Bike Freedom
Not relying on a car never felt so good
Our lives seem so complicated these days. As a baby boomer, I felt so much pressure to keep up. Pressure to buy a house, get married, have a great career, build a family, be successful, travel well, acquire things. Yes, that's it: acquire things. And the more stuff we have, the more complicated it has all felt. There was no such thing as work/life balance.
On the flipside, I came from such humble beginnings, I never really expected that much. I didn't judge happiness as a function of wealth.
So last year, as I had time to pause--or maybe forced to pause--and rethink what I wanted to do, one of those things was to be free of my gas guzzling car, free of the car payments and auto insurance. In parallel with that, I began to notice so many young folks in my area riding these new-fangled ebikes: a cross between a moped and a traditional bicycle but with a retro style that was sort of hip and cool. I was hooked
And because millions of them were being manufactured out of factories in China and flooding the market, so the prices were rapidly falling. You no longer had to spend $5000+ on the A-list brand names like Trek nor even half that for the top branded category leader like Juiced.
So I did my research--Google, Youtube, Alibaba, etc., narrowed my choices, and had my list of requirements. Hydraulic brakes, pedal-assist, 30+ mph, high miles/charge.
In the end, the final winner's name seemed more than a coincidence: tomofree or tom+free as it's label appears on the bike in all it's glory. It seemed to stand for everything I was looking for: self freedom.
I sold my car. I bought a helmet. I got the ebike as a gift from my wife on my birthday. Simple.
Every day on the bike has been a gift since then.
