The lowest hanging fruit as far as lowering CO2 emissions is to get more people cycling. The two biggest obstacles to cycling are lack of bike lanes and flat tires. Most buy a bicycle, ride for a couple of weeks, get a flat, park the bike in the garage and next trip they use the motor vehicle. They never ride the bike again.
Add to the list of issues:
- bikes require more frequent periodic maintenance than cars.
- bikes get a few hundred miles out of a set of tires.
- bikes require that you wear your own safety gear, rather than being built into the vehicle.
- bikes in a motorcar world are targets at worst, and a distraction at best.
- bikes deliver you in rumpled condition, so you have to bring extra clothing.
That they extend your healthy lifespan (barring accidents), is beyond question.
The lowest hanging fruit is mass transit, that is net faster than riding the same distance on a horse. In my city, they haven't done that for my trip of 25 miles one-way to work.
David A. Smith
That may be true for racing. For commuting -- the carbon savings activity -- I typically go thousands of miles w/o doing anything except fixing flats.
The flat tire is or was 90% of bicycle maintenance.
Even light weight racing clinchers can go up to 3 thousand _if_ you don't get a flat and crack the sidewalls.
The tire savings using 2 tubes more than pays for the tubes, especially in briar patch where you can cycle year round.
Commuting or street tires can go 5,000 or more -- cheaper than motor vehicle tires on a /mi basis.
That's less a hassle than driving around a parking lot, making 5 point turns, and then walking across the parking lot.
Bikes lanes were mentioned in the OP. Rest assured, the polymath is working on the politics of promulgating more bike lanes. (I feel as unstoppable as Capt. Edward John Smith with my 2 tube wheels.)
Someone in shape wearing rags looks better than someone out of shape in a suit, assuming that is even an issue in most offices anymore.
Even including accidents cyclists come out ahead. A recent study of Copenhagen commuters showed that riding hard for 30 minutes, the optimum, extended your life by 5 years.
A good cyclist can beat a good horse or transit bus on either short or long trips.
Bret Cahill
Brett conveniently forgot about weather and commute time! How many of you have ridden bicycles in snowstorms or in the blistering heat of summer? How about rain?
BTW-- Bicycle riders pay no taxes for their use of roads or bike lanes
-- they want us all to pay for them.
Also -- How many regular bike riders do you know who have accident-free riding histories?
IMHO, bicycle community is an automatic application for a Darwin Award.
In a lot of places like Pinellas Co. it's faster to cycle.
At least you don't have to scrape ice off the windshield!
And cyclists do no damage either.
You don't have to pay anything. Just call 1-800-FLY-4-LESS and book the next one way flight to Mogadishu in low tax paradise Somalia.
Just don't wear spandex and women motorists won't get so excited.
Cyclists live longer than motorists.
Bret Cahill
The combination of cycling and riding public transportation provides for a lot of options. For example, say you are planning to put your bike on the bus's bike rack and ride the bus to the next town where you'll need the bicycle. You pedal up to the bus stop but before you slow down you discretely glance over to see what kind of characters will be getting on the bus with you. Often you suddenly remember it's been 6 hours since your last aerobic workout. You need more exercise and can save some change by cycling to your destination. This phenomenon happens even after you get on the bus and you spot a big enough crowd at a subsequent stop.
Bret Cahill
They don't smell so good, though!
The caveat: "Barring accidents."
That isn't very fast! Maybe 5 MPH average.
Pinellas Co, isn't the rest of the US.
Why? I just don't want to pay taxes to support those who wish to undermine my lifestyle. You want a free ride.
Good advice! I guess that it wouldn't make any difference with you, though. Oh, yes -- those racing seats cause prostrate problems and infertility, due to their crotch cramping.
If they survive their commute! Every bicycle commuter I have known has had some kind of accident.
Is that because you don't like the looks of your busmates? A CCW permit can be very helpful there.
Bob Dole got handicap ramps in all over the U. S. Showers in offices could be mandated as well, at least in humid areas.
Even including accidents cyclists come out ahead. A recent study of Copenhagen commuters showed that riding hard for 30 minutes, the optimum, extended your life by 5 years.
You should be able to ave. 15 mph if you are in any shape at all. Power increases with the square of velocity. If a competitive cyclist can average 25 mph @ 500 watts you should be able to average 15 mph @
180 watts.
As the price of fuel soars, it will become more and more cost effective to live in town.
Row houses weren't built in the early part of the 20th Century because there was no land. They were build because fuel was relatively expensive.
According to an excellent article in _Forbes_ taxes should never be a problem because you can always "taxpatriate" yourself.
"Gas, grass or ass, no one rides for free."
Use a recumbent bicycle which is much more aerodynamic and 5 mph faster for the same effort.
