Capital Bikeshare for the daily commuter?

This morning the building that I work in had a table set up and was giving out free reusable bags and coffee.  The people hosting the table work for the Arlington county transportation partnership, and they wanted to ask folks about their commute (and try and convince them to use public transportation).  I went down for the free coffee and bag, but I picked up some brochures at the table.  One of them was for the Capital Bikeshare program that has been growing significantly throughout the D.C. metro area.  My coworkers and I were wondering what the advantages of the Capital Bikeshare would be, as the rates seemed to be on the high side.  With the average bike commuter in mind, I decided to do a non-scientific comparison to see if it would be worth it to join Capital Bikeshare or to just purchase a bike for yourself to get to and from work.
What is Capital Bikeshare?

Capital Bikeshare puts 1,100 bicycles at your fingertips. You can choose from over 110 stations across Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA and return it to any station near your destination. Check out a bike for your trip to work, to the Metro, to run errands, go shopping, or visit friends and family...

The other day I took a random walk around D.C. I hit nearly all the major neighborhoods (downtown, dupont, woodley park, adams morgan, u street, shaw, mt. vernon square, chinatown, and penn quarter).  In almost every neighborhood, I saw a bikeshare station, with brand new red bikes.  I considered renting a bike for an hour just to try it, but then I looked at the rates...

Join:  $5/day; $25/month; $50/year -  
Usage Fees (you can't use unless you join):
0-30 minutes FREE; 31-60 minutes +$1.50; 61-90 minutes +$3.00; Each additional 30 minutes +$6.00.

The annual expense, then, for an average bike commuter using the bikeshare program could be as follows:

• Join $50*
• Daily usage $3 (assuming commute is 45min) x 200 annual commuting work days (avg. incl. holidays, vacation, inclement weather, etc.) = $600
• Helmet $60 (average)
• Total, year 1: $710
• Total, year 2: $650
• Total, year 3: $650
• 3 year grand total: $2,010

After the first year, the costs would go down to $650 because you would not need to purchase another helmet.  *However, Capital Bikeshare notes that the $50/year annual rate is an introductory offer.  This will likely go up in the future.

This seems expensive for a bikeshare program.  Even though the bikeshare allows you to park at any station, you still need to pack a helmet and other gear with you if you need to ride.  I suppose the upkeep and maintenance would not be an issue, but I still wonder why someone would use this option to commute to work. 

Personal bike costs.

• Bike: $600 (of course, this could be a lot higher or lower depending upon your tastes, but lets just assume this for a lower-end Trek hybrid bike).
• Helmet: $60
• Lock: $50
• Gear: $100
• Upkeep/Maintenance:  $75/year (this also could vary significantly)
• Total, year 1: $885
• Total, year 2: $75
• Total: year 3: $75
• 3 year grand total: $1,035

After the first year, the costs significantly decrease for a personal bike.  A good quality bike could last you up to 10 years easily, if not more.

Conclusion.

After a 3 year bike commute, the costs are nearly double to use the bikeshare program.  It makes little to no sense unless you have absolutely nowhere to store a personal bike at home, or at work, to go the bikeshare route.  For an occasional jaunt across town, bikeshare may make sense, as it's certainly a more fun way to get around the city.  However, for the average bike commuter, it makes no financial sense to join bikeshare.  Just buy a bike and start riding.

Almost a year later.

I haven't written a blog entry in nearly a year, 11/6/09 was the last.  There are a variety of reasons I stopped blogging, but no main one.  I've been itching to write as of late, and figured if no one else reads these entries (except for the family and dear friends I have on the automatic distribution list, of course), they at least help me journal my life, explore ideas, and improve my writing skills. 

So, stay tuned.  I've got a lot of topics in the queue to write about.  Comments always welcome.  :)
   

Volunteering: a must-do!

We all know the importance of giving back to the community.  It not only improves the lives of others and makes the community a better place to live, it makes you feel good, too.  Its the kind of feeling you can't really get elsewhere; giving your time, energy, and commitment to others, for the sake of the greater good.  Its the kind of feeling that when you go without it for a long time, you begin to start itching for it, and you don't really feel whole until you do it again.  I've had that itch for quite sometime now.  My friend and I volunteered at a D.C. public charter middle school last spring, and it was amazing.  6 months have passed since then, and that is just way too long.

