I am starting the 2011 riding season with a balance of $277.72 in my bike fund. Let me explain what this means. I took the average cost per mile of operating my car and the average cost per mile to ride commute and run errands on my bike and subtraced it and came up with $0.34 a mile. That is money either saved or simply not spent. I keep track of the amount and multiply by the miles ridden when I commute or use my bike for errands. I do not count recreational riding. I subtract the money I spend on my bike from this fund. At the end of 2010 I had a positive balance of $277.72. I have already spent $61.95 of it on a new helmet and new gloves. The balance is currently $215.77. I pick my bike up from the shop after its tune up this coming Wednesday so the amount will be even less. But for 2011 I am starting in the black.
So doing the math, that's over 800 miles of bike commuting/errand-running instead of driving last year, huh. Nice! I definitely want to have a lot more of those type of miles this year, instead of just pure recreational/training/racing miles.
Interesting. With our two very economical cars paid for and cheap to insure, we wouldn't save much by cycling, since everything is so close to home, but it's still a good way of looking at things. If there was a formula to calculate health benefits per mile, that would be better.
IH, there is a way to track the health benefits, sort of. Since September of 2008 I have been using a web site site called Gas Free Commute to track mileage for commuting and errands, green house gases not emitted and how many gallons of fule, based on teh national average I have saved by riding bike. The site also keeps track of calories burned.
The way I look at it if I get SSI + pention for 1 month more by rideing my bike I am ahead , and if I add a year to my life I am way ahead.:thumbsup: But per mile ???
