Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and
Speaker 1: Matt's and today we're talking about biking more to get rich. Yeah, Joel,
Speaker 1: you a long time listeners will know that biking is
Speaker 1: a huge part of our lives. We talked about it
Speaker 1: a good bit here on the show, but I feel
Speaker 1: like recently we haven't talked about it. It was certainly
Speaker 1: on our minds way back when when we first started
Speaker 1: the show, because our very first episode was about biking.
Speaker 1: But now it's been multiple years since we've covered that
Speaker 1: topics that we're going to revisit biking and talk about
Speaker 1: all the different ways that it makes us. Richard, we
Speaker 1: definitely talked about it some during the pandemic because biking
Speaker 1: was hot, right and like, oh yeah, it turned out
Speaker 1: at the beginning a lot of bike companies were like,
Speaker 1: oh no, what are we gonna do? And then there
Speaker 1: was like, oh, what we're gonna do is have to
Speaker 1: like double our orders because everybody wants a bike right now.
Speaker 1: So yeah, we definitely covered that a little bit, but
Speaker 1: we haven't kind of talked about the economics of biking
Speaker 1: in the many ways that a bike can fit into
Speaker 1: your life. It can save you money, but it can
Speaker 1: do more than that. So we're gonna talk about all
Speaker 1: that in this episode, and we're gonna talk about the
Speaker 1: many different ways that you can realize a return on
Speaker 1: your investment. Where YouTube bike more. And I've even called
Speaker 1: bikes an actual investment before. Actually I think I use that. Uh.
Speaker 1: I use that phrase to justify my bike purchase last year.
Speaker 1: Remember I used my stimmy money to buy my little
Speaker 1: gravel bike. Uh, And I called it an investment. And
Speaker 1: I call you saying, you're kind of pushing it, buddy,
Speaker 1: it's not quiet an investment. But we are kind of
Speaker 1: using that language here because we feel that there truly
Speaker 1: is a return on the money that you put into
Speaker 1: your bike. Yeah. Yeah, and it goes beyond just money savings, right,
Speaker 1: So that's right, there's a whole host of benefits we
Speaker 1: get from biking. Yeah, all right, man, I got a
Speaker 1: quick little story for you. So as a kid, I
Speaker 1: think I've shared this before on the show, but anytime
Speaker 1: my parents would ask for a discount, anytime they would
Speaker 1: use coupons, anytime they're just basically just trying to save money,
Speaker 1: I was embarrassed. Like, as a little kid, I was
Speaker 1: just so embarrassed that my parents were trying we're trying
Speaker 1: to save money, and I just perceived it to be cheap.
Speaker 1: So on that note, let me tell you about how
Speaker 1: I scored a bunch of free Halloween decorations and now
Speaker 1: your kids can be thoroughly embarrassed by you, dude. Okay,
Speaker 1: So you know, folks move and oftentimes will leave a
Speaker 1: bunch of stuff that they have toward in their basement
Speaker 1: because they're thinking, all right, we're not gonna haul this
Speaker 1: with us, or maybe in this case it was custom
Speaker 1: or it was specific to that house, but man, uh
Speaker 1: so we have some neighbors move and they put out
Speaker 1: what I'm guessing was close to at least five worth
Speaker 1: of Halloween decorations where I had to go and buy
Speaker 1: that stuff new from a Halloween store. Spirit right or whatever.
Speaker 1: The pop up halloween stores are got like a full
Speaker 1: size skeleton and a bunch of fuzzy spiders. Spider Web
Speaker 1: even got some um what's that? It's like the liquid
Speaker 1: that you put into a fog fog machine. We don't
Speaker 1: have the fog machine, but I really want one, and
Speaker 1: I feel like this is even more of an incentive
Speaker 1: for me to actually look for one, maybe before Halloween hits,
Speaker 1: before the prices go up. But and I will say
Speaker 1: my kids were pumped. They were not at all in
Speaker 1: the least embarrassed. They were old enough to be embarrassed
Speaker 1: by I guess that's I guess that's it. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're not in bart school age so embarrassed by you.
Speaker 1: But I guess I just want to point out how
Speaker 1: I've grown. As a kid. Obviously I was so embarrassed
Speaker 1: to do stuff like that, but as an adult man,
Speaker 1: the lengths I go to save a buck, and I
Speaker 1: hate seeing stuff on the side of the road that's
Speaker 1: perfectly good go to waste. Right, you don't want the
Speaker 1: city picking that stuff up, tossing it in the trash,
Speaker 1: Like if it's usable, if it's useful, then yeah, it's
Speaker 1: better to reuse it. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean there's a
Speaker 1: chance somebody else would have picked it up as well,
Speaker 1: but I don't, you know, me picking it up, I
Speaker 1: made sure that it wasn't going to the landfill, and
Speaker 1: it's all stuff that we will definitely use this coming Halloween.
Speaker 1: But like you said, I'm glad to see that my
Speaker 1: kids right now that they're not embarrassed. But we will
Speaker 1: see how long that lasts. As we've grown older, as
Speaker 1: we have had kids of our own, I feel like
Speaker 1: a lot of the decisions that my parents made make
Speaker 1: a whole lot more sense to me now. And I'm
Speaker 1: like doing a lot of those same things, some of
Speaker 1: which maybe I said I would never do. I think
Speaker 1: that's kind of like part of the circle of life
Speaker 1: or whatever. Is part of growing up. Man. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: just kind of you begin to as you get older, like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: my parents they're not as dumb as I thought they
Speaker 1: were when I was like twelve or fifteen or whatever. Um,
Speaker 1: they're actually pretty smart. Maybe they had more wisdom than
Speaker 1: I believe they did. But if only middle school Matt
Speaker 1: could see me. Now, congratulations on your Halloween decoration. Look
Speaker 1: forward to the Halloween in our neighborhood is huge. We
Speaker 1: talked about this before in the show, but last year,
Speaker 1: you know, we thought it was gonna be massive because
Speaker 1: it was it was gonna fall on a Saturday, right,
Speaker 1: But then with the pandemic, it kind of you know,
Speaker 1: everyone was on the fence, should we do Halloween, shouldn't
Speaker 1: we do Halloween? And so I think Lrench stole freaking Halloween.
Speaker 1: There exactly, but I think that means that this year
Speaker 1: it's gonna be it's gonna be pretty huge. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to it already, especially with all the free stuff
Speaker 1: we scored side of the Road, the resurgence of Halloween,
Speaker 1: I'm ready for all right, Well, Matt, let's move on.
Speaker 1: Let's mention the beer we're having on the show. This
Speaker 1: one is called double Fruited Boysonberry BlackBerry Raspberry Hill by
Speaker 1: Southern Grist. So lots of different kinds of berries in here,
Speaker 1: and apparently double fruited. So fruited I like lots of
Speaker 1: fruit might be or so. Well. We'll let listeners know
Speaker 1: what we think about this beer at the end of
Speaker 1: the episode, but for now, let's get onto the topic
Speaker 1: of hand talking about bikes. You know what I just
Speaker 1: thought of. If we were really on our game, we
Speaker 1: would have gotten their hands on some cycle brewing beers. Cycle. Yeah,
Speaker 1: down in Tampa or St. Pete or whatever, have you
Speaker 1: had their beers? No? I haven't. I've been meeting just
Speaker 1: a couple others before here. They make good stounts. But
Speaker 1: I'll have to remedy that and have have some of
Speaker 1: these one of these days. Yes, all right, Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: let's keep going. Let's talk about bikes, and we really
Speaker 1: do believe the biking more will help you get rich,
Speaker 1: and uh, yeah, man, it makes me think, like my
Speaker 1: favorite bands and some of my favorite albums of all time,
Speaker 1: they weren't necessarily my favorites the first time I heard him, right,
Speaker 1: it took me a while to get acclimated to Let's say, like,
Speaker 1: I remember one of my friends playing this span Bright
Speaker 1: Eyes for me back in the day, right, and I
Speaker 1: was like, this is terrible. I really didn't like it initially,
Speaker 1: and then I just like listened to the album over
Speaker 1: and over as he was like playing it, and I
Speaker 1: was like, actually, this is really growing on me. And
Speaker 1: now they're one of my all time favorite bands, right. Uh.
Speaker 1: They make some great tunes. And the same thing is
Speaker 1: true with like sour beers. Were drinking a sour beer
Speaker 1: right now, and I was like, fruited beers, those aren't good,
Speaker 1: or you know, sour beers, those make my lips pucker.
