For anyone seriously considering ditching their car for a bike, my story should serve as a warning.
It’s April of 2008: Republicans hope the devolving Democratic Primary fight will put them back in the White House, no one knows what a credit default swap or a Sarah Palin is yet, a whole bunch of 401K and IRA money still exists on paper, and gas is getting alarmingly close to $4 a gallon.
It’s at this point that I decided it’s time to stop driving to work and start biking. The reasons were many. Like most men in their late 30s, I could stand to lose a bit of weight and get in shape. Riding a bike produces less pollution than driving a car. The whole primary fight was very stressful and I needed something to take my mind off of it. And, best of all, think of all the money I’d save on gas!
I biked May through October before it got too cold (I live in Chicago). This past week, I dusted off the bike again since it’s warmed up a bit, and decided to crunch the numbers from my 6 months of riding last season to see how much I’d saved. Unfortunately, it turns out I’m in the hole about $1,000, probably more if I’m honest with myself.
The breakdown after the jump.
First off, I have to give a bunch of background information.
At one point in my life I had a 5 mile commute to work and I occasionally rode my old mountain bike during the summer. I now had a commute that’s 10 miles each way. At first, I attempted this new commute just as I had my old commute: I got out my mountain bike, filled the tires, put on some shorts and a t-shirt, threw a change of clothes in my trusty backpack, and set off.
After a few days of this, I ran into a bunch of problems. The first is that 10 miles each way every day is a hell of a lot farther than 5 miles. There are a whole slew of issues that I never ran into under 6 or 7 miles. Did you know that every pair of shorts you own has a seam right where your crotch presses into the seat? After mile 7, this seam may as well be a 10 gauge wire stuffed in your shorts. Also, did you know that thick knobby mountain bike tires create an enormous amount of drag? Essentially, riding a mountain bike on paved roads makes as much sense as driving a Hummer around the city. Instead of paying for the mistake in gallons of gas, though, the price of pushing around unnecessary bulk is paid by your legs and lungs. It took almost an hour to get to work (I could drive it in half that), and if there was any wind at all, God help me.
Add to this, it wasn’t even a good mountain bike. I bought it for $200 years ago. It weighed a ton. The seat was crap. The gears stunk and frequently slipped. It had normal flat pedals, which meant my feet would sometimes fly off during gear changes or when really pushing hard or when I really didn’t need my feet to be flying off the pedals, like when a truck was turning into me and I had about a second to get out of the way.
Add to this, the backpack. After mile 5, the backpack may as well have been a 20lb monkey with a high fever clinging to my back. I could feel sweat dripping and pooling up under my butt. And it wasn’t even summer yet!
Something had to change. On my 5th day commuting by bike, it happened. I was suffering through the morning ride, wondering if I could somehow tie the backpack to my handlebars, when I felt a whoosh of air. I looked up just in time to see another bike commuter disappearing into the morning mist ahead of me. The guy was just flying. It had happened in a split second, but I had enough time to see, to discover, to realize the answer to all of my problems: the guy was on a road bike!
A road bike has thin, high pressure tires that create minimal drag. A road bike is light. A road bike has curled handlebars so you can bend over and cut through the air instead of sitting upright in the "my body is a giant air brake" position. A road bike has pedals with clips that hold your feet in place. A road bike is fast!
That night, and this shows how absolutely horrible it was commuting that kind of distance on a crappy mountain bike, that night, my friends, that night, my fellow Americans, I went to my local bike shop and I bought a road bike.
Okay, actually, I did some research and shopped around. The first thing I found was that road bikes start out at around $700 for something halfway decent. And by the time the sales guy got through with me and taxes got added on, I spent $1,000. Then, because it’s a $1,000 bike, you need a good lock, which is $60, and if you don’t like the feeling of a monkey with a high fever on your back, you buy a rack ($60), bag for the rack ($50), lights for when it gets dark at night in the fall ($60), a few pairs of bike shorts with padding and a noticeable absence of crotch-destroying seams ($150), gloves so your hands don’t get ripped up ($30), helmet so gravel doesn’t get into your brain during an accident ($50), a good air pump for your high pressure tires ($30). Also, if you want to know how much faster you’ll now be going, you’ll need a bike computer to tell you your speed, time, and mileage information ($40). Then you get a flat one day, which is inevitable when you commute 100 miles a week on roads littered with pot-holes, gravel, metal, and glass, and you realize you also need inner-tubes, tire changing kit, and portable air pump ($50). Also, bike tires don’t last forever. I had one tear after 1,000 miles. I had to buy a new tire along with a spare tire ($70). Breaks don’t last forever ($20). And, you need to keep your chain cleaned and lubed, especially after riding in the rain ($30). Oh, and the rain. Since it rains a lot in the summer, you need at least a rain jacket and shoe covers so your feet don’t get soaked ($70). Then the fall comes and it gets cold and you realize you need heavier gloves and a facemask ($30)
For those of you keeping score, that’s $1,800 I had in expenses. Alright, that seems like a lot, and I guess it did feel like a lot at the time, though I never added it up until now. But maybe all will be well again once the savings are calculated, right?
