As it turns out, a 30 pound sack of dog food will fit on the back of my longbike. Max the Rottweiler will be pleased.

Here I am, almost halfway through my car-free July. So far, so good. I parked the car on July 1st in honor of Lance Armstrong’s return to professional bike racing and the cancer-busting work of his LIVESTRONG foundation. At the end of the month, I’ll make a small donation as a token of the money I will have saved on gasoline.

While I would use my car in the case of genuine emergency — a hurricane evacuation or something medical, for instance — lugging dog food home doesn’t qualify. It makes no sense to buy small bags with a big dog in the house, so I had to give it a go.

To be honest, that’s as much weight as I’d like to carry so high on the bicycle. Next time I’ll bring one of the rack’s side extenders and strap the bag closer to the axle. It would have handled better in the dark — particularly on wet pavement.

But bicycle living isn’t proving that difficult. Last night’s grocery run was about 50 pounds. My Xtracycle Free Radical (the rear extension of the bike you see in the photo) sucked it up with a minimum of drama, and no fossil fuels were harmed in the short trip to and from the store. Living car-free could become a habit.

Tagged as: Bicycles, Bicycling, Commuting, Transportation, Xtracycle