Speaker 1: I don't think I like them, But over time they
Speaker 1: kind of grew on me and I was like, bang,
Speaker 1: actually I've come to really appreciate how tasty these beers are.
Speaker 1: Our tastes change over time. I mean, yeah, I'm with you.
Speaker 1: And the very first time ever had a sour beer
Speaker 1: was one from New Belgium and I could barely finish
Speaker 1: the dang thing because it was. Yeah, I mean, in
Speaker 1: my opinion at the time, so sour. But again, like
Speaker 1: you said, our tastes change, we come around, we evolve,
Speaker 1: and it's now one of my favorite styles of beer. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think on the surface, right, the idea of
Speaker 1: biking might not sound super appealing to a lot of people.
Speaker 1: They might think that we're weird or coming out of
Speaker 1: left field with this. But uh, and and someone's initial
Speaker 1: reaction might be like, maybe that's good, good for Matt
Speaker 1: and Joel, but it's not for me. Well, in today's episode,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about all of the reasons that biking
Speaker 1: makes sense for folks who want to save money, and
Speaker 1: we do believe biking can grow on you, right, just
Speaker 1: like a band maybe that you weren't interest to be
Speaker 1: end the first time you heard it, or a beer
Speaker 1: style that you didn't like the first time you tasted it.
Speaker 1: And then we're also going to talk about the other
Speaker 1: benefits of biking too. We don't necessarily want to oversell
Speaker 1: how good biking can be for you. But I actually
Speaker 1: think it's kind of hard to oversell how good bikes
Speaker 1: are mat for for people, for their lives and for
Speaker 1: their ability to save money, even if there's a lot
Speaker 1: of folks out there who don't want to hear us
Speaker 1: talk about it, right because like before, folks who are
Speaker 1: listening right now, before you skip onto your next podcast,
Speaker 1: because maybe you're not into biking, like I mean, essentially,
Speaker 1: we're pleading with you to have an open mind here.
Speaker 1: We know, we know that at some point, maybe you've
Speaker 1: decided that biking isn't going to work for you, but
Speaker 1: it's likely that things have changed for you. And just
Speaker 1: because maybe you made that decision once, like once upon
Speaker 1: a time you made this decision, that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: you should never revisit the idea again, just you know,
Speaker 1: purely based on principle, right, we want you to be
Speaker 1: open to a little self experimentation here if you aren't
Speaker 1: naturally drawn towards biking. For me, I will say that
Speaker 1: biking was more like love at first sight. But a
Speaker 1: lot of folks are only thinking about the things that
Speaker 1: they don't like when it comes to biking. But there are,
Speaker 1: like we said, so many benefits that come with biking regularly.
Speaker 1: Money is only going to be a single factor, and
Speaker 1: so we're gonna spend this episode convincing you why you
Speaker 1: need to be biking more as we dig into the
Speaker 1: return on investments, uh and the lifestyle benefits that bikes provide.
Speaker 1: All right, so let's first get into the monetary benefits
Speaker 1: of biking, because this is how the money and we
Speaker 1: gotta start with the money. Gonna start with that, We're
Speaker 1: gonna get to a bunch of other factors that make
Speaker 1: biking a win win win for for you. But yeah,
Speaker 1: let us talk about cost savings first. And man, I
Speaker 1: think the biggest potential savings comes if any of our
Speaker 1: listeners are able to eliminate a car from their lives, right,
Speaker 1: like for most people like you and your family were
Speaker 1: a well do we we ditched one car because we
Speaker 1: bike a whole lot more than we used to. We
Speaker 1: used to have two cars, and so yeah, that has
Speaker 1: come in really handy and saved us a bunch of money.
Speaker 1: Like Triple A runs the numbers every year on what
Speaker 1: it costs to own and operate a new car, all
Speaker 1: expenses included, and most people will be shocked to hear this,
Speaker 1: but triple A says a call us over nine thou
Speaker 1: dollars annually to own and maintain that car. That includes fuel, maintenance,
Speaker 1: insurance taxes, and of course the ever ever pesky depreciation
Speaker 1: which is happening usually out of sight, like you're not
Speaker 1: thinking about it. Although we've randomly been in an inflationary
Speaker 1: cycle for cars lately, which is um surprising to say
Speaker 1: the least, especially for these used cars. But yeah, nine
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year is an incredible sum of money.
Speaker 1: And to think that by ditching one car from your
Speaker 1: life you can save that much, um is pretty incredible. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And not to mention to the time and energy that
Speaker 1: it takes once your some roofs starts leaking into your
Speaker 1: car and starts smelling terrible. There are a lot of
Speaker 1: headaches that a company vehicles as well. Yeah, the maintenance
Speaker 1: associated with the car is certainly a lot more annoying
Speaker 1: and frustrating than the maintenance associated with a bike. And
Speaker 1: not everyone is going to ditch a car in favor
Speaker 1: of biking, right, and they're not going to save that
Speaker 1: much money. But it is important to note that you
Speaker 1: can and that that's possible in our family has actually
Speaker 1: done it. So yeah, But just by going from commuting
Speaker 1: by your car to to comuting by bike, let's say
Speaker 1: you still keep both cars around that you that you
Speaker 1: have in your family, or if you're single individual, you
Speaker 1: keep the one car. You don't decide to go down
Speaker 1: to zero cars in favor of biking all the time. Well,
Speaker 1: even that is likely to save you at least a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a year, maybe closer to two thousand dollars
Speaker 1: a year based on driving your car less. And and
Speaker 1: even that, Matt, that's not chump change, that's some meaningful savings.
Speaker 1: That's real money right there. And here's the other thing too,
Speaker 1: is we need to keep in mind how easy it
Speaker 1: could be for us to adopt biking more often in
Speaker 1: our lives. Approximately half of all car trips are for
Speaker 1: short runs to places, most likely in your neighborhood, that
Speaker 1: are four miles away or less. Uh, and bikes are
Speaker 1: perfect for these trips. Uh. The more that you ride, obviously,
Speaker 1: the fewer miles that you're gonna be putting onto your car,
Speaker 1: and that means less fuel, less frequent repair needs. And
Speaker 1: if you're able to squeeze the average miles that you
Speaker 1: drive to under seventy miles every year, you'll likely qualify
Speaker 1: for an additional discount on your insurance. And so that's
Speaker 1: kind of a I don't know, I feel like that's
Speaker 1: kind of a fun goal to set for yourself. So
Speaker 1: you choose to ride your bike more frequently as opposed
Speaker 1: to just jump in the car starting up, you know,
Speaker 1: starting it up and hitting the road. But that's a
Speaker 1: great way to start biking, right, So looking at those shorter,
Speaker 1: those easier trips, uh, and we're hoping that that will
Speaker 1: kind of get the ball rolling for you in your
Speaker 1: biking as well. You have to know that of all
Speaker 1: the trips you're taking are easy pickings. It's like shooting
Speaker 1: fish in a barrel with just a ride of a
Speaker 1: few short miles. I think maybe that's a psychological hurdle
Speaker 1: that you have to overcome. It's like, okay, yeah, if
Speaker 1: it's if it's a short trip, did you say cycle logical?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, hurdle My dad jokes are strong, but not
Speaker 1: that strong. But yeah, I think, yeah, just just reframing
Speaker 1: and realizing that so many of your trips really aren't
Speaker 1: that far. Um is going to help you maybe hop
Speaker 1: on your bike next time as opposed to hopping in
Speaker 1: the car. And also, you know, while the initial costs
Speaker 1: of buying a bike, getting the gear that you need
Speaker 1: can set you back a bit, each successive year that
Speaker 1: you bike will essentially amortize those costs right by year
Speaker 1: two of Mike, and you'll be saving big money. And also,
Speaker 1: bikes really they're the kings of efficiency, Matt. There's there's
Speaker 1: no more efficient mode of transportation. Um, nothing beats the
Speaker 1: humble old bicycle, right unless you have wings and you
Speaker 1: could just like glad on the what I don't know
Speaker 1: upstream what is it called? When like the stuff I
Speaker 1: got turned into a hawk and then I would be
Speaker 1: efficient exactly. Yeah, which you know I've always wanted to
Speaker 1: be a hawk. There. Cool cool cool creatures use gravity
Speaker 1: uh air, But yeah, biking is is even more efficient
Speaker 1: than walking, right, It's five times more efficient than walking. Um,
Speaker 1: and riding a bike takes fifty eight times less energy
Speaker 1: than driving a car when you're going in an equal distance.
