I don't have time to drive

Because everyone I work with has seen me bike to work for enough years to be used to it, I don't get many chances to use one of my favorite lines, "I don't have time to drive to work." In the days when I had to hurry from work to day care to pick up the kids, I didn't have time to ride, but now that the kids are more self-sufficient, one could make the reverse argument.

I ride 6.3 miles and it takes 35-40 minutes. With a stiff tailwind, a lighter bike, and some motivation, I probably could do it in 30--my record is 28--but not every day. I think we could use half an hour as a nice round number for the time of a one-way bike commute.

If I drive, I take a longer route on the freeway, and it takes about 15 minutes. I can do it in maybe 12 if traffic is light, I hit some key green lights, and I break the law. But I think that a quarter hour is a fair round number for the time of a one-way car commute.

If I want to do right by my health, I should be getting 30 minutes of exercise every day. Of course I don't "have" to, but that is a choice with consequences, so says the doctor.

So I could spend an hour a day in one of two ways. I could go to work by car, spending half an hour at it, and then spend half an hour getting some exercise. Actually, it would work out to be more than an hour since there is time to change clothes and, in the worst case, actually drive somewhere to do that exercising. Or, I could go to work by bike, spending a little more than an hour also, and skip the exercise period.

Looked at that way, I would be crazy to drive to work when I could ride a bike. I would be wasting half an hour a day. I don't have time for that.