Schedules and Labels

Since the weather has been very nice lately around these parts, I am starting to ride my bike more now.  I stopped exercising over the holidays and that was a huge mistake.  I am training for a 5k during the first weekend of March, but I lost a lot of my progress when I stopped running.  As for my cycling race schedule, well, I don't have much of one right now.  Like last year I plan on doing the Tour de Rock in June that benefits CARTI.  I would like to do the Big Dam Bridge 100 this year, but that all depends on where I will be living in the fall and whether or not I can come back to Little Rock for the race.

My training schedule is currently focusing on running.  I try to run three days a week (MWF) and one long-ish bike ride on the weekends.  I try to sneak in some time doing a few weight machines at the gym, but that doesn't always happen.  I have been running on an indoor track.  It is pretty nice and makes it a little easier to run; I like being able pit stop at the water fountain next to the track.  I suppose the disadvantage of running on a track would be that it is flat and not comparable to an actual race.  That being said though, I hate sucking in cold air that causes my nose and chest to feel pretty darn uncomfortable. 

To be honest, I can't really decide if I like running.  I appreciate that fact that I can fun a shorter distance and exert more energy than when I ride my bike.  The fact is that with a school schedule, it can be difficult to work in a bike ride that will help me train.  So, it is nice to fit a short run into my schedule and know that I have exerciesed.  Sometimes I feel like running takes away from time on my bike, but I respond to this feeling with two thoughts: 1) I don't always have time to ride my bike (like I previously mentioned), and 2) I try to ride my bike to campus to save time, get a little more exercise, and just enjoy being on my bike.  And I should mention that I also do it to cut down on my carbon footprint.  After all, I am an environmentalist as much as I am a cyclist or "runner."  (I hesitate to call myself a runner, because I can't decide if I really like it and if it is something I want to keep up.) 

A Pedestrian's Dream

New York City is a perfect pedestrian city.  For example, without having to take a taxi or the subway I could find multiple restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, pharmacy, sporting goods store, and plenty more.  That was all within about two or three blocks from my hotel.  Then by riding the subway almost anything was reachable.  I say that NYC is a pedestrian's dream, but it is really a great city for anyone leading a sustainable life.  The subway is a great option for not driving around town.  On top of that, the city buses are hybrid-electric, and many of the taxis are hybrid vehicles.  I do not know if these hybrid taxis are more expensive than non-hybrid vehicles, but I would likely pay a small up-charge to save fuel and emissions in my personal carbon footprint. 

Though I did not drive around the city, I can very strongly say that I would not want to even want to own a car. With the subway, buses, and (hybrid) taxis when necessary I know that my personal carbon footprint would be lower if I lived in NYC than it is living in Arkansas.

I was not used to a pedestrian-based city.  Whenever I want to do something I have always had to get in my car and drive at least five minutes and usually a lot longer. In NYC we were staying at the Rockefeller Center Hotel so I only had to walk about one block to get to the Rockefeller Center subway stop.  From this station I could go pretty much anywhere in the city with just a short walk after reaching my desired stop. Before heading to NYC I downloaded a subway map on my iPhone, and I couldn't imagine finding my way around the city.  The  map looked so difficult, but by the end of the week I could "easily" find my way around Manhattan.

I try to have as small an impact on the environment as possible, and after this trip I noticed the importance of the city.  I can only lower my impact as much as the city and infrastructure allows.  This is how I imagine my life in a larger city like NYC, but not necessarily NYC specifically.

• Transportation - I could walk to local businesses, and potentially take the subway or bus if available.  Additionally, I could incorporate riding my bike into my daily routine as another way to eliminate driving my car.
• "Locavore" - With more local, small groceries I could support local businesses and eat food that was not shipped thousands of miles to reach my table.  And, if the city has a large farmers market, like NYC does, then I could buy straight from the farm!
• Vegan diet - If I wanted to eliminate all animal products from my diet, then a large multi-cultural city has a lot of different options for places to eat and groceries at which to shop.  

These are just a few of my initial ideas about sustainable living in large, diverse cities.  I think it's pretty clear that I loved visiting NYC.  I always look for sustainability options wherever I am and NYC did not let me down.

A Metropolitan Vacation

Last week I was in New York City, on vacation with my girlfriend and her family.  I have never been there before, and from the first day I knew I would like the city.  Part of what was so enjoyable about New York is that I have seen much of it on TV and in Movies.  While the city is definitely different than it appears on screen, it was really cool to see landmarks that I was familiar with from TV and movies.  I also enjoyed not doing too many of the "touristy" things to do - such as the sightseeing bus tours.  I feel like I got a good grasp of the city from just walking around, taking the subway, and visiting places and restarants that weren't pointed out to me from a touristy book or tour guide.  I was definitely on "sensory overload" since I am not used to such a large, busy, and diverse city.  I enjoyed always having somethign to do, the different types of people, and the ecological and cycling aspects to the city.  Unfortunately, though, there are some elements of the city that really just left me thinking.  I want to plan my thoughts on environmentalism and cycling in the city, so I'm gonna hold off on talking about that for a few days. 

Some trip highlights (though I don't think I could say even one thing that I didn't enjoy):

• The Doughnut Plant
• The Natural History Museum (Especially the human evolution exhibit)
• NBC Studios Tour
• Washington Square
• St Patrick's Cathedral and St. Paul's Chapel
• The small part of Central Park that I visited
• Rockefeller Center
• The New York Public Library