Exactly

Nearby, Dolly Sarlo fills up her black Mercedes. She says it's time for Americans to "vote with your dollars and to stop using gas" and use public transportation more.

"That would really, very quickly bring down the price," she says.

She then drives off.

It's always my problem, that someone else should fix isn't it? We've become so lazy that we will now mindlessly pay 100 dollars to continue filling the gastanks of the cars that we have become slaves to. And it's not like the demand for oil is going to run out. Trust me, there's a better way to get around.


And then of course there is this. Seriously, go ride your bike. And take your kids with you.

Not that we need it

Sadly there is yet another reason to ride a bike instead of driving a car. Regardless of how 'green' you make operating a motor vehicle, it is still an incredibly inefficient use of energy. The sad irony is that Americans reap the benefits and the poorest people bear the brunt of the suffering. Would it kill you to ride a bike to work one day a week? How about two? If you do it enough you'll stop even wanting to drive, I promise.

This is a joke right?

Ok, it's April 15th. It was seventy degrees yesterday. I woke up this morning looking forward to a nice, warm, even leisurely ride to work. :)

I then look outside to this :(



Awesome. And by the time I met my girlfriend for lunch it looked like this.




Awesomer. I think, in fact, that this was one of the least pleasant commutes I've had this season. The snow was not so much snow as it was crystallized rain that turned instantly to slush once it hit the ground. Fenders aside, my feet were still soaked when I got to work.

Now, I realize it sounds like I'm whining right now, and the reason for that is that I am whining right now. But seriously, I rode all winter, religiously, through below zero temperatures in the dead of night.



And damnit, I'm sick of this.

mmmm...Statistics

So Trek has started an organization called 1 world 2 wheels, it's all about getting people to ride bikes as transportation and fun. Now, granted, Trek is a corporation, and therefor I'm sure their intentions are not quite benevolent. In fact, I'm sure what happened is that they have market research, which shows that now is a good time to push bicycle commuting as a new market they can tap into. But hey, that doesn't mean that it won't do some good for the world. Besides, I'd rather trust the benevolence of a bicycle company than GM trying to ram how green their Suburban hybrid is down my throat.

1W2W is also partnered with IMBA, and in their most recent newsletter they posted some interesting stats, which I will now bequeath to you.

- The average person loses 13 pounds in their first year of commuting by bike

- In 1964, 50% of kids rode to school and the obesity rate was 12 %. In 2004, 3% rode to school and the obesity rate was 45%

- More than half of the pollution created by automobile emissions happens in the first few minutes of operation, before pollution control devices can work effectively.

- About 40% of all auto trips are made within 2 miles of home. (Think about that, how often do you drive 'just to pick something up')

- A 140-pound person burns 476 calories per hour while mountain biking. If you're 195 pounds you'll burn 664 calories. (If you're an American, you're prolly a fatty, go ride your bike)


- More Americans work in bicycle-based recreation than are employed as lawyers. (I'm not really sure what the hell that one means)

There are others, but those are my favorites.

And, there is of course the best reason, in my opinion. It's a lot of fun.

Rediculous Dichotomy

Ah biking to work. I woke up to roughly four inches of fresh snow today...IN APRRIL! And I was still sweating like crazy when I got to work.

But it's April

So after a 'healthy' night of drinking with Mr DNA I woke up this morning (afternoon) frikkin stoked to go for a mediumish road ride. Of course this being Montana, even though it's April, I looked out the door to this.



Great.

Well, I do still need to rebuild the rear wheel to my Langster. So, with a little help from the late Sheldon Brown's Wheelbuilding page I set down in front of the TV to do just that.



Of course since I am going to the trouble of building my own wheel, I like to give it some flava that it wouldn't otherwise have. So for no particular reason I went with anodized purple spoke nipples.



As big of a pain in the ass as it was to deal with having one of my bikes out of commission because Specialized put a cheap-ass hub on their fixed gear, it is nice to have a warranty replacement Surly track hub.



People sometimes ask me why I like riding fixed. I really have no tangible reply (even though it does, in fact, feel much better than any other bike I've ever ridden) other than it is the only style of bike that I own completely redundant copies of.

So now my two favorite bikes can finally meet. Biantchi meet the Gangster. Gangster...Biantchi.