0 comment Friday, August 1, 2014 | admin
Last week, I was searching for a new apartment in the Capitol Hill/City Park/Congress Park area. I currently live at 12th and Humboldt and work at 17th and Vine, a total 10-block commute. I'm seven blocks from the grocery store, as well, and I bike or walk there, depending on how I'm feeling whatever day.
The first appointment I made to see a new apartment was at a building at 17th and Williams, a whopping three and a half blocks from my office, and three blocks from my favorite coffee shop. The place was okay, not too bad, something I could see myself living in. But I turned it down.
The main reason? It was too close to my office. Folks who live in Highlands Ranch and commute to downtown Denver probably cringe at someone making that decision. I knew I was going to turn it down after I walked there and it only took me about six minutes.
Three and a half blocks is not enough distance to justify biking to work, I thought, and if I walk to work, I won't have my bike at the ready when I get off work and feel like ripping off a few miles or doing some errands, like hey, I should ride three miles down to REI and give them some more of my money for more climbing gear, then maybe back down to Washington Park and around the loop a couple times before I stop by the grocery store and get some tortillas on my way home. Sure, I could walk home and get my bike, then go for a ride, but would I? I was incredibly disturbed about the possibility about not riding my bike every day of the week, and because of that, I picked a different place, where I could commute a grand total of 16 blocks every morning.
I'm sure a lot of people think about commuting by bike when they consider where they want to live, but I'm thinking they say to themselves, "And it's close enough I can bike to work every day." Not, "Whoa, I better move a little further away so I can still bike to work every day."
The first appointment I made to see a new apartment was at a building at 17th and Williams, a whopping three and a half blocks from my office, and three blocks from my favorite coffee shop. The place was okay, not too bad, something I could see myself living in. But I turned it down.
The main reason? It was too close to my office. Folks who live in Highlands Ranch and commute to downtown Denver probably cringe at someone making that decision. I knew I was going to turn it down after I walked there and it only took me about six minutes.
Three and a half blocks is not enough distance to justify biking to work, I thought, and if I walk to work, I won't have my bike at the ready when I get off work and feel like ripping off a few miles or doing some errands, like hey, I should ride three miles down to REI and give them some more of my money for more climbing gear, then maybe back down to Washington Park and around the loop a couple times before I stop by the grocery store and get some tortillas on my way home. Sure, I could walk home and get my bike, then go for a ride, but would I? I was incredibly disturbed about the possibility about not riding my bike every day of the week, and because of that, I picked a different place, where I could commute a grand total of 16 blocks every morning.
I'm sure a lot of people think about commuting by bike when they consider where they want to live, but I'm thinking they say to themselves, "And it's close enough I can bike to work every day." Not, "Whoa, I better move a little further away so I can still bike to work every day."
Labels: Priorities