Pictured is a Catrike Pocket. My Florida bike.
I have mentioned, at least once, bike riding. Well, the little rig pictured is what I ride in Florida. This type of rig is generically called a “tadpole.” I suppose that is because it is wider in the fron (2 wheels) than the back (one wheel), like the little frogs manque. The advantages of this style of bike (trike?) are: comfort; lack of strain on hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, and ass; and reduced wind resistance. The disadvantages: reduced visibility (low to the ground); uselessness off of paved surfaces; effort to ride (you have no weight to put down on the pedals, it’s all leg and, I hope, abs). Hmm, that last disadvantage could also be called an exercise advantage, I guess. You keep your hands, loose and comfy, on the vertical handles (which also have the twist shifters). The seating position is probably the most comfy one I own, I have actually pulled into the shade and catnapped without getting up. Without body and leg weight to help drive the pedals, you really exercise your legs (so it is really harder to ride uphill). I’ve had it about 4 years. I’m lucky where I live here in Florida, because it’s a gated neighborhood, with smooth roads, and a sort of circular main road around a lake. With a “lobe” on the circle (maybe like a snowman shape), one circuit is 3 miles. Today I did 6 for 18 miles. This is my main form of exercise. I almost always have my iPod with headphones. The most I ever rode in one day, as I recall, was 68 miles along the Root River Trail in Minnesota.
My little Civic Hybrid now has 6,819 miles and has averaged 45.4 miles per gallon. Fuel economy has been slipping during the holidays because of numerous short trips, and heavy local traffic. Still, I think I’m doing pretty well. All those miles, had I not gotten the car, would have been done in my Honda Element at (and this is being generous) 24 miles per gallon. So, 150 gallons of gas versus 284 gallons. 134 gallons difference times $3 per gallon means I’ve spent $402 less on gas with this car. I’ve also dumped a lot less crap into the air, thus, I hope, helping a bit with global warming. Hooray me and Mr. Civic.
I/we have gathered up enough sturdy fabric bags with handles to do our grocery shopping. We have officially quit taking paper or plastic bags from the grocery store. We have a fair number of the plastic bags stashed, and I’ll put most of them in the container for recycling such things down at Publix (Albertson’s and Winn Dixie seem to have gotten rid of their recycling cans for these bags, if they ever had them).
