Gas!!

Our previously "cheap" gas has spiked in prices. It's now $3.09/gallon (making a driving trip into Mexico to buy gas an attractive proposition).

We've been changing our lifestyle over the last year, but I've seen us fall into a pattern of driving more than we should. Mr. Gaia's bike developed a tendency to actually slit tire tubes (making patching an impossibility) and soccer got in the way of our training/conditioning/maintenance rides. We still walked but found ourselves driving places we had originally planned as "biking distance".

The prices are spurring us to reevaluate. We have an extra bike, we should be able to swap out the rim that is apparently slitting the tires (and maybe finally figure out the issue). We will still have a problem we've had all along - no good places to park and lock a bike (bike racks are almost nonexistant), but we figure we can always use a tree or convenient ice machine (as much we hate doing anything that might damage a tree).

One of Hyperion's classmates has a party tomorrow, and not being ones to ease into things we plan to bike to the party. We figure we should be able to find someplace to lock the bikes and the party isn't until noon, so Mr. Gaia should be able to replace the tire.

I once read a poster who had "no gas days". That's where we want to go. Clearly we will always have to use some gas (well, at least in the foreseeable future). Mr. Gaia's job requires him to drive 40 miles roundtrip and my job, while relatively close, is not really bike friendly, but there's no reason we can't make our weekends gas-free.