Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're discussing how biking is a money and
Speaker 1: a life hack that's right, and whether it's the cooler
Speaker 1: weather Joel, that we are experiencing or specifically I saw
Speaker 1: recently that Atlanta, there's this month long initiative that's called
Speaker 1: Biketober that's all about getting folks to ride their bikes
Speaker 1: more often. I can't wait till spike member. Bikecember definitely
Speaker 1: doesn't work bike you wary March. But regardless, biking it's
Speaker 1: on our mind. It's something that we enjoy so much.
Speaker 1: We feel like it's like the secret sauce maybe too too.
Speaker 1: Why it is you and I are so happy, why
Speaker 1: we're so wealthy. It's because we bike so much, all right,
Speaker 1: like the Benjamin Franklin to bikes. It's not quite it's
Speaker 1: one of the secret secret sauces in our arsenal. We
Speaker 1: felt that this was so crucial. This is literally the
Speaker 1: first episode we ever recorded within this personal finance podcast.
Speaker 1: We decided it was going to be about bikes. When
Speaker 1: you think about it from a logical perspective, it doesn't
Speaker 1: make a whole lot of sense. To launch a personal
Speaker 1: finance podcast and then make the first episode about biking,
Speaker 1: but like but rather investing right or say anything whatever
Speaker 1: it is. But I guess when you think about it
Speaker 1: from our perspective, like it shows one how much we
Speaker 1: value biking and how important we think it is, but
Speaker 1: how it really is an integral habit that you can
Speaker 1: incorporate into your life that's gonna save you a ton
Speaker 1: of money as well. And so that's you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna kind of maybe you know, update our thoughts on
Speaker 1: biking and give some explainers on why it's so important,
Speaker 1: and then talk about how you can effectively make biking
Speaker 1: more part of your regular routine. And we'll talk about
Speaker 1: how it can save you money. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of other additional benefits to There are a lot
Speaker 1: of reasons before we get to that, Joel, before we
Speaker 1: get to a beer, I wanted to here a quick, uh,
Speaker 1: like a bone headed move that I made. Normally we
Speaker 1: talked about our wins when it comes to our money,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna share a loss, not a large loss,
Speaker 1: a small loss, thankfully. So we took a listener question.
Speaker 1: I think this is about two years ago or a
Speaker 1: little over two years ago. It was towards the beginning
Speaker 1: of the pandemic. It was when the FED was dropping
Speaker 1: rates and we were seeing what the banks were paying
Speaker 1: and savings accounts dwindling. Right, I mean basically was taking
Speaker 1: a nose dive and a listener people understand now the
Speaker 1: mechanics behind that based on last week. So that's right.
Speaker 1: We talked about this last week. And what's crazy is
Speaker 1: that us thinking about and preparing for that episode last week.
Speaker 1: That's not what caused me. Well maybe it did in
Speaker 1: a in a sort of roundabout way, caused me to
Speaker 1: realize that I was making this mistake in my own life.
Speaker 1: But a listener was asking about locking up some of
Speaker 1: his money in a CD in order to earn some
Speaker 1: sort of interest within the money that he had set aside.
Speaker 1: We're not normally huge fans of this, but there are
Speaker 1: some penalty free there are like these no penalty eleven
Speaker 1: months CDs. In particular, one that I signed, you know,
Speaker 1: put sunk some money in. After that question, was this
Speaker 1: one that ally offers and when there's not gonna be
Speaker 1: a penalty, when there's no fee associated with canceling that,
Speaker 1: you know, canceling that account pulling that money out early.
Speaker 1: There's no harm in locking that money up, and so
Speaker 1: that's something that we did recommend. We're like, well, maybe
Speaker 1: shy away from the regular CD, but if there is
Speaker 1: a no penalty option, maybe take that path. I figured
Speaker 1: I would do that as well, because I thought this, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is a good way to keep your savings at
Speaker 1: least in the one plus percent range, rather than seeing
Speaker 1: it kind of dip all the way down. And as
Speaker 1: like the writing was on the walling five range, breaks
Speaker 1: were coming down hit hard. And so that was an
Speaker 1: environment where CD has made a little more sense, whereas
Speaker 1: typically we're like, we're not very finest. You might want
Speaker 1: to stay away, and that's all fine and dandy unless
Speaker 1: you forget that you've got money in that account. And
Speaker 1: like we talked about last week, the banks have been
Speaker 1: raising their interest rates and are paying in the mid
Speaker 1: to upper twos even at this point, and that is
Speaker 1: exactly what I've been doing by defaults over the past
Speaker 1: few months. It took me last week. I was looking
Speaker 1: at the end of the week, I was cleaning up
Speaker 1: the budget a little bit, and I realized, holy crap,
Speaker 1: I've got a serious junk of money. Sitting there earning
Speaker 1: one point something when I could be earning easily double that,
Speaker 1: and I feel like a little bit of a gut punch. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, luckily again, because it was a no penaltd CD,
Speaker 1: I was able to easily remedy that. It was super
Speaker 1: easy to do. Just canceled that account, move that money
Speaker 1: over to the savings account, was immediately earning a higher rate.
Speaker 1: But I wanted to share this because even though I mean,
Speaker 1: we talk about this all the time, I'll say, at
Speaker 1: least for myself, it can be easy to kind of
Speaker 1: fall into this set it and forget it mindset. And
Speaker 1: while in some instances that is a great approach to take,
Speaker 1: right in particular when you're talking about your investments with
Speaker 1: something like this that's a little more active, it's good
Speaker 1: to revisit some of these different decisions that we've made
Speaker 1: in the past, because it's funny. I mean, it was
Speaker 1: just right there in front of me, and I had
Speaker 1: just been looking right over it, just like as I
Speaker 1: go in there, make sure certain checks have been deposited,
Speaker 1: make sure everything's matching up within my spreadsheets. But it
Speaker 1: took me taking a step back and realizing, oh man,
Speaker 1: this is a suboptimal move for me right now to
Speaker 1: how of all this money, all this money tied up.
Speaker 1: And so I think that can be a natural tendency
Speaker 1: for us, right to make things easy, to simplify things,
Speaker 1: to not think about things once we've made that decision.
Speaker 1: But I think it can be beneficial to our bank account,
Speaker 1: specifically for us to revisit some of these things. It's
Speaker 1: hard to remember, Okay, I putt put money in a CD,
Speaker 1: but I did it because we were in a folly
Speaker 1: great environment and now that the environment is completely shifted,
Speaker 1: and there are much better places for me to stick
Speaker 1: my cash, whether it's I bonds or even just stocking
Speaker 1: that money in a regular savings account. But for yeah,
Speaker 1: for anybody out there who does have money in the CD,
Speaker 1: the chances are once it matures, or if it's a
Speaker 1: no penalty CD, it's time to get the money out
Speaker 1: because there are better places to stick that money. And um, yeah,
Speaker 1: so I'm glad you realize see your ways able to
Speaker 1: fix that problem. Yeah, and again the one I had
Speaker 1: signed up for you those through ally super easy to do.
Speaker 1: It does make me wonder, though, how many folks are
Speaker 1: out there who have signed up for did something similar
Speaker 1: and are realizing wait a minute, oh shoot, this is
Speaker 1: something I need to take care of. You time to
Speaker 1: address it exactly, Move on, carry on with life, Joel.
Speaker 1: Let's introduce the beer you and I are enjoying this
Speaker 1: episode again. This is another one by a Bosky brewing company.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Bob for donating this one and the others
Speaker 1: to the show. Looking forward to enjoying this one, Joel,
Speaker 1: And of course we'll share our thoughts at the end
Speaker 1: of the episode, no doubt. All right, well, let's get
Speaker 1: onto it, Matt. Let's talk about one of our favorite
Speaker 1: subjects that we've been talking about obviously for a long
Speaker 1: time now, which is biking. And and it's still something
Speaker 1: that we we address from time to time on the
Speaker 1: show because, especially during the pandemic bikes we were so hot.
Speaker 1: They were all the rage bike sales through the roof,
Speaker 1: and and we would say that spending less than you
Speaker 1: make it's it's like the most basic element of personal finance, right.
Speaker 1: You can get as complex as you want, and you'll
Speaker 1: probably need to get more complex if you want to
Speaker 1: make progress more quickly. You'll need to figure out the
Speaker 1: dynamics of investing in frugality and and you know, to
Speaker 1: be able to grow the gap so that you can
Speaker 1: invest more. But if you can get that that simple
Speaker 1: basic habit right of spending less than you make right,
Speaker 1: it's going to have massive ramifications on every area of
Speaker 1: your life, allowing you to pay off debt, to save
Speaker 1: and but if you if you fail to heed the
Speaker 1: most basic tenant, if you aren't able to do the
Speaker 1: simplest thing right, well then you won't be saving or
Speaker 1: investing in. Your debt's going to continue to accumulate. And
Speaker 1: that's an awful place to be in your personal finances.
