Tomorrow is Day 0

Right now I'm at my parents' vacation home in the Pocono Mountains, halfway between New York City and Ithaca. How convenient. My car is all loaded up with my stuff (including my road bike) and sometime tomorrow afternoon I will commence my moving in to my new place. Since it won't be a full day in Ithaca, I will call it Day Zero. If I have time, I'll take some pictures of my "setup" so far, but for now let me just tell you about it:

I'll be living on the first floor of a two-story house, with access to the basement, which for my purposes is a bike garage and workshop. The basement has a back door which allows for easy exit and entry with a bike from the back yard. My road bike will be for good to mediocre weather, and the mountain bike for whatever is worse than that. I'll just be needing the road bike for now, since it's another month or so before the snow starts (just kidding! Ithaca usually gets it's first snow around Halloween).

I'm not a fan of changing places, friends, or routines. But I think that as long as I'm in control of what the changes are, and as long as I organize my life the way I want - and not simply let it throw me around - everything will work out for the best.

Well, here it is

This is a bit puzzling. Nobody has yet taken "Biking is Gorges" as a blog name? Well, that can only mean one thing - bicycling has not yet taken off in Ithaca, NY. And that is understandable, because the hills, gorges, and severe winters are formidable obstacles to any of the bikers out there.

And yet, many similar cities and towns across America face similar problems, but the percentage of its population commuting by bicycle or using it for recreation is inexorably growing. The reasons for this are many, and one thing is clear - a supportive local government and public can make a big difference in bike use levels. Ithaca, a left-wing, composting, biodiesel-using kind of town should make for an easy convert. We'll see how it goes.

My mission for this blog is simple - as a new Master's student in the City and Regional Planning program at Cornell University, I intend to document my life in Ithaca with the bicycle as my main mode of transportation. I will try to avoid "one less car" or "a year without a car" or other slogans. It's no longer about bikers being dirty hippies who are trying to tell the world how to live from their high horse (or high bike). I admit I'm one of many. That is the point; that bicycles are mainstream, that everybody is getting in on the deal.

And what a deal it is. Gear, special clothing, maintenance, locks, bike parking - it all seems expensive, but compared to car ownership, it's a rounding error in your monthly budget. I will detail as much as possible regarding what I buy and how I get around. And again, I'm not going to go all hardcore and get all the latest gadgets. Being a Cornell student is pretty hard work; I don't have time (or money) for the complicated stuff. I just need a reliable way to get to class and to the grocery store to buy beer. Hell, I'm even bringing a car with me to town.

So here are some basic rules I'm going to follow.

• One single-occupant driving round trip per week, unless the distance is over 50 miles. This is a somewhat arbitrary distance, because it's really about the terrain, weather, and purpose of the trip. Basically, I'm still allowing myself to drive to see my parents back in NYC.
• No drop offs. If I'm driving someone somewhere, I can't take them and then return back by myself, because that is a single-occupant trip.
• Carpools are OK, provided the above rule holds. I must encourage the passengers to go for a group bike ride instead.
  
• All rules are off when it's below 25F or there is more than one inch of snow on the ground (basically, the major roads are not cleared). Or when my bike is broken.

Well, that's all for now. Oh, and in addition to my biking experiences, expect a good dose of urban planning stuff, venting at state government idiocies, and occasional forays into New York City events.