Speaker 1: So yes, since we're fans of efficiency in general, I
Speaker 1: feel like this is a solid selling point for bikes
Speaker 1: to rite. It's just like incredibly efficient if you also
Speaker 1: are a fan of efficiency, know that, well, the bike,
Speaker 1: it's the king of efficiency, Like, I can't think of
Speaker 1: many other things that provide such efficiency, you know, Or
Speaker 1: for the costs did you pay? Absolutely? I feel like
Speaker 1: any engineer out there should be like, yep, all right,
Speaker 1: I have to bike because it is the most efficient,
Speaker 1: and you know, you always have to go the most
Speaker 1: efficient path. And you know, Joe two, this is assuming
Speaker 1: that someone listening that they don't already have a pretty
Speaker 1: good bike, that's maybe just sitting in their garage, you know,
Speaker 1: just waiting to be ridden. But either way, like, we're
Speaker 1: not saying that it's completely free to ride and maintain
Speaker 1: a bike, but the costs of an annual tunup are
Speaker 1: literal sense on the dollar compared to the ongoing costs
Speaker 1: of maintaining an automobile. And you know, if you want
Speaker 1: to do, you could even fully eliminate that additional cost
Speaker 1: of maintenance just by watching a few YouTube videos online,
Speaker 1: having a fread come over to show you the ropes. Like, honestly,
Speaker 1: if you just know how to adjust your brakes every
Speaker 1: now and then, or you know, just to adjust your
Speaker 1: shifters your derailers, then you are going to be golden
Speaker 1: because oftentimes those are the main things that need to
Speaker 1: be looked at, and so cost that is one major
Speaker 1: aspect of how biking is going to allow you to
Speaker 1: get more rich, how it's going to grow your financial wealth,
Speaker 1: but will also discuss more benefits than how to incorporate
Speaker 1: biking into your lifestyle. Right after this break, all right,
Speaker 1: we'll back from the break, and we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: some of the other benefits of bicycling more frequently that
Speaker 1: there are a lot of them, and we'll also kind
Speaker 1: of maybe tackle some of the excuses in just a
Speaker 1: second that people might have like, uh, well it's not
Speaker 1: for me, guys, Like, of course I can't participate in
Speaker 1: biking because this this order, this reason. Well maybe like
Speaker 1: no shade towards you, guys, but I'm not gonna do it,
Speaker 1: and and here's why. And so hopefully if you have
Speaker 1: one of these excuses in your mind, you know, we'll
Speaker 1: be able to tackle it preemptively so that you can
Speaker 1: actually hop on a bike still. Um but Matt, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we were just talking about the numbers, and it's interesting too,
Speaker 1: because the affordability of biking um is obviously one of
Speaker 1: the number reasons we're in favor of people biking more.
Speaker 1: You know, spending nine thousand dollars a year in order
Speaker 1: to get from point A to point b Uh, it
Speaker 1: should sound like a lot of money to people because
Speaker 1: it's a ton of money, right that. That's a huge
Speaker 1: percentage of people's take home pay in an average Your
Speaker 1: transportation is one of the most expensive line items in
Speaker 1: everyone's budget. And just think about what you could do
Speaker 1: if you had an extra seven and fifty a month
Speaker 1: back in your life. I mean, I think too that
Speaker 1: is is one of the ways I think that that
Speaker 1: bikes can be a selling point. It's like how much
Speaker 1: money is legit? Like, you can do a whole lot
Speaker 1: of unique, fun, interesting stuff in your life if you
Speaker 1: aren't shelling that out for you know, a car every
Speaker 1: single month. But let's take a look at the numbers
Speaker 1: and see what that would actually get you too, because
Speaker 1: if you were to take that seven and fifty a
Speaker 1: month and invest it in the market instead, you're looking
Speaker 1: at having over a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars
Speaker 1: over just ten years, earning seven percent. And let's say
Speaker 1: you did that for a working career of thirty seven years,
Speaker 1: which is the length of time between graduating and being
Speaker 1: able to draw on retirement funds in a roth ira, Well,
Speaker 1: we're talking about nearly one five million dollars, right, so
Speaker 1: so much money when you put it in that start
Speaker 1: contrast in those terms, it's like, okay, biking. Uh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe that's actually a really good idea for me because
Speaker 1: I didn't realize one it was going to save that
Speaker 1: much money. And I didn't realize that if I started
Speaker 1: to invest that money instead, that I was going to
Speaker 1: be able to make some life changing moves. Maybe my
Speaker 1: car is not as good of a move as I
Speaker 1: thought it was. Maybe I should think again. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that's just a massive amount of money to pay for,
Speaker 1: Like I think what some people would just call the
Speaker 1: stock traditional lifestyle, right where you have a car, you've
Speaker 1: got to maintain these payments on it. Obviously, it takes
Speaker 1: gas in order to get it from point A to
Speaker 1: point B, it takes insurance, all these things that go
Speaker 1: into um, just operating a vehicle is much bigger than
Speaker 1: we realize. So yeah, sometimes you gotta just crunch those
Speaker 1: numbers as a wake up call. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: we want you to save and invest your money, and
Speaker 1: therefore we want you to ride your bike on a
Speaker 1: good bit more of those trips that you're taking. But
Speaker 1: there are so many other reasons why you should be
Speaker 1: biking more, and so let's talk about those. And so
Speaker 1: the health benefits that biking provides is kind of an
Speaker 1: obvious one, right, But biking more often truly is great
Speaker 1: for your overall health. If you bike enough, you can
Speaker 1: ditch your gym membership as well. Uh. And you know,
Speaker 1: when your favorite mode of transportation also replaces that gym
Speaker 1: that used to go to, that used to have to
Speaker 1: pay to go to, that is like some some real
Speaker 1: life synergy going on right there. There's nothing more frustrating
Speaker 1: to me than like hearing somebody that like pays for
Speaker 1: an expensive gym membership and they drive to get there
Speaker 1: just kind of I don't know, man, it just blows
Speaker 1: my mind. And the worst, the worst is when people
Speaker 1: go to those in person cycling classes that costs like
Speaker 1: a hundred and something dollars a month, like the really
Speaker 1: fancy ones. I've never been in one of those. So
Speaker 1: you've been to I talked about you had a co
Speaker 1: worker who had like a birthday party at a spin
Speaker 1: place that's right. Yeah, I guess I did it at
Speaker 1: one time her birthday, and I was like, it's like,
Speaker 1: instead of going to like Laser Tag when you're a kid,
Speaker 1: like now you're going to like And it's not like
Speaker 1: it wasn't anything class, but it certainly wasn't worth a
Speaker 1: hundred plus dollars a month. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: honestly rather just be on my bike outside. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, and I don't want to hate on anybody
Speaker 1: does that, but it's just when you think about additional
Speaker 1: motivation I know that comes with going to those classes,
Speaker 1: Like I don't at all want to discount the accountability
Speaker 1: that that provides exactly exactly. But I think as people
Speaker 1: who are avid biker, it's like we want people to
Speaker 1: be outdoors on on their bikes. To to think about
Speaker 1: going indoors and paying that much money, it's just kind
Speaker 1: of hard for me to fathom. It's true. And when
Speaker 1: you bike more often, right, the likelihood that you're gonna
Speaker 1: save on healthcare costs just over the decades, it's pretty high. Uh,
Speaker 1: if you ride your bike regularly as well, And so
Speaker 1: I think you know you hear the old saying an
Speaker 1: apple a day like how that keeps the doctor away.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's more likely that a bike ride
Speaker 1: a day is likely going to benefit Yes, can we
Speaker 1: change that? Can we change that? I think? So bike
Speaker 1: ride a day keeps a doctor away? I like that.
