So I saved a $1.68 today by riding my bicycle to work

[QDM]

Wish I could ride a bike on my 28 mile daily commute, up and down hills, but that's just too far for me. My engine assist bicycle works nicely though and gets roughly 120 mpg.

Q

[smithenhiven]

Originally Posted by Matt Timion

I try to ride about 10 miles a day. Some days it's more, some days it's less. Today I rode about 5-6 miles when I went to return my movies to blockbuster.

Anyway, I'm doing it to lose some weight too. My goal of 175lbs is almost met (176 as of Monday). After I hit the 175, I'm going to set a new goal of 170 and then stick with it.

In comparison, I was 189 in January before I started riding my bike.

I'm setting a weight goal for myself also. Right now, I'm ashamed to say I'm 220lbs. I want to be well below 200 by the end of summer. I started riding towards the end of April, and already have over 100 miles on the bike. I want to set a mileage goal also, 1000 miles by the end of August.

[Snax]

I've ridden to work every day for the last 2-1/2 weeks, and about 50% of the time for the previous 6 months before that. Yeah, it's only 5.5 miles round trip, but it's not helping me lose weight per se. I think I'm replacing fat with muscle though, as I've lost almost 3" around my gut and I'm more comfortable at higher and higher speeds.

I also like the fact that I'm able to jazz up my metabolism twice a day without overdoing it. Sometimes that means 8 minutes on the way to work, and 15 minutes into a headwind (why is it always a head wind?) on the way home, but it's making a difference.

The money we've saved is over $3000 during that time since we got rid of a $450/month payment by selling our second vehicle.

[MetroMPG]

Nice going, Snax.

Are you still considering an EV conversion or kit also?

[Snax]

Yeah, the EV-MR2 is still a work in progress. Despite the money we've saved, I don't have any to spend on the EV yet however, but there's still plenty of low-cost prep and fix-up work to do on it before it will be ready for building.

[atomicradish]

I hate to rain on your parade, but....

You're not saving $1.68 completely. Deduct a decent chunk of all the money you save by not using gas for the extra food you'll have to eat to support your increased metabolism.

[Snax]

Well yes and no. It depends upon his weight loss. For myself, I could bicycle to work and back about 10-12 times for every pound of fat I burn. If I am in fact burning fat, then it is money I have already spent. It's a caloric savings account so to speak that has limited liquidity. Withdrawls can only be made slowly. :P

[boofighter]

this may have been posted before.
this is what i am saving up for.
http://www.bionx.ca/
i have gone to the show room in edmonton and rode the demonstrator bike that they had. it was really cool and worked well. the motor had enough power to keep me going at 25kph, just the motor. with pedaling it was way easier to hit 35kph.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by atomicradish

I hate to rain on your parade, but....

You're not saving $1.68 completely. Deduct a decent chunk of all the money you save by not using gas for the extra food you'll have to eat to support your increased metabolism.

Yeah, but it's better than getting exercise elsewhere, especially paying for it. I mean, it's silly to bike everywhere unless we're in a city, but doing two things that we really should/need to do, exercise and transport rolled into one is pretty imo.

[Bill in Houston]

Originally Posted by omgwtfbyobbq

Yeah, but it's better than getting exercise elsewhere, especially paying for it.

Yeah, I shake my head when I see people taking the elevator to the fitness center, and then going in and getting on the stairmaster.