Giving up HyperMiling for Lent
 

Today is Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of the Lenten Season. And so I decided to give up Hypermiling for Lent.

I am not giving Hypermiling up just so I don't need to be that annoying guy in the right lane that speeds up and slows down. Rather the goal is to let my commute be devoted to meditation on Jesus Christ. In addition to this I won't be listening to NPR or any radio/music... just wind and road noise!

The specifics:

• Observance of the Speed Limit... NO SPEEDING!
• Use of Cruise Control on Highway
• Less aggressive gliding is OK but Pulse & Gliding is NOT OK.
• No EOC.
• Turning off engine at stop lights is OK.
• Gentle acceleration.
• Right Lane Driving... No passing.
• No use of the heater.
• I will still be using my Block Heater, grill block, WAI, etc.
• I will still be recording my mileage so it will be interesting to see what I average over the next 40 days.

By the way yesterday was Fat Tuesday so I ate 5 JBC's (Jr Bacon Cheeseburgers) from Wendy's and Pulse & Glided from 55mph to 40mph with my hazards on :D :D :D

you could take it one step further and listen to bible-on-cd during your commute.

I got lucky and found them at the dollar store. I ended up getting the entire new testimate for around $20.

Being an old Roman Catholic - are you not supposed to be giving up BAD things during lent not GOOD things?

Beef:
Nope... It's way too easy for me to listen to the bible or sermon on CD compared to meditating. On today's ride it was amazing to feel how UN-Busy I felt when not P&EOC, excessive Shifting, and excessive glancing at the speedometer & tach. An Un-Busied mind is what I need right now.

JanGeo:
My mindset isn't to just give something up, good or bad. My mindset is to meditate on Christ while sacrifice something, in this case hypermiling. I was raised Catholic too. As a good Catholic Altar Boy, what Lent meant for me was no burgers or Pepperoni on my Pizza or burgers on Fridays. Now it means much more than just giving something up.

Let me tell you it was a lot more of a struggle commuting @ 55 mph with no radio rather than P&EOC between 60-50mph (45 when I can) with the radio on. There's almost an adrelnaline rush that I receive from hypermiling. If you're an aggressive hypermiler with a majority of your commute being the highway, try going steady throttle with no radio... you'll probably be surprised how much harder it is than you think.

I think good is relative. anything that takes the focus off of christ can be considered bad.

some groups take that line of thinking to the extreme though in my opinion.

Doesn't hypermiling become second nature after awhile, just another way of driving, so much that it doesn't require any extra attention/concentration? I do EOC, turn off the engine at stop lights etc. w/o giving it a second thought. I often find myself in a different state already when I'm driving/hypermiling.

I'm a recovering Catholic, so even if I were to gain some extra concentration or meditation time from not hypermiling, I wouldn't spend the time pondering my former religion. More power to you, though.

Yes and no... I hardly hypermile with my wife in the car because this is the way that it goes.

Wife: "Alex, are you doing that thing with your car?"

Me: "Oh you mean pulse and gliding? Yea... did you notice my car speeding up and slowing down?"

Wife: "No, but I did notice you're answering all my questions in on word or less."

So I'm just trying the same thing with God. :)

are you fasting anything as well?

NPR/music in the car and fast food.

umm does hmm well my 21 st birthday is today so uhh ive taken upon drinking.... alot.... O_o lol

I reset the lifetime mileage on the Insight on December, starting through the coldest part of the year. After over 5k miles the lifetime mileage is at 59.6. My car is the CVT model so mileage is not as good as the manual, but the normal hypermiling processes are done automatically by the car itself.

This allows me to concentrate on the instantaneous mileage reading and I am learning to use mini pulse and glides. I also use the battery to accelerate up to speed to use the minimum distance of poor mileage in acceleration while maximizing the best mileage distance.

Original tires at 44 PSI (some dry rotting), no heat or radio or any other unnecessary accessory loads. I also have 50% of the radiator blocked which helped a lot. On my favorite back road routes, when it was warmer than 50 degrees outside, I have seen 71 + MPG for my 18 mile route. Looking forward to warmer temperatures, and possibly averagin over 70 for a tank, but it would have to be all local driving I believe.

regards
gary

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-- Benjamin Franklin

Congrats on your 21st... don't kill your liver and stay safe :thumbup:

:thumbdown:
Illegal in many states including Florida I'm told.

Jim T.

You're right... Neutral coasting, Engine off coasting, turning your car off at red lights are all technically illegal in most cases in most states.

In California it's illegal to do a engine swap, even if it's a lower emissions engine that's getting swapped into the car unless you pay to get it BAR'd.

In New Jersey on some parts of the Garden State Parkway it's illegal to cruise in the left lane unless you are "Actively" passing someone in the right lane.

In Pennsylvania it is illegal to alter the factory emissions setup in anyway. So that means it's illegal to have a catch can breather setup if your car didn't have one from the factory. On top of this it's illegal to drive faster than the speed limit, drive without a seatbelt, drive while talking on a cell phone.

So I guess for Lent I'm going to follow the law. :D

yea the hazards are for emergency purposes only, ive heard of cops pulling people over if they cant see an obvious problem (ie heavy/bulky load, flat tire, engine trouble, following farm impliments)