Oooh, that was a nice commute!

[sfa]

Just curious, what school do you work at? I'm a College Park alum.

I'm at Howard Community College. My DH used to work at UMCP when he first moved to the area. Talk about a horrible commute--we were living in the Baltimore suburbs and he had to do the slog down I-95 every day.

I don't know if it's laziness so much as lack of imagination. The woman I'm thinking of in particular, the one who was complaining the loudest yesterday about having to drive past the campus to park at shuttle parking, lives just two miles from campus and gets in early every day to work out at the gym, where she runs five miles on the treadmill and then does 20 minutes or so on the weight machines. I don't know, maybe she has bad allergies or something. I don't think I would have thought of walking either except one day last winter (in my pre-bike days) I missed the shuttle and was standing there thinking "well, I could stand here freezing my butt off, or I could walk and be warmer and get to my car before the shuttle even gets back here." I don't think I had even given any thought to how close it actually was to walk--it was just necessity (and cold toes) that made me think differently.

Sarah

[SadieKate]

Interestingly, I'm have my job because I ask why an individual behaves a certain way before generalizing. I then try to come up with a solution. It's also opened new avenues of exploration and learning about people.

Sort of like GLC recognizing that she'd conditioned herself to think "bike."

All I'm asking is for the question "why?" to be asked before saying "everyone" and "anyone". You may be able to convert a few of those shuttle riders to riding or walking if you ask "why" first.

[Smilie]

why don't we just walk? Duh. Yeah - it was like 5 blocks away and I didn't even think about walking because I've conditioned myself to think 'bike'.

That's funny! We-as a population-are creatures of habit! I know I have done the same things, but that is what I am used to be doing! Funny how we don't even really realize it till it is pointed out to us!

[Aggie_Ama]

I'm at Howard Community College. My DH used to work at UMCP when he first moved to the area. Talk about a horrible commute--we were living in the Baltimore suburbs and he had to do the slog down I-95 every day.

I don't know if it's laziness so much as lack of imagination. The woman I'm thinking of in particular, the one who was complaining the loudest yesterday about having to drive past the campus to park at shuttle parking, lives just two miles from campus and gets in early every day to work out at the gym, where she runs five miles on the treadmill and then does 20 minutes or so on the weight machines. I don't know, maybe she has bad allergies or something. I don't think I would have thought of walking either except one day last winter (in my pre-bike days) I missed the shuttle and was standing there thinking "well, I could stand here freezing my butt off, or I could walk and be warmer and get to my car before the shuttle even gets back here." I don't think I had even given any thought to how close it actually was to walk--it was just necessity (and cold toes) that made me think differently.

Sarah

Maybe if she complains again you could suggest she walks? Tell her how great you feel riding and how you didn't realize a short workout like that can really put you in a great mood. She may not listen but if she is already active maybe she will. I would rather run 2 miles outside even in the cold than a treadmill. Maybe she hasn't tried running outside? I ran for up to an hour on the treadmill for six months before every venturing outside for even a mile!