Speaker 1: And of course, you know, we can't give you a
Speaker 1: specific number as to how much you know your health
Speaker 1: is going to increase. We can't, like, you know, calories
Speaker 1: you're gonna burn it a day, right, Well, I guess
Speaker 1: you could. You know, little calculators you can calculate some
Speaker 1: of that. You can't be like I've just extended my
Speaker 1: life this many years exactly, or I have lost X
Speaker 1: number of pounds, right, who knows? And actually maybe even
Speaker 1: just gain a little bit away because like all those
Speaker 1: muscles developing your legs. But the more fit you are,
Speaker 1: you know, the better off you're gonna be. And riding
Speaker 1: a bike is some top notch cardio. Not to mention
Speaker 1: too man, just the additional mental benefits that come with
Speaker 1: riding your bike, right, just kind of getting out on
Speaker 1: the road, the ability to well, first of all, like
Speaker 1: when you I don't want to get to detailed here,
Speaker 1: but like when you're in commuting by car, you're always
Speaker 1: like on the inter state typically right or state highways
Speaker 1: where there's a lot of congestion. But when you're riding
Speaker 1: your bike, you're on like surface streets, like slower streets,
Speaker 1: and you're not in traffic, so you can you get
Speaker 1: to just ride and and with that ride often comes
Speaker 1: like this mental refreshing that takes place. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: there's definitely a physical health component and a mental health
Speaker 1: component to riding bikes. Right, it's both. And again it's
Speaker 1: hard to quantify like both of those, um and give
Speaker 1: you any sort of specific number for how it's going
Speaker 1: to help. But biking definitely, I mean it's it's increased
Speaker 1: you know, my fitness level, um. And it's also just
Speaker 1: made me feel better mentally, um Because I know, like
Speaker 1: my wife would literally say, if I would come home
Speaker 1: after biking home from work, or if I came home
Speaker 1: after thirty minutes stuck in the car all the way
Speaker 1: home from work, she was like, you're so much more irritable.
Speaker 1: She could tell, she could totally tell an attitude difference.
Speaker 1: So I walked through the door. I was more frustrated
Speaker 1: as opposed to I just like burned off all that
Speaker 1: steam on a bike ride. I might have been a
Speaker 1: little bit tired, but I wasn't like angry. You know, hey,
Speaker 1: I'd rather be a little tired than angry. Yeah, exactly, exactly,
Speaker 1: me too, And so I think, yeah to the next.
Speaker 1: One of the next additional benefits of biking is that
Speaker 1: it's fun, right. It really is, Like if you haven't
Speaker 1: hopped on your bike in a while, you might just
Speaker 1: assume that it's for kids, right, Um, watching stranger things,
Speaker 1: like it's one of our favorite things, watching the kids
Speaker 1: ride around the bikes, and you're like, all right, great,
Speaker 1: that's like the perfect way for like seven to thirteen
Speaker 1: year olds to get around in the late eighties. Exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you might think it gets today play of Minecraft, right, right,
Speaker 1: and you might think that you're too old for that
Speaker 1: or something, But that's just that's just not true, right.
Speaker 1: We we see groups of riders around town all the time, Um,
Speaker 1: and Matt. It's not like we're living in Copenhagen, Like
Speaker 1: there's just literally I was going to pick up a
Speaker 1: U haul truck downtown recently, Um, and there was this
Speaker 1: massive group of bike riders and I just like smiling
Speaker 1: the whole time as they're going back, because it was
Speaker 1: like seventy or eighty people in one group, and I
Speaker 1: don't know whether where they were riding to what they
Speaker 1: were up to, but they're like they were having fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and those kind of bikers too, are a little more serious,
Speaker 1: you know, like they're I feel like those those folks sometimes.
Speaker 1: Well that being said, I mean we we kind of
Speaker 1: have like the critical mass groups where it looks like
Speaker 1: like a bunch of hipsters. But then sometimes you have
Speaker 1: like a bunch of boomers and they're you know, they've
Speaker 1: kind of got like more of their biking outfits on
Speaker 1: and whatnot. But either way, regardless of how old they are,
Speaker 1: they're all having a ton of fun. I'd bike with
Speaker 1: either one of those groups. Yeah, I feel like we
Speaker 1: could easily fall into one category or the other. But
Speaker 1: I might not necessarily wear spanex go biking. Hopefully one
Speaker 1: of these days you might. Yeah, as we get older,
Speaker 1: I don't know, but I feel like that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: see those people riding and they're like joking and they're
Speaker 1: talking to each other like it's it's still people are
Speaker 1: able to enjoy riding together. You know, bikes don't have
Speaker 1: to be isolating, and plus two, you can get places
Speaker 1: you wouldn't otherwise be able to get when you're biking
Speaker 1: versus being in your car. Right in Atlanta, Matt, we
Speaker 1: have the belt Line, which is just this old railroad
Speaker 1: track that's been converted to like, uh, just this fancy
Speaker 1: walking path essentially walking a biking path that helps people
Speaker 1: get around town, especially like a rails to trails program. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you can't drive a car on the belt Line,
Speaker 1: but you can ride your bike. And there are other
Speaker 1: you could try to ride drive your car on the
Speaker 1: belt line but probably get arrested. Yeah you cant big trouble.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's just so many places that a bike
Speaker 1: can take you, um and fun places that a bike
Speaker 1: can take you that that car just can't. Yeah. It
Speaker 1: makes me think of a recent listener question that we had.
Speaker 1: They were asking about some just more affordable activities that
Speaker 1: they could do with their friends that doesn't just involve
Speaker 1: going to a restaurant, dropping a bunch of money, or
Speaker 1: just going you know, meeting up at a coffee shops,
Speaker 1: you know, spending way too much money on fancy coffees.
Speaker 1: The act of riding a bike together is just you know,
Speaker 1: can be so much fun and it makes me think
Speaker 1: as well about traveling, right, Uh. Kate and I have
Speaker 1: rented bikes before when we go to different cities that
Speaker 1: we're exploring, and just traveling by bike is just a
Speaker 1: fun way to get to know a city. And so
Speaker 1: whether that means just a road trip where you throw
Speaker 1: the bikes on the back of the car or you know. Again,
Speaker 1: most cities have these bike share programs where you can
Speaker 1: just pay a little bit and have access you know,
Speaker 1: to a to a bike for like thirty minutes and
Speaker 1: that gets you from one place to the next. Remember
Speaker 1: again doing that and having a blast doing that in
Speaker 1: d C back of the day. It was an amazing
Speaker 1: way to get to see all the different sites. It
Speaker 1: helps us to get a feel for kind of the
Speaker 1: mall and just all the different things that were there
Speaker 1: in d C that we wouldn't have otherwise been able
Speaker 1: to do. And so not only does it allow you
Speaker 1: to experience a new location or a new city uh
Speaker 1: in an awesome way, but it allows you to experience
Speaker 1: your own neighborhood quiet a bit differently, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: when you bike through it versus driving, like it allows
Speaker 1: you to literally smell the roses. You get to experience
Speaker 1: all the different smells when you're on a bike, and
Speaker 1: you know, I even find myself waving at neighbors a
Speaker 1: little bit more, even stopping to chat. When you're driving,
Speaker 1: you're basically just kind of getting from one one place
Speaker 1: to the next, you know, like anything that stands between
Speaker 1: you and your destination is sort of a hindrance. And
Speaker 1: if you do see somebody and you pull over, it's like, hey,
Speaker 1: is everything okay? Like I feel like folks are like,
Speaker 1: why did you stop? Or then there's another car coming
Speaker 1: behind you and they're like, get out of my way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's just like a nuisance. As opposed to just
Speaker 1: being able to pull over on the bike, it's just
Speaker 1: so much more fun. So bike can kind of gives
Speaker 1: you this more visceral feeling for the place that you
Speaker 1: call home, and it just fosters the type of community
Speaker 1: that I know that we're looking for where we live. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, like if they're going to add another lane
Speaker 1: to a local road, I would be completely bummed out.
Speaker 1: That just tells me there's gonna be more traffic, more
Speaker 1: people cutting through. However, when I hear that there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a new bike lane coming in, I get pumped.
Speaker 1: Because I know that means there's going to be more
Speaker 1: folks enjoying the neighborhood, talking to each other, treating each
Speaker 1: other with respect, which is oftentimes hard to do when
Speaker 1: you're driving around in these metal boxes. And sometimes it's like,
Speaker 1: if you build it, they will come, And I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: more bike infrastructure just means more people will then feel
Speaker 1: comfortable because because sometimes that you know, that's one of
Speaker 1: the excuses we're gonna get to a little bit later.
Speaker 1: But when when there isn't enough of that infrastructure, it's
Speaker 1: it's definitely it's a reasonable and understandable excuse. And I
Speaker 1: think some you know, cities, prioritizing at is a good thing.