Most do but there is certainly a need for more bike lanes. Visit Tucson, AZ, Davis, CA or Golden, CO for exemplary cycling lane cities.
That's also true for motorists. There is no question a lot of cyclists as well as motorists could use a few tips.
Bret Cahill
These are still options that are slower than a horse.
I've found your bike lanes. Any road that has more than one lane in each direction, has all but one lane reserved either for multi- passenger vehicles, carpool vehicles, motorcycles, or bicycles.
Violator fines pay for funding *real* mass transit, yes capable of ferrying both you and your bicycle.
David A. Smith
A human can _run_ a horse or deer into the ground. It's called exhaustion hunting. Cycling is twice as fast as running for the effort.
Dear Bret Cahill:
On Oct 19, 12:50=A0pm, Bret Cahill wrote: ...
A horse can go all day at 10mph, or more, depending on the size of the horse.
If you are very luck, traffic lights will let you approach 20mph. It isn't the effort, it is reaching the destination. This isn't (much) better than a horse either.
David A. Smith
So answer the question: Gas, grass or ass -- which one are you going to provide?
Next question: Is it acceptable or is it poor quality?
nettiquette is a horrible waste of cola-fired electricity; what was the question?... also, coal-fired.
anyway, the whole thing about bike lanes is silly, since we can ride quite well in the interstices, and California's Vehicle Code applies the same as for automobiles. yes, teh first roadways in teh USA were apparently promoted by a rich bicyclist!
I have ridden around L.A. since the 3rd grade, and I've never had any problem ... but a) use reflectors at night, more than lights,a nd b) wear at least one glove, more than a helmet.
thus: sounds like a good program d'espace for NOAA, but it'd be good to compare heh results of INQUA, as for presumed sea-level changes, qua erosion and "isostasy" and so on.
thus: it was a long while ago, that I last read a journal article that mentioned the state of the art in actually measuring ClO, and it had not been done, then (or, some preliminary measure, I forget), and not even any mention of detection of CFCs (but that could be very hard, if they are mainly to be found on ice-clouds).
not saying that it has had no effect, but that the natural sources are too-easily discounted.
thus: I'm sure that in particular, with the hypothesized/simulated chemistry of CFCs/ClO/ice, that it really is effected by T., although apparently volcanoes can & do produce the first, and possibly the second ... so, Mt. Erebus?
thus: I would love to see a graph of any of the activity of Mt. Erebus, compared with the changes of ozone around the Southern Polar Vortex, or "hole" as you quaintly refer. so, how many "holes in the ozonosphere" are there?
yeah, at least one, except when they break-up, as do the polar ones in the local springtime, when there is virutally no UV to deal with.
now, if you combine the two models of the "holes" in the ozonosphere, with "global" warming, you get a (some what) better GCM.
Tucson was only rated something like silver but that was good enough. The attack cacti were a bigger problem than motorists.
In any event I will now be riding my tires down to the belts like I did back East.
Bret Cahill
What planet are you from?
The biggest obstacle by far to cycling in an urban/suburban are is THEFT.
I would take my bike everywhere if I could leave it parked outside a store or a mall and expect to find it still there when I return. Even a lock will not deter thieves who can cut any lock, cable, or chain very easily with a bolt cutter.
The number one obstacle is THEFT.
The number two obstacle is INCLEMENT WEATHER.
For the cyclist, nothing else matters. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
When you leave it unlocked everyone just thinks it's an abandoned bicycle, you know, like the way people leave stuff they don't want by the road for pickup.
A lock just makes it look like an abandoned bike with a lock on it.
In some places a bicycle will often take on an abandoned appearance if you aren't pedaling fast enough.
In Tucson the time before it's stolen is a statistical combination of factors, how many and what kinds of locks and where it's parked.
2 locks, 1 heavy cable and one shackle, at the down town library: 4 hours during day light hours; 1 shackle lock behind the UA law library: 2.5 hours; 1 medium duty lock in front of the police station: 35 minutes.The secret is to not park it anywhere very long. After you swim 18 laps at the YMCA on Alameda, go out to the bike rack and move it around the corner. Then go back in and swim 18 more laps.
One student on the 3rd St bike way told me he had a dozen bikes stolen in just 3 years.
In his case you are correct. a Hummer would have been greener.
Not a problem in the desert. Just rig up a lot of water bottle cages.
Quick release wheels really help thieves but they aren't necessary or desirable with the 2 tube system:
It's in the top three.
It's a serious issue and for years I've been urging architects to place the bike rack in a courtyard surrounded by windows.
The thief never knows when someone is watching.
Bret Cahill
A local bicycle shop said everyone in Quartzite, AZ runs 2 tubes on his road bike.
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.