Speaker 1: And man, I don't just thinking about biking. It made
Speaker 1: me think, it's just this, it's this really simple thing
Speaker 1: that can radiate and have a major impact on your finances.
Speaker 1: And and it actually made me think of our conversation
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago with Charles do Higg, who
Speaker 1: wrote a book about habits and and he talked about
Speaker 1: habit formation with us in January a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: and one of my main takeaways from that conversation was
Speaker 1: when he talked about keystone habits, and he said that
Speaker 1: keystone habits impact all of our other habits, that if
Speaker 1: you get just a couple of these keystone habits right,
Speaker 1: that it will be much easier to develop. Other healthy
Speaker 1: habits are kind of like the big domino that knocks
Speaker 1: down all the other dominoes. They create this ripple effect.
Speaker 1: And I think you and I maybe we might describe
Speaker 1: biking as a keystone habit that can have wide ranging
Speaker 1: impacts on our lives, on our finances, And that's why
Speaker 1: we're dedicating an entire episode to it today. Just like
Speaker 1: spending less than you make is a keystone habit, right,
Speaker 1: it's gonna lead to better results in every other part
Speaker 1: of your finances. Well, Biking similarly is that for I
Speaker 1: think our money and for our lives. Absolutely. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: fact is we believe that biking can have maybe as
Speaker 1: much of an impact on your data to life as
Speaker 1: spending less than you make. Uh, it can be that foundational.
Speaker 1: There are just so many different potential problems that biking
Speaker 1: more and driving less is able to solve. And another
Speaker 1: common thread or narrative that we often hear is that
Speaker 1: riding a bike might seem like this activity that's just
Speaker 1: a bit out of reach for every single person out
Speaker 1: there to try. Uh, you might be you know, someone
Speaker 1: might say, like, oh, cycling, it's just for the the
Speaker 1: bike messenger types, you know, riding around on their hip
Speaker 1: single speeds, flipping off of cars as they driving on
Speaker 1: the slidewalks, or or it's just for the like the
Speaker 1: weekend warrior mountain bikers, or for the that the cluster
Speaker 1: of bikers that are you know, riding on the road
Speaker 1: wearing spandex. But like we all right, look, I'm fine
Speaker 1: with it if if you want to do that, more
Speaker 1: power to you. But we're trying to convince you otherwise, right,
Speaker 1: Like this is more approachable than you think. We want
Speaker 1: this to be something that you incorporate more in your
Speaker 1: day to day as opposed to it being this thing
Speaker 1: that is more of an activity. We wanted to be
Speaker 1: less of an activity and more sort of like the
Speaker 1: like the underpinning of how it is that you know,
Speaker 1: you think about transporting yourself around um and you know, plus,
Speaker 1: even if you haven't ridden a bike since you're a kid,
Speaker 1: Like there's a reason that you hear the phrase it's
Speaker 1: like riding a bike. It's because it's something that you
Speaker 1: never forget how to do. That's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: that we're not really gonna get to today to Joel,
Speaker 1: but just I mean writing a bike. I think was
Speaker 1: it the first episode when we talked about Stranger Things
Speaker 1: and just how much fun it can be when you're
Speaker 1: just you know how, the freedom of being on a bike,
Speaker 1: the wind blowing through your hair that was half the
Speaker 1: your helmets into your hair. Of course you always need
Speaker 1: to wear helmet. That was half the fun of the
Speaker 1: first season of Stranger Things was those kids on their
Speaker 1: bikes and the eighties and just like the nostalgia brought
Speaker 1: me back to my childhood and doing the very same
Speaker 1: thing in the streets of the neighborhood where I grew up.
Speaker 1: And I think it's also important to mention, Matt you
Speaker 1: mentioned Biketober here in Atlanta, this is like the perfect
Speaker 1: time of year to get started riding a bike, because like,
Speaker 1: if you start picking up in in the middle of
Speaker 1: July or the middle of January, you're less likely to
Speaker 1: stick with it because it might be really hot, really
Speaker 1: cold wherever you are, and you might be like, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: not for me. So we would say the fall is
Speaker 1: just the right time to begin biking. It's absolute best weather.
Speaker 1: There's just something delightful about getting around on two wheels
Speaker 1: when the leaves are changing colors too. Like the sound
Speaker 1: of those leaves as they dry, crackling under your tires.
Speaker 1: It's pretty great. And uh, you know, by the way,
Speaker 1: back when we started the podcast, we were living in
Speaker 1: the middle of a big city, in the city of Atlanta,
Speaker 1: and because of that, a lot of folks, maybe, I
Speaker 1: don't know, they might have dismissed our enthusiasm for biking
Speaker 1: as like, that's what the urban dwellers, that's what the
Speaker 1: city folk do. And you know, I live jell. They
Speaker 1: don't understand what it's like out here in the burbs. Well,
Speaker 1: guess what now we do. We've joined you, and so yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. They might have thought, well, it's it's um,
Speaker 1: it's particularly a matter of where they live. I can't
Speaker 1: do the same thing, and I'm not gonna lie, Matt.
Speaker 1: You and I we were a bit nervous when we
Speaker 1: opted to move out to the Birds that maybe it
Speaker 1: would mean biking less, driving more. That's not what we wanted.
Speaker 1: But yeah, we're happy to report that we have been
Speaker 1: biking just as much, if not more than we used
Speaker 1: to when we were living in town. And you know,
Speaker 1: there might be less bike infrastructure around these parts, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean we've got to relegate our bikes to
Speaker 1: the garage. I was like, literally just chatting with a
Speaker 1: new friend here, Matt on Sunday, and she was talking
Speaker 1: about an eight mile bike ride that she makes every
Speaker 1: single week, and the bike infrastructure not great for a
Speaker 1: section of that ride, but she makes it happen anyway,
Speaker 1: And I was like, more power to you, man, this
Speaker 1: is congratulations. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, well, I think I
Speaker 1: mean you and I were both proud to say that
Speaker 1: we have not succumbed to the desire to get a
Speaker 1: second vehicle living out in the burbs. We have found
Speaker 1: a way to prioritize biking in her life. Um. And
Speaker 1: that's truly what it comes down to. It's about making
Speaker 1: it a priority because you might not have it as easy,
Speaker 1: but especially if you're a renter right or if you're
Speaker 1: in the market to buy a home right now, thinking
Speaker 1: about where you live in terms of bike ability and
Speaker 1: even walkability, that that's a smart thing to do because
Speaker 1: even if that apartment, if it costs more because it's
Speaker 1: centrally located, if it means that you can ditch a
Speaker 1: car and avoid the car payment, which would be the
Speaker 1: worst case scenario. But even still, insurance costs, the costs,
Speaker 1: cost of maintenance, the cost of gas, it's gonna mean
Speaker 1: meaningful savings. Last week in the Hotwo Money newsletter Wonderful, Magnanimous,
Speaker 1: it's a fantastic one featured a listener and she did
Speaker 1: this very things. It's it's not like she had the
Speaker 1: super fancy car or anything. It was nice and it
Speaker 1: was a used ride, but she sold it. And she
Speaker 1: credits that one move as having the biggest impact on
Speaker 1: her ability to get ahead. So maybe she's also influenced
Speaker 1: our desire to revisit bike me because we're like, man,
Speaker 1: she is doing things right. And she had a picture
Speaker 1: of her like even in the cold New York. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's in New York. Yeah and so, and she makes
Speaker 1: seventeen an hour, she's got a six figure net worth.
Speaker 1: But she credits all of this to the one big
Speaker 1: decision that she made which has had ripple effects in
Speaker 1: all other areas of her life. But she's able to
Speaker 1: get around town no problem. And of course being up
Speaker 1: there close to the Canadian border. She didn't say specifically
Speaker 1: where she was. It's a lot colder up there, so
Speaker 1: it's it's not even a requirement to live in the
Speaker 1: the wonderful balmy state of Georgia like we are. We
Speaker 1: think it's great down here, but it is still possible
Speaker 1: when no matter where it is that you live. Right
Speaker 1: side note, My favorite thing about the How To Money newsletter,
Speaker 1: by the way, is the how You Money segments. What
Speaker 1: we're doing. It's a nice feature. It's so fun because
Speaker 1: we profile a different How to Money listener or reader
Speaker 1: every other week in the newsletter, and so you get
Speaker 1: kind of like an insight, like a voyeuristic look into
Speaker 1: their personal finances. You can see, well, how much money
Speaker 1: do they make, and what are their debts, how much
Speaker 1: are they saving, how much are they investing, where do
Speaker 1: they live. Joe likes peeping in on you and your money.
