A series featuring car-free women in LA.

Ele Munjeli of The Bikex Database

Basics: 38-year-old who works at a computer store, and sometimes works catering events at a private club in Pasadena. Lives child-free in downtown Los Angeles, a couple blocks north of Staples Center.

Car free since: Always, though she did have a couple of motorcycles when 21-22 years old.
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On going car-free….

When I was eighteen I started traveling. I went to visit my grandmother in Costa Rica, then kept going. For the next ten years, I was in and out of the US. I went through Indonesia on cargo ships, hitchhiked across Malaysia, just kind of wandered. In this part of my life, cars weren’t a part of the general culture. I started cycling seriously in 1994 because my brother, Tim, is an expert cyclist, and he gave me a bike to quit smoking.

I settled down in Hawaii in 1998 with a recumbent bike and was doing 200 hundred miles a week. Ironically, I became a professional driver for six years; my employer pushed me into it because he didn’t have anyone else on staff he trusted to drive a truck. A few years later I got a license to drive a motorcoach. I loved my passengers, but the driving was tedious, and I was always glad to get on my bike for the 10 mile ride home at the end of the day.

I moved to LA in 2007 to go back to school for audio engineering and was thinking again of getting a car. The thing is, I was an environmentalist, and enthusiastic supporter of slow food. I came to a point where ethically, I just didn’t want to support the car culture.

Still, I considered it a personal choice, and not a moral imperative: I generally claimed to be cycling for exercise, and felt my car free status was a personal idiosyncrasy. Then one day in class, at a point when gas cost nearly five dollars, the instructor and the students started complaining about the whole petroleum problem. Something in me just snapped and I said “These issues are the result of your actions: you support that President and the War every time you put the nozzle in the tank. I have never owned a car, and you don’t have to either.”

I decided a few days later that I would never buy a car until I could have clean transportation that supported my beliefs. Making that commitment has been like a weight off my shoulders. I’m proud of my car free status, because I am trying to live as an example of my beliefs.

How she gets around.

I bike or walk everywhere.I bike to work at both my jobs. The commute to the computer store is almost 7 miles each way, and via the route I usually take, the commute to my job in Pasadena is just shy of 15 miles each way. I ride between 100 and 200 miles a week.

I’ll use Metro if my bike breaks down or sometimes for a longer distance (like to Long Beach) if I don’t want to ride. I haven’t driven in almost two years, but I would if I had a reason. In the past I’ve occasionally rented cars when I wanted to make a trip or move.

On the upsides and downsides….

The quality of life I enjoy as a cyclist is amazing. One day, I was riding down a street in Koreatown, and I passed a lovely young woman and her little girl. They were both prettily turned out in dresses and the little girl, maybe 4 years old, had a giant red balloon. As I was riding by she accidentally let go of the balloon and the wind blew it into and across the street. They both just stood and watched with dismay. The mother couldn’t let go of her child and run in the street. Also she was in heels. I chased the balloon on my bike, jumped off, grabbed it and brought it back. They cheered and we all were so happy. Its the kind of interaction you can’t have as a car driver, you’re too heavy and clumsy in the street.

[Downtown's] a great place to be car free. There’s good restaurants, museums, and other attractions within walking distance. I live close by the Red and Blue line trains. Riding a bike downtown is a blast. On the weekends and nights its empty and I can just cruise, but I even enjoy the bump and jam of Main street or Broadway during the rush hour. The traffic gets tied up and doesn’t move fast. Most of the drivers are good; there’s pedestrians all over the place and they have to be aware. I pity the fools driving around the block or paying outrageous fees just to shelter their hunk of metal.

I don’t worry about my weight and I eat like a horse. I hate hearing women talk about “oo..its so high fat!” Who cares? Fine wines, duck, ice cream..its all just fuel to me.

I feel that I am staying younger than my peers who drive. Being a commuter cyclist is sort of an edgy lifestyle, like practicing an extreme sport. I see myself as a revolutionary, and I’m fighting for my beliefs. I haven’t sunk into the ease and complacency of middle age. I want to watch the oil age crash while riding a bike and laughing.

[Bike] maintenance is more challenging than you would think. I mostly wrench my own bike, but I put on a lot of miles, and sometimes I don’t have time to fix it or learn how. It seems like there’s always something wearing out or breaking. I’m getting better though.

It takes a fair amount of planning to get to far parties at night, sometimes I just suck it up and take a cab home if I stay out past Metro’s hours. I always live in a building with a laundry, because laundry trips on a bike are awful. I do my shopping with big bike shopping bags, but even so, I can’t always stock up as much as I would like. Trips out of town require some planning, and a place to stay if I want to ride more than sixty miles one way. The bonus: going long distances by bike (touring) is my favorite way to travel. I see so much more, and the food and bed are divine after a long day of riding.

On car-dependent people.

People do have assumptions about why I’m car-free, and they aren’t usually flattering. Sometimes they think I have D.U.I.s or are otherwise prohibited from driving. Other times I just look poor in a society that judges people by the cost of their ride. I face a fair amount of condescension: a recurring theme from the car people is the idea that they are “freer” and have more options than I do on a bike.

That’s untrue. I have traveled the world, and I’ve done it because I didn’t own a car. When I travel, I love to tour by bike, and shorter distances are more meaningful and the experience is richer. I recently rode on a weekend from Long Beach to Newport Coast, stayed the night with my brother and rode back the next day. The views along highway 1 were spectacular, and since I was traveling at a slower pace I had a chance to soak more of it in. Its my favorite way to travel.

My friends have some anxiety when I leave a party or a bar to ride 10 miles home at 2 am, but I’m afraid they’re driving drunk.

Advice for the car-free curious.

Learn to fix a flat. The Bicycle Kitchen has Monday night reserved as ladies night and you can learn to wrench your own bike in a cool space. The other DIY spaces are good for women too. Bike chics are sexy and the community is mostly men. When I hear single women complain about needing to meet men, I’m like, “Do you know how to ride a bike?” Plus, everyone’s an athlete.
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green LA girl’s notes: Ele’s Bikex Database aims to make cycling safer by identifying and documenting unsafe drivers. If drivers push you off the road or otherwise endanger your biking ways, you can report the incident on Bikex.

Says Ele: “Driver education is a neglected aspect of cycling advocacy; yet, every accident has three factors: a driver, a cyclist, a location. You may make your neighborhood safer by identifying and prosecuting reckless drivers than building bike lanes. We need to raise awareness among drivers as to how to share the road with cyclists and respect pedestrians as well.”
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Are you a car-free woman living in the L.A.-area? Email me at greenlagirl@gmail.com to participate in the Car Free Mondays series!

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