Life without a car challenge

From the Idaho Statesman, 08.24.07:

Micah Deffries lives without a car and he'll prove it on Saturday at the Tour de Fat
Don't even bother asking Micah Deffries if he wants a ride. He doesn't, and he's doing just fine without a car, thank you very much. "I just smile and say, ‘No thanks,'" Deffries says. "I'd rather not get in a car."

Deffries, 29, relies on his Ritchie mountain bike as his main form of transportation, and friends and family often can't resist offering him a ride when he's out on his bike.

Before you write off Deffries as some anti-driving whack job, consider this: He says he doesn't have anything against people who drive. He just realized his driving habits weren't doing him much good. He began to see the irony in driving to the gym to get in a workout. And he thought he'd save some money by ditching his car. "Driving a car and commuting in a car is a major component to a sedentary lifestyle," he says.

Since he's embraced cycling, Deffries has lost weight and rediscovered his childhood love of pedaling on a bike. "Riding a bike is the closest thing to a time machine I have found," he wrote. "The trail here in Boise is full of adults with little kid smiles. ..." (Read more.)

This article profiles a participant in bike-friendly New Belgium Brewing's Team Wonderbike "Car for Bike" program.

Image: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Image from Tour de Fat 2007 in San Francisco.
Visit: Paul Dorn's Bike Commuting Tips