“A cyclist can ride three-and-a-half miles on the calories found in an ear of corn. Bicycles consume less energy per passenger mile than any other form of transport, including walking. A ten-mile commute by bicycle requires 350 calories of energy, the amount in one bowl of rice. The same trip in the average American car uses 18,600 calories, or more than half a gallon of gasoline.”—Marcia D. Lowe, The Bicycle: Vehicle for a Small Planet Whether we are inclined to accept these assertions or not; it is interesting that each U.S. household had 0.86 bicycles and 1.9 automobiles in 2001. In China, bicycles significantly outnumber automobiles, approximated at 250:1. India has a 30:1 ratio, and South Korea has a 20:1 ratio.
Why, then, in the U.S. does that ratio digress so significantly? Why is it speculated that only one out of forty bicycles is ridden for commuting? Are the rest used for strictly recreation or retired to the garage in disrepair? As a commuting bicyclist we should be thinking of ourselves in the vast minority…but, a healthy, environmentally and economically sensitive minority.
That being said, I thought I would share a video of my hardly a commute to work. It is a two-and-a-half minute video during which you can hum either Ghost Riders in the Sky by The Ventures, We Will Rock You by Queen, The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens, or Remember the Days of the Old Schoolyard by Cat Stevens…as if you were at some nostalgic silent movie. I often switch-up my own humming on my one-song-commute; for example, in inclement weather you might catch me humming Buy for Me the Rain by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band or Wipe Out by The Surfaris.
For you techies, this real-time video was filmed with my son’s Oregon Scientific helmet cam mounted on the handlebars of my trusty winterized Hop Rocker. The raw footage was edited with Solveig Multimedia AVI Trimmer 1.6 Freeware. Forgive me for amusing myself…
If you are really bored, watch the commute home. Oddly, it is a slightly shorter video…must be the prevailing winds!
Power to the Pedal People!
3 comments:
I love it that the bike goes right inside with you. Best parking spot around!
When your commute is as short as mine, you don't wear any special thermal protection, there's no time for the saddle to warm up, and it's too slippery out to stand up the whole way...so you keep the bike warm inside. Just hide it from the maintenance people!
My goodness you do have a short commute! When I do commute mine is the longest on the way home (11-12 min)...biking up Phillips Ave hill squelches my time. The travel to work is around 8 min. So not all that bad at all but right now I am a fair weather commuter...I am hoping that will change a bit next ear. I also get to park my bike in my cubicle!
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