Am I the Worst Offender?

As a cyclist I often wonder if I am the worst kind of cyclist. Not the kind that drops wattage bombs on the coffee ride, or the one that always shows up late, or one that lives on their aerobars in the middle of a pace line. A more objective sort of “worst”.

Strava says I have gone on 213 rides so far this year. Aside from laps around Watopia or the Valley of the Nine Hammers, they virtually all start and end in the same place. My driveway. I get on my bike and do a lap of the sandbar I live on literally hundreds of times per year. I do very little else that’s “productive” on a bicycle. Could I commute to work? Absolutely! Why don’t I? My current commute, depending on the route, is somewhere between 9 to 15 miles. Well within my fitness wheelhouse. However the shortest route would be an absolute nightmare, taking me down some of the busiest roads in my town in rush hour traffic. The longer routes would get me to work, but to do so in a reasonable amount of time I’d have to push the pace and work up a sweat. Without a place to clean up and change, my co-workers would be comparing me to Pigpen from Peanuts.

Adding to this internal struggle, my wife and I currently own six cars. The one we drive most often is a 2010 Honda Accord CrossTour. It gets reasonable fuel economy and could probably be considered “average” in terms of environmentally friendly-ness. The worst offender is probably my ’89 Jeep Wrangler 4.2L. Its carburetor funnels refined dinosaur juice down its intake manifold and out its crudely designed emissions system at a rate I haven’t tried to measure yet. It’s most environmentally friendly feature is that it’s actually still on the road. All of the natural resources used and carbon spewed into the atmosphere 33 years ago to manufacture it was not in vain! I think…

So one way or the other, I’m clogging up the roadways in a place where traffic can be pretty terrible. I try to ride during off peak hours on quieter roads because I’m not an idiot with a death wish. Since I work in an auto parts store and fairly mechanically inclined, I’m able to keep all six of our cars well maintained. All six of our cars run perfectly, at all times. I'd go as far to say that I do better than most people do when it comes to doing whatever “my part” is.

But I’m still conflicted.