I hate the internet.

But, how can this be? I hate it because it makes me feel bad about my cycling habits. The forums tell you that unless you cycle to work you will never be fit and are destroying the planet. Well, I have researched this until I am blue in the face and there is no way to make my 25 mile, one way commute by cycle, transit or combination of the two in anything less than an hour and 45 minuets. Well over two hours if the bus plays ANY part in the trip. Contrast this to the TWENTY minuets that it takes to drive and, well, there it is. The twenty minuet ride (each way) to drop my daughter off at school becomes and hour and 15 minuets. So I drive my car.

I drive a used car in good repair that meets the states emission standards. I picked a car out of the current fleet. Not a single additional resource was used to "put me in my car". Because I love and maintain it it will not become scrap or waste and no part of it will be polluting the environment and no energy will be used in recycling any of it's components. No parts of Canada were strip-mined to produce this car. It required zero energy to ship to this country when new because it was MADE in this country.

I don't really run "errands" so I'm not a good eco-cyclist there either. And the errands that I DO run are typically done on the way to or from work or school. I'm not out spending money willy-nilly on lots of consumer goods that are made in carbon-belching factories, transported in trains and trucks, break in a few months and get pitched into a land fill. I buy a few things that are important to me, of as high a quality as I can practically afford and make them last. Dam it Green Police: I AM doing my part!!!

I love my bikes and I cycle for fun and fitness. That's all. If my situation were different then I would certainly be inclined to cycle for transportation and my hat is off to those of you who can and do. I just wish you could STOP being so damn proud of yourselves in public and making me feel bad.