Day One

Before I begin, the title of the site is slightly misleading. Let me explain. In February, I received a speeding ticket as a minor. I'm an adult now. But the judge sentenced me to 30 days with a restricted license. This means that I can only drive to and from school, which is 8.6 miles away from my house. Everything else though, I'm going to try to stay faithful to my restricted license. Why? A) Because that's the law, and I'd rather bitch about having to bike than bitch about my insurance rates doubling. B) While LA is a car-oriented city, I want to see how easy it would be to get around without the one tool I have grown incredibly dependent on; my car.

With that rather small detail, let me say that so far I've made two trips on foot that I'd normally take a car for. There is a Whole Foods literally a five minute walk away from me. I had to go there today to return some yoghurt which happened to prematurely spoil. I've done this walk several times in the past, and I'm used to it, but I'm dreading the day I'm going to be carrying several days worth the groceries. Perhaps the solution is to go more often and buy less.

The second trip was my first bike ride in LA traffic. I had to go to Sport's Chalet about a mile and a half away to buy a new lock and lights for my bike. I run further than that trip was round trip, and honestly, riding my bike there wasn't that difficult. It's a short workout, not even breaking a sweat, good cardio. I just wish my bike wasn't so ancient, and had working gears. But overall, it's easily doable. Plus, when I'm in college, I'm going to be riding my bike alot more often than I will be driving, as Cal Poly is a very compact campus.

With all of this said, I'm sure I'm going through a honeymoon period with this right now. But this doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing either, not having access to a car (outside of to and from school) for 30 days. I don't really like driving to begin with, it's a chore. We'll see what happens.