This week I started my long overdue volunteer work.  I went on idealist.org to try and find some local opportunities, and I knew that I wanted to do something longer-term this year, to ensure that I continually fulfill this aspect of my life.  I am specifically interested in working with youth in schools, as I miss that from both my college and City Year days.  I found a few local opportunities that were either tutoring or mentoring or both.  I decided to check out two programs, College Bound and another youth center that will remain unnamed, lets just call it "Youth Center," both in D.C.

College Bound:

College Bound, Inc., a Washington, D.C. based, 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization, offers public school students in grades 8-12 academic enrichment and resources to prepare for and succeed in college. Founded in 1991, the organization offers tutoring, mentoring, ACT/SAT preparation, and academic and career guidance free-of-charge to assist students in the District of Columbia metropolitan area in meeting their post-secondary educational goals.

I checked out College Bound first.  Beyond what is described above, it is a well developed mentorship program, matching up D.C. college educated professionals with D.C. public school college bound youth.  Each week, the mentors spend two hours with their mentees, either helping them with their homework, making sure the college app/prep is continuing, or just being someone they can talk to.  The mentors are called "partners."  There are also organized activities that the students and their partners can do together, like college tours and the like.  The organization, from the start, has seemed very organized and well managed.  Right away, they paired me up with a local high school junior.  I spent the first 20 min or so getting acquainted with the program, but my new mentee helped me learn the ropes.  I was able to spend the 2 hour session getting to know her and two other girls that were at the same table (and for some reason did not have partners).  All of the kids genuinely seemed happy to be in the program, and seemed thankful for the partners that were there.  At the end of the session, the students all stand up and say something that was good that happened to them in the past week (a good grade, an accomplished goal, etc.), and the whole room listens and claps.  I am looking forward to the development of my mentorship with my mentee, and my involvement in what seems to be a great organization, College Bound.

The next night, I went to check out a volunteer opportunity at the aforementioned Youth Center.  This was a big disappointment.  The Youth Center advertised that they needed tutors for their college prep program.  The Center itself seemed cool, a real neighborhood community center for youth.  When I arrived, it was quite active and busy.  I attended an orientation session which lasted about an hour.  The jist of the orientation:  the tutor program is new, there is no guarantee tutors will match up with students, and the students don't show up regularly.   In other words, they should not have been advertising for tutors.  I think this Center at its core is a great place.  They provide a lot of programming and whatnot for the community.  However, this particular branch of the Center, the college prep program, was disorganized and mismanaged.  I really don't have time to commute after work somewhere when I may or may not even tutor a student.  Until they get their program up and running, I will just stick with College Bound.

The Youth Center was disappointment not just because of my individual experience.  But it got me thinking about non-profit management in general.  I've been to many different organizations like that.  They mean well, but at the end of the day there is no one there that is managing properly.  It turns out to be a huge waste of resources; time, people, and money.  I hope this Youth Center can turn their tutor program around (or get it off of its feet) because it surely would be a great benefit to the students of that community.

Having had a great experience with College Bound so far, two of my friends have decided to join as well.  This ripple effect may be the most beneficial aspect of all.  Not only that, other friends have been truly interested in hearing about volunteering, and have since told me that they plan to volunteer in their communities soon.  Real, fundamental change happens at the grassroots level.  If youth in schools aren't your thing, there are thousands of organization and causes in your community that would love your time.  Give back, it'll make you a better person. 

More on College Bound in a future post.  Thanks for reading!

My new blog!

Welcome to my new blog (I just changed the format and name of my old blog)!  Thank you for reading, and my first official post will be soon!  :)

Update to your google reader/favorites/history, etc.

The new link to my blog will be:

http://nicoleluisa.blogspot.com

Feel free to update!  My first blog on the new site will be soon!

Its been awhile...major blog changes!!

Hello all!  I know, I know.  You've given up on me as a blogger.  Its been many weeks since my last post.  You've probably determined that I'm either no longer into cycling and/or eating meat.  Well, not so fast.  Not only am I still into cycling, I have been spinning more than ever.  And I have not touched any meat since I started the pescetarian journey... 

