Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: auto, automobile, bicycle, bike, cars, commute, commuting, huffington post, purchases, sales
More people bought bicycles than cars? Yes they did.
According to The Huffington Post, in the first quarter of 2009, bicycle sales in the US were higher than automobile sales. There were 2.6 million bicycle purchases made, compared to less than 2.5 million automobile purchases.
One thing I found interesting in this article was that both industries suffered a decrease in sales compared to the same time last year. Bicycle sales are down more than 30%, but auto sales are down more than 35%.
Interesting statistics. The times… are they a changin’?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, Free, Rentals, Salt Lake City, transportation, Westminster College, Westminster Wheels
I just found out that Westminster College, a local college here in Salt Lake City, offers students and faculty free bike rentals. How cool is that?
From their website:
Westminster Wheels is designed to provide alternative transportation and encourage Westminster students, faculty and staff to bike to their destinations on and around campus. Members of the Westminster community can check out a bicycle, helmet, light and lock from the campus concierge desk at no cost. The potential uses for this program are as diverse as the Westminster student body. People can bike to the grocery store, post office, the coffee shop or the bakery….
Last year, a group of students noticed the increased number of cars on campus, lack of carpooling, parking lot congestion, and winter smog. These students wanted to improve the city’s air quality, minimize campus traffic and maximize campus efficiency, so they designed a free bike program, modeled on similar campus and community programs around the country.
I think it is great to see organizations like this encouraging Bicycle Commuting, and then going the extra mile by helping people get past barriers that would keep them from getting started. If more programs like this were available it could change the face of transportation in this country.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, human powered speed challenge, record, sam whittingham, speed, Varna Diablo, world
Sam Whittingham recently set a new world speed record for a bicycle at the World Human Powered Speed Challenge, with a speed of 82.3 miles per hour!. If you haven’t seen this video, it is only 8 seconds long, so take 8 seconds and watch as Sam goes by doing 82mph on the custom built Varna Diablo III bicycle!
Wow, that is fast! You can read more about this record setting project on Wired.com.
So, I was thinking that if I could do that I could cut my commute time from 18 minutes down to less than 4 minutes. Shazam!
But I see a few problems with that:
- I didn’t see a rack anywhere on that bike, so I’m not sure where I would put my panniers
- It would be a bit difficult to obey posted speed limits, and would probably lead to some speeding tickets.
- It would be hard not to fall over while stopping for red lights, and motorists would probably be so offended at my passing them that none of them would be willing to help right me.
- Where do you park a bike like that? How do you lock it up?
Bummer, because it sure would be fun!
Thanks to my friend Matthias for sharing this story with me.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: accident, bicycle, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, fence, funny
Today I was making my lunch and I heard a strange noise outside. It wasn’t a noise that I recognized… in fact it was one of those noises where you don’t know what it is but it makes you think that something isn’t quite right. So, I looked in front of my house and this is what I saw…
It seems that my neighbor had forgotten to set the parking brake on her car, so when she went inside the car decided to take matters into its own hands, and with the help of gravity, it rolled across the street, jumped the curb, and stopped at my fence!
Well, vinyl fencing is flexible, and as you can see in the picture, it was flexing. At the end of it all no harm was done, and we had a good laugh out of it.
Now… if she did her commuting by bike, instead of by car… none of this would have ever happened. Yet another reason that bike commuting makes the world a better, safer place.
Have a good day, and watch out for those evil cars! 🙂
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bicycle, bicycling, bike, Bike Commuting, cars, funny, top 10, traffic
- You feel pretty green, and green is good.
- Passing cars that are stuck in rush hour traffic is awesome.
- It’s fun watching the people around you come up with excuses why they can’t bike commute.
- Getting back at all of those people that said you were crazy when you told them you were going to start riding your bike to work.
- Riding around on a bike makes you remember how fun it was when you did that as a kid, only now you look a lot cooler.
- Seeing the look of amazement on the grocery store clerk’s face when you ask her to put your groceries in your panniers, and she says "You rode your bike here?"
- Realizing that you can ride a lot farther than you think you can.
- Spandex is optional.
- Doing something fun and getting exercise at the same time – "Accidental Fitness".
- Getting to your destination with less stress than you started with.
I’ve had this list brewing for a while. It’s not perfect, but I finally tweaked it enough that I figured I’d go ahead and post it.
What do you think? What would you put on your top 10 list of reasons for bike commuting?