Four wheels bad (Week 34)
"The car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad and incomplete in the urban compound."
Not only is Marshall McLuhan probably the smartest person ever to come out of Edmonton (maybe a low bar since I'm also in that group) he also had a lot to say about our modern way of life and what it's doing to us. Enter the not-so-humble automobile, which we ooh and ahh over like a newborn baby. We simply can't imagine a life without our four-wheeled friend.
So, how about a week then? What would it be like to go seven days without getting in our adorable little VW hatch?
This experiment would have been a lot easier when I was on vacation, cycling down the California coast. So I intentionally waited for a week when I thought I might "need" the car. It also turned out to be a week of fairly constant rain here in Victoria, which made it that much more challenging.
Besides our buddy McLuhan, much has been written about how personal vehicles have shaped our species. For one thing, they've helped to make us fatter. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Driving (especially commuting by car) has been linked to a whole litany of badness: elevated blood sugar, high cholesterol, increased anxiety, less happiness, poor cardiovascular fitness, spikes in blood pressure, sleep disorders, back problems and depression.
If just one of those things is true, there's all the reason in the world to get out from behind the wheel. But yeah, it's tough.
During my week of auto abstinence, Val and I had a scheduled viewing of our new home. That happened to come on a dark evening with rain coming down in sheets. It would have been so easy to just step into the car. But guess who arrived at that viewing all dry and comfortable. Val tempted me by saying the week hadn't really started, but I knew that would only compound the guilt.
The same thing happened when I had a 6:30am volunteer shift at the soup kitchen in Our Place. Once again, the rain came down relentlessly. Me, I put on my rain pants and rain jacket and headed off into the soggy morning on my trusty two-wheeler.
Besides the obvious health benefit of replacing a car with a bicycle, there's also the advantage of a smaller carbon footprint, lower road congestion, and reduced need for parking. I tried not to feel too smug as I arrived at each destination by bike or by foot, but I am human after all.
There's a guy in our old Calgary neighbourhood who takes it to a much higher level. Besides not owning a vehicle, he and his wife take their kids to school year-round by bike. Neighbours gaze in awe as they plow through snowbanks with a fully loaded cargo bike carrying three small kiddies in a front bucket. What's more, he re-developed his entire kitchen with IKEA cabinets and transported every piece by bike. So it can be done, and I am nowhere near that guy's league.
After my week was up, Val and I headed off to Gabriola Island to visit with friends. Part of me wanted to cycle the 100km distance but that would have been anti-social for one thing. Off we went into a Friday afternoon rush hour. In the first half hour, the car went about 3 blocks due to a Climate Strike happening in our neighbourhood. All the roads were clogged, and the irony was not lost on us. Further up the road, we got stuck in a 20-minute traffic jam related to construction and ended up missing our ferry. I was fuming. I hated everything about being in that car.
Blood pressure spikes? Anxiety? Anger? All of the above! Give me my bike back...please.
NEXT WEEK: Seven days of yoga for the World's Least Flexible Man
Not only is Marshall McLuhan probably the smartest person ever to come out of Edmonton (maybe a low bar since I'm also in that group) he also had a lot to say about our modern way of life and what it's doing to us. Enter the not-so-humble automobile, which we ooh and ahh over like a newborn baby. We simply can't imagine a life without our four-wheeled friend.
So, how about a week then? What would it be like to go seven days without getting in our adorable little VW hatch?
This experiment would have been a lot easier when I was on vacation, cycling down the California coast. So I intentionally waited for a week when I thought I might "need" the car. It also turned out to be a week of fairly constant rain here in Victoria, which made it that much more challenging.
Besides our buddy McLuhan, much has been written about how personal vehicles have shaped our species. For one thing, they've helped to make us fatter. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Driving (especially commuting by car) has been linked to a whole litany of badness: elevated blood sugar, high cholesterol, increased anxiety, less happiness, poor cardiovascular fitness, spikes in blood pressure, sleep disorders, back problems and depression.
If just one of those things is true, there's all the reason in the world to get out from behind the wheel. But yeah, it's tough.
During my week of auto abstinence, Val and I had a scheduled viewing of our new home. That happened to come on a dark evening with rain coming down in sheets. It would have been so easy to just step into the car. But guess who arrived at that viewing all dry and comfortable. Val tempted me by saying the week hadn't really started, but I knew that would only compound the guilt.
The same thing happened when I had a 6:30am volunteer shift at the soup kitchen in Our Place. Once again, the rain came down relentlessly. Me, I put on my rain pants and rain jacket and headed off into the soggy morning on my trusty two-wheeler.
Besides the obvious health benefit of replacing a car with a bicycle, there's also the advantage of a smaller carbon footprint, lower road congestion, and reduced need for parking. I tried not to feel too smug as I arrived at each destination by bike or by foot, but I am human after all.
There's a guy in our old Calgary neighbourhood who takes it to a much higher level. Besides not owning a vehicle, he and his wife take their kids to school year-round by bike. Neighbours gaze in awe as they plow through snowbanks with a fully loaded cargo bike carrying three small kiddies in a front bucket. What's more, he re-developed his entire kitchen with IKEA cabinets and transported every piece by bike. So it can be done, and I am nowhere near that guy's league.
After my week was up, Val and I headed off to Gabriola Island to visit with friends. Part of me wanted to cycle the 100km distance but that would have been anti-social for one thing. Off we went into a Friday afternoon rush hour. In the first half hour, the car went about 3 blocks due to a Climate Strike happening in our neighbourhood. All the roads were clogged, and the irony was not lost on us. Further up the road, we got stuck in a 20-minute traffic jam related to construction and ended up missing our ferry. I was fuming. I hated everything about being in that car.
Blood pressure spikes? Anxiety? Anger? All of the above! Give me my bike back...please.
NEXT WEEK: Seven days of yoga for the World's Least Flexible Man
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