CarFree in B.C.

1
Car-Free in B.C.

• How I sold my Jeep, got a bike trailer, and got
  in shape

Devon Greyson LIBR 500 Greyson_at_interchange.ubc.ca
2
Blue Suzy

• 1993 Jeep Cherokee
• The only car I ever owned
• Drove across the country back together
• Never had an accident, never got stuck in snow
• A great vehicle!

3
Sure, we had some rough times

• Radiator leak on Jersey Turnpike
• Weird electric poltergeist causing battery
  drain
• Alternator went out while I was driving away
  from a tornado
• Yeah, she was broken into twice in Cleveland

...but she still got me there!
4
There was one problem, though

• my bleeding-heart, tree-hugging,
  environmentalist conscience

5
The Beginning of the End

• I knew that when I left the backwoods, I would
  get rid of her.
• When I got her, SUV was not even a term, but
  now
• With 18 mpg falling, our days together were
  numbered

6
Enter
Grad School!
7
The move to Vancouver was just what I needed to
instigate the breakup.

• Id be making a major life change, and be
• Living in a city, with
• Good public transit, and
• Bikeable weather year-round

8
Mission Sell the car

• My girlfriend said Id be lucky to get 1,000 for
  Suzy, despite a KBB value of 2,360
• I posted signs and talked with everyone I knew,
  to no avail
• Finally, the day before I left the country
• A very nice pothead came out of a bar near where
  I had parked the car, saw her, fell in love, and
  bought her!

FATE, I tell you!
9
The Bike!

• To Do
• Get a tune-up
• Score a used bike trailer for the kid
• Buy
• a new helmet, and
• a million lights reflectors

10
Now, to actually do it!

• I thought I was in decent shape
• Until I tried to pull a trailer containing a
  30lb toddler and 100 of groceries!

11
My First Excursion

• Buses were passing me
• Other bikes were passing me
• Joggers were passing me
• But I somehow managed to keep ahead of the
  walking pedestrians!

12
Some Things I Have Learned

• Riding on ice is better than riding on slush
• Other bikers are really nice to you if they know
  youre one too!
• Always pack extra pants socks
• The mountains will never look as good as they can
  from a bike
• A cushy bike seat can make all the difference

13
Some Challenges I Have Met

• The irony of moving from Michigan to Vancouver to
  learn to bike in the snow ice!
• Flooded bike lanes (heck, whole flooded streets!)
• My own fear of left turns at major intersections
  with the kid in the trailer
• Hermetically sealing books laptop within a
  soaked-through backpack

14
All in All

• Between going to library school and becoming a
  bicyclist, I am well on my way to becoming
  exactly the kind of dork I always wanted to be!

15
And Raising the Next Generation of Bicyclists!
Bike, Mama!
16

• All photos and video from my personal collection,
  with the exception of the photo of SLAIS (Grad
  School) used with permission from the
• SLAIS website