What happens when you give up your car? Well Hutton Marshall
decided to take New
Belgium’s Tour de Fat Car-for_Bike Trader challenge, where one brave role
model trades in his or her car keys and pledges to live car free for one year. Upon giving his car to New Belgium to have
them auction it off, he was given a stipend ($2,200) to buy a bicycle and
accessories and asked to report on his life changing experience. (Proceeds of
the donated car go to the San Diego
County Bicycle Coalition and the San Diego
Mountain Bike Association) Every city on the Tour de Fat circuit picks one
recipient, from a video submission addressing why they want to go car-free and
commit to biking full-time. Do you want to apply? Information is on the New Belgium
website about this year’s Tour de Fat San Diego, and it's September 26th,
2015.
“The program was a good fit for me. I don’t live far from
my work and I spent my time on the weekends within biking distance of my
home,” says Hutton, editor of San Diego
Uptown News. “People treat me like
I’m making some enormous sacrifice, but really, I still consider myself pretty
lucky.” He does realize that he made a choice and “a lot of people in low-income
communities would happily trade places with me. They bike to work out of
economic necessity, and they certainly didn’t get a high-end touring bike for
doing so.” Hutton reflects, “ So really, I did it because I could, and because
in the end, I’m lucky to have the freedom and ability to do so.”
As you could imagine, riding a bicycle has some health
benefits, “I’m definitely in better shape than I was sixth months ago, that’s
for sure. Having Texas Street waiting for me at the end of each workday ensures
I never skip a workout,” remarks Hutton. Riding a bicycle through a
neighborhood also gives you a different perspective on transportation and city
planning. “It’s also been pretty eye-opening too,” notes Hutton. “You see which
neighborhoods are designed for residents and pedestrians, and you see which are
designed as corridors for people to drive through as quickly as possible.” A
cyclist must improvise; sometime the safest path is not a straight line. “I’ve had to get creative figuring out how I
get from A to B throughout the week, but mostly it’s been good.”
Two wheel Connector
“One day as I was just about to get home, I rode past a
purse on the ground that other cars had driven past without noticing. Found a
wallet in it, did a Google search and found out the owner is another journalist
living in San Diego. She might do a story for Uptown News in the future. It’s
just funny how getting out of a car makes you more social almost by necessity.”
What advice would you give our next Car-for-Bike Trader?
Hutton advises “Go to a few different bike shops before you
choose your ride, but try to find one that’s close to home. Also, I’ve found
car2go to be more cost-effective in supplementing my bike than public
transportation, at least in the Uptown, Downtown and Mission Valley areas.”
This year’s San Diego New Belgium Tour de
Fat is September 26th, 2015, and you can find out more
information about the Car-for-Bike
Trader program here.
