My own personal Green mission

Well, I've conquered recycling, given up my car in favor of daily mass-transit trekking, moved to the greenest city in the country, got a job at a socially responsible company...basically, I would make Al Gore proud. What the hell is left? How can I possible get any greener without biking to work everyday like a big, crunchy-granola-eating hippie?

Well, uh...by doing just that... A couple weeks ago I was waiting for the ferry home from work in New Jersey (again, a terrible state - I highly recommend not going there ever) when I saw a gentleman getting off the ferry with one of these (pictured, right). Not all that impressive when it was folded up, but he stepped off to the side, and within about 15 seconds, he's unfolded the pile of wheels and gears into a nice little bike. It got me thinking about how much I spend on taking that damn ferry everyday, and how the only other option is the horrible, horrible bus that never shows up and sits in traffic forever, and how my company is about to move to a new office where there is no ferry and the bus only runs once an hour, and how both the current office and the new office are only a couple miles from the perfectly flat bike-friendly George Washington bridge, and how easy it would be to bike across if only I could get my clunky old bike uptown on the subway during rush hour traffic, and, well...you can see where I'm going here. I bought the damn bike.

It was kind of a no-brainer, really. It's a cute bike, it costs slightly less than two months worth of tickets for the ferry and the bus to work, and I'm a giant fatass...all signs point to me buying a bike. I of course live too far away to bike from Queens to New Jersey everyday, but therein lies the beauty of the folding bike - I can fold it up and take it on the subway with me to the point where I have to transfer to some kind of NJ transit that is not covered by my NYC metrocard, and then just bike across the bridge. Thus, I launched my new green mission: to stop giving hundreds of dollars each month to the state of New Jersey and end up with a little more green in my pocket, and (hopefully) a few pounds lighter.

So, we'll see how this goes. The bike arrived yesterday (it's adorable, and everyone at work was incredibly jealous), just in time for 100 degree weather in NYC. Woo hoo! Needless to say, I haven't braved the bridge just yet. Actually, I brought it home today, and just the strain of carrying it down the subway stairs had me literally dripping wet. I'd like to think that that had more to do with the unseasonable warmth than me being so horribly out of shape, but...I know better. Clearly, I will not be able to go from zero to biking back and forth to work in one day, but this is all the more reason why I need to do this, it'll just take a little ramping up to get there. I'm going to try doing the bridge later this week (if I can convince myself to do it), so if I live to tell the tale, I'll have more to say...stay tuned!