Speaker 1: If you're curious about how other people live and handle
Speaker 1: their money, and maybe they're Dirk freak their craft, you're
Speaker 1: equivalent how they live in life. I think it's a
Speaker 1: really fun element of the newsletter, and you can I'm
Speaker 1: learning a lot from its super car readers, which is
Speaker 1: which is fun. So yeah, you should sign up for
Speaker 1: that at how the Money dot com slash newsletter. But
Speaker 1: let's keep talking about biking. And I think infrastructure is
Speaker 1: definitely you can you can cite a lack of infrastructure
Speaker 1: as a reason why you're not biking more, and I
Speaker 1: can get the argument behind that. And I do think
Speaker 1: it's important that we fight for more bike infrastructure where
Speaker 1: we live. But I would say it's it's more of
Speaker 1: a possibility to bike than you realize, even if you
Speaker 1: lack some of the infrastructure that would be nice to have.
Speaker 1: Although you know, we talked about there was a resurgence
Speaker 1: of biking during the pandemic. Bike sales were through the roof,
Speaker 1: and we even saw more and more cities and municipalities
Speaker 1: like prioritized bike infrastructure, which was cool. But the reality
Speaker 1: is we still kind of have woefully inadequate bike lanes
Speaker 1: around most of the country. And and this this might
Speaker 1: be like a no DA thing to say, but I
Speaker 1: saw this study in the National Academy of Science has
Speaker 1: found that cycling increased up to forty eight percent more
Speaker 1: in cities that added bike lanes versus cities that added none.
Speaker 1: And it makes a difference. Yeah, it does. Like if
Speaker 1: if you build the infrastructure, people people want this, Like
Speaker 1: people get out when But we've kind of prioritized cars
Speaker 1: in so many of our cities around the country. We've
Speaker 1: given them full rain of all the roads, and bikers
Speaker 1: are relegated to what's left, and that is that's just
Speaker 1: not good. And so we as just a society, as
Speaker 1: a culture, have to prioritize biking um And you know,
Speaker 1: Oakland is, for instance, one of those towns that seems
Speaker 1: to really have prioritized making it easier and safer to
Speaker 1: bike in recent years. And I don't know, I hope
Speaker 1: we see more of that. And I hope the reality
Speaker 1: that COVID created more bike riders is going to create
Speaker 1: maybe like a ground swell uh in a lot more
Speaker 1: cities for more bike infrastructure, because it's going to make
Speaker 1: it easier for all of us to get around on
Speaker 1: our bikes exactly. Yeah, I mean, and hopefully we can
Speaker 1: end up like a like a city like Copenhagen, right
Speaker 1: like something like sixty two percent of folks things they
Speaker 1: commute via bike. There's like large swaths of the city
Speaker 1: that you cannot access via car, and so we want
Speaker 1: to see more of this, you know, but we only
Speaker 1: see something like point six percent of us commuters riding
Speaker 1: their bikes to work. That's like what a thousand times
Speaker 1: fractions the you know, the fact is is that the
Speaker 1: more infrastructure we see pop up to encourage biking, the
Speaker 1: more biking we're gonna see. Uh. And it doesn't happen
Speaker 1: in a vacuum either, you know, like it takes organizations,
Speaker 1: it takes individuals to help fight for it. It reminds
Speaker 1: me of our friend Chad Carson. He spends a lot
Speaker 1: of time and energy getting more bike trails up and
Speaker 1: running in his hometown of Clemson, South Carolina. And so
Speaker 1: we would recommend for folks find, you know, find your
Speaker 1: local bike abvacy organization, donate some time, donate some money
Speaker 1: at send some of these meetings and some of these
Speaker 1: these group rides often which are there to help raise
Speaker 1: awareness because we believe that they can be a major
Speaker 1: catalyst to this becoming something that you can actually see
Speaker 1: in your hometown, not just something that Matt and Joel
Speaker 1: liked to talk about from from time to time on
Speaker 1: the show. Well, we've talked about Streets Alive in Atlanta
Speaker 1: and how that happens typically four times, three or four
Speaker 1: times a year, and they shut down like five or
Speaker 1: six miles of street that are typically our cars have
Speaker 1: full rain of and how that just has an impact
Speaker 1: on the public consciousness about how many people want to
Speaker 1: get out on their bikes in that town. And then
Speaker 1: there's pictures, there's documentation that I think we can we
Speaker 1: can point to our politicians and say, look, there's like
Speaker 1: a desire for this. Let's put more of our dollars
Speaker 1: are public dollars to use funding bike lanes that are
Speaker 1: going to make our city more better to get around
Speaker 1: it and just kind of a healthier place to exist
Speaker 1: as well. But Matt, let's keep talking about bikes. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about specifically this get to how much money you
Speaker 1: can save if you choose to ride a bike more.
Speaker 1: But there are environmental impacts that actually there was a
Speaker 1: stat that shocked me. We'll talk about that and more
Speaker 1: right after this. All right, dude, we go back from
Speaker 1: the right. We're talking biking, and you know, we just
Speaker 1: touched on bike infrastructure specifically, how it is that you
Speaker 1: can work to make things better wherever it is that
Speaker 1: you live. But we're gonna now cover some of the
Speaker 1: reasons that we feel that biking is a total game changer.
Speaker 1: And the first one it's gonna seem super sort of broad,
Speaker 1: but it's also it gets very specific as well. Uh,
Speaker 1: the first reason that we think biking is such a
Speaker 1: clutch move is that bikes are efficient, as I'll get
Speaker 1: out there somewhere between like fifty and eighty times more
Speaker 1: efficient energy wise than taking your car. And then on
Speaker 1: top of that, more than half of the trips that
Speaker 1: we make are four miles or fewer, right, And so
Speaker 1: what's important to keep mind here is a trip of
Speaker 1: that length, it's gonna be a lot easier to stomach
Speaker 1: for most folks, especially if you're just starting out right,
Speaker 1: It's it's unlikely that you're going to start biking on
Speaker 1: your twenty mile commute to work. Um, actually, I think
Speaker 1: that would actually lead to more folks throwing in the towel,
Speaker 1: maybe before they even started. You try to commute on
Speaker 1: on day one, Day one, it was probably not gonna
Speaker 1: work out. Literally tomorrow Thursday morning, you're like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give it a shot, and then you know
Speaker 1: you're gonna pet her out too quick because you're gonna
Speaker 1: be like, that was rough. I'm not into it exactly.
Speaker 1: And so whether you know it's just dropping the kids
Speaker 1: off at school or just running and you know, picking
Speaker 1: up some groceries, running an errand these are the sorts
Speaker 1: of trips that makes sense for us to use our
Speaker 1: bikes for. We've talked before how vehicles like cars are
Speaker 1: these really interesting devices because we use the same device
Speaker 1: to drive two miles that we could hop into right now,
Speaker 1: fill it up with gas, and drive straight across the
Speaker 1: country for hours and hours. Whereas there's a big gap,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of room for vehicles like bikes in
Speaker 1: particular when it comes to these the shorter trips. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you like to take your segway out on
Speaker 1: the on the open road every once in a while.
Speaker 1: I'm not true those those things that I don't feel
Speaker 1: like they they're great for like city tours, maybe on
Speaker 1: sidewalks around town, but they're kind of worthless. You know.
Speaker 1: I've never actually been on a segway. I don't think
Speaker 1: I've been on one either. I've seen them around, but
Speaker 1: they just look so goofy, seem neat No, hey, I
Speaker 1: just have to do look goofy though, I mean you
Speaker 1: look goof you wearing your helmet on a segway that's
Speaker 1: going three miles an hour. Uh, it's true. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's talk to you about the environment, because there's
Speaker 1: an argument to be made by folks who are trying
Speaker 1: to use fewer fossil fuels that biking is a perfect
Speaker 1: way to do this. Right, then we could all stand
Speaker 1: a less in our carbon footprint, and and riding a
Speaker 1: bike is really like one of the easiest ways to
Speaker 1: immediately begin making that happen. If if that's something you
Speaker 1: care about, if that's something that matters to you, we
Speaker 1: would say biking is kind of one of those slam
Speaker 1: down choices to make in order to be better about that.
Speaker 1: And according man, this is the stat that I talked
Speaker 1: about before the break that just completely floored me. According
Speaker 1: to research out of the University of Oxford, which has
Speaker 1: some pedigree, right, they kind of know what they're talking about.
