I have to go somewhere that is 7 miles from my house. I could drive and use 1/3 of a gallon of gas (I drive a Subaru, and it gets crappy gas mileage.) Or I could ride my bike and use 2 eggs and a whole wheat English Muffin. The way I see it, developing alternative fuels is a worthy pursuit, for sure. But developing alternative behavior patterns may just solve a few problems in one fell swoop.

Admittedly, my decision to start riding my bike pretty much everywhere started because of my dwindling bank account, but now I'm really thinking about the holistic benefits that bicycle commuting has on my bank account, my planet and my, well, butt.

Let's start with the bank account. I was filling up my gas tank every 5 days or so, at somewhere between $60 - $70 a pop. So let's call it $400 a month. When you're not making any money at all, that's a lot of money. By simply riding my bike - just during daylight hours, like to meetings and coffee with friends - I can cut that more than in half. Cool.

Now the planet. According to the Terra Pass carbon calculator, my Subaru Outback Wagon (which I HATE) is dumping 10,671 pounds of CO2 into the environment each year - mostly just running errands, going to meetings and other things that I can just as easily do on my bike. I figure that I can cut that by 2/3 by consolidating my trips and doing them on my bike.

Now, my body. I freely admit that I'm in pretty great shape (you know, for a woman nearing 40 who's given birth and all that.) But I also freely admit that I'm not in the shape that I want to be in. Vanity, I think, is also a powerful alternative fuel. When I started the week, I weight 132.7 pounds. (I'm 5'4", but have always weighed more than you'd think. Dense bones, I guess.) I started the week as a solid size 4. The first day of cycling I was huffing and puffing. The next day, my girlie bits hurt when I sat on the saddle and I could barely move my legs. By the end of the week, the big hill by my house didn't scare me so much. Clearly I'm making progress. As of right now, the scale says 131.6 pounds. We'll see where it goes and if my smaller clothes start to fit me again.

So, all that set aside, there have been some other noticeable benefits from a week of cycling. First of all, my mood is way better. Starting a business is stressful, and hard exercise is a great stress reliever. Not to mention the fact that I slept like a rock all week.

Turns out, I'm also spending less ancillary cash and shopping more carefully. If everything I purchase has to fit in my back pack and I have to carry it, I'm buying less stuff. Even groceries, I'm just buying what I need at the moment, not stocking up. That matters because in my experience, "stocking up" often means throwing stuff out later.

I think I'll be switching my cell phone plan to fewer minutes (or to a company that rolls them over!) Because there are about 2 fewer hours in the day when I'm talking on the phone.

I'm more focused and efficient when I'm working. Maybe it's the fact that my brain is less foggy from the exercise, or that I know my time is more scarce because the commute takes longer, but I'm more focused and productive, and that's got to be good!

I think the trick will be making this all work once my daughter is back in school. For what it's worth, she walks to school with friends every day. They started their "walking carpool" last year and so they're eliminating what could have been 4 cars.

The other trick is accepting the fact that there are some things I just can't get locally... I need to go to the fabric store, for instance, and get stuff for a big art project. Can't do that on my bike and the public transportation in Seattle is downright embarrassingly awful, so I'll be driving.

Lastly, the elimination of excuses. You do have the time, if you change your other patterns. You are strong enough, or will be if you just get started. You can dress appropriately for work, you just have to plan more carefully.

But still, it's a start.

Yes, we should be putting money in to R & D for alternative fuels. But I think we need to take a good hard look at how and why each of us can simply change our behavior patterns and have a huge impact on our planet, bank accounts and bodies.

I'll tune in next week and tell you how week 2 goes. Habits are hard to break and form, but I'm committed to this one.