My enjoyable public transportation adventure!

Last Saturday I did something I hadn't done before. I know this will come as a surprise, but it was biking to the store. Despite all my preaching about commuting by bicycle and how I dislike cars, I had never ridden to a store that was not within 2 miles of my residence. Sure, I had ridden to restaurants and attractions that were farther than that; and I ride or bus at least 4 times a week to work. But I hadn't been able to get over the last hurdle that would make not owning a car even possible, getting to and from a big box store in Mission Valley.

I didn't actually do that this weekend. What I did is prove that I could.

I happen to be into home brewing. I've been brewing for a few years. I enjoy the beer I make (actually more than most commercial beers) and I enjoy the process of making it. When my little brother turned 21 this year, I got him set up to brew as well. This included giving him my brew kettle (a very large pot) because I was going to replace mine. Needless to say, I haven't yet and if I was going to brew I was going to need to borrow 'his.' So that meant a trip up to his house.

His house is just a mile or so south of UCSD, while I live a mile or so west of SDSU. Usually it is about a 20 minute drive to his place, but like I mentioned, I'm not real big on driving right now. So I headed out to the trolley on my bike (stupidly forgetting my water bottle) and learned about public tranportation on the weekends. First, the trains and busses don't come as often and all the routes aren't running, which I expected. The trolley, which I didn't expect but do understand, runs with less cars (2-3 instead of 4). What I didn't expect was the large amount of people on the trolley. I'm talking about having to discuss with people where you are going so that while the trolley is moving you could shift people around towards the door crowded.

Anyway, got to my stop, got down to my bus and rode the bus up to his place. Sat and talked with him for a bit, met the new kittens, picked up the large pot and headed out. Things I learned there were, that I can fit the pot on my rack and that a 22 oz. beer bottle fits perfectly in my bottle cage. (He had made a beer that I hadn't tried yet and I needed to get it home.)

From there I bussed over to the home brew store to get my ingredients. Put them inside the pot and rode back over to the trolley. At this point with nine pounds of syrup in the pot the ride started to get a little rough. Fortunately, there is only about 4 blocks of riding between the store and my place (not counting trolley and bus rides).

All in all it was a great trip and I am confident that I can get to and from Costco or Target when I need to without driving.

What are your big hurdles to riding everywhere you go?






Cycling