Driving is Down!

All across the Fruited Plain, folks are driving less.

Obviously it has to be attributed to the price of fuel.

It has affected Idaho in a big way. They say the miles driven in Idaho in June 2008 was 7.7% less than one year earlier.

What does that mean?

- A significant reduction in consumption of our precious fossil fuel (much of which we buy from terrorists, who use the money to wage war against us).

- A corresponding significant reduction in pollution spewed into the atmosphere.

- Less road congestion, and less wear and tear on our roadway infrastructure.

- More responsible transportation choices, and trip planning. Less blasting out of driveway on a whim. Fewer trips to the store to get a bottle of ketchup. (Or is it catsup?)

- An increase in alternative modes of transportation, ride sharing, etc.

It's also obvious that there is much more effort being made to develop meaningful alternatives to fossil fuel. And believe me, that would NOT be happening if gas were $2, instead of $4.

Is diminished fuel consumption a bad thing?

It is if you ask the government!

The movers and shakers are lamenting that the fuel tax revenues aren't coming in the way they used to. Oh, the humanity! Unless us taxpayers pony up, expect potholes and collapsing bridges!

Watch your backs, people! Idaho's governor (who likes to think of himself as a Libertarian) is leading the charge to drastically increase the registration fee for a vehicle. (So you can share the pain, whether you drive 50 miles or 50,000 miles per year. Of course, the result will be far fewer vehicles registered, so they'll have to figure out some other way to squeeze blood out of the turnip.)

Boise's Golden Girl

Her name may not be as well-known as Michael Phelps, but Kristin Armstrong is bringing an Olympic gold medal home to Boise, Idaho! WOO-HOO!!!

She won the women's individual cycling time trial, completing the 23.8km course in 34 minutes, 51 seconds, almost 25 seconds faster than the silver medalist, the UK's Emma Pooley. That's about 24.5 MPH average, if my calculator is working. (A long-time hero of mine - Jeannie Longo - finished 4th at age 49!)

Kristin: "It's the most amazing day of my life... I've been working for this for the last eight years, especially the last four, and to time everything right on one day is an accomplishment of its own."

Talk about a "Hometown Girl Makes Good" story! Even the National Peanut Board congratulated her. (Kristin likes yummy peanut butter. You wannabes - listen up!)

Kristin says she wants to come home and bask in the glory for awhile, then get on with her life.

BUT - She also realizes she's become a role model and has a "bully pulpit" that she never had before.

THIS cycling brother dreams that she might promote bicycles-as-transportation, and bike safety. I envision spot TV and radio commercials, with Kristin encouraging us to ride bikes, get exercise, wear helmets, go with traffic not against it, use a headlight, etc. Danielo wrote about how Kristin inspired his son with her performance and accessibility at Boise's Twilight Criterium, the last race she did before heading for China. "Thanks, Kristin, for boosting my efforts to raise a son that loves cycling. Huzzah!"

Maybe I'll get lucky and cross paths with her someday out on Hill Road... just before she drops me like a bad transmission! My brain-bucket is off to you, Kristin Armstrong!

Coverage:
Los Angeles Times
Idaho Statesman
KTVB Television

Survival Instinct

I don't know if plants have "instincts," but they certainly display a will to live and propagate. (Of course, the first plant that comes to mind is the wily Goathead, which seems to take root and thrive everywhere!)

I've been admiring this vine for a couple weeks as I've ridden by. It's on Fairview Avenue, near downtown Boise.

The vine is growing up through the center of the signpost, and branching out at the top. You don't see such a magnificent stop sign very often...

Transportation Efficiency

(NOTE: The masthead of my blog reads, "... the most efficient form of human transportation ever devised - BICYCLES!" Am I prepared to back that up? Should I elaborate from time to time?)

Late last month, I wrote a little about the Car of the Future, a PBS Nova episode exploring future transportation.

Among other things, the program pointed out that a typical internal-combustion vehicle is extremely inefficient, in converting fuel into transportation energy. (Since much of the power is scrubbed away "between the engine and the rear wheels," and also because most of the remaining power is devoted to moving the vehicle itself, rather than its occupants or payload.)

One of my cycling brothers, bob t, replied, "... I was wondering if any studies had been done regarding the efficiency of a bicycle." He searched and found some info, "Pedal power probe shows bicycles waste little energy." (Click HERE to link.) Engineers at Johns Hopkins University determined that a bicycle is at least 81% efficient, in using energy for transportation. Amazing, particularly when you consider that the standard "safety bicycle" design hasn't changed significantly in almost 130 years. (If anything, it's become more efficient as bicycle weight has dropped significantly in that time.)

Of course, it's difficult to make an objective comparison in transportation efficiency between a car, a bus, a train, a bike rider, etc. How do you measure the amount of energy expended?

A guy - a biology professor named Vance Tucker at Duke University - tried to do just that in a study he conducted a few years back. (He had been studying the amount of energy expended by various bird species while flying, and got the notion of expanding that study.)