Speaker 1: Absolutely makes it more comfortable to get that out there
Speaker 1: on two wheels. Also, bikes are a big winner when
Speaker 1: it comes to your ACKed on the environment, right, they
Speaker 1: don't pollute the air, no fossil fuels are consumed. But
Speaker 1: it goes beyond that, right, because noise pollution is a
Speaker 1: big deal in a whole lot of cities. Too. Fewer
Speaker 1: cars and more bikes cuts down on that. Bikes can
Speaker 1: also reduce the need for car infrastructure like we're just
Speaker 1: talking about, which can be costly it can be an eyesore.
Speaker 1: So it can you know, create not just savings in
Speaker 1: your own personal wallet, but citywide savings too. Like the
Speaker 1: more bikes that are on the road, the fewer road
Speaker 1: improvements that are gonna have to be done over the
Speaker 1: course of years. So, yeah, bikes can be a big
Speaker 1: deal when it comes to cutting down on pollution where
Speaker 1: you live and cutting down on the budgets of some
Speaker 1: of the municipalities where you live exactly. Yeah, So folks
Speaker 1: might be saying, all right, Joel Matte, thanks for your
Speaker 1: take on bikes. We know that you love bikes, but
Speaker 1: I've got a few reasons that it's just not gonna
Speaker 1: work for me. And so we've actually decided to kind
Speaker 1: of do this preemptive strike to respond to whatever excuses
Speaker 1: folks out there might have. And oftentimes I feel that
Speaker 1: one of the excuses we hear folks give is that
Speaker 1: they are transporting too much stuff. Okay't use my bike
Speaker 1: for grocery shopping. Uh have you seen my last grocery run? Right?
Speaker 1: Or I can't take the kids to school on a bike. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, it does depend on how much you're getting
Speaker 1: at the store and how many kids you have. If
Speaker 1: you're running up to Costco, it might be difficult to
Speaker 1: load your bike up with, you know, a massive month
Speaker 1: long run of Costco groceries. I will say, I'm not
Speaker 1: taking my bike to cost Well, I mean we live
Speaker 1: a long ways from a Costco so and that's a
Speaker 1: reasonable excuse. But if you don't go to the store,
Speaker 1: if you don't go to Costco all that often, this
Speaker 1: isn't something that should be a deal breaker, right. Well,
Speaker 1: we're also not trying to commence you to take your
Speaker 1: bike on every single trip ever, like there is a
Speaker 1: place for cars. We're just trying to convince you to
Speaker 1: bike more exactly, and just as far as a basic
Speaker 1: run to the grocery store. So say like the next
Speaker 1: time I'm gonna go to Aldi, I'm likely gonna take
Speaker 1: my bike. And the answer to how do I get
Speaker 1: all that stuff home are paintier bags. There are a
Speaker 1: great way for helping you to transport loads of stuff
Speaker 1: like the food that you just bought at the grocery store. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then when it comes to kids, Joel, you and
Speaker 1: I we both have cargo bikes uh, and they are
Speaker 1: awesome for hauling small kids. I can get all three
Speaker 1: of my rolls on our bike and you know, make
Speaker 1: the runs of the different schools. So you know, I
Speaker 1: feel like that this excuse that I'm transporting too much
Speaker 1: stuff this kind of rates maybe like a four and
Speaker 1: f tin for accuracy, because there are solutions to the
Speaker 1: conundrum of transporting kids as well as other stuff. We
Speaker 1: haven't even touched on the subject of getting bike trailers.
Speaker 1: This isn't something that you and I have ever done,
Speaker 1: but we see folks right and around with with bike trailers,
Speaker 1: these little you know, trailers hooked up to the bikes
Speaker 1: and allows them to haul all sorts of stuff. I've
Speaker 1: seen folks do that at lows before, where they're loading
Speaker 1: up plants for their yard on this little platform that's
Speaker 1: got its own wheels that they hook up to their bike.
Speaker 1: That certainly takes another level of commitment, but the option
Speaker 1: is out there. Yea. Where there's a will, there's a way, right,
Speaker 1: And to see how some people in our town get
Speaker 1: around via their bike pretty much in every circumstance, it's
Speaker 1: like admirable. It makes me want to like even up
Speaker 1: my biking game even more, right, And uh, I think
Speaker 1: another matt popular excuse to people might give is I
Speaker 1: can't show up sweaty to work. I've definitely heard of
Speaker 1: this one before. People are like, oh, that's that's nice
Speaker 1: to you bike, But I can't be sweaty and disgusting.
Speaker 1: I've got a real job. Yeah, I've got important meetings
Speaker 1: at not am, and so I cannot. I cannot do
Speaker 1: what you do. But I think there's a solution for
Speaker 1: that too. Write like, does your work have a shower?
Speaker 1: Can you bring a change of clothes? Can you bike
Speaker 1: a little slower? Like? All of those things are going
Speaker 1: to help you show up without being just a sweaty mass,
Speaker 1: right um. And I think also another solution is that
Speaker 1: e bikes they're great middle ground for lots of folks
Speaker 1: because you want to provide nearly as much exertion. They
Speaker 1: really can be this perfect solution for a whole lot
Speaker 1: of folks. I think that's part of why we're in
Speaker 1: the middle of kind of an ebike boom, that people
Speaker 1: are starting to adopt them because they're saying, actually, that
Speaker 1: is going to fit from my lifestyle. I won't have
Speaker 1: to be crazy sweaty by the time I get into work.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, there's a little bit of help, uh,
Speaker 1: pushing me along as well. Right, so I would read
Speaker 1: this excuse me be like a three out of ten,
Speaker 1: because there are ways to cut some of the sweatiness
Speaker 1: out of your bike commute. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: peddling like you would be in like a soul cycle class. Right,
Speaker 1: it doesn't. It doesn't have to do. Yeah, it doesn't.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be going you know all out. Um,
Speaker 1: you're still gonna realize a whole lot of physical benefits
Speaker 1: just by biking at a moderate pace. Totally. Yeah. And
Speaker 1: one of the other excuses to that we often hear
Speaker 1: is that it just takes too long to get there
Speaker 1: by bike. And you know, if you you commute like
Speaker 1: over thirty miles on the interstate every day by car,
Speaker 1: then you know this excuse is likely totally true. We'll
Speaker 1: give you a pass, right. But it turns out that
Speaker 1: the average speed of a car around town is eighteen
Speaker 1: miles per hour, while the average speed of a biker
Speaker 1: on a bicycle is fifteen miles per hour. Uh. There
Speaker 1: is this study of bike commuters done in Leone, France,
Speaker 1: and it found that bike commuters were faster during rush
Speaker 1: hour than folks who were driving their car. So it
Speaker 1: actually reversed the trend slightly there. And so if you
Speaker 1: are one of those people who has a length of
Speaker 1: interstate commute and instead maybe you're stuck in in town
Speaker 1: traffic and you kind of keep telling yourself how much
Speaker 1: quicker you are getting places in your car, to realize
Speaker 1: that this is likely not true. Man. I found that
Speaker 1: for me, just hopping on the bike and running an
Speaker 1: air and up to east land of Village or running
Speaker 1: to Aldi for us has been just about the same.
Speaker 1: It's gonna take about the same amount of time that
Speaker 1: would take or I had to just jump in the
Speaker 1: car and then some shorter runs they have to make,
Speaker 1: like just running over to a place something like that.
Speaker 1: I swear it would take longer for me to get
Speaker 1: in the vehicle, get in the van, like backing up
Speaker 1: out of the driveway, you know, drive down the street,
Speaker 1: as opposed to just grab my bike and going. I
Speaker 1: love the immediacy that biking provides. Not to mention the
Speaker 1: lack of parking concerns, which can be in a lot
Speaker 1: of in town areas, can be a real big deal
Speaker 1: wherever you If you pull up on your bike instead,
Speaker 1: it's like you go straight up to a bike rack,
Speaker 1: you lock up and wh wherever you want. Man, you're
Speaker 1: in the place of business where you're going, it just
Speaker 1: makes it way easier. And and a lot of places
Speaker 1: in in town Atlanta they're charging for parking now, and
Speaker 1: so you save money that way too. Um and Matt.
Speaker 1: I think another major excuses I can't bike here where
Speaker 1: I live because the weather isn't good enough. You know,
Speaker 1: where you live certainly plays a role in this excuse.