Speaker 1: Apparently fairly academic. Yea, even choosing a bike over a
Speaker 1: car one time a day reduces the average person's carbon
Speaker 1: emissions by sixty seven percent. I still don't understand how
Speaker 1: that's possible, but I'm just gonna trust the science here,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna believe the University of Oxford that this
Speaker 1: is accurate. So I think the thing. When I read
Speaker 1: that one, I was just kind of flabbergasted. But it
Speaker 1: also made me think that it doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: an all or nothing approach. Right, you can gradually start
Speaker 1: adding a bike into the mix of your transportation, of
Speaker 1: the modes that you take, confident that even just a
Speaker 1: minor shift just biking that hopping under bike one time
Speaker 1: a day to make a run instead of let's say
Speaker 1: you take five car trips a day, make it four
Speaker 1: car trips in a bike ride, and that is going
Speaker 1: to have a major impact. You might think, I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm starting out small, I'm dipping my toes in the water.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna make that much of a difference. But
Speaker 1: I don't know. At least what this stat is showing
Speaker 1: us is that it will. Yeah, and honestly, even aside
Speaker 1: from the environmental impacts, which you know that's definitely a
Speaker 1: great argument, but there's just something beautiful about efficiency, right, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're listening to this podcast, it makes me think
Speaker 1: of all the money nerds out there, Like we're all
Speaker 1: money nerds on like on the spectrum, like it depends
Speaker 1: on how into what you are. But regardless, well, if
Speaker 1: you might like I don't know, start bawling if you
Speaker 1: had done what Matt did with that CD, you know,
Speaker 1: like that inefficiency might have Uh, it's gonna cause you
Speaker 1: to crack. Yeah, But regardless, what we like seeing though,
Speaker 1: is our dollars going to the right places and to
Speaker 1: not see waste. And that's what we're fighting here like that,
Speaker 1: Like that's what's I mean. This is sort of like
Speaker 1: beautiful design, I guess is what I'm what I'm getting
Speaker 1: at is the fact that you're able to harness your
Speaker 1: physical energy, your physical calories into moving your body across
Speaker 1: the earth. There's just something really cool about that, aside
Speaker 1: from the positive impact that is having on the environment
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, and it's an even bigger environmental positive
Speaker 1: if you are able to in a family that would
Speaker 1: normally have two cars, if you if you cut back
Speaker 1: to having one car, it's like that car didn't even
Speaker 1: have to be created in the first place, much less
Speaker 1: being driven. And so I think that makes it even
Speaker 1: more powerful from an environmental perspective. I don't I don't
Speaker 1: have any numbers or flabbergasting statistics on that, but you
Speaker 1: got to think, Matt, the fact that a family of
Speaker 1: five and a family of six each have one car.
Speaker 1: When that is traditionally those familings we have two or three.
Speaker 1: That makes a big impact to exactly. Yeah, And so obviously,
Speaker 1: like bikes, they're not just efficient from a from an
Speaker 1: energy standpoint, but they allow you to use your money
Speaker 1: more efficiently as well. Bikes are are cheaper than cars.
Speaker 1: Like obviously, um, I mean, you could buy a ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollar bike if you wanted to, I guess, But
Speaker 1: the truth is that you can get an awesome bike
Speaker 1: for less than one thousand dollars, and great used bikes
Speaker 1: can be had for just a few hundred bucks. Not
Speaker 1: only do you save money on the that upfront cost,
Speaker 1: but just the ongoing expenses associated with maintaining a bike
Speaker 1: versus a car are pretty significant as well. There's a
Speaker 1: New York City biker who actually did the math, and
Speaker 1: you found out that a fifteen hundred dollar bike should
Speaker 1: cost you somewhere in the three and fifty dollar range
Speaker 1: in maintenance costs throughout the year. And you know, that
Speaker 1: sounds pretty close, but it's actually higher than than what
Speaker 1: we're typically showing out here. Maybe down in the warmer
Speaker 1: state of Georgia. I don't know if there's less salt
Speaker 1: or whatever on the road that's corroding our parts as much,
Speaker 1: but even still a few hundred bucks a year and
Speaker 1: maintenance is pretty reasonable. Uh. It also makes me think
Speaker 1: about I was looking at some of the different reasons
Speaker 1: that folks were participating in Biketober here in Atlanta. Why
Speaker 1: it is that they bike, and there is he's either
Speaker 1: a student or a t A or a professor at
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech. And it's because for him, it was going
Speaker 1: to cost him the same amount of money to buy
Speaker 1: a parking pass on campus that would allow him to
Speaker 1: drive to school and park parker's car their own campus
Speaker 1: as it would for him to buy an electric bike.
Speaker 1: So he just bought up the electric bike because he thought, well,
Speaker 1: what's the point of Like, that's not even including all
Speaker 1: the additional maintenance costs, um the cost of gas, the insurance,
Speaker 1: all the other costs associated with owning a vehicle, but
Speaker 1: just in parking alone, that one expense allowed him to
Speaker 1: make the slam dunk decision to go ahead and get
Speaker 1: that e bike rather than buying that parking And that's
Speaker 1: a really good point. In Atlanta, parking costs aren't as
Speaker 1: expensive as they are in other cities like Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: For example. And so if you live in a place
Speaker 1: that has higher parking costs, you might find that that's
Speaker 1: another reason. Like even my little sister in midtown Atlanta,
Speaker 1: for every additional space you get as a as a tenant,
Speaker 1: you have to pay. I forget how much I think,
Speaker 1: I want to say it was like a hundred fifty
Speaker 1: bucks a month for yeah, for an additional parking space.
Speaker 1: And they they are a one car family with a
Speaker 1: tiny little scooter, and they were able to get their
Speaker 1: their scooter basically they're able to park that for free.
Speaker 1: So yeah, the if parking parking cost factor in, that's
Speaker 1: a big cost. So you can act out of your
Speaker 1: life if you start riding your bike more. And and Matt,
Speaker 1: you were just talking about the difference in the upfront
Speaker 1: cost of a bike versus a car and then the
Speaker 1: ongoing maintenance costs, which are a fraction, right, And and
Speaker 1: there's just like a massive difference compared to the average
Speaker 1: cost of a vehicle, which when you run the numbers,
Speaker 1: and this this also sounds a little shocking, it costs
Speaker 1: the average person ten thousand dollars a year. I think
Speaker 1: it was like seven hundred dollars a year in the
Speaker 1: most recent Triple A survey to own a car, because
Speaker 1: when you're factoring in maintenance costs, you take into account depreciation,
Speaker 1: which is the thing that most of us we don't
Speaker 1: really think about. But your car is being devalued every
Speaker 1: single year in a typical environment, and and that will
Speaker 1: cost you thousands of dollars a year just owning that car.
Speaker 1: And basically, when you think about the numbers like that,
Speaker 1: that one year of car to p station, well, that
Speaker 1: is going to cost you more than what the bike
Speaker 1: would have cost you, which is which is kind of
Speaker 1: crazy to think about. But we often don't run the math, right,
Speaker 1: We don't run the full numbers, and so we we
Speaker 1: assume that our cars are costing us less than they
Speaker 1: actually are. But the truth is that your car is
Speaker 1: way more of a drain on your finances than you
Speaker 1: think it is. And if you actually run the numbers,
Speaker 1: you'll find that out. And then if you can ditch
Speaker 1: a car like we talked about, from your life and
Speaker 1: your budget, you're gonna be in this vastly superior financial
Speaker 1: position that most people aren't in, allowing you to funnel
Speaker 1: your dollars two more productive areas, right, you know, having
Speaker 1: one less car. Also, by the way, selling a car
Speaker 1: and being like, I'm going to become a biker now
Speaker 1: is inevitably going to lead you to biking more. It
Speaker 1: makes me think, Matt, like, I wasn't fully committed to
Speaker 1: basically biking full time until we sold my niece on
Speaker 1: Leaf and I was like, well, I guess that's my
Speaker 1: only option now. It kind of left me up the
Speaker 1: creek without a paddle, and so I had to find
Speaker 1: my way as a biker, full time biker, and I
Speaker 1: think that was helpful. I don't know that you know,
Speaker 1: you should necess sairly start from square ones, sell your
Speaker 1: car tomorrow, and then like you might find that your
Speaker 1: specific situation doesn't lend to becoming a full time biker,
Speaker 1: but it's it's worth Your literal mileage might vary yeah
Speaker 1: on this one, Yeah, but it is. But it is
Speaker 1: important to note that sometimes like that can help you
Speaker 1: uh fully commit to the thing that you're like, you're
Speaker 1: trying to achieve. Finally ditching that car, not having that
Speaker 1: safety blanket when it's forty degrees and you're like, I'd
Speaker 1: rather eat up the car and take my five mile
Speaker 1: trek to work inside inside that little cocoon. I get it, Like,
Speaker 1: I would probably opt for that too sometimes, but now
Speaker 1: I don't have the option, and that kind of forces
Speaker 1: me to do the right thing. Yeah, it's an incredible
Speaker 1: commitment device where you to go ahead and sell that
Speaker 1: vehicle and stick with driving full time. And it's also
Speaker 1: worth addressing potential argument that biking how it might actually
Speaker 1: cost you more money, uh, and that that argument goes
Speaker 1: something like this, if time is money, and it takes
Speaker 1: me longer to get somewhere, well, then it's gonna cost
Speaker 1: me more to to ride a bike than it is
Speaker 1: for me to drive a car. But here's something interesting,
Speaker 1: because if you're a city dweller, biking can often help
Speaker 1: you to get wherever you're going more quickly than you
Speaker 1: could in your car. That's actually what the study over
Speaker 1: at m I T found last year because in fact
Speaker 1: is bikes can maneuver around cities a little more nimbly
Speaker 1: than cars can, especially when traffic is awful. Uh, something
Speaker 1: we deal with here again in Atlanta. And additionally, when
Speaker 1: you factor in how much easier it's going to be
Speaker 1: to find a parking spot for your bike than it
Speaker 1: is to actually find a spot to park your car
Speaker 1: in the city, it's gonna make biking look even smarter.
