Back in the saddle…so to speak…

Today was the first day of the year that I rode my bike to work. Yes, May 7th. Terribly late. Last year I was riding much earlier — the 3rd week of April. However, the winter has been brutally long and cold, and, even this morning, it was barely above freezing when I left at 7:30. It was up to 15 degrees Celsius by the time I rode home, but still. So why do people live in this god-foresaken land?

Perhaps it’s our honest politicians or our progressive views on energy generation. Oh no wait. It must be something else. In our case, it is our good and interesting friends and family. Thank goodness for them. Because honestly, without them, this place would really suck.

Ecoholics: Gardening…Biking…Flooring

We are planting our garden this weekend – and realizing how small our 20′ by 15′ plot is. Maybe next year we’ll expand it a bit, chopping out some of our lawn. We’re not too keen on lawn, as we’ve been reading Ecoholic and learning about all of the evils associated with, well, everything non-organic in the world, including using potable water to make grass grow green.

Continuing on the eco-front, I’ve been pretty good at riding my bike to work, so far. It’s usually around 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) in the morning, so the ride is brisk, but by the time I come home, it’s usually closer to +15 Celsius. I have a speedometer (I’m a number geek, remember?) and have ridden 280km in the 5 weeks since I started. (I was in Minneapolis for a week, and didn’t get any riding done that week, needless to say.) According to the World Watch Institute, every day I ride the 16km round trip, I keep 20kg of pollutants out of the air. This isn’t fully accurate, though, as B and I carpool when I don’t ride. Still, it helps a bit.
And with gas at $131.9 a litre, every km helps.

For the flooring part of this post, check out my new blog — http://handymansdream.blogspot.com/2008/05/carpet-devil-in-disguise.html — I’m compiling my home renovation related stuff there!

A new bike

Part of our effort to become more environmentally friendly involves reducing our use of our car. So far, in the 8 months since we moved home, we have driven less than 8000km. This is a marked improvement over our previous mileage — over 45,000km a year between two cars. However, with the weather changing soon (at least it better!) we are looking at ways to further lessen our driving. As such, we have purchased bikes. Mine is pictured below – a Trek SU200. I have added fenders, a rack, and saddle bags for transporting things to and from work. It is 8km one way to work, and it is my goal to ride, once the snow melts. And by writing it in my blog, hey, I’ve committed. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.

minus a million degrees

Days like today it might as well be minus a million degrees outside. I mean come on – at what point do the numbers cease to have meaning? Can people really tell the difference between -34 and -38? I sure can’t. All I know is it is stinking cold. Thus, two things I have been thinking about:

a) Bike Riding

b) Roof Insulation

Now, at first (and possibly second) glance, the two are unrelated. And yet not.  Let me explain.

Bike Riding: We are a one car family. We like having one car for many reasons — it lowers our eco-footprint and makes mother earth smile, it saves us money, and it enables us to spend more time together (we hypothesized about the possibility of writing a book called “Sell Your Second Car to Save Your Marriage” the other day while chatting on the way home from work). That said, there are times when it’s just inconvenient (just ask my vice-principal who lives a few blocks away, and today, at -48 with the windchill, stopped at our place to pick me up for work because my wife had an appointment to go to.) Hence, I have decided that this summer, I will bicycle. A lot. Advice from a good friend Ben was to buy a good bike, with all the accessories needed (panniers, lights, etc) so that it would be as convenient as possible to ride. So, I’m researching bikes. And looking forward to positive integers representing the temperature.

Roof Insulation: We have a vaulted ceiling. Though I really like the architectural look, it has about 4″ of 1961 insulation between it and the worn shingles above. Not exactly the R-40 insulation value recommended in parts like these. So, as our furnace blasted away last night, filling the sky with carbon dioxide, and we shivered under a blanket on the couch, we decided that it would be a good idea to rip off the roof this summer, re-run some rafters, add about 12″of insulation (bringing it to R-40) and re-shingle. Between the federal and provincial governments, we’ll qualify for about $1800 in retro-fit eco-grants once the work is done. That should cover some of the cost. Since we’ll do the labour ourselves (good thing we’re teachers!) it should end up paying for itself rather quickly. And the savings on our conscience will be nice.

Then you live in a place where your house spends a portion of the year heated 60 degrees Celsius warmer than the outside temperature, you’ve gotta do something. For us, it’ll involve a bike, lots of sweat, and some insulation. I wonder how many bats of R-20 I can fit in the panniers?