Speaker 1: I don't mind biking when he gets really hot in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Like some people are like, oh, it's ninety five degrees,
Speaker 1: I don't want to bike, And I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: mind it, but I do hate biking in January, Like
Speaker 1: I really don't like biking in the cold. I think
Speaker 1: I'm like more of the opposite, Like I don't mind
Speaker 1: riding in the summer if I know I don't have to,
Speaker 1: you know, talk to anybody for like the next fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: because I just know I'm gonna be dripping sweat. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just full on. But in the winter, I just, man,
Speaker 1: just bundle up. I love the idea of knowing that
Speaker 1: the exertion that I'm providing and like that that's fit
Speaker 1: literally making me warmer, and like I feel like that,
Speaker 1: just like, oh, it's like the natural order of things,
Speaker 1: you know. I feel like if I lived in Minnesota,
Speaker 1: I'd be a pathetic bike computer, but I'd still give
Speaker 1: it a go. There's people who do that though. I
Speaker 1: mean when Kate and I we visited Portland, Maine, and
Speaker 1: we rented bikes from this this dude that has a
Speaker 1: little bike rental company, and he was talking about he
Speaker 1: lives across the river and even in the winter, in
Speaker 1: the middle of the winter, he bikes to work. He
Speaker 1: has a different job in the winter, because yeah, nobody
Speaker 1: wants to rent bikes in the winter, but it's definitely
Speaker 1: still possible. Yeah, But I think what people have to
Speaker 1: realize is that there are lots of ways you can
Speaker 1: come back the weather, right, Like including the gear that
Speaker 1: you wear. A nice pair of gloves makes a huge
Speaker 1: different for those cold weather rides. Remember, Like I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's that's the first thing he gets called with your fingertips, Like,
Speaker 1: you definitely gotta have some good gloves. There, a good
Speaker 1: rain jackets set of rain pants so that you can,
Speaker 1: you know, ride in the rain without becoming like a
Speaker 1: sloppy soggy mess. It really comes down to, in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, just getting some gear that's gonna help
Speaker 1: you power through. And that gear maybe looks expensive on
Speaker 1: its face, but yeah, when you when you talk about
Speaker 1: not putting those mouths on your car or potentially being
Speaker 1: able to get rid of a car, that gear is
Speaker 1: incredibly inexpensive in the scheme of things. That's right. Plus,
Speaker 1: even if you did get a little bit wet, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're just sitting there working a little bit and you're
Speaker 1: a little soggy, and your co workers might, like, you know,
Speaker 1: talk bad about you. But if you if you don't
Speaker 1: have like a client sort of facing job, what's that
Speaker 1: matter if you're just like a little damp, whether it
Speaker 1: be from sweat or the rain. Right, make sure both uh,
Speaker 1: And you know you mentioned this a little bit earlier, Jo.
Speaker 1: Just like kind of the lack of like bike lanes
Speaker 1: or infrastructure that is often another common excuse that can
Speaker 1: certainly make it a little tougher to commute by bike. Atlanta,
Speaker 1: for instance, it's not known as a great city for biking.
Speaker 1: But you know that doesn't mean that it can't be done. Uh.
Speaker 1: And things are improving, right because folks like us support
Speaker 1: the Atlanta Bike Coalition and jel here's another thing. This
Speaker 1: might sound drastic, but we even feel that it's worth
Speaker 1: reconsidering where you live. We feel that the benefits of
Speaker 1: biking are so massive that planning your housing in order
Speaker 1: to live in a more bikable area can be worthwhile.
Speaker 1: But maybe that's not the boat you're in. Maybe you
Speaker 1: don't want to move. But even still, right, cars they
Speaker 1: have to share the roads with bikes and so obviously
Speaker 1: were a good fitting helmet. But then make sure that
Speaker 1: you have lights to increase your visibility when you're on
Speaker 1: roads that aren't necessarily made for bikers. You can still
Speaker 1: be on those roads, but make sure you've got the
Speaker 1: flashing red light on the back of your bike. Make
Speaker 1: sure you've got a light on the front of it
Speaker 1: that's super bright that also flashes. Being visible and having
Speaker 1: an ability to see things on the road is hugely important,
Speaker 1: especially when you're commuting on a daily basis to work. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt And Matt one final excuse I think I
Speaker 1: hear people say, and it was it's probably an excuse
Speaker 1: I gave back in the day, was like, well, I
Speaker 1: don't want to wear Spandex. I don't want to look
Speaker 1: like one of those goofballs, you know who's like I
Speaker 1: said that earlier, but I feel like I truly could
Speaker 1: see you one of these days, like getting the kind
Speaker 1: of the Spandex get up. I'm so tall, it's gonna
Speaker 1: look awkward, I think. But like, I don't necessarily consider
Speaker 1: myself a quote unquote cyclist, Like I'm not going out
Speaker 1: there like doing fifty mile rides on the weekend. That's
Speaker 1: not my jam. It's kind of more of a to
Speaker 1: and fro point A to point B device, or it's
Speaker 1: a more practical approach. Yeah, exactly. And so I think, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to adopt that lifestyle. You don't have
Speaker 1: to be that person. You can just wear normal clothes
Speaker 1: um and opt to ride a bike instead of driving
Speaker 1: a car. You don't necessarily have to get into cycling culture,
Speaker 1: uh too, in order to adopt that like more of
Speaker 1: a bike loving lifestyle. Yeah, all you have to do
Speaker 1: is just get on your bike and start like riding.
Speaker 1: That's how you be Like for you, like that can
Speaker 1: be cycling culture for you just see it as like
Speaker 1: almost as like a way of life as opposed to
Speaker 1: an activity. You know, it's not like something that you do.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna go biking, although you can, and if
Speaker 1: you want to, have to like put the bike on
Speaker 1: the roof of your car and drive somewhere and then
Speaker 1: take it off and then go for a rod. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of okay, instead of you know,
Speaker 1: driving to the store, I'm gonna get on my bike
Speaker 1: and to the store. It's a very unglamorous, like non
Speaker 1: sexy way of embracing biking. But it's a way that
Speaker 1: is going to save you serious money plus all the
Speaker 1: other benefits that we've mentioned. So now that we've debunked
Speaker 1: some of those different excuses, we've covered the different benefits,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about how you can start incorporating biking
Speaker 1: into your daily life. And we'll get to that right
Speaker 1: after this break. All right, Matt, we're back. We've covered
Speaker 1: a lot of benefits of biking so far, and we've
Speaker 1: debunked some of the excuses. Maybe they're not as good
Speaker 1: of excuses as we're previously thought to be. And now
Speaker 1: somebody might be saying, well, I don't have a bike,
Speaker 1: or my bike is old and it's crusty. I need something.
Speaker 1: I need something new. Uh, And you know, I think
Speaker 1: the mold leftovers in the fridge kind of kind of crusty.
Speaker 1: And you know, maybe your bike it needs a little
Speaker 1: bit of work, or if you don't own one, maybe
Speaker 1: you need to buy one. So let's kind of get
Speaker 1: into that too, because yeah, you might need to get
Speaker 1: out there on the market and find a bike, um,
Speaker 1: so that you can make biking more of a regular
Speaker 1: occurrence in your life. Right. And yeah, one of the
Speaker 1: things it's important to mention is that you might be
Speaker 1: able to fix up the bike that you currently own,
Speaker 1: right if it's got a flat tire or the chain
Speaker 1: is just rusty, those are pretty easy fixes. You can
Speaker 1: maybe take it to your local bike shop or watch
Speaker 1: a couple of YouTube videos. They're gonna help you figure
Speaker 1: out how to do some of that minor work to
Speaker 1: your bike yourself. So I wouldn't necessarily just discard the
Speaker 1: bike that you've got without maybe you know, taking a
Speaker 1: look and seeing if it's got some life lift in it.
Speaker 1: But let's say you either don't have one, or or
Speaker 1: your bike is past its prime and it's not gonna
Speaker 1: work out for you. Buying a used bike is a
Speaker 1: good way to go um. And you know, while biking
Speaker 1: has gained quite a bit of steam during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: a lot of new bikes were sold, bike companies experiencing
Speaker 1: you know, record numbers of orders. I'm sure some of
Speaker 1: those folks who got excited to get on their bike
Speaker 1: are already tired of it, right, um. And they're more
Speaker 1: likely to spend some of their money on travel now
Speaker 1: that it's allowed, and they're like at the next hot things. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they're maybe I can get five hundred bucks for this
Speaker 1: thousand dollar bike I just bought, or you know, two
Speaker 1: hundred bucks for the five dollar bike I just bought.