Speaker 1: But bottom line, I think that that kind of argument,
Speaker 1: it's it's oftentimes two more of a short term sort
Speaker 1: of argument, right, Like you're only looking at the here
Speaker 1: and now. Uh. In fact is there are these other
Speaker 1: longer term benefits that you realize by biking more. Oftentimes
Speaker 1: it doesn't come down to just the dollar and cents,
Speaker 1: but there are some other factors as well that biking
Speaker 1: can have a positive impact in your lives completely, Like,
Speaker 1: for instance, maybe if you're biking more regularly, you don't
Speaker 1: have to spend as my time in the gym, right
Speaker 1: because of the health benefits that you get from biking.
Speaker 1: By the way, I love what you said about finding
Speaker 1: a parking spot. It's like, yeah, maybe my car got
Speaker 1: me there five minutes faster, but then it takes ten
Speaker 1: minutes to look for the parking spot and a circle
Speaker 1: the city blocks exactly what we've we've talked about riding
Speaker 1: to Atlanta ninety games on our bikes and how just
Speaker 1: getting your car in the parking lot is such an
Speaker 1: endeavor at one of those matches, and then Valet parking
Speaker 1: your bike is like the easiest thing in the world.
Speaker 1: You're in the stadium faster, even if it took you
Speaker 1: a little bit longer to get there und your bike.
Speaker 1: But let's talk about health for a second, because I
Speaker 1: think it is true that you might be able to
Speaker 1: go to the gym lest or maybe even to the
Speaker 1: doctor less too, if you're biking more frequently. I'm not
Speaker 1: sure if you could maybe fully go with the slogan
Speaker 1: matt a bike ride a day keeps the doctor away.
Speaker 1: Could we do that for that? Okay, all right, put
Speaker 1: it on a T shirt. This is not medical advice. Uh,
Speaker 1: and that might actually be taking it just a bit
Speaker 1: too far, but it's it's kind of a double waymy right.
Speaker 1: That's getting you where you need to go, it is
Speaker 1: keeping you fit while doing it. Sedentary lifestyles, of course,
Speaker 1: are just like a massive problem in our country. They're
Speaker 1: creating major health problems for individuals and for our society
Speaker 1: as a whole. The less we move, the worst off
Speaker 1: our bodies are the worst we are as a civilization,
Speaker 1: and so um. The reality is, cycling more allows you
Speaker 1: to burn calories, strengthens your heart and your lungs, your
Speaker 1: muscles and improves your mental well being. Plus it's not
Speaker 1: hard on your joints, Matt, because a lot of folks
Speaker 1: might be averse to something like running, right, it's hard
Speaker 1: on my knees, and I've never really been a runner,
Speaker 1: But I think cycling you don't have the same excuse
Speaker 1: because it's it's not hard on your joints in the
Speaker 1: same way. You know, it's it's good for the whole family. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: even your kids can do it. So I don't remember, Matt,
Speaker 1: when we talked about the power of a quick nap. Recently,
Speaker 1: we talked about how just a twenty minute nap like
Speaker 1: all of the benefits that can bring to your life,
Speaker 1: and it made me think, well, we should start napping.
Speaker 1: You're more at out of money. Well, I think maybe
Speaker 1: a little after post ledged right, Yes, I was just thinking,
Speaker 1: like a bike and nap combo regularly you would kind
Speaker 1: of change our lives as individuals and then collectively because
Speaker 1: we might be a little more well rested, we might
Speaker 1: be a little bit happier and healthier. And it's amazing
Speaker 1: just the health impact that biking regularly once a day,
Speaker 1: even short rides, it can start to make you a
Speaker 1: more fit person, just a happier, healthier person in general. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and of course all of this, I mean, with healthcare
Speaker 1: costs being one of the fastest rising expenses in our lives,
Speaker 1: this translates into real savings. And honestly, like we're mostly
Speaker 1: just talking about the physical benefits here, but there's also
Speaker 1: the mental side of things. Just think about the stress
Speaker 1: that's gonna melt away as your biking biking home and
Speaker 1: you know, rather than just feeling stressed out because you're combating,
Speaker 1: like you're fighting, you're duking it out for the you know,
Speaker 1: the spot as you're trying to make that right turn
Speaker 1: as your crouched over you're standering wheel like letting the
Speaker 1: your muscles hardened. Instead you translating that like transforming it
Speaker 1: into this relaxing bike ride. Because and like the other
Speaker 1: thing too, Like I was thinking of the fact that
Speaker 1: often we are working in our cars, Like so many
Speaker 1: folks carry the work from the office with them into
Speaker 1: the vehicle into the car, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of folks are working pretty much like up until the
Speaker 1: second that they like walk through their door going inside,
Speaker 1: bringing with them all of this additional stress and the
Speaker 1: drama like from the office, and so just from a
Speaker 1: quality of life standpoint, I think it's helpful to provide this,
Speaker 1: this barrier between work and home. It's a way to
Speaker 1: kind of contain that in a way that allows you
Speaker 1: to live your life in a way hopefully that you
Speaker 1: want to be able to live your life. I think
Speaker 1: it's important to mention too. I think biking more connects
Speaker 1: us to our communities more. And the more we're riding around,
Speaker 1: the more we see our neighbors, the more we wave,
Speaker 1: and the more we maybe stop and have a quick chat.
Speaker 1: I know I do. Like when when I'm in my car, though,
Speaker 1: and I'm hurtling down the road at thirty five, if
Speaker 1: I see a friend, like we probably don't even catch
Speaker 1: each other's gaze. You might wave right maybe, and they
Speaker 1: might not see me. But if I am on my bike,
Speaker 1: it's guaranteed at minimum some sort of connection wave and
Speaker 1: typically I'll stop and say hello and chat for a second.
Speaker 1: Those are some of my favorite things about about biking.
Speaker 1: Are these really not super tangible? Not not like it's
Speaker 1: gonna save you a hunter bucks or not like it's
Speaker 1: gonna do this right like we've talked about. Those things
Speaker 1: are some real tangible ways, some real tangible health and
Speaker 1: it's benefits and monetary benefits, but there's some harder to
Speaker 1: quantify community benefits. I think that you will get as
Speaker 1: you get on your bike more. These are quality of
Speaker 1: life improvements that we're talking about. Yeah, And and like
Speaker 1: I think it just allows us to enjoy the scenery
Speaker 1: a little more too, and enjoy the place where we live.
Speaker 1: I think that biking more just makes us feel more
Speaker 1: attached to more a part of our community. And I
Speaker 1: think that's a really valuable experience. Yeah, So it totally
Speaker 1: makes me think of Robert Persig in the art what
Speaker 1: is then in the art of motorcycle maintenance, But he
Speaker 1: talks about how being even on a motorcycle, how you're
Speaker 1: more attached to where it is that you are, as
Speaker 1: opposed to being in like the steel box hurtling along
Speaker 1: the road. Because when you're in a car and you
Speaker 1: are looking out at the you know, looking out of
Speaker 1: the scenery that you're driving past, we often treat it
Speaker 1: in the exact same way that we treat the other
Speaker 1: images that we see on other sides of glass that
Speaker 1: we are on too much of the day, namely our
Speaker 1: computer screens, our phones and our televisions and how oftentimes
Speaker 1: when we are in cars. That's why oftentimes it can
Speaker 1: be so dehumanizing to other people who are on the
Speaker 1: receiving end of somebody's rage or temper because they don't
Speaker 1: see them as people. They just see them as sort
Speaker 1: of like these inanimate objects on the other side of
Speaker 1: this piece of glass, as opposed to being on a
Speaker 1: bicycle where you're not observing the scenery passing by like
Speaker 1: you are a part of it. You are in it's
Speaker 1: and it's a lot easier to become, uh and feel attached,
Speaker 1: like you said, to a community when you're not literally
Speaker 1: doing a drive by in a vehicle, hopefully not terrorizing
Speaker 1: those in your in your wake. Right. Well, I think
Speaker 1: the other thing too, is there's something that that shifts
Speaker 1: in your mentality, like your perception of the kind of
Speaker 1: person you are shifts as you become a more regular biker.
