Gyaaaah. *hugs bike*

[kurukami]

The gas station nearest me here in Massachusetts finally popped the $4.00 cherry. This morning, biking to work, it was at $3.99; tonight it's at $4.07. Most of the other stations along my route to work are hovering around $3.95, but they're likely to follow the first's example before too long

Comments

[jebbypal]

well, you're also forgetting the "safe" bike commute in that. One maybe two block portion of my commute is just two lanes with absolutely no shoulder and I can't imagine riding a bike on it since no one goes the 25 mph speedlimit on (more like 40). Would take me two miles out of my way to avoid it..

[kurukami]

There's that. But two miles on a bike really isn't that far, assuming it's not all up a slope. : )

... how does it take two miles to avoid a two block stretch? *tries to picture that*

[jebbypal]

there aren't intersections every single block.

[nwhepcat]

$7?! Holy crap!

Yeah, my commute is killing me, for sure. But I'm so out of shape and my town is so hilly I haven't even attempted going for a coffee on a bike. My driveway alone would probably result in a broken neck, no lie.

[kurukami]

See, my commute is actually great for cross-training, I think. It's only about 6.5 miles, but it has a sharp and fairly extended incline at both ends. (The wonders of living in a river valley.) As a result, my legs get a great workout, and so biking down to Boston (25-30 miles or so, depending on route) doesn't feel that tough at all. : )

... Wisconsin is considered hilly? *wrinkles brow* I'm probably thinking too much of other parts of the Midwest. *grin*

[nwhepcat]

I'm in the one part of Wisconsin that is hilly, an area called the Driftless. It's where the glaciers didn't come through and mow everything over. Everything in fact is kind of pushed up. My town's particularly unflat, which is why I chose it. It was as close to my Idaho town as I could find!

[kurukami]

Heh. You must have lived in northern Idaho, then; from what I recall, the areas down near Pocatello were almost as flat as Kansas. *grin*

[wesleysgirl]

I need to get a bike, but I need to get a cheap one until I figure out if biking is actually going to be something I can do. My balance is pretty f'ed up. Maybe I can find a used one somewhere.

Today, I had nearby errands to do and walked instead of driving, so I was proud of myself. :-)

[kurukami]

Yaaaaay! I'm so, SO glad I vowed to drive as little as possible when prices here passed $3.25. That was April 18th, on Friday -- literally JUST SIX WEEKS AGO. And in that time, prices have gone up something like 80 cents per gallon - a nearly 25% or so.

That's just NUTS. And good for you, for walking. *grin*

[starcat_jewel]

Russ says that $4 appears to be the "magic number" at which people start making serious changes to their lifestyle to reduce the amount of gas they have to buy. They sell/trade in SUVs in favor of smaller cars (or just put the SUV into storage, since few places are offering any kind of decent price for them), investigate public transportation, start consolidating errands so that they're driving less, investigate working from home and/or changing jobs to be closer to home, etc

[kurukami]

Well, to me it seems as though many ways are pretty good for bikes -- although there are more than a few supposedly good bike roads that hardly have any bike lanes to speak of. I've picked up a couple of local bike maps that recommend good routes, and there's definitely a network for use. Of course, some of them are kind of meandery and Google Maps doesn't exactly track to them from the start, but fortunately one can click-and-drag to match a desired route.

The thing that has me agog? I just looked back through my LJ to see when I swapped over to biking. That was when prices passed $3.25. That was April 18th -- almost exactly six weeks ago.

Only SIX WEEKS. And gas prices have jumped by 25%. *boggles* That's the kind of thing that makes me think $6 gas is all too possible.

[starcat_jewel]

Tonight Russ asked me to run over to the nearby Mexican restaurant to pick up something to eat. It occurred to me that, if I were a little more confident on the bike, this would have been an ideal bike errand -- a very short trip, almost all of it on residential streets. The only reason I didn't change my mind and do it that way was that it was dark. But I checked the route, and the next time I probably will do it on the bike; the only tricky bit will be crossing Mangum, but there's a driveway on the other side and a sidewalk from there to the Mexican place, and there's a metal railing to lock the bike while I'm inside. And I've got a basket.

[kurukami]

I need to pick up a spare milk crate. I've got a rear rack on my bike that could absolutely work for holding it with bungee cords, and with that I could actually pick up more substantial loads from restaurants or grocery stores. Admittedly, I'd still want my car for those 20-lb. boxes of cat litter or cat food, but it'd be a start... *grin*

[viciouswishes]

You know your posts are very depressing.

[kurukami]

What, all of them? Woe! I shall have to write something with fluffy bunnies in it soon. ; )

Appropriately, on my iTunes right now is Paramore's "For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic". *grin*

[viciouswishes]

Specifically the gasoline prices ones. I don't think any of us are unaware of it.

Hilarious.

[kurukami]

Surely there are some hermits living in cabins in the middle of Idaho who haven't heard. ; )

*shrug* There just isn't that much in my life at the moment that's particularly squeeful -- aside from Obama clinching the nomination, which made me fist-pump the air with joy. *grin*