fatvegan

The model American puts in 1600 hours to get 12500 km: about 8 km per hour.

Energy and Equity

I always wondered about the economics of buying a car and paying for petrol. This book is from a while ago and rather gendered, but I like the fellow and his funny turn of phrase. And boy do I love ball bearings. Apparently the human walking is already one of the most efficient animals - less efficient than rats but. With a bicycle we are by far the most efficient movers. Except for possibly dingos....

Bicycles are not only thermodynamically efficient, they are also cheap. With his much lower salary, the Chinese acquires his durable bicycle in a fraction of the working hours an American devotes to the purchase of his obsolescent car. The cost of public utilities needed to facilitate bicycle traffic versus the price of an infrastructure tailored to high speeds is proportionately even less than the price differential of the vehicles used in the two systems. In the bicycle system, engineered roads are necessary only at certain points of dense traffic, and people who live far from the surfaced path are not thereby automatically isolated as they would be if they depended on cars or trains. The bicycle has extended man’s radius without shunting him onto roads he cannot walk. Where he cannot ride his bike, he can usually push it.

I was riding home from town the other day. As I often do. Probably I've done it a hundred times and so far every time has been uneventful. Though lovely and often quite beautiful.

However, this particular time was different. I was approaching the cattle grid a few kilometers from home, when I noticed a funny clicking noise behind me. It was kind of like some was stuck in my wheel. I slowed down a little and had a little peek but it didn't seem to be a bike related click so I rode on. The clicking continued and sounded like it was getting closer - coming from a little way behind me. I had my lights off to see the stars. They were lovely and beautiful both this night. But it meant that I couldn't see behind me. It sounded like some sort of creature, but creatures can't ride as fast as a bike. Especially when the rider is a bit nervous and trying to escape funny clicking noises behind them by riding quick. But I peeked over my shoulder a bit and after a few peeks decided there was definitely something shadowy there. I turned on my bike light, unclipped it and swung it around. Two glowing eyes leapt back and sideways avoiding the beam (which is pretty bright for sure). I felt a bit bad. I thought whatever it was would give up. Especially since things with eyes like that can't run as fast as a bike and definitely not for very long.

I beamed light at the eyes again and decided that it was a dingo. It was that nice dusty brown they are. And had that great running gait that they have. And even in pursuit of a cyclist, it still had that lovely languid manner dingoes always seem to have. It was a dingo for sure. It didn't give up. It seemed that it could run as fast as a bike. And for quite long. It was a couple of kilometres already. I started to get a bit worried that I would get tired before it did. I wasn't sure if it was just working at keeping up with me or if it was waiting for me to get tired or fall off. I rode faster. Actually I rode as fast as I could on my big old bike. It wasn't fast enough. This little fellow stayed right behind me no matter what speed I went. I started to get the feeling that any moment it fancied it could lope up and bite my leg. Perhaps not right off. I don't think dingoes bite legs properly off. But it could perhaps bite me such that it hurt a lot and I'd fall off my bike from the cussing and probably be deftly eaten by the dingo its dingo pals.

I turned the corner into my road thinking the dingo might decide he was in the wrong hood and give up. It didn't. I thought about turning around and riding towards it. To like call its bluff and stuff. It seemed a bit mean, since I wasn't even sure if the dingo was wanting to eat me or just have a nice run together. So I didn't do that. I imagined riding into my place and shouting out to everyone that there was a dingo after me. I'd ride around in circles and people would come out and wave their hands and shout at it.

As it happened, the dingo left me at the gap and I didn't see it again. I was fairly glad for that.

I'm about to head off on a little ride along the Finke River. Originally I was going to do the Mereenie Loop, but I ate something funny the day before I was going to leave and now it's five days later. I had to do some bike adjustments. I'm really pretty bad at making bikes go. I hope it's OK.

Alice and I are on the road. We've been riding a few days. Or riding two and pushing one - we spent most of yesterday pushing our bikes up a muddy hill.

We took a bit of a detour to Granite Gorge. It's pretty much the nicest place ever. Big rocks. Lots of nice water. The smallest (meaning best) rock wallabies I have ever seen. Friendly caretakes with budgies and galahs sitting on their shoulders.

We were meant to get to Atherton today (another 50km south), but we decided to stay here. At this rate we will get to Alice Springs about Christmas. Or by the time Emily's baby starts school at the very outside.

I have left again. It 23 months since I last jumped on a train to Alice Springs. This time is a little different. I just spend 30 minutes pulling apart my bike to fit it into a box. I'm not totally convinced it will get there in one piece, but we will see. The other difference is that this train is going to Brisbane. I don't think I've ever caught a train to Brisbane.

I can't write very much because there are no powerpoints on this train. Except in the toilets.

I got my new Raven Tour from Thorn UK, and I've been riding it for a few weeks now. It is really pretty great. Still working out if it is $5000 great, but I suppose I won't really know that for sure for another 30 years. It's not really a fancy bike in any sense, except for possibly being black. Black is fancy. And the Rohloff hub is fancy. But everything just feels like any other bike. Except more solid. It doesn't make funny noises or rattles. It doesn't creak or complain when you go over bumps. It feels totally happy with a 65kg friend sitting on the rack (even though I know that is not good respect for the engineering).

