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Track your human-powered miles with GasFreeCommute.com |
 | By Julie Lawrence   OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writer E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Julie Lawrence |
| Published July 29, 2008 at 10:56 a.m. |
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What began with Milwaukee's Bike to Work Week has evolved into a lifestyle change for me. While the nature of my job doesn't allow for me to get rid of my ride, I've managed to reduce my drive time by about 50 percent, if not more, by commuting via bicycle to and from work when my schedule allows.
It's a lot easier than I thought it'd be, though I admit that at four miles each way, it's not exactly long-distance touring. Still, it's something, and when my car feels slightly foreign after three or four days of non-use, I know it's having an impact, financially and environmentally.
Today a fellow bike commuter introduced me to GasFreeCommute.com, a Web site that helps you track your human-powered (bike, walk, run or skate) mileage. It calculates the calories you burn on your commute and though it's just an estimate, it's certainly motivating. As you rack up the bike miles it begins to estimate the number of gallons of gas you're saving as well as the total number of greenhouse gas emissions you are not creating.
It's not an exact science, but just like in a car, the miles you put on your bike add up and as the proverbial odometer increases, it's a great feeling to know you're saving money rather than spending it on an oil change.
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9 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Recent Talkbacks ...
Posted by murpmic on Aug. 20, 2008 at 12:47 a.m. (report)
The only problem with saving on the oil change is that you have to change it every 3 months regardless of your miles. So that doesn't really save you. Gas, yes! Oil change, no.
| Rate this: |
Posted by GasFreeCommute on Aug. 4, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. (report)
Hello, I am the creator of GasFreeCommute.com. I read over this blog and your posts and I am excited that you all took the time to visit and join the site. I read some of your suggestions and I am happy to announce that I did add some new features to the site. You can use Decimals now for distance. So 5.5 is acceptable for five and one half miles. I also added Time Entry presets allowing you to preset or default your commute setting so, less typing, you can just go to the page and if all the data of your commute is exactly like your preset values, you just only have to submit. Also you can get calculations for the Average MPG of your own car's value. Look for new features as I develop them. A mobile only site has already begun in development so it will be easy to access the site from your internet mobile devices such as PDA's and phone. Thanks again!
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Posted by haaz on July 30, 2008 at 8:47 p.m. (report)
Someone told me about Grant Park the other day. I look forward to seeing it! Irony of ironies: tonight, I biked with my daughter to Bella's on KK. From there we were going to go to do a harvest at our plot in the Village Roots Garden. [cue to overly-swooshy violin music that tries yet yet ultimately fails to stir the audience's sense of environmental ethics...] When we came out of Bella's, I found I had a flat tire on my bike! Fortunately the garden was less than a mile away, and my wife* came in on her way home from work (in her car) and took my daughter (and the huge harvest) home. But if anyone needs purple beans, we got some.
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Posted by littletinyfish on July 30, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. (report)
@haaz I'll have to join your group! The site looks relatively new and the fact that you can't enter decimals is a bit of a disappointment. It'd also be nice to be able to mark "favored" commutes. Instead of entering my stats for the same trip every day, it'd be nice to just click a button and say "Yes, I did this again." That said, it's a neat idea, and it'll be fun to see how far we can take it, and how well our city will compete with the rest of the world.
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Posted by Teecycle_Tim on July 30, 2008 at 7:35 a.m. (report)
Good for you!
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Show me the other 4 Talkbacks
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