So yes, I am still here and ready to blog.  However, I've decided that its time for a change in my blog.  Anyone that knows me knows how scatter brained eccentric I am.  When I decide to start a hobby (or lifestyle change), I do it full force, and after a little while I get bored and quit.  Thus, having a blog dedicated to pecetarinism and cycling got boring.  Even though I have committed to these two things, my life is way more diverse than that.  I think my readers would be a lot more interested in my day to day escapades than my occasional long ride with a fall or two.  My family, friends, job, city, travel, food, and every day activites lead to much more of an introspective and interesting blog for me to write, and thus, much more of an entertaining blog for my loyal readers to read.

Therefore, I am going to roll out a new blog.  It is, in a nutshell, going to be about my life.  No themes.  No strong focus (minus whatever I am "into" at any given time).  Just the journey of a twenty-something eccentric lawyer living, learning, and loving life.

Stay tuned...and update those google reader links when its time to!

The Long Overdue Biking Post

It's been a while since I've written about biking.  I've gotten a little side tracked with my obsession interest in nutrition, and people have asked me "how is the biking going?" Now its time to answer their questions.

In the past few weeks, I've usually been able to get a long(er) ride in on weekends, and have supplemented my outdoor riding with 2-3 days a week of spinning at my gym.  While I love riding outside,  it takes a lot of time getting ready for the rides (checking tires, gearing up, etc.).  During the week, it is just way more time efficient to go spinning.  And boy do I love spinning!  Spinning is by far the most time efficient cardio I do.  I will go to a 45 min or 1 hour class and be more tired and sweaty than any cardio session I could ever do on my own (save my training sessions which are killer!).  The instructors scream at you to pedal faster, harder, and wont let you quit!  I've been going pretty regularly to a couple of the classes and now the instructors know if I don't go.

The one thing I have noticed about all this spinning I am doing - it helps my outdoor biking endurance dramatically.  On my longer weekend rides, I am able to go a lot faster now, no matter what the terrain or incline.  With each ride, I notice the improvement in my abilities.  I think spinning is a must-do for any biker who doesn't have the time to get outside 2-3 days a week.

I've done the Capital Crescent Trail (pictured right) now a few times.  It's a great trail, about 20 miles total, plus about 4 miles to get to and from it.  The best part about the trail is that the entire way from Georgetown to Bethesda is uphill.  It is at just enough of an incline to give your legs a nice burn the whole way, and then on the way back you are able to get up to some pretty fast speeds because you are at a decline.

The first time I completed the Capital Crescent trail was quite interesting!  I managed to bike through dog poop, fall and bleed profusely (da*n those clips!) in the center of downtown Bethesda, see many, many people laugh at me due to the fall, notice that not a single person asked if I needed help (one guy did shout from a outdoor food stand "hey Lady, are you O.K.??"), have two jerk-offs cut me off and nearly fall again, see those same two jerks (on bikes mind you!) light up a joint and proceed to rides their bikes while smoking weed, shake my head at them, catch up with them apparently sometime after they finished their joint, see a bike cop on duty, and pull over and tell the bike cop that those jerks who just rode by were smoking weed while biking.  The cop said if he sees them again, he'll "get em."  Thats right - I snitched on them.  Guess what - pay back is a bi*ch.  Don't cut me off next time.

The next weekend I did the Capital Crescent trail again with a friend, A.B., and her friend.  This time none of the aforementioned excitement happened, but it was awesome hitting the trail with a couple people.  A.B. is a very fast rider, so she went ahead and then caught up with me later.  But we live near each other and so we were able to enjoy getting to and from the trail together.  My short term goal is to be able to keep up with her!!  :)

This morning I did the Mt. Vernon trial (pictured left) with A.B. and T.S.  We got up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday, and were on our way to the trail by 6:30!  The three of us are all at different speeds/levels so once we hit the trial we sort of did our own thing.  A.B. in the front, me in the middle, and T.S. in the back.  After a while, A.B. was gone, and I turned behind me to see that T.S. was also.  Our plan was to ride 30 min straight, and then turn around at whatever point we were and meet up at the airport (Reagan).  We had already ridden about 30 min to get to the point where we decided this.  30 minutes into my stretch, and past Alexandria, I turned around as planned.  I rode hard, fast, and tried to make it back to the airport before A.B. lapped me.  While I was riding, I kept looking for T.S. who I thought I would run into.  No sign of her.  I thought to myself, wow, maybe I went faster that I thought.  Almost back to the airport parking lot, I see a biker coming from some adjacent parking area (not part of the trail).  This biker was coming up the ramp fast, where I was going down a hill.  I was hoping this biker would turn to look at me, so we wouldn't crash into each other.  The biker turns and looks, and sure enough, its T.S.!  Coming from out of nowhere!  What she was doing down there, I have no clue.  She later tells A.B. and I that she nearly broke her bike (switched the wrong gears), and got lost for the majority of the hour we were apart from each other.  For those who know the Mt. Vernon trial, there are many forks, so getting lost for a first timer is quite easy.  It was hilarious.