Speaker 1: It's it's kind of like how we talk about investing
Speaker 1: Matt like that, that there's something that happens once you
Speaker 1: get started, once you make that first investment, and then
Speaker 1: maybe you do it two weeks again later, and then
Speaker 1: the next and then two weeks later you make your
Speaker 1: third investment, and you're just you start to become an investor,
Speaker 1: Like you're not just investing your money now, it's kind
Speaker 1: of part of your identity. And I think the same
Speaker 1: thing happens when you start biking regularly. There's some sort
Speaker 1: of like mind mental shift that and it changes the
Speaker 1: way you view yourself and and and you're you're a
Speaker 1: biker now, and that's subtle. Change can be kind of
Speaker 1: a powerful thing, and that change almost ensures that you're
Speaker 1: going to keep writing, like because now you voot yourself
Speaker 1: a certain way. And and I think even some of
Speaker 1: the other elements that we talked about with personal finance,
Speaker 1: like gamification, right, the more you can kind of turn
Speaker 1: your finances into a game as you're trying to improve
Speaker 1: and level up, well, gamifying your rides can be helpful
Speaker 1: to like a hill that maybe was previously like you
Speaker 1: want to avoid it because you wanted to be as
Speaker 1: easy as possible, and now you're like, no, no no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm a biker. I want to be a good biker.
Speaker 1: I want to be a strong biker. And you're like, boom,
Speaker 1: now I'm gonna see like how quickly I can get
Speaker 1: up that hill And I'm gonna try to beat my
Speaker 1: previous best time. Those are the kind of things that
Speaker 1: I think are just a fun part of right now.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I used to just be point A to
Speaker 1: point B transportation on biking, and now I think of
Speaker 1: biking yes as that. But sometimes I want to take
Speaker 1: the longer route or want to take the more scenic
Speaker 1: route just because it gives me more exercise, It gives
Speaker 1: me a different respective, it gives me a better view.
Speaker 1: I feel a part of my neighborhood in my community
Speaker 1: in a different way. And so it's not always just
Speaker 1: about getting too from one place to the other as
Speaker 1: fast as I can anymore exactly. Yeah, there is benefit
Speaker 1: to be received from the activity in and of itself.
Speaker 1: Uh So, we talked through some of the different reasons
Speaker 1: why we love biking so much. But after the break,
Speaker 1: we're going to discuss how it is that you can
Speaker 1: go about buying a bike, plus some other tips from
Speaker 1: us with all of our years of biking experience, and
Speaker 1: we'll get to all of that jewel right after this. Alright,
Speaker 1: let's keep talking about biking. It is the ultimate life
Speaker 1: and money hack, we would say, and we talked about
Speaker 1: at the beginning. How it is kind of like this
Speaker 1: key don't have it. How if you become a biker,
Speaker 1: if you start biking regularly, it is going to have
Speaker 1: ripple effects. It's going to have a downstream impact on
Speaker 1: how much money you're able to save and how much
Speaker 1: wealth you're able to build, but also just kind of
Speaker 1: the lifestyle you're leading, how healthy you are, and how
Speaker 1: connected do you feel to your community. But you might say, listen, dudes,
Speaker 1: I don't have a bike, so we we you Obviously
Speaker 1: we gotta figure that out because you're going to need
Speaker 1: a bike in order to make biking a regular habit
Speaker 1: for yourself. You you might already have one and it
Speaker 1: might just need some air in the tires and maybe
Speaker 1: some loom on the chain. I think that's worth considering, Uh,
Speaker 1: dusting off your bike and giving it a little bit
Speaker 1: of love, taking out of the shed or the garage
Speaker 1: or wherever it is and giving it a test dride
Speaker 1: to kind of see what it needs. And you can,
Speaker 1: if you want, to look up some YouTube videos and
Speaker 1: kind of find out how to get your bike back
Speaker 1: in shape. But you might even want to take it
Speaker 1: to a bike shop first and get it in proper
Speaker 1: working order and then maybe try to maintain it from there.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you might already find this. You've got what
Speaker 1: you need on hand. You don't have to go out
Speaker 1: there and buy something new, which would be awesome, But
Speaker 1: if you don't have one, we're gonna talk about how
Speaker 1: to get a good one without breaking the bank here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you don't necessarily have to buy one brand new,
Speaker 1: you can buy one used and so like. To that end,
Speaker 1: we would recommend just like go old school, like check
Speaker 1: out a site like Craigslist, Uh, look to Facebook, marketplace
Speaker 1: like you can actually like look at the signs in
Speaker 1: your neighborhood that start going up on on a Thursday
Speaker 1: or Friday. You can actually go to a literal yard
Speaker 1: sale and potentially score a great bike. Check with your
Speaker 1: local bike shop. They actually they might have some used
Speaker 1: bikes that they sell. They may not, but it's definitely
Speaker 1: worth asking. Uh. They oftentimes know of the bikes that
Speaker 1: they service and that they work on. They know whether
Speaker 1: or not folks or wanting to hang onto those or
Speaker 1: get rid of them. But once you've identified and found
Speaker 1: a bike, you've got a test ride. At first, you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that it does what you need
Speaker 1: it to do, you know, like put it through its
Speaker 1: paces a little bit so you can make sure that
Speaker 1: all the components are are working properly. This is where, specifically,
Speaker 1: if you're able to buy a bike, even to use
Speaker 1: one at a bike shop, they'll be able to help
Speaker 1: you to get fitted properly because you might want to
Speaker 1: take a friend, by the way with you on that
Speaker 1: touch drive if you're a complete bike take someone who
Speaker 1: knows what they're doing and say like, hey, will you
Speaker 1: ride this for me and tell me if you think
Speaker 1: it's a good bike for you, you ride to work
Speaker 1: a decent bit, right, like tell me, like you know
Speaker 1: something about bikes, come with me please, and you can,
Speaker 1: you know, make sure I'm not making a big mistake here. Um.
Speaker 1: But they can also help you to to know that like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that one will probably work for you. Who knows how
Speaker 1: into this thing that you're getting. It's it's close enough
Speaker 1: in sizing you just basically like you don't want to
Speaker 1: get a bike that's way to stink it big for
Speaker 1: you that is almost too difficult to navigate on your streets.
Speaker 1: And obviously you don't want to get something that's way
Speaker 1: too small where you've got the you got the extra
Speaker 1: long stone like Joel does. I'm like six six I
Speaker 1: need the XCEL frame and I'm like looking for a
Speaker 1: used mountain bike right now, Matt, and like all I'm
Speaker 1: seeing or medium sized frames on Facebook. Difficult to find
Speaker 1: those excels. It's tough to find the Exile. But that
Speaker 1: being said, you can also look too if you are
Speaker 1: going to buy new And we've mentioned this site before,
Speaker 1: but bikes direct dot com. I've purchased multiple bikes from
Speaker 1: the site where the model that they follow basically as
Speaker 1: you are buying these sort of like white label bikes,
Speaker 1: they're they're solid bikes, they've got great components, uh, and
Speaker 1: they are shipped directly to you. You've got to do
Speaker 1: like a minimal amount of assembly to that bike. But
Speaker 1: I've also had multiple friends who have purchased bikes from them. Uh,
Speaker 1: and you can get a really solid bike that's not
Speaker 1: going to break the bank over there at bikes direct
Speaker 1: dot com. Let's talk about e bikes here for a
Speaker 1: second map because some people, I don't know, that's a
Speaker 1: whole other can of worms. E bikes also have been
Speaker 1: soaring in popularity in recent years, and some hardcore bikers
Speaker 1: might be like e bikes aren't real bikes, and I
Speaker 1: don't know we would beg differ because the reality is, yes,
Speaker 1: of course you get more exercise riding a bike that
Speaker 1: doesn't have a motor in a battery. But it's also
Speaker 1: true that the e bikes allow for folks to get
Speaker 1: on a bike who otherwise wouldn't be able to, and
Speaker 1: especially for commuters who don't want to arrive super sweaty
Speaker 1: matt like that Georgia Tech professor. Uh. They might say,
Speaker 1: you know what, um, it's either an ebike or it's
Speaker 1: driving my car, and they is by far the lesser
Speaker 1: of those two evils. Not that an e bike is
Speaker 1: even evil, it's it's not even that, But I'm just
Speaker 1: saying it is like a vastly superior choice when you're
Speaker 1: talking about those two against each other, and they can
Speaker 1: also create I would say this kind of virtuous cycle
Speaker 1: causing folks to get more excited about biking in general,
Speaker 1: which leads them to ride their e bike in probably
Speaker 1: even a traditional bike more in general. So I would
Speaker 1: say e bikes are mostly a good thing in our book.
