An interesting link on the physics of the best climate change fighting machine in transportation.

[NNadir]

No, it's not the hydrogen hypercar SUV.

The best transport machine ever invented runs on renewable energy, not hydrogen produced from dangerous fossil fuels.

When you try to determine how fast a bike can go, what you do is you match the power available against the power required, at a given speed. This energy budget indicates whether you can go faster, or whether you can even hold your current speed.


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Power available:

A human engine has a torque curve similar to that of a steam engine, more or less, which is to say that it is flat until a certain critical rpm, at which point it begins to drop off, because the energy used in accelerating and decelerating massy components (legs) begins to take up all the energy produced...

...Power produced is the product of torque times rpm. (a quick digression: your torque is a product of your leg length, your crankarm length, your wheel size, your gear ratio -- what we're talking about here, though, is torque measured at the crank itself. So the only things that are of issue are leg geometry, crankarm length, the rider's weight, and, most of all -- the rider's leg strength.)

So if we revisit the previous graph to show POWER produced, it will look like this

http://users.frii.com/katana/biketext.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. i seriously need to look into buying a rickshaw

[NNadir]

2. Cool. Made in China?

Not so long ago, China was committed long term to the bicycle.

Then they decided to join the car culture. Suddenly everyone is complaining about them, including nations that lived in the car culture for almost a century.

We would have done well to emulate the Chinese rather than the other way around.

I wish there were ways to make the bicycle be taken more seriously as a transportation tool.

[NMDemDist2]

3. india i believe n/t

[depakid]

4. I had a funny experience a couple of weeks ago

Took off on my bike to go to the eye doc. I noticed a neighbor across the street was getting into his Chevy suburban. The eye doc is about 3 miles up the road. He pulled into the lot right behind me.

After I did the exam and got my scrip, I noticed he was leaving too.

I headed over to Fred Meyers- which is about another 3 miles from there. Damned if my neighbor didn't pull up while I was locking the bike.

He said: "Damn, how'd you get over here so fast?"

LOL.

Between the streetlights and the traffic, I can get pretty much anywhere I need to go in this town in more or less the same time as it takes to drive.

[NNadir]

5. In the 3 years in the 1970's that I refused to ride in cars except in emergencies

I often observed that sort of thing.

This was in LA of all places.

It made people uncomfortable. I relationship I had with a woman about whom I cared quite a bit back then ended because of my car stance.

Sigh...

Today I drive.

I used to love to blow past people stuck in traffic, except that I was compelled to breathe their auto exhaust fumes.

In my view bicycling would be an important tool if it was safer - through the development of bicycle routes and lanes - and more socially acceptable. It should be a mark of environmental nobility for a company to offer showers and closets at work for bicycling employees. It would benefit companies by reducing their health care costs, since bicycling is not only environmentally as next to perfect as one can get, but it is good for you.

I was not the fat out of shape lump that I am today back then. My health was spectacular, excluding the times that I was run over by cars.

[depakid]

8. Fortunately,the Portland Oregon area is bike friendly

it's specifically part of our land use planning

http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?a=haccb&c=deiaj

Where I live, you can cut across neighborhoods and parks, which is more efficient, more beautiful- and keeps the damn exhaust out of your face.

It must have been tough riding in LA.

You're also right about win/wins that come from riding. My neighbor isn't in the best of shape- and I often see people stressed out from "fighting traffic." I wish I could tell them: "you don't need to do that- there's a finer, more elegant way."

[NNadir]

10. LA had a few bicycle friendly features in the 1970's

The best was the beach bike bath that ran - and probably still runs - from Redondo Beach to Santa Monica. It only ran next to cars for a short stretch in Redondo and in Marina Del Rey near LAX.

I used it for commuting purposes several times when I worked near LAX and lived in Hermosa Beach and then Redondo.

I also worked in Harbor City. The bike path portion involved traveling over the mini mountain in Palos Verdes. It covered only a portion of that area of estates and wealthy homes. This gave quite a work out going up and sometimes dangerous speeds when going down, but I loved being strong enough to do it.

I had one of my serious bicycle/car accidents near LAX and another accident in Palos Verdes. The second one was totally my fault because I was riding at night.

I also bike commuted on Long Island, which at the time had no bike friendly areas. The accident I had there, where a car was totalled along with my bicycle. It left me in a coma for several days. It was thought that I would die.

Still, if I could bike commute, I would do it again. I try to take my bike or walk for as many short errands as I can. If I have a choice of using public transit, I take it.

Driving is an unpleasant, numbing, stressful, and environmentally destructive process.

Bicycling or walking, by contrast, are pleasant and enlightening and healthy. I never felt out of breath no matter what I did. The feeling of strength was with me even when I was not riding. Sometimes I'd bike 10 km or so to run a few km with my friends in Santa Monica. I really feel that my problems and accidents involved interaction with cars more or less. I never had an accident on a dedicated bike path. Cars were the only negative part of the experience.

[phantom power]

6. Seems like you have to work pretty hard to maintain 150rpm. Over 2 full cranks/sec.

[NNadir]

7. But look at those horsepower figures at 20 mph.

All the energy comes off the big tank on your gut - if, like me, you have a gut.

[OKIsItJustMe]

9. Our area is catching on (slowly)

New road and bridge construction includes provision for (nominal) bike paths.

All legislators (local, state & federal) should be encouraged to study ISTEA/TEA-21.

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A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.

Frederick Douglass