So it seems that I've had more and more conversations with people while biking around northern VA that start out like this, “So your biking around to save gas money?”

    To which I usually answer something pretty consistent with, “No, not really. While it does save money by not using gas to get around, I haven't ditched my car, which is necessary to save a lot of money by bicycling. I bike mainly because it seems to be a better use of my body, has less of an impact on the environment than driving. And in the back of my mind I'm really very worried that a worst case 'peak oil' scenario would leave me unprepared to support my family if I didn't do this regularly.”

    Surprisingly, I often get quite nods as it begins to sink in that the rising gas prices are really the very tip of the “peak oil” iceberg. I've been expecting the typical Virginian conservative response, “You fucking hippie!”, or some variation there of. And actually that silently thoughtful and slightly worried kind of reaction just makes me more worried. It's easy to predict “doom and gloom” scenarios and tell people about them, it is quite a different thing when people start to quietly agree with you.

    But I should be clear on this, my strategy is to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. Hopefully “peak oil” will pass and life will change slowly enough that civilization is able to adjust easily. Hopefully the only thing I'll be able to say in 10 years is that bicycle commuting made me a greener, more fit and independent person. I am really hoping that some of the worst implications of a nation unprepared for “peak oil” will not come to pass. In 10 years I don't want to talk about how my bicycle commuting prepared me to help my family make it through a tough international or domestic crisis.