Hitting the trail this morning made me remember how much I love outdoor biking.  We got out early enough that there weren't very many people out yet, more runners than bikers yet anyway.  While I was alone I thought about how much I do want to complete that Century Ride next fall in New York.  I think my long-term training plan will start in January.  Now I am just trying to get myself in great shape in order to start endurance training.  I am going to have to buy some biking gear for the fall/winter months to keep warm/insulated out there.  Nothing is going to keep me from outdoor riding!

12 Days of Ultra Simple - Enough is Enough

I have completed my journey with The Ultra Simple Diet, early. I made it 12 days. My goal was to go 30 days. The first thing I'd like to note is that The Ultra Simple Diet is designed to last 7 days. I was the crazy one who wanted to take the diet to the extreme. That being said, I am over it. For me, it was unsustainable because I became extremely bored, unhappy, and yearning for social interaction (I had been turning down invites and not planning other things due to the diet). I am now moving on to the next stage of my healthy eating journey.

Over the 12 days, I lost about 6 lbs overall (rounded down). I lost about 2 inches in my waist. I felt thoroughly cleansed. It's a great 7 day diet. Otherwise, it is just not practical any longer. I don't think I did it long enough to comment on any other effects.

I am going to keep a lot of the same principles of The Ultra Simple Diet, combine them with some principles from Ultra Metabolism (Dr. Hyman's bestselling book), a few other sources, and design my own program of healthy eating. These will be my general nutritional principles:

- 5-6 small meals/day
- 90-95% vegan diet (occasional fish, eggs, and/or dairy)
- Limit alcohol consumption to 1-2 servings/week (mainly red wine)
- No white sugar, white flour, white rice/pasta, starch
- Gluten-free when possible

I think these principles will keep me healthy, cleansed, and most importantly, social. I will still bring my lunch to work daily, eat at home 95% of the time, and workout daily. My new program opens up a lot more food options for me (I know many people reading this don't think so, but it really does!), and I am excited to get started with it.

On a side note. I am seriously considering becoming a Vegan. I am going to blog about this later this week, however, this may change this blog and its focus entirely. Stay tuned!

1 week down, 3 to go!

Yesterday I completed my first week on The Ultra Simple Diet.  It wasnt as hard as I initially expected, however, it is quite time consuming.  I literally spend all of my non-work/gym/sleep/RHOA time prepping and planing meals.  The first few days I was annoyed by this.  Having to wake up extra early to pack my lunch, make my morning shakes, drink water/green tea, etc., I thought was a bit of a drag.  But around the 4th day or so I began to enjoy it, strangely enough.  I greatly look forward to my morning shakes now (mainly because they are the only sweet thing I consume in the day), and I am finding new ways to spice up the lunches and dinners I am eating.  I have also been able to cut time down by prepping 2-3 meals all at once.  

The first few days of the minimal caffeine consumption were rough, I did get a headache or two.  However, that went away and now I am able to fully function on 1 cup of green tea in the morning, and nothing more.  I also found the first couple days not quite productive digestively.  Sparing any details on this blog, that quickly corrected itself.  The only non-Ultra Simple meal I consumed was dinner with T.N. on Saturday night.  We went to a vegetarian restaurant and I ordered a vegan meal which was quite good.  I did have a couple bites of things that were not on the diet, however, probably about 5 or 6 french fries and a 1 bite of T.N.'s gnocchi which was fabulous.  