Speaker 1: And so you might start seeing more listings popping up
Speaker 1: on Facebook, Marketplace or Craigslist. So yeah, search those sites
Speaker 1: in order to find a bike that's going to gonna
Speaker 1: work for you. Of course, buying used is going to
Speaker 1: saving more money than buying new, that's right. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: obviously start with what you have already at home. But
Speaker 1: if you don't have a good option at home, look
Speaker 1: to buying used. But you can also buy new. You
Speaker 1: can buy a new bike as well, right, that's not
Speaker 1: a bad idea and you can do it well. Ari
Speaker 1: I is a great place to buy a bike. This
Speaker 1: actually again, that's where I purchased my bike last spring,
Speaker 1: but I've also purchased a bike from bikes Directs. It's
Speaker 1: just an awesome online site. I've had multiple friends purchased
Speaker 1: bikes from them, and you can get a really great
Speaker 1: deal because they offer great bikes at an incredible discount. Essentially,
Speaker 1: it's yeah, there's no middleman. You're essentially buying straight from
Speaker 1: the manufacturer themselves. And it does, I will say, it
Speaker 1: does require a small amount of d I y, there's
Speaker 1: a little bit of assembly required. But here is why
Speaker 1: I'm to convince you that that's a good thing. And
Speaker 1: first of all, it's because it's not that hard. It
Speaker 1: really just involves, uh, screwing some pedals, on cranking those,
Speaker 1: on getting your handleball something together from my kea. You
Speaker 1: can do this, I think exactly. I think so, uh
Speaker 1: And and the reason I think this is good is
Speaker 1: because it, like it gives you a little bit of
Speaker 1: sweat equity. And so just by having done that yourself
Speaker 1: some familiarity with your new ride. Exactly. Yeah, you're familiar
Speaker 1: with with some of the tools already, and oftentimes they
Speaker 1: will ship the bike with tools. It's definitely something to
Speaker 1: check and something to look into. But I think that's
Speaker 1: going to cause you to be more likely to work
Speaker 1: and tinker on your bike in the future, saving you
Speaker 1: potentially even more money. Right If if if you're like, oh
Speaker 1: my my brakes, I'm kind of like squeezing it all
Speaker 1: the way down, you know, down to the grips, and
Speaker 1: I'm like barely slowing down, It's like, okay, cool, All
Speaker 1: you really need to do is just kind of adjust
Speaker 1: the little space on your you know, on your brakes,
Speaker 1: or if you've already done that once, it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: maybe I should put that back and actually tighten the cable.
Speaker 1: Like these are all things that you figure out slowly. Uh,
Speaker 1: And it starts by, you know, just some simple tinkering
Speaker 1: around with your bike. And I think that initial assembly
Speaker 1: can be a good way for you to personally get
Speaker 1: familiar with the mechanics of your bike. I like it.
Speaker 1: I like it. And let's say someone is looking to
Speaker 1: buy a new e bike, right, well, that's gonna set
Speaker 1: you back a little more money, right because the battery,
Speaker 1: the motor, all the extra components that go into making
Speaker 1: an e bike do make them more expensive than traditional bikes.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there's a great place to go electric bike
Speaker 1: review dot com. It's one of my favorite sites for
Speaker 1: researching e bikes. It's super unbiased on this guy Court.
Speaker 1: He reviews all the bikes personally and he does a
Speaker 1: great job riding at the reviews creating long form YouTube
Speaker 1: videos like showing you exactly how these bikes work. So
Speaker 1: I would suggest going there, and it almost sounds like
Speaker 1: a dream job. He has like fans of of biking,
Speaker 1: and as you in particular, you know, as a huge
Speaker 1: fan of electric bikes, it might only be like second
Speaker 1: only to like beer review or something like that. Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe I can be like the Charlie Bucket to his
Speaker 1: Willy Wonka and I can take over his operations something
Speaker 1: that that would be fun. But I also I wrote
Speaker 1: an article recently a out riding a Radwagon. That's the
Speaker 1: electric bike that I'm a big fan of and that
Speaker 1: I've been riding for about four years now. So we'll
Speaker 1: link to that article that discusses all the benefits of
Speaker 1: that bike in particular. But really, yeah, if you're looking
Speaker 1: for an ebike, there's so many more choices than there
Speaker 1: used to be, like three or four years ago. There
Speaker 1: weren't that many, and they weren't nearly as good as
Speaker 1: they are. They've improved so much, and the prices are
Speaker 1: actually kind of getting more competitive. So I would say, yeah,
Speaker 1: check out that site, check out the article I wrote, um,
Speaker 1: and hopefully that will guide you in the right direction
Speaker 1: as you're looking to find the ebike that's best going
Speaker 1: to fit kind of your lifestyle and how you want
Speaker 1: to bike. But one of the great things about ebikes, Matt,
Speaker 1: is I think it will get a lot of people
Speaker 1: on the road that otherwise wouldn't because that's one of
Speaker 1: those excuses, right, Um. And for some people, especially as
Speaker 1: they age, it's more difficult to get out there on
Speaker 1: an actual bike, and ebike just allows a much wider
Speaker 1: range of folks to actually enjoy biking that might not
Speaker 1: be able to otherwise. Absolutely, I mean that's why we
Speaker 1: don't hate at all on ebikes. I think there's some
Speaker 1: like purists out there who are just like, oh no,
Speaker 1: like that's like that's cheating, you know, like using the
Speaker 1: battery or whatever. But as long as you're peddling, I
Speaker 1: mean I see some guys just literally just like their
Speaker 1: feet aren't moving at all and they're just like throttling it.
Speaker 1: Like in my mind, that's like an electric scooter basically,
Speaker 1: But I don't like seeing anything. But I love the
Speaker 1: accessibility and how it's gonna mean that more folks are
Speaker 1: going to be on their bikes. And so let's talk
Speaker 1: about how to incorporate biking into your commuting routine a
Speaker 1: little more easily. Start off slow, and you can do
Speaker 1: this by getting around your neighborhood by bike. Like we said,
Speaker 1: you know, half of your driving is likely done within
Speaker 1: four miles of your home, so yeah, dip your toes
Speaker 1: in the water by just getting your bike out on
Speaker 1: the road for some of those easy trips. There's no
Speaker 1: need to jump on your bike for this massive thirteen
Speaker 1: mile one way commute to work tomorrow morning. It'll probably
Speaker 1: turn you off from biking in general, because maybe you
Speaker 1: haven't thought about the different things that you're gonna learn
Speaker 1: as you start to ride a bike more than route
Speaker 1: you want to take, and you're like trying to figure
Speaker 1: that out on the fly while you're trying to get
Speaker 1: a work to work on time or yeah, or you're thinking,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh man, I didn't bring a lock, Like
Speaker 1: how am I supposed to? Like like there's just small
Speaker 1: little things that you realize once you get more used
Speaker 1: to riding. And we're not going to cover all those
Speaker 1: little things, but you can learn all of these things
Speaker 1: yourself by just starting out small. Yeah. I think one
Speaker 1: other way to incorporate biking into your commuting routine is
Speaker 1: to take some low stress, low pressure rides. Right, and
Speaker 1: if you think that commuting to work is a real
Speaker 1: possibility for you, I would suggest giving it a try
Speaker 1: on the weekend first, right, so well, less traffic, yeah,
Speaker 1: less traffic, you know, Monday morning, that ride can be daunting.
Speaker 1: Uh if if everybody's like talking at you because you
Speaker 1: haven't ridden a bike in like ten years. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you and you haven't given that route ago yet, so um,
Speaker 1: you can kind of familiarize yourself with the route instead
Speaker 1: of being under the crunch to get to work on time.
Speaker 1: And make sure to check out Google Maps. They do
Speaker 1: a great job helping you find the best route to
Speaker 1: take your bike on. Um. So yeah, it's it's likely
Speaker 1: going to be different than the route that you take
Speaker 1: in your car. That route might not be the best
Speaker 1: route on a bike. So yeah, I would say don't
Speaker 1: prioritize the route that has the fewest amount of miles,
Speaker 1: choose the one that's going to be safer for you,
Speaker 1: and hopefully one with fewer hills too. Like hills in
Speaker 1: the car, not a big deal. Hills on a bike, um,
Speaker 1: you know, if it's if there's a bunch of them,
Speaker 1: can really wear you out absolutely. And one other thing too,
Speaker 1: as you start to think about biking more, especially backing
Speaker 1: to work. If you decide that commuting is working out
Speaker 1: for you and you're excited to get into regular bike riding,
Speaker 1: you might want to upgrade your bike at some point.