Okay, here goes. I commuted for 2,500 miles over 6 months according to my bike computer odometer ($40, remember?). The car I drive is a Jeep, which gets a terrible 16 mpg during my city commute, so I saved about 156 gallons of fuel (2,500 divided by 16). The average price of gas during this time in my area was $3.95. So, I saved $616 in fuel. YAY!
Wait...that’s not even close to the $1,800 I spent. At this point, hunched over all my paperwork with a pencil and calculator in hand, I start to sweat. Well, no worries, I completely forgot about maintenance. Let’s see, digging through my car file I discover I spend around $700 in maintenance for every 10,000 miles I drive. So, saving 2,500 in driving miles saves (2,500 divided by 10,000 times $700) $200 in maintenance.
So, I have a total savings of $816. Holy crap! I’m in the hole a $1,000 on the deal. Even If I repeat those savings for another season (and I won’t because gas is cheaper now), then I’ll still be in the hole. Plus, I’ll have more expenses this year: tires, brakes, inner-tubes, chain lube, tune-ups. If I bend a rim and need a new one, I’m screwed. Road bike rims can be expensive, meaning months worth of time to recoup in savings.
There’s something else. It’s not on the paper, not in the expenses column. It’s there, though. I won’t calculate it or own up to it, really, but it’s still there. I mean, yes, a lot of the expenses I have are one-time, non-recurring things. It might take longer than I imagined, but yes, even with the above calculations I’ll eventually come out ahead. Three years. Four at the most. Except.
I once wore a heart rate monitor (borrowed, thank God) on my ride to work to calculate my calories burned. Amazing, it’s 600 calories each way, 1,200 calories a day. I feel it to. I’ve only commuted a few days this year so far, but the difference is immediate. I’m hungry. Of course I’m hungry. Normally I burn 2,000 calories a day. Now I burn 3,200, right?
Now, I have a few extra pounds, but not enough where I could afford to continue eating just 2,000 calories a day and rely on fat for the rest. No, I’m eating at least 1,000 extra calories a day when I ride. So, here’s the problem: calories aren’t free.
How much does the average 1,000 calories cost? If it takes 1,000 calories to bike 20 miles, that’s almost comparable to 1 gallon of gas, which can propel the average car for 20 miles. If a gallon of gas costs $2.00, can I buy 1,000 calories for less????
Big Mac value meal – 1,000 calories $5
3 Snickers bars – 900 calories $2.25
3 packages of Ramon noodles – 900 calories $3.00
I’m screwed.
If I consider the cost of calories, not only do I have no hope of digging out of my $1,000 hole, but it’s likely that the hole just keeps getting bigger and bigger. And there you have it, the quick and easy way to lose money by biking.
However, I don’t intend to end on such a huge low note. I merely pass this on as a warning to anyone who wishes to save money by biking instead of driving. I don’t think it’s possible. With just the calories side alone, calories cost more than gas. Add to this anything you spend on a bike or clothes, and you end up in a big hole.
I suppose if you can get rid of your car altogether, you would save on insurance and the cost of a car. That’s huge. Certainly, then you’re ahead. Or, if you pay for parking, the savings there might be enough to put you ahead. Or, perhaps you have a lot of extra pounds and have the willpower to eat only 2,000 calories a day when you’re starving, then you could get ahead. Or, perhaps you already have an old bike and a backpack and don’t mind the medieval level of torture they’ll cause your body on a commute of any sizable duration. You might see me one day flying past you on a road bike, because road bikes are awesome and fast and great.
For everyone else, you’ve been warned.
So, am I going to stop biking? Absolutely not. I lost ten pounds last year, kept if off this past four months, and intend to lose more this year. Actually, it’s hard to keep weight on biking that many miles a week. I feel great. I am in better shape now in my late 30s than I was in my 20s. Biking is a great way to relieve stress. I love my morning and evening commutes. It’s like being on vacation every day. I have more energy on days that I bike. And, it’s still good for the environment.
I didn’t think I’d ever say this, but despite the extra cost, I’ll never give up biking.