{"id":66,"date":"2008-04-23T06:55:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=66"},"modified":"2019-03-08T06:19:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T11:19:47","slug":"summer-biker-commute-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=66","title":{"rendered":"Summer biker commute returns!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_yytsDp42pSs\/SA8V3KTX_lI\/AAAAAAAAAJI\/HvnSGeZPVnY\/s1600-h\/Hchaps03.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_yytsDp42pSs\/SA8V3KTX_lI\/AAAAAAAAAJI\/HvnSGeZPVnY\/s320\/Hchaps03.jpg?w=584\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192392932784078418\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-family:verdana;\">Now that Spring is really finally here and the deluge of rain has temporarily stopped, I&#8217;m back to taking advantage of a bill that I fought for and won in my county.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, I engaged my elected officials (along with fellow biker-friendly activists) to have our county pass a bill that provides free parking for motorcycles at any local Metro (subway) station in the county.  This wasn&#8217;t easy &#8212; doing anything that reduces revenue for any public entity is never easy &#8212; but it did pass, and I should reap the benefits of what I fought for.<\/p>\n<p>Now each morning, I put on my business casual clothes, &#8220;office friendly&#8221; biker boots, chaps, biker jacket, gloves, and my helmet, and after doing the daily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msf-usa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">T-CLOCS inspection of the Harley<\/a>, off I go to my local Metro station.  I park the bike and lock it up six ways from Sunday, cover it, and then lock my gear in the trunk of my partner&#8217;s car so I don&#8217;t have to carry heavy leathers to and from the office.  My partner gets to the Metro about a half-hour before I do.  I then hop on the subway and I&#8217;m at my office a half-hour later.  Doing this saves me $22.50\/week.<\/p>\n<p>Why don&#8217;t I ride the Harley to work?  Several reasons:  1) cell-phone yapping cage drivers don&#8217;t see motorcycles; 2) riding in traffic is a pain in the ass and exhausting; I would have to pay $17\/day for safe parking, as well as pay for more gas; 3) my insurance premium would go up, since my premium is rated by how and where I use my Harley; and 4)  my employer provides a subsidy for using Metro, which it wouldn&#8217;t provide if I drove to work.  Plus, Metro is quick, usually reliable, and less stressful &#8212; especially at oh-dark-30 when I depart my home to go to work, and early afternoon when I return.  (I beat the crowds.)<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m happy to be back in my summer commuting routine, back on the bike daily, using my gear for why and how it&#8217;s made, and be able to benefit from some of my civic activism.<br \/><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Now that Spring is really finally here and the deluge of rain has temporarily stopped, I&#8217;m back to taking advantage of a bill that I fought for and won in my county. A few years ago, I engaged my elected &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=66\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harley-davidson-motorcycle"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}