Speaker 1: Having a lightweight bike will allow you to travel faster
Speaker 1: and enjoy biking even more. And so on one hand,
Speaker 1: we don't want you to go out and buy a
Speaker 1: bike tomorrow before you, you know, start to actually use
Speaker 1: the one that you already have, or before you even
Speaker 1: take the first bike ride. But it's also important not
Speaker 1: to cheap out if you're going to bike consistently, right,
Speaker 1: So a heavy bike with just basic components will, I
Speaker 1: think that will quickly become frustrating to ride, um and
Speaker 1: ultimately that might end up discouraging you from riding at all.
Speaker 1: And that's what we're trying to avoid here. It's like
Speaker 1: going out there and trying to play disc golf with
Speaker 1: one of those you know, WAMO discs that really it's
Speaker 1: meant for ultimate FRISB, like an ultimate disc. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: And and like no you need you can, but as
Speaker 1: gonna be nearly as effective that you know, driving down
Speaker 1: the fairway, and pretty soon you're just gonna like lose
Speaker 1: all joy into it because you're like, I see these
Speaker 1: other guys out here throwing it. They're getting to the
Speaker 1: hole in three, It takes me six strokes, Like it's
Speaker 1: just it's just not fun, and you need the proper
Speaker 1: equipment in order to do it well. And I think
Speaker 1: the same thing can be true of biking, Like you
Speaker 1: don't want to go all in and bind an expensive
Speaker 1: bike before you're ready, but you want to make sure
Speaker 1: your equipment is decent. And then having a crumby bike
Speaker 1: isn't going to continue to be the excuse to keep
Speaker 1: you from biking, and so at some point you might
Speaker 1: have to put some money into that in order to
Speaker 1: make sure that you're riding on something that's going to
Speaker 1: get you excited to get out there on the road well.
Speaker 1: And and this isn't to say that you can't find
Speaker 1: a great bike for five bucks, right, like from bike's director.
Speaker 1: Get a solid, awesome, great commuter bike that you can
Speaker 1: ride to and from work for years and years. I'm
Speaker 1: riding a free, hand me down bike and I'm still
Speaker 1: riding the same one and it's awesome, but it's also
Speaker 1: a nice bike that you happen to get free. But
Speaker 1: I think said, if you find yourself drawn to biking
Speaker 1: and you're enjoying it more and more, well you can
Speaker 1: sell that five on your bike, you know, maybe do
Speaker 1: a upgrade, get that fifteen dollar bike. Uh, if you're
Speaker 1: able to maybe see your old bike for like safe
Speaker 1: hunter bucks. But that evens right, there is a small
Speaker 1: amount of money compared to the vast amount of money
Speaker 1: that you're going to say over the years. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so we're trying to make sure that you are equipped
Speaker 1: to be able to do this in a way that's
Speaker 1: effective and in a way that you're actually going to
Speaker 1: be able to stick with. Yeah. So yeah, to sum
Speaker 1: it up, we're talking about biking more to get rich.
Speaker 1: That was the title of this episode, Matt. And I
Speaker 1: feel like, you know, biking has been a lifestyle game
Speaker 1: changer for my family, but it's also been a personal
Speaker 1: finance game changer for our family. It's allowed us to
Speaker 1: own only one car, which has been awesome. But I
Speaker 1: feel like even more important than that, if someone were
Speaker 1: to say, you know, what's what are the best things
Speaker 1: about biking, the first things I would say wouldn't be financial.
Speaker 1: They would be the memories that I've made with my
Speaker 1: family on bikes. Um. And so like on a Saturday,
Speaker 1: if we're going to a playground, we don't happen the
Speaker 1: car anymore. We hop on bikes, um. And it kind
Speaker 1: of helps define the day for us in a positive way.
Speaker 1: And instead of waiting in the car pool line for
Speaker 1: for my kids, you know, behind fIF eight other cars,
Speaker 1: you know, idoling as our kids run out top in
Speaker 1: the van, we we you and I ride up there
Speaker 1: together on our bikes and we pick up our kids. Um.
Speaker 1: And we talked the whole way there, and we're hanging
Speaker 1: out there with other folks, and sure we're a little
Speaker 1: bit sweaty, and I think some of the parents look
Speaker 1: at us funny, But man, it's such a better way
Speaker 1: for us to live life. At least we feel it is. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's really it's not possible to calculate the you
Speaker 1: know r o I of owning a decent bike and
Speaker 1: riding it consistently. But there are so many benefits you
Speaker 1: get from biking on the rag. And I don't even
Speaker 1: know if we did bikes justice with today's episode, but
Speaker 1: hopefully we did, and hopefully, you know, our listeners are
Speaker 1: more encouraged to go hop on their own bikes. Maybe
Speaker 1: this week, this weekend, I hope maybe start kicking the
Speaker 1: tires on biking more regularly as like a lifestyle choice.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's gonna save you money, and it just
Speaker 1: even aside from the money man, it makes me think
Speaker 1: of like the last couple of gatherings we've done with
Speaker 1: with with a bunch of dudes, a few wants back
Speaker 1: for your birthday. We got a bunch of guys together
Speaker 1: and we went we went riding. We rode to a
Speaker 1: brewery before we rode somewhere else, you know, for a
Speaker 1: on fire. That night a friend of ours had a
Speaker 1: baby shower. Recently, we rode to uh this taco truck
Speaker 1: basically had a bunch of tacos. Then we rode to
Speaker 1: another brewery from there, and then that night, you know,
Speaker 1: we wrote home it's just so much fun. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: getting a bunch of folks together like that and riding
Speaker 1: around town. And so at the core of it, this
Speaker 1: is a money show, but there are again so many
Speaker 1: benefits that riding bikes can bring you. But man, let
Speaker 1: let's quickly get back to the beer that we enjoyed
Speaker 1: this episode. You and I shared a double fruited boisonberry,
Speaker 1: BlackBerry raspberry hill. Uh. This is from Southern Grist Brewing Company.
Speaker 1: These guys are at a Nashville, Tennessee. What were your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this sour man? I thought it was a
Speaker 1: little sweet, a little sour. It had like some smoothie
Speaker 1: kind of notes going on. Yeah, yeah, like my wife
Speaker 1: makes smoothies for the kids, like a lot of days.
Speaker 1: We've been doing that a lot lately. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it takes like one of those I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, like a beer smoothie. Um. And I
Speaker 1: think there was just so much fruit in there. In fact,
Speaker 1: it truly was double fruited. It really was. So it
Speaker 1: was this nice blending of like three different kinds of fruits.
Speaker 1: I think I was getting more of the BlackBerry and
Speaker 1: the boisonberry, but I think, man, it was it was
Speaker 1: well balanced. But again, I love fruited beers and so yeah,
Speaker 1: this one is definitely right at my alley. Yeah. The
Speaker 1: first thing I do is when we poured it, is
Speaker 1: that I love when the label, like the color of
Speaker 1: the beer is like the same color as the label,
Speaker 1: and it one percent was like when I poured him
Speaker 1: and I was looking at him right next to each other,
Speaker 1: like there's no surprise as to what you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: You know, like when you pour a beer and it's
Speaker 1: like not the color you're expecting it, you're kind of
Speaker 1: always thinking, oh, well, that's not what I was expecting,
Speaker 1: or like that happened one time with like a strawberry beer.
Speaker 1: We poured it and it's like, oh, it's just regular
Speaker 1: beer colored. It wasn't It wasn't red. And so obviously
Speaker 1: to get a berry loaded beer like this with that
Speaker 1: much color, I'm a huge fan of synchronizing those colors
Speaker 1: like that. So Southern Grist, I know you're not listening,
Speaker 1: but good job, and we would highly recommend this beer
Speaker 1: if you like fruited sours. But Joel, that's gonna be
Speaker 1: it for this episode. You can find our show notes
Speaker 1: up on our website at how to money dot Com
Speaker 1: will make sure to link to any of the different
Speaker 1: resources that we mentioned, including that article that Joel wrote
Speaker 1: about his radwagon as well as that bike review site
Speaker 1: to all right man, Well, that's gonna do it for
Speaker 1: this episode. Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,