The Green Bike Project

Ask and you shall receive... I wrote a few days ago about my transportation challenges. I have been boycotting BP by not buying gas at Arco, but that's getting mighty tough since in the past week or so, Arco's prices per gallon have gone down, and all their competitors, higher than BP for the most part anyway, have gone up such that now, many are 15 or 20 cents more per gallon than Arco, rather than 2 or 3 cents more. With finances tight, I grit my teeth and add 2-3 gallons of more expensive gas, crossing my fingers and praying that I'll see some cheaper prices tomorrow.

I also wrote about why cycling isn't an option for me: no bike, fear of traffic, leg problems. Well, there are possible solutions to the first two! A Seattle-based organization, Cascade Bicycle Club, offers a number of classes to help people learn bicycle safety and skills for commuting via bike, as well as the Green Bike Project, which provides free bikes to people who keep a pledge to reduce their ride-alone car rides by 60%. It's not home free for me just yet: given that I currently have to use my car on the job a lot (not just for commuting), I'm not sure I could pledge a 60% reduction at this time. But it's always exciting to know there are options!