Ideal Bite

This tip is great. I started riding to work last fall and while my hardcore boss managed to keep riding almost every day through the long, New England winter, I drove in. But now that it's Spring, I'm back on my bike, and it feels awesome. Clearly, biking is not possible for everyone, but for me it has been great. Over the years I have found it hard to find ways to integrate meaningful exercise into my life, especially with children in the scene. But biking is fun, can be as easy or strenuous as you like, and, with the right gear, very practical and safe. I posted a couple items on my blog with details of the gear I got (much of it is winter-related, so not needed nowadays) which might be helpful. Not sure if links are allowed in posts, but here goes: Gear: http://www.fivepercent.us/2006/10/29/bicycle-commuting-gear-list-for-saf... Review: http://www.fivepercent.us/2006/09/10/bicycle-commuting-review/ I really encourage anyone looking to get some exercise, or just be "Not another car" to consider riding. It's great.

The Better World Club (www.betterworldclub.com) offers a roadside assistance program for bicycles. If you get a flat, bust a spoke, or lose the chain, they'll come out to help!

More and more buildings being built these days have shower facilities and safe bike storage for biking commuters. There are points in LEED qualifications too for adding those facilities. (studying for accredidation now) What it all boils down to, is we can all be a little greener, one small step at a time, and doing what we love! All it takes is people expressing what they want, such as a simple place to lock up that bike, and a willingness to be devoted to it! I look forward to my Bit of Bite every morning!

It's unfortunate, but the biggest concern most people have with biking in a urban area is safty. There are so many aggressive drivers and distracted drivers, it's hard to share the road. If you can find a route to work that follows a bike path or back streets you're golden, but that pretty rare in most areas.

One question I had (and continue to have) about the comments related to the # of pounds of CO2/gallon of gas... You mention 20 pounds of CO2 per gallon of gas, yet a gallon of gas weighs between 5.8 and 6.5 pounds (http://www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/g-l/gasoline.shtml) How can it produce more (3x) CO2 then it originally weighs? I think I've heard the 20 pounds stat before but don't understand it.......

I have the same comment about the 20 lb. statistic. First of all, it would be violating the laws of physics because gasoline would actually be creating mass. Einstein would be interested in this. Second, if every car were producing as much as 20 pounds of CO2 per gallon of gas, we would already be living in a hothouse atmosphere vastly worse than the one we do (more like the plant Venus). I support biking, and I support public transit, and using cars as little as possible. But using figures such as these so carelessly gives environmentalsts a bad name, and that is something we don't need.

Joe Breeze makes town bikes and folding bikes - Breezers - here in the US.

Decided to take the math into my own hands. Figure this out scientifically. I could easily be wrong in my assumptions.... Dig back into College Chem :) Gasoline is likely C8H18 (hydrocarbon chain) (assumption - it's actually something like 500 different components, but C8H18 is a good starting point). Carbon is atomic weight 6, and Hydrogen is 1. Therefore C8H18=66, C8=48, so Gasoline is 72% carbon (48/66), and 28% Hydrogen. 72% of roughly 6 pounds/gallon of gasoline is carbon, or about 4.32 pounds. The rest is Hydrogen, which is converted to water (vapor) during combustion. C02 gets Oxygen from the atmosphere during combustion, so some of that CO2 weight comes from the air. C is atomic weight 6, O is atomic weight 8, therefore CO2=22, and Carbon is 27% of the weight of CO2. Oxygen makes up 73% of the weight, which is taken from air. So my math... (4.32 pounds of carbon/gallon of gas)/(27% of CO2 is carbon) = 16 pounds of CO2 Still less than the 20 pounds, but much greater than the actual input of 5-6 pounds per gallon of gas. My initial assumption was incorrect in the effect that I wasn’t including air in the combustion process… Does my math make sense? Still doesn’t equal up to 20, but you could possibly get closer to that if you use the higher end of the numbers and round up… It’s good to find out that there is some reality to that number…

Sounds like I am making excuses, but ... biking would work for me if: a) I were 20 years younger, b) didn't live in the ghetto where the new-age girl gangs hang out. I am going to stick to my enclosed capsule for now ... just too dangerous around here for an old lady to go bike riding.