Friday 28 December 2012

It has been quite a year getting from Pt A to Pt B

When I started the Bike2Work Challenge back in June, I never expected it to have the impact that it did.

This is a catch-up for the last 6 months:
  • in the middle of July, the clutch went on my car of 17 years ... my old faithful Toyota Corolla.  I was between a rock and a hard place, financially (at that precise time) so I decided it was time to "let go" and so I had it towed away to the car graveyard.
  • I continued my easy commute (5 minutes) of 1K one-way on a regular basis to City Hall and my every other day commute (8K one-way) to the Kitchener Operations Facility throughout the summer.
  • I cycled to Sobey's and Central Market for groceries, Swanson's for hardware, and followed the Iron Horse Trail to church most Sundays up in Waterloo.  It was 4K to my fiance's place across town.
  • I didn't need to "work out" - commuting everywhere was giving me all the exercise I needed!  Cycling in 0-10C weather was actually more efficient. As the weather cooled off, it became easier to get from point A to point B without having to enlist the services of a shower  ;-) 
  • In September, I joined CarShare and opened a corporate and personal account.  With the onset of more back-to-back meetings at City Hall and the Kitchener Operations Facility, I found it more timely to use the CarShare to zip back and forth.
  • I have continued to cycle most days through balmy September through December but with the road conditions, I'm going to hold off on buying the winter treads and just walk to work for now and use CarShare for the trips to the KOF and running personal errands.
  • Can't wait to hop back on the bike as winter thaws permit.
  • I send a big thank you to Ziggy's for being so generous at the onset and for continually "being there" for tune-ups and keeping the tires at the right pressure ever since!  You guys rock!
  • Finally, a big thank you to Josh for helping us all explore new ways of getting from point A to point B.
Greg Kay
Business Systems Project Manager,
City of Kitchener.