Speaker 1: They're causing people to get on their bikes again, and
Speaker 1: you know, used as a great place to look when
Speaker 1: you're talking about e bikes. Also, rad Power Bikes makes great,
Speaker 1: reasonably priced bikes that they sell direct to consumer. I
Speaker 1: know you can. You can even get e bikes at Costco.
Speaker 1: I can't vouch for how good they are, but I
Speaker 1: can vouch for Costco's return policy, and so if it sucks,
Speaker 1: you can take it back. Uh. And I would also
Speaker 1: say look at electric bike review dot com to read
Speaker 1: and learn about specific models. They've been doing a great
Speaker 1: job for years at test driving, reviewing and discussing the
Speaker 1: pros and cons of different models, and even have like
Speaker 1: a best Affordable ebike section to which is helpful. Yeah. Also,
Speaker 1: let's talk about cargo bikes. This is a style of
Speaker 1: bike that you and I both have, but they have
Speaker 1: only gotten better in recent years, and while they are
Speaker 1: going to cost more money, they truly can be a
Speaker 1: car killer because they allow you to transport not only
Speaker 1: kids who are riding back there on the long tail,
Speaker 1: but you can put paint ears on there and transport
Speaker 1: groceries as well as other goods. I've even transported other
Speaker 1: bikes via my cargo bike before. But there's just lots
Speaker 1: of different solutions and just because you're thinking, well, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna allow me to do X. Well, there's actually
Speaker 1: a good chance that somebody has done x um. I'm
Speaker 1: thinking about like Mr money must that shot in Colorado.
Speaker 1: He's actually attached a trailer to his bike. Not just
Speaker 1: like a little surly like kid trailer where you just
Speaker 1: like stick two kids in there, but like it's like
Speaker 1: a truck. It's like it's like haulling lumber, lumber from
Speaker 1: the hardware store, like loads of lumber. That's not some
Speaker 1: sticks exactly. So there are lots of creative ways to
Speaker 1: solve this problem, and it's it can be easy to
Speaker 1: say that biking more like that's going to be too
Speaker 1: difficult for you, but it's only become more accessible in
Speaker 1: recent years. Uh. And the abundance of solid cargo bikes
Speaker 1: specifically I'm thinking of the ones that you Be an
Speaker 1: extracycle that they make are evidence of this. But another
Speaker 1: companies like rat Power Bikes have made this even easier
Speaker 1: for folks with the rat Wagon, which is what you've
Speaker 1: got Jold, which has been a great bike out on
Speaker 1: my second version of the Radwagon, I had the first
Speaker 1: gin and I have the fourth chin and it's been,
Speaker 1: you know, considering it seems like an expensive bike on
Speaker 1: its surface, but when I think about how much value
Speaker 1: I've gotten out of the bike, it's been absurd, Like
Speaker 1: it's been literally priceless. Yeah, it's it's been one of
Speaker 1: the best decisions I've ever made to buy this bike.
Speaker 1: And uh, that might sound weird, but it's like, but
Speaker 1: it's for real. It's because I get so much. I
Speaker 1: think I've put more than miles combined on both those
Speaker 1: two bikes. And so that's a lot of going to
Speaker 1: and fro and a lot of like fun activities and
Speaker 1: a lot of just kind of pointed a point be
Speaker 1: transportation that it's really provided for me. And that's in
Speaker 1: addition to the road bike that I ride almost every day.
Speaker 1: Um So, yeah, I think cargo by bikes for a
Speaker 1: lot of people can make a whole lot of sense
Speaker 1: because they can help you haul more stuff if that's
Speaker 1: what you need, whether it's kids or groceries, It's it's
Speaker 1: worth at least looking into that. And and just one
Speaker 1: other thing, Matt, I think, you know, we're talking about
Speaker 1: buying bikes, and uh, speaking of rat I saw that
Speaker 1: they recently launched an ebike rental service in Berlin, and
Speaker 1: it made me think that renting bikes is not typically
Speaker 1: in the best in the best long term interest to people,
Speaker 1: because you know, like I love what rat is up to,
Speaker 1: but paying eighty bucks a month to them for a
Speaker 1: rental it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're not talking about spending five bucks on a
Speaker 1: bike rental service when you're in a as a tourist
Speaker 1: and city where you're hopping from one one point to
Speaker 1: the other. You're talking about sort of like this ongoing lifestyle.
Speaker 1: You provide the bike for me, I pay you money,
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about the bike. I'd rather
Speaker 1: you own your own bike because the goal, the goal
Speaker 1: is for people to use it regularly for years on end.
Speaker 1: And you know, bike's just they're not like gadgets, like
Speaker 1: tech gadgets where upgrading every couple of years gets you
Speaker 1: actually improved features or something like that, where if you
Speaker 1: get this year's model, while it's gonna be outdated by
Speaker 1: next year and so you might as well just rent it. No,
Speaker 1: we would say that owning a bike is important and
Speaker 1: renting is going to cost you more. And so even
Speaker 1: though this program is only available in Europe. I could
Speaker 1: see this just because of the subscription models that have
Speaker 1: become abundant here in the US. I could just see
Speaker 1: this kind of happening in more cities across the United States,
Speaker 1: and I can see a lot more people be like, cool,
Speaker 1: this is how I'm going to get into biking. I
Speaker 1: would rather you own your own because I just think
Speaker 1: you're gonna get enough use out of it where that
Speaker 1: makes sense. Absolutely, And Joe, so we we talked about
Speaker 1: our our upstate New York listener earlier. She's biking in
Speaker 1: inclement weather. Sometimes. We're certainly luckier here down in the South.
Speaker 1: Although it does get cold, it's nothing like what folks
Speaker 1: up in the Northeast typically experience. Although we are again
Speaker 1: more likely to show up to work um or to
Speaker 1: the store or to a restaurant a little sweatier than
Speaker 1: most other folks. But honestly, who cares. I feel like
Speaker 1: this is one of those things that we can push
Speaker 1: to fight back on a little bit, because nobody really
Speaker 1: cares about you sweating with a little bit of sweat
Speaker 1: on your brow more than you do. And so what
Speaker 1: that is, it's sort of like what as I think
Speaker 1: about it, it's sort of like the ick factor where
Speaker 1: you're just like like, I don't want I just don't
Speaker 1: want to show up being slightly damped to wherever it
Speaker 1: is that I need to go. But I think it's
Speaker 1: worth pointing out that it's a preference thing. It's not
Speaker 1: like I can't do this type of thing. And then
Speaker 1: like those people by the way view you when you
Speaker 1: show up a little bit sweaty from your bike ride,
Speaker 1: less icky and more like wow, respect, yes, And I
Speaker 1: totally guess the case most people will actually have, Like
Speaker 1: there's a certain amount of respect that comes with your
Speaker 1: dedication to that and the fact that you're pushing through
Speaker 1: even though you might not be like smelling like a
Speaker 1: barbed up soape or something like that. But there's also
Speaker 1: ways that you can get around that by just different
Speaker 1: things you keep at the office. But I mean, either way,
Speaker 1: I feel like the majority of folks are going to
Speaker 1: be able to show up to to work not looking
Speaker 1: like they're, you know, ready to go out on a date,
Speaker 1: especially if you're you know, you're prepared right, and so
Speaker 1: no matter like where it is that you live, it's
Speaker 1: important for folks out there to have the proper clothing uh,
Speaker 1: and wet weather gear in particular at somethinging that's I
Speaker 1: feel that it's something I've pushed back against because I
Speaker 1: don't mind riding in the rain. Like recently, I completely
Speaker 1: got dumped on and I was like, all right, who cares,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna show up, And it's because I've got
Speaker 1: to change the clothes here at the office. And so
Speaker 1: literally I came up, changed out all my clothes, laid
Speaker 1: out my mother clothes so that they could dry by
Speaker 1: the time the day was over, and then I put
Speaker 1: those earlier wet clothes back on and I left my clean, dry,
Speaker 1: clean pair change the clothes here in the office. But
Speaker 1: I think there's just if you just think ahead a
Speaker 1: little bit, there's some creative solutions that that can present
Speaker 1: themselves that allow you to do these things that at
Speaker 1: first blush you say, oh, that's not possible, But you
Speaker 1: think about it for like two seconds longer, and there's
Speaker 1: oftentimes a really easy solution. Yeah, I gotta rain jacket,
Speaker 1: and I have some waterproof truck tailors and that combo.
