It's National Bike to Work Day. I intend to pedal to work, all five blocks up Main to Spearfish High School, a slightly downhill flight with Lookout Mountain to starboard, Spearfish Peak astern, and Crow Peak to port. Glorious!
NPR is collecting photos from folks' rides to work across the country. I won't be snapping pix (I've got French exams to print!), but I will be thinking about the good advice Grant Petersen just gave on All Things Considered. He says you don't need all that fancy spandex to ride your bike to work. You don't need a $3000 carbon fiber racing bike with clip-in shoes. Petersen says the "racing" mindset actually takes the fun out of biking. You're riding to work, not qualifying for the Tour de France. Celebrate your independence, your ability to get from point A to point B under your own power.
The nice folks in Copenhagen and elsewhere don't put on a whole different set of clothes to ride to work or the market. You don't need to, either. Just tie that gear-side pantsleg back (if you have pants!) and ride, ride, ride!
Amen Cory!- I have always wondered how much gasoline gets wasted in all the little towns spread across the U.S. from folks who drive their cars a few blocks downtown several times a day. I would bet that it would be a startling amount. The simple bicycle could be the single most important tool that we have to combat the society woes of, the lack of energy independence, obesity and the chronic depression that seems to permeate our society. Sadly many folks feel they have outgrown bike riding.
The equivalent of four aircraft carriers in plastics is dumped into the Pacific Ocean every year. Marine mammals are filling their stomachs with plastic then starve to death: MPR.
Barry...you are alive
Cory, don't knock the carbon fiber racing bike until you've tried one: you can flat move on a nice triathlon bike, but they are more than $3000 too.
Scott Parsley swears by his three-wheeled recumbant.
I do not have a car and riding around Sioux Falls is not all that slower than a car. I have also rode fifty miles one way to visit my daughter and future soninlaw in Brookings before they got married. And 35 one way, round trip to a funeral of my uncle in Iowa. Sometimes a car would be better but a lot of times not necessary. Of course kids can not ride their own bike for long distances or would they be safe on a main road.
Oh, and I still get ten miles to the hamburger no matter if gas is high or low.
Yes Mike - I remain vertical and ambulatory.
@ Roger 10 miles to the burger that's some pretty good leg mileage :-) Has Sioux Falls finished the construction on the bike trails yet?
Unfortunately there is a significant number of drivers that do NOT like sharing the road with bicycles.
Yeah, that's especially true in SuFu, Michael... which is why the constant closures of the bike trail make getting to work by bike a real hazard... 5 lane traffic is terrifying, and no amount of helmet is gonna protect my melon from the soccer mom on her cell phone.
http://xkcd.com/556/
"Ten miles to the hamburger." That is funny, I like that Roger.
Oh, Roger! We can only wish for the day when MPB replaces MPG as our main measure of fuel efficiency.
When I do a long ride, I like to average around 15 mph. At my weight, that burns about 700 calories per hour. A Whopper has 670 calories. A round trip from Madison to Sioux Falls would thus burn eight Whoppers.
Your mileage will vary. :-D
I, too, like pedaling cycles. I was a bit of a pedaler in my day. I did not have those fancy boingy pedaling cycles you young fellows have these days, but I could hump up some of the steepest hills and fly down the wildest of roads on my trusty Black Phantom.
But we don't have sea animals in South Dakota and who cares about sea animals eating plastic, and what does that have to do with riding your pedaling cycle to work, Mr. Kurtz?
Full carbon road bikes can be had for ~$1000 from bikesdirect.com. I'm not a road rider because of the lack of respect from SD drivers. Had too many friends get hit in college to ever try it again.
That Lyman County butterfly helps to create the conditions for a Typhoon to be built in a factory on the other side of globe, grudz: thought you knew that.
http://interested-party.blogspot.com/2010/03/holy-spirit-mental-illness-linked.html
http://southdakotagravestones.org/view.php?id=33468
I'm all about butterflies, Mr. Kurtz, but I fear your non-commented links as I was burned by one once from a library computer.
I almost never click on blind links no matter what forum. It is a matter of courtesy to put some useful information with a link.
Anyway, it is time for elevated walkways used only by walkers, joggers, and bicycle and very light electrical vehicles separated from the SUVs, dump trucks, and semi-trailers occupying nearly every horizontal inch of roads.
"almost never:" good album name....
Wait a second, Grudz. A Black Phantom is a bicycle? You just totally changed my mental image of Meatloaf...
I think the bike trails are mostly finished in Sioux Falls. I think they are there so WE so not have to share space with CARS. But if you do not like bikes on the road since you have a heart and do not like the feeling of riding over someone, then I understand. I am not interested in being rode over either. I usually take the side streets to evade the most traffic and have learned a crossover talent from farming called "riding on the contour" by missing the hills.
It is wonderful when there are good trails. Riding with traffic can be scary. For the past two years, Minneapolis has earned the title of most bike friendly, surpassing Portland, OR. There are many miles of trails here.
We also have a business called "Nice Ride." With a credit or debit card, you can rent a bike from the stand and leave it at another one. The stands are all over the metro, and are not attended. The front wheel of the bike is in a locking mechanism. I have my own bike, so have not used them, but I see people on them a lot. Maybe RC, and SF ought to look into that. (BTW, last year, the first full year of Nice Ride - not one single bike was stolen!)
One other thing: When bike riders reach a certain mass, it seems that auto drivers catch on that they are there and have a right to the road. It does take lots of public info-sharing.
In my years in RC, I loved riding the bike trails along Rapid Creek. It's just not long enough. But the Hills trails are wonderful.
You know, D.E., I get a little of that "critical mass" sense here in Spearfish heading up the canyon. It's a twisty road, folks are gawking at the spectacular scenery... even with a pretty consistent should, it should be bike wreck heaven. But it seems that when people see me and other cyclists every mile or so, they get the idea that they've got to watch out. I have yet to have a vehicular close call here.