There is no easy, straight, one-line public transport option between these 2 points. So, I opted for the best alternative I could think of, which is to take my bike on the subway.
Pretty easy, actually, and the bike ride turned out to be my workout for the day. I live about one mile west of the North Hollywood Station of the Red Line. I ride there using the Chandler Bike Path.
I get on the Red Line subway there and get off at Hollywood Highland Station, just two stops, 8 minutes, never a delay. But it does take you over (well, under) that mountain range and deposits you directly into the heart of tourist Hollywood.
Tough getting back on the bike amid the Marilyns and the Zorros. But I prevail. Google Maps tells me the best bike route to my dentist (Melrose and La Cienega) is to take Orange Drive south to Willoughby, then Willoughby all the way west to La Cienega. From there it’s a quick couple of blocks down La Cienega to my destination.
Can I tell you how much I love that Google Maps gives you a car, public transport, bike and walk option for any direction? Even if they’re sometimes wrong, I actually think it works better than Metro’s own website “Trip Planner” function.
I know we’re supposed to hate the Google right now because it’s farming our brains for their own sleazy 1% profit but just for the minute I’m liking this.
So here’s my thoughts:
The good: Nice sunny day for a bike ride. Kind of nice that I don’t have to go to the gym for exercise, my transport is providing it. Being early afternoon on a Thursday, there’s not a lot of traffic and no crazy drivers. I get there with minutes to spare, thus the Google Maps direction timer was accurate.
The bad: Parts of Orange Drive, especially just south of Santa Monica Boulevard, are in terrible shape. Let’s be frank, the street sucks. It needs new asphalt. Why they made it a sharrow street is like torture for cyclists. Also, Willoughby is a sharrow street too (which means you’re supposed to share the lane with a car – um, good luck). What we really need in Hollywood-West Hollywood is a dedicated east-west street with a full bike lane for riders.
Oh, and the cleaning and check-up went great. My teeth may last for another year!
MMMMMMk, since I’ve recently seen various online laments about friends’ car misadventures and repair costs, thought I’d share my most recent (or actually, only) bill from bike maintenance that I’ve had in the last year.
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