So far I like the hub gears. I like the wheels, although I'm nostalgic for the traction on my last set of hybrids. I really like the racks. It has a really sweet tyre pump. The seat is comfortable. Not sure about the Deore V-brakes. I'm missing my old disk brakes on my cheap Progear. The frame is really very solid. So solid. I can't stress just how solid it is. I like the black. Although the paint is pretty crappy and is already peeling off a bit. It got a bit clunked around in the shipping box and arrived a bit paint chipped.

It is heavy. But not that heavy. Full steel frame and heavy-duty steel pannier racks on the front and back. I'm guessing without a load it would come in around 18kg. It's probably not as well suited as I'd hoped for just riding around town. It feels like it's just waiting to have a bunch of bags loaded onto it so it can ride off somewhere far away. It's still a pleasure to ride though.

I can't say I would recommend doing the same thing again. Not unless you're super keen for a Thorn. For another $700 (now $1200 more) I could have got a Velosmith Jota custom built with a Rohloff. That probably wouldn't have been quite as tough, but it'd probably be a nicer bike. I don't feel like the parts on this bike are anything amazing, but I'll have to wait and see. And I wouldn't have to do all this stressing about postage and customs and what I'm going to do about warranty if something ever goes wrong. And it would also have been supporting the Australian bike-building industry instead of the Taiwanese one and I think the Australian one definitely needs the support more.

This bike was meant to be my attempt to spend an extra $2000 and avoid having to get to know everything about bikes. I wanted something that would last forever, and I wanted it to be like buying a long-term car instead of a bike. I think the experiment was not that successful. The world of bikes and bike repairs is just so soaked in the culture of geekery that it's hard to navigate without knowing exactly what every little thing is. I went into a couple of bike shops to get a kick stand. I got bad advice at both places and ended up with a $35 kick stand that is bending and probably doing all sorts of horrors to the chain stay.

But perhaps it wasn't a total failure either. I worked for a while to save money. I got a bike. It's a good one. It probably will last forever.

(more…)

After many, many months of experimentation and development the Glowworm Bicycles site has finally come together. It's been operational for quite a while, but with a bunch of bugs and quirks. It's all done in Drupal and we're using Ubercart for the store. The basically functionality was actually very fast. My impression of Ubercart is very good so far.

It wasn't a free website, but it's a pretty big one. And now I think I am fairly happy with it.

I've just had my first real experience of foreign exchange risk. I bought a bike from the UK about three weeks ago. It was worth a bit over £2000. I paid a deposit when the exchange rate was AUD 1.65 = GBP 1. Now it's 1.75 dollars to the pound, which adds an extra $300 to the cost of the dear bike. Gosh and gosh.

Apparently, riding a motorcycle now makes you impotent. If you're 50 years or older and ride a motorcycle you are basically guaranteed to have erectile problems (93%). I find the statistics pretty unlikely, but even if they're true I reckon it's more likely that men who've lost interest in sex go out an buy themselves motorcycles to keep themselves entertained.

This evening I got what was, without any doubt, the best bicycle commute rain I have ever seen. The roads were so flooded I had to pedal against the current. I had to cycle through streams so strong my bike slid sideways. I had puddles so deep my feet were dragging through the water. I got splashed by trucks and buses. I had to go through dumps of water coming out of gutters.

It was totally winner. And now I am very tired.

My bike got serviced this week for free. It is so unbelievably much more fun to ride. The brakes work. The gears work. The tires aren't flat. Totally sweet. I got new back brake pads too. But I had to pay for those. It was worth it though. So far they've worked every time.

Since riding home last night, after chugging down some delicious, not inappropriately priced Belgian beer with David, I have discovered some things:

• the forces of gyroscopy are impressive, but ultimately they are an imperfect substitute for sobriety
• for the inebriated head, the drunken amble is the optimal speed for safely avoiding objects that accost you (such as restaurants, trees, pedestrians, suburbs and gutters)
• correspondingly, even a slow cycling speed is sub-optimal
• much of what makes cars of limited danger to the cyclist is the cyclist's ability to maintain a straight path for at least a brief period

I did, however, manage to make it home.

My left arm has got pretty brown in the last month or so. Browner than my right arm for sure. My theory is that because I ride to university in the mornings and I have to go south, my left side gets more sun than my right. I wonder if other cyclists have the same problem. Over time you could end up looking quite ridiculous.

I rode home in 15 minutes yesterday. It was pretty quick. Now my legs are sore and I have urges to eat potato.

The last few years I've spend a reasonable amount of money. Probably about $10 a week I reckon, which is quite a substantial proportion of my income. I used to try and work out how much money I would save if I rode to uni. I'd do the maths in my head while I waited for late buses. "I'll show Sydney Bues," I'd think to myself, "I'll get to uni quicker, get fit and save money. Damn you." I worked out how long I'd have to ride to pay of the cost of buying the bike in the first place. It was a long time, but in the long run it would be well worth it.

However, I hadn't considered all the costs of riding. Over the past few days I've realised that $1.11 (a bus ticket) worth of food isn't very much food. When you're riding for half an hour twice a day you get hungry. Or I'll get to uni and buy an orange juice for $2.50, completely eliminating any money savings I might have made.

So you win this round Sydney Buses, but just wait until I build my solar-powered scooter.

I bought a new bike today. I've been planning to for about 9 months - ever since the physio told me my knees were bung and needed strengthening. I finally got around to it. The bike cost $350, the helmet cost $50, the lights cost $80 and the carry bar cost $70.

I rode it home with a whole lot of vegies on the back. It was heaps of fun and really