Pros: I lost 4.5 lbs this week, which is great news considering I am never really hungry on this diet, and I never go to bed hungry (the dinners really fill me up).  I also didnt do all of the workouts I had planned for the week.  However, I forgot to take my waist measurements (I will do it for next week).  I noticed an improvement in my skin after the 4th or 5th day.  I do think my breakouts are directly related to dairy consumption, although I also think it may be a gluten issue.  Because I cut both of those foods out completely, I will not really know until I attempt to incorporate them back in (if I end up doing so at all) at the end of the 4 weeks.  I must admit, my weekends are so much more productive when I am alcohol free.  I am finding time to do projects that I had put off for months.

Cons: Boredom.  I do miss the foods I cut out.  I am only 1 week in and am already bored with what I bring for lunch and/or consume for dinner (again, love the morning shakes though).  I am constantly going to the bathroom due to the amount of water I am drinking.  I don't like the fact that I have been turning down invitations to do certain things due to my diet (bbq's, happy hours, etc.).  While it is true that I could still attend these functions, its kind of like walking in to a McDonalds hungry, and just smelling the fries.  Who wants to do that?  I'll just wait until my month is over.  If folks want to hang out with me, I am available for bike rides.  Shout out to A.B. and our ride last Saturday! 

Goals for the 2nd week:  I want to try and do all of the workouts I have planned for the week, without skipping any days.  I will focus on making sure I consume snacks.  While I am at work, it is hard for me to snack.  I need to make a point of doing so, or else I eat too much at lunch/dinner.  Even though when I do over-eat, it is on veggies and brown rice, its still over-eating.  I am going to watch my portion sizes as well this week.  Also, I probably wont go out to eat anywhere.  Even though my dinner with T.N. was great, I probably should have not nibbled on the non-sanctioned foods. 

Overall, good week, but glad its over.  3 weeks to go!

Ultra Simple for a Month

Having traveled for nearly the entire month of August, and enjoyed many glutenous activities this summer overall, I think it all took a toll on my body, and specifically my liver.  As I mentioned in the previous blog post, I have decided to follow and complete The Ultra Simple Diet, by Dr. Mark Hyman, for an entire month (9/15/09 - 10/13/09). 

This diet is a simple one: It gets rid of bad foods which directly cause toxicity and inflammation (the two major causes of weight gain and disease) and adds good foods which detoxify and are anti-inflammatory.  This is not a starvation diet, in fact, I'll be eating constantly throughout the day, turning my metabolism into an ever burning fire. 

I took Dr. Hyman's toxicity and inflammation quiz which measures just how toxic and inflamed one is.  I scored a 42 which = mild imbalance.  This score isn't super high, but it is not what is considered "optimal health," which is a score of 10 or lower.  My goal over the month is to decrease my score into the optimal health range.  I will be taking my vitals before and after the program as well; weight, waist, hip, and BMI will all be measured.  

I want to blog about this experience because even though this is a "simple" diet, it is also going to be very hard (and I believe, very rewarding).  I need my friends and family to be supportive of it, as I may have to decline invitations to certain things.  The diet can be summarized by the following:

Foods I will avoid:
- Alcohol
- Caffeine (except for green tea)
- Gluten
- Flour (white & wheat flour)
- Sugar (including artificial sweeteners)
- Dairy products
- Eggs
- Corn (and the plethora of products containing corn)
- All meat except organic fish (easy part, go pescetarianism!)
- Any oil other than EVOO
- Citrus fruits and juices (except lemon juice)
- Fast food, junk food, any foods that are processed in anyway
- Peanuts
- Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers)

Foods I will enjoy:
- Water
- Fish
- Non-citrus fruits (berries)
- Fresh vegetables
- Fresh vegetable broth
- Legumes (lentils, beans, tofu, etc)
- Brown Rice
- Nuts & Seeds
- Flaxseeds
- Lemons
- Various seasonings

As you can see, it is a "simple," yet, complex diet.  Bascially, all of the foods in the "do not eat" list are common triggers of inflammation and or toxicity in humans, and many of which have been found to have direct links to modern day diseases.  Dr. Hyman recommends cutting them all out in order to reach your optimal health, and then slowly incorporating only some of them back in once you finish the cleansing stage of this diet (his second stage is called Ultra Metabolism, I will blog about that when my month of Ultra Simple is nearly up). 

I plan to blog about the diet bi-weekly, and include any tasty recipes I come up with as well.  I am also going to start going on longer weekend bike rides, now that I am back in the area for the weekends!  Lots to stay tuned for!  :)