A penny saved is a small glass of beer earned

Bike commuters: If you own a car, but do a lot of biking to work and for errands, you probably can convince your auto insurance agent to get you a discount. Over at Terra Pass, Adam Stern reports that by replacing about 3,000 auto miles with bike miles in the Bay Area, Geico agreed to cut his auto insurance by $186 per year.

Judging by current rates, that will at least pay for a new set of bike tires in the spring and in the fall.

Don't try this trick with your life insurance agent, though: Any claim you might make about the healthful benefits of biking are, in his eyes, offset by the fact that you are sharing the road with dozens of 2,500-pound gasoline-powered missiles steered by irate operators.