Saving Money Riding a Bike

You're probably thinking I saved money by riding a bike instead of driving my car somewhere. If so, you are mistaken.

In my non-biking life, I am a CPA. My firm has a niche in doing audits of smaller publicly held companies. We invest a lot of money in continuing education, as this is a complex area and we need to stay abreast of developments.

Last week I was in Las Vegas for a two-day education conference on changes in accounting pronouncements and matters related to reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cost for the conference itself was about $1,300. So not exactly cheap.

When people hear I'm going (or was just in) Las Vegas, I always hear, "Oh, how lucky." I then respond by saying it might as well have been in Duluth. I'm in a big ballroom all day long. I often wind up having some kind of meeting in the evening and doing some work. I'm not a gambler and in I think seven trips to Las Vegas (all for conferences) I've yet to place a bet on anything. I will admit that I enjoy that this particular conference was at the Four Seasons, which is my favorite hotel anywhere.

Second day of the conference one session opened with one of the owners of the sponsoring company asking if anyone in the session (about 250 people) rode a bike indoors. Of course my hand went up. As did the hand of a gentleman sitting up front. She saw him, but not me, and said "Congratulations, you just got a full scholarship for next year's conference!" I sat somewhat dejected at my seat.

During lunch I saw the woman who handed out the scholarship and said "What about me?  I had my hand up." She apologized for not seeing me and awarded me one too!

Right now, I've spent maybe $200 on biking - shorts, gloves, bike tune-up and miscellaneous costs. And now from biking I've saved $1,300. I figure I'm $1,100 ahead without even placing a bet. Not bad.