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"The person in the car behind someone doing this has no idea what's going on," he says. "That's where I'm talking about the conflict. It's a psychological warfare between the two attitudes. And, if gas shortages continue and the hypermiling community expands, both sides need to adopt an attitude of latitude to allow for the diversity of drivers and their goals on the road."
Leerberg, 30, is still a newcomer to the hypermiling scene, so small accomplishments are still worth talking about and the fun quotient remains high. Of course, he says co-workers, especially the ones who have taken a ride in his car, think that he's absolutely lost his mind.
On the last tank of gas before this interview, Leerberg got 45 mpg. He believes it is likely the best he'll ever get, and he couldn't stop talking about it. The thing is, what he had to do to achieve this meant being radical. So, during a week of 105 degree weather, he was driving around with no AC and his windows barely cracked (driving with rolled-down windows is like driving with a parachute and kills fuel economy), cutting his car off at traffic lights (because an idling car is getting zero miles per hour) and driving like a grandmother (the sweet spot for the best mileage on the freeway is around 50 mph) -- in silence. Because, to be a hypermiler, you have to be hyperalert. And a radio or cell phone or eating or drinking distracts you from the task at hand: driving.
"People will probably stop talking to me if I tell them anymore about how the commute was that morning," he says with a chuckle, sounding only mildly concerned. "Their body language says it all. There's a lot of eye rolling."
Despite the lack of warm fuzzies from his co-workers and people who may be driving near him, Leerberg has no lane envy for the motorists who zoom by him. As a matter of fact, he's gotten into a rhythm with his new, right-lane motorist mates.
"It's me and some grandparents and some people's cars that are broken, but it's OK. When I look over, and I consider that [driver] used to be me, I don't miss it at all," he says. "Maybe if it was taking me twice as long to get places it might be frustrating, but because I don't actually lose a lot of time doing it, it doesn't bother me."
If Leerberg keeps on the way he's going, by the end of the year, he'll save $1,000 in fuel costs. And he will have accomplished his goal of putting the fun back into driving, especially since there's only one critic of his driving who can get him to revert to his old ways: Her name is Mirella, and at three months old, she already has her father wrapped around her finger.
"She hates being in the car, so I have to minimize the time," Leerberg explains. "The only thing that makes her stop crying when she's in the car is when you floor it. When you're a hypermiler, you never floor it, and you never go over the speed limit. Those are the rules. But, when she cries, I cheat."
For his sake, hopefully there's never a cop around.
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