Speaker 1: Plus I've got some waterproof pants too, and that combo
Speaker 1: gets me, you know, through through most rainstorms without looking
Speaker 1: like a complete mess, but um, yeah, And I think
Speaker 1: it's also important to mention just safety, like where you're
Speaker 1: proper lighting stuff like that is and and and riding
Speaker 1: on the street. Like we were walking down the sidewalk
Speaker 1: the other day and there was a cyclist on the sidewalk,
Speaker 1: and and I understand kind of why people want to
Speaker 1: ride on the sidewalks, but it's not safe. It's not
Speaker 1: safe for pedestrians. And I know that you might not
Speaker 1: feel safe right in the road. It's something that the
Speaker 1: more you do it, the more you feel comfortable doing it.
Speaker 1: So especially like you said, having the proper lighting, I
Speaker 1: mean I always if I'm when I'm running in the street,
Speaker 1: like I turn on that back blinker so that it's
Speaker 1: that blinkie is just going on a stop. And the
Speaker 1: same thing with the light up front, like you don't
Speaker 1: need to turn on your your head light a broad daylight,
Speaker 1: but flip it, you know, to the fourth push when
Speaker 1: it switches the flashing as opposed to just the solid
Speaker 1: beam of light. But it's there to help provide visibility.
Speaker 1: Because yeah, you have bucks on Amazon, Like it's not
Speaker 1: it's not expensive, so but it's yeah, it's gonna go
Speaker 1: a long way. In helping you feel safer on your bike.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we've convinced you that biking more is going to
Speaker 1: improve your life in a meaningful way. Right, incorporating regular
Speaker 1: rides into your life, we would say, it really is
Speaker 1: this keystone habit that's gonna have cascading benefits for you.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be happier, you're gonna be healthier, you're gonna
Speaker 1: be a little more fit. You'll also bring money back
Speaker 1: into your life. It's it really is kind of this
Speaker 1: this way in which you do this one thing, and
Speaker 1: it has ripple effects into every area of of how
Speaker 1: you live. And and even if riding your bike more
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that you're also ditching one of your cars,
Speaker 1: that's still okay, right, you don't have to, But we
Speaker 1: would say maybe at some point you'll get so into
Speaker 1: your biking that you'll you'll be able to ditch one
Speaker 1: of them and you're gonna save even more money. And
Speaker 1: it's also important to mention that you don't have to
Speaker 1: go from like your couch to a thirty mile bike
Speaker 1: commute in one fell swoop. I think that would be
Speaker 1: we're not laying a guilt trip on people here and
Speaker 1: saying like, uh, get off your duff and we're not
Speaker 1: drill sergeants, that's not our jam. But you'll start with
Speaker 1: a little grocery store run this week and see what happens,
Speaker 1: and you might find that it's kind of enjoyable and
Speaker 1: not as difficult as you thought if you bring a
Speaker 1: backpack or whatever to carry your groceries in. And by
Speaker 1: the way, Matt, we talked about this, I don't know
Speaker 1: a couple of months ago on the show. Google Maps
Speaker 1: has an update that makes it easier than ever to bike.
Speaker 1: So if you get a little full holder for your
Speaker 1: bike too, so you can see where you're going and
Speaker 1: you can see you know the best route to get there,
Speaker 1: and Google is leading you turn by turn on how
Speaker 1: to get like then it's just it's never been easier
Speaker 1: to be a biker, even with our pitiful lack of
Speaker 1: bike infrastructure in this country. Don't let that be an excuse,
Speaker 1: like get under bike, and the more of us that
Speaker 1: do it, uh, the more cars are gonna notice, and
Speaker 1: the more are hopefully our politicians are gonna notice. And
Speaker 1: then it just becomes this self fulfilling prophecy that bikes
Speaker 1: are going to rule the world. One of these days. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and one last step to you, like you're talking about
Speaker 1: just making a quick grocery store run rather than commuting
Speaker 1: for for work. We've talked about this before as well,
Speaker 1: but before you take that first commute into your office,
Speaker 1: do that on a Saturday morning, like a nice chill Saturday.
Speaker 1: I think that can be an awesome way just to
Speaker 1: get a feel for the route that you need to
Speaker 1: take to drive on baby, how long it's gonna take you,
Speaker 1: how sweaty you are by the time you get there.
Speaker 1: These are all valuable pieces of information that are helpful
Speaker 1: to have before you then have to immediately go into
Speaker 1: a meeting or or sit down and PLoP down and
Speaker 1: start working. But again, we're just trying trying to find
Speaker 1: these small, all easy ways for you to get into biking.
Speaker 1: But hopefully yeah, like Joel said, these are all tips
Speaker 1: that will help you to get biking more, not only
Speaker 1: to save more money, but just to live a happier
Speaker 1: life for sure, all right, because that's what we're all
Speaker 1: about here. We want people to be better with their
Speaker 1: money and but we want people to live better lives.
Speaker 1: And it's funny. One of our listeners met in the
Speaker 1: Facebook group. He recently said, Oh, the show could totally
Speaker 1: be called how to Live a Good Life with like
Speaker 1: money as an addendum and like that. Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: probably true, like we talk about things that go beyond money.
Speaker 1: Money is just a tool, and we talk a lot
Speaker 1: about this one specific tool, but there are other tools
Speaker 1: out there as well, like like bicycles. Yeah, and and
Speaker 1: that tool reaches into a lot of other aspects of
Speaker 1: our lives. So we touch on those things too, and
Speaker 1: and this is just one of them, that biking. It's
Speaker 1: gonna save your money, but it's gonna have a lot
Speaker 1: of other beneficial impacts for you to Uh, just like
Speaker 1: drinking good beer, what's to day is probably a good thing,
Speaker 1: at least for us. It is a beer a day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we can. We can't go down that back, No, let's
Speaker 1: we'll stick with the bike ridit day by keeps the
Speaker 1: doctor away? Did I say keeps the doctor at bay?
Speaker 1: But that also works? Uh? No, this was Bosky Lagger
Speaker 1: and dude, this is a really good beer. This was
Speaker 1: I'm going to read the label here inspired by German
Speaker 1: Pilsener's uh and they're basically talked about how it's got
Speaker 1: those noble dry hops going on, given that classic Pilsener
Speaker 1: sort of taste. What your thoughts on this one, dude,
Speaker 1: This was one of the best Pilsners I've ever had. Yeah, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought it was great. It was praise, It was
Speaker 1: like pillowy, It was crisp, but also had like some
Speaker 1: really nice floral hop notes coming through and and sometimes
Speaker 1: Pilsener's are light on that, like there's not enough hot
Speaker 1: presence and so it just kind of tastes like beer,
Speaker 1: but this one had like, definitely had that like tastes
Speaker 1: like beer Pilsener thing going on, but it had even
Speaker 1: more going on than that, And so I thought this
Speaker 1: was like a really well rounded Pilsener that, yeah, I
Speaker 1: was a fan of. Fantastic, real bright, real clean. It
Speaker 1: kind of reminded me of a lot of the loggers,
Speaker 1: a lot of the Pilseners that are friends down at
Speaker 1: Halfway Crooks that they're making, which is very much in
Speaker 1: the style as well. But yeah, definitely a great beer,
Speaker 1: the kind of beer that you want to enjoy after
Speaker 1: a long bike ride as well. Yeah. Um, it kind
Speaker 1: of makes me feel like, maybe should we have had
Speaker 1: a beer by Bicycle Brewing? Is that those cycle and
Speaker 1: cycle Yeah, down there in uh Tampa or St. Pete,
Speaker 1: I think yeah, or we could have had a Rattler
Speaker 1: which Rattler the other Classic Cyclists or New New Belgium
Speaker 1: Beverage of choice. They love bikes, they get that whole Yeah,
Speaker 1: that whole series, the whole brand. But this was a
Speaker 1: fantastic beer. Glad that you and I were able to
Speaker 1: enjoy one today and things again to Bob Ford donating
Speaker 1: this one to the show for sure. All right, that's
Speaker 1: gonna do it for this episode. We we hope you
Speaker 1: get out there on your bike. We hope it's enjoyable.
Speaker 1: If you have any questions about biking, you can always
Speaker 1: reach out to us. We love listener emails. How to
Speaker 1: money pot at gmail dot com is our email address.
Speaker 1: And Matt, that's gonna do it for this episode. Until
Speaker 1: next time. Best Friends Altum, best Friends Out Bo