Would you be quickerbybike?


Quickerbybike.com is a campaign to promote cycling to non-cyclists
& decent cycling to existing cyclists.

If you commute to work or school but not by bike,
would you consider switching?

It's probably quicker, healthier, more friendly, more independent, cheaper, quieter & brighter.

If you already ride, would you promote cycling via your shorts?

If you ride like a bit of a wally, running red lights & annoying other road users,
would you wear the shorts and ride decently?

Wednesday 1 October 2008

How long can you go without re-fuelling?

I confess I have a car. However, I'm trying to abandon it. The last time I went to use it, the handbrake was rusted on so now I leave it off.

Two things are driving me to ditch my car. The first is a childish and geeky sort of competition I'm having with myself to see how long I can go without having to stand guiltily at a petrol station, pumping fuel into the thing. I filled it on Monday 29th September - anyone wanna compete with me for the longest interval before re-filling?

The second reason is a genuine reluctance to be in a car. I feel such an idiot these days when I find myself either stuck in traffic or spending £50 on fuel. In fact even a hassle-free car jouney feels wasteful to me these days. Plus I properly enjoy being on trains and busses.

I hope someone will compete with me on the fuel thing.

M
Posted by at

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a proponent of cycling too.

Has someone looked at the true cost of cycling though.... in terms of energy spent and the environmental impact of that energy.

In the case of a cyclist this is food, the farming, production, packaging and transport of which can do a lot of environmental damage.

So if you do an hours ride each way to work, where you burn say 1000 kcal in total, and then eat about that much more than usual, how does that equation compare to the impact caused by driving..

I would love to see some kind of study on this.

Purely out of curiosity though, and certainly not the challenge the ethos of 'better by bike'.

Well done on the site by the way.

12 January 2009 at 08:42
quickerbybike.com said...

Hello Anonymous.

I'm so sorry I didn't reply to this sooner, I didn't spot it. Thank you very much for contributing to the thread.

I've no idea what the environmental consequences are of the extra calories consumed by cycling. I suspect they're negligible.

Producing food dosn't release CO2 and nor does our respiration.

Granted packaging and transport of foods contributes to CO2 production but we can minimise these by shopping carefully.

A useful figure I do know is that two thirds of the CO2 damage by a car is during it's lifetime on the road. So a whole third is spent in its production.

I think we can continue cycling to work with a clear conscience.

I hope you'll contribute again.

All the best.

Martin

27 March 2009 at 08:42

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