Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadow– and sunscreen.

I do not wish you joy without a sorrow,
Nor endless day without the healing dark,
Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadow,
Nor tides that turn against your bark.
I wish you love,
and strength,
and faith,
and wisdom,
goods,
gold enough to help some needy one.
I wish you songs, but also blessed silence
And God’s sweet peace when every day is done.

~Dorothy Nell McDonald

This blessing is perfect for bicycling. The fun, enjoyment, and pleasure I get from bicycling is not possible without the suffering that bicycling also brings. I want you– and I– to experience sorrow so that you can experience the joy afterwards.

Dusk, the ‘healing dark’, is all the more beautiful for having bicycled through the ‘endless day’.

On a bicycle with the ‘brilliant sun’ beating down on you, you watch like a hawk for that ‘restful shadow’, a bit of shade to rest in for a few minutes.

I even wish a headwind upon you, my friend, the ‘tides that turn against your bark’. Some of my strongest memories of bicycling involve fierce headwinds, like the time it took us 5 hours to bike 20 miles during Biking Across Kansas, the 25 mph headwind gusting up to 40 and coating us with a visible layer of manure from the cattle farms we passed. Showering at the end of that day, though it was in a locker room with a dozen other women and not quite enough hot water, was the greatest luxury imaginable.

I wish you love— Bicycling with a companion or two is my favorite treat. and strength— Even in weakness I can turn the pedals, but the feeling of strength as I power up a hill is awesome. and faith— Exhausted, thinking I can go no farther, the final 2 miles seem endless, but at last, they, too, come to an end. There is food, there is rest, there is home. and wisdom– Foolishness brings adventures, such as dehydration, electrolyte deficiency, and sunburn. Wisdom brings safer adventures. goods— like more bike gear. gold enough to help some needy one– My dad is bicycling from Lawrence, KS to Atlanta, GA right now. He was feeling down on Day 4, and giving $5 to a stranger in need lifted his spirits right away.

And God’s sweet peace when every day is done— Whatever religion you are or aren’t, sweet peace is at the end of a long day of bicycling.

Bicycles. Do the math.

I started bicycling when we became a one-car family, and I was only going to do it until we could afford a car payment. I discovered I loved bicycling and I loved not having a car payment. The average car (not including minivans or trucks) costs $9,122 per year. Over the 10 years I’ve been bicycling, I’ve saved over $90,000!

A few months ago I started eyeing the grocery bill as an area where I could save some money– I sure would like to get those student loans paid off! I learned that Sam’s Club has the cheapest almonds, Walmart has the cheapest avocados, Aldi has the cheapest baby bell peppers, and Moser’s and Hy-Vee tie for the cheapest cage-free eggs. However, anything might be cheapest at Lucky’s when it’s on sale, so it pays to keep an eye on the weekly Lucky’s sale ad.

Moser’s and Aldi are within walking distance. Everything else requires a bicycle at least. But I found myself taking the car to run several errands, including stopping at multiple grocery stores. It might be cheaper to get all my groceries at Moser’s and Aldi, if it means I could leave the car at home. But how do I calculate that?

AAA estimates that car ownership costs 60.8 cents per mile. That is an average number and includes insurance, taxes, maintenance, and depreciation as well as gas. A 2000 Chevy Cavalier costs a bit more in maintenance but costs hardly anything in insurance and taxes, and it stopped depreciating years ago. We pay some costs of ownership no matter how much we drive the car, making that 60.8 cents per mile even more fuzzy. But assuming the number is correct, it costs $5.35 to drive to Sam’s Club. It doesn’t seem right to add $5.35 to each item I might buy from Sam’s Club, because I would never drive to Sam’s Club for just one thing. The $5.35 trip would be spread across multiple items.

The result? I gave up on saving money on groceries. I don’t enjoy keeping track of half a dozen grocery stores and visiting several stores to get the cheapest price. I don’t like driving when I can walk or bike. I’m confident that I make the best progress on those student loans, at the same time keeping my health care costs down, by walking and biking everywhere I can.