Goodbye to a FourWheeled Cycling Companion

Hello to the promise of fitness and money saving, maybe

Acouple of weeks ago, I took a drastic step – one that will make me thinner while saving me about $5,000 a year. No, I didn’t give up my daily breakfast of two maple walnut loaves and a family-size americano. That would be ridiculous. Instead, I did something I’ve been planning to do for a number of months: I sold my car.

That’s right. I am now, for the first time since I was 22, bereft of vehicle. Carless and car-free. Without a car in the world, you might say, except that wouldn’t really be true since Mrs. Cranky has a car. As long as I write something nice about her from time to time in this magazine, she lets me use her vehicle whenever I want.

But I am without my own car, which is a big change. I now have to plan in order to get myself from place to place. Also, the car I just sold was very special to me, and I miss it dearly. You see, it was more than a car. It was my riding buddy. Now, it may sound strange to go cycling with a car, but let me explain.

First, a bit of history. I bought the car, a 2003 Audi A4, from my great friend (and fellow cyclist) Marcel, a little more than 10 years ago. The heir to a cheese fortune, Marcel was moving back to Quebec to take over the family business. As the lease was up on his car, he offered it to me. After some intense negotiations lasting about 45 seconds, we closed the deal over a home-cooked meal of pheasant and a small glass of triple sec at his mountaintop retreat near Saint Moritz. I flew home that evening and picked up the keys the next day.

From that day on, the car was my constant companion. We went everywhere together. We went to the grocery store together; we went to visit friends together; we went to work together (until I quit my job). And then, jobless, idle and in possession of a nice car, we went cycling together.

Or rather, I should say, we went for long drives so that I could go cycling. The year I bought the car was a year of massive change for me. My mother died; I got divorced; and I did in fact quit my job. Suddenly I had tons of free time. So I did what any right-thinking cyclist would do: I put a roof rack on the car and started driving all over Ontario and Quebec with my bike on the top.

Having days upon days to ride – and driving out of the city to do so – meant