He came up with these numbers:
CALORIES PER PERSON, PER MILE OF TRAVEL
Automobile (1 occupant) - 1,860
Transit Bus - 920
Transit Rail - 885
Walking - 100
Bicycling - 35

NO CONTEST!

Tucker's conclusion: "Statistically, the most efficient animal known in the entire universe is a human being on a bicycle."

If somebody has some conflicting or more recent data... BRING IT! I'd feel awful if I were perpetuating lies or myths.

The Anti-Bike-Nazi

Batman has The Joker.

Superman has Lex Luthor.

And I may have run across the archenemy of Bike Nazi.

There's a blogger out there at "Bike Free Portland" who goes by Myra Walker. She claims to be an enthusiastic cyclist, but her comments are uniformly anti-cyclist. And - she refers to cyclists as "Bikenazi's" - like that's a bad thing!
(-;

And - she even designed a little bike nazi flag! Sieg heil!

The masthead reads, in part, "Stopping the bikenazi cold in their track ... it's time to put these idiots back in their place."

She has some novel ideas, and claims to do some enforcement work. For example, she advocates splitting bike-violation court fines 50/50 between the city and the police department... to provide more incentive for writing tickets. And when she sees a cyclist exhibit boorish behavior, she puts a "red lock" on the bike. Kinda like Zorro slashing a bloody "Z" on the bad guy... the red lock is her calling card.

Perhaps she's just voicing the frustration of thousands of motorists. I myself am resentful of cyclists who are either ignorant of the law or choose not to follow it, because they create Myra Walkers out there. Her venom is primarily aimed at cyclists who see themselves as "above the law." (She may have a point.)

I s'pose in a place like Portland, where cycling is much more a part of the culture, you're likely to see more BAD cyclists, since they're still a percentage of the total population.

She's gotten considerable feedback in the month or so she's been posting, some "pro-Myra," some "pro-Nazi." Which, I'm sure, is what she's hoping for... her writing is inflammatory. (And IMO, somewhat hard to read. Of course, it's likely people feel that same way about my writing, so I better be careful.)

"Bike Free Portland"?

Good luck with that, sista. Ain't gonna happen.

Indispensable Equipment

I blather about the merits of bicycle helmets somewhat regularly. There's another piece of equipment that has become essential for me, for riding on the streets... a REAR VIEW MIRROR.

I've used various brands of mirrors over the years, and I'm absolutely sure they give me a survivability advantage out there on the mean streets. If I know of approaching potential hazards - including from behind - I can usually predict their behavior, and have a contingency plan. Plus, the vehicles that approach from behind are typically the ones that get closest to you as you're riding. The more advance notice of their approach, the higher the comfort level.

The mirror I've settled comfortably with is the Cycle Aware Reflex model. Probably started using it 10-12 years ago, and it's worked for me. It is available directly from Cycle Aware, or you can probably save a few bucks by shopping around. (They also make a tiny mirror that sticks inside your eyeglasses/sunglasses frame; I have not tried that one.)

I prefer the Cycle Aware product because of its durability. It's made of flexible wire covered with a rubbery coating. (Remember Gumby? It's made of Gumby stuff.) So it's infinitely adjustable for optimum viewing, and it's break resistant. (I probably went through a half-dozen helmet mirrors made of stiff plastic, before trying the Reflex. The mirror stem would snap off on a regular basis if I bumped something with it, or had the misfortune of dropping my helmet. The Reflex lasts as long as the helmet... and you can even buy a replacement base for a new helmet, if the mirror is still intact.)

Stand Out in the Crowd!

Last autumn sometime, I was riding on the Greenbelt and about fell off my bike when a "cruiser" style bicycle came at me in the other direction. It had giant tires! We've all seen those mountain bikes with 29-inch tires... but they're TINY by comparison!

I asked my bike-expert friend Woody if he'd heard of a cruiser bike with huge (diameter) tires. Nope. Nothing bigger than the 29-inchers. And he wasn't aware of a 29-inch "cruiser" style bike. I was starting to wonder if maybe I had been hallucinating. (Dehydration or something.)

Well, LO AND BEHOLD, this morning I got an email from a work colleague. I thought you would be interested in checking out the "Monster Crusier" bike that is on the plaza today. It has 36" wheels.

Of course, I dashed right down to look it over.

(These days I'm parking at the CEO bike rack, rather than with the common rabble, so I don't always see the bikes in the outside rack. Or I certainly would've noticed THIS one.)

Eureka!

Ladies and gentlemen - presenting... (drum roll...) the "Coker Monster Cruiser."

I did a bit of web searching. It runs about $600. Replacement tires are $80. (Ouch!) And from what I can find on bicycle forums, etc., you better have some cash to support the thing, because apparently it's more of a novelty bike than a transportation bike - the componentry is proprietary, of marginal quality, and expensive to replace. Too bad, because riding on this thing would literally make you feel like a kid again!

A variation that might be more practical is the super-fat-tire Surly Pugsley. It's actually built for riding, and would be just the thing if you ride in snow and sand and such on a regular basis. And you control the build-quality, since it comes as a bare frame, and you spec it out.