From time to time, I feel obligated to return to my central theme - that bicycling is the most efficient form of human transportation ever devised. (I issue an open challenge - if anybody can refute that assertion, please make your information known!)
Here's some scientific geek-talk found in the Bike Cult book:
When one compares the energy consumed in moving a certain distance as a function of body weight for a variety of animals and machines, one finds that an unaided walking man does fairly well (consuming about .75 calorie per gram per kilometer), but he is not as efficient as a horse, a salmon, or a jet transport. With the aid of a bicycle, however, the man's energy consumption for a given distance is reduced to about a fifth (roughly .15 calorie per gram per kilometer). Therefore, apart from increasing his unaided speed by a factor of three or four, the cyclist improves his efficiency rating to No. 1 among moving creatures and machines.
- Stuart S. Wilson, Scientific American (1973)
Tireless advocate for the most efficient form of
human transportation ever devised - bicycles!
2 comments:
what if you taught a horse to ride a bike? That would be pretty good.
... or a salmon! What is it they say, that "A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle?"
(-;
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