Being Lured to the Dark Side

As mentioned last month, I started up a great relationship with a great gal, we are still going strong. However, the lure of the automobile, namely her dark blue Volvo, is getting to be somewhat hazardous !


My lady [Cristal] is a single occupancy commuter, she drives to and from Oak and Broadway five days per week. In her favour she is strongly leaning toward commuting to work on her bike, opposingly I am starting to like being driven around in her dark blue Volvo. Now I'm not going to capitulate and fall under the lure of car ownership any time soon; however I am strongly reminded of how convenient and how impulsive car ownership can be.



Take the following example: a few days ago my g/f wanted ice cream - so she simply got in her car and drove to Safeway and bought some. That trip really drove home the need for restraint on my part, so much so I went along for the ride in the most contradictory fashion. Now I don't particularly like ice cream and I'm certainly no fan of Safeway, but the lure of the impulse was very strong. After all, Cristal works for her pleasures, pays her taxes, why not have some ice cream reward from time to time ?

Having your sole mode of transportation being self-propelled really does make you stop and think. I could easily walk or ride to the nearest corner store and buy ice cream or any other impulsively inspired product, sure it might be melted by the time I got it home, however resisting the impulse is key. Others might say "why punish yourself"?

Has bike ownership stopped my impulsive lifestyle ? I jumped on a plane to London in February on an impulse, I didn't even go with the carbon credits option. So whilst I may have stopped certain impulses from coming to reality, particularly around the automobile, I have not yet restrained myself in other areas.


I will say getting someone on a bike for the first time in 20 years is a major accomplishment. Cristal was an avid bike rider before she had her kids - and as the life often dictates the bike riding lifestyle was closeted until very recently. Our first major ride doing the two main bridges [Second Narrows/Lion's Gate] in Vancouver covered about 35km. We completed it leisurely, however it was completed non the less. Now she is almost at the point of commuting to work on her bike, about a 40 minute one way trip. She is also contemplating a major bike purchase, as she currently uses a borrowed bike that is a too big.

Although, this morning we had a minor set back in the new commuter plan - DOROTHY, Cristal's recently adopted boxer decided to eat Cristal's Bell helmet at some point in the last 12 hours. Dorothy is not much of a trouble maker, usually very well behaved, however as the evidence presents, she has obviously stated her case and wants to be part of the commuter solution in her own way. This little scenario conjures up the notion of "please sir I can't ride my bike to work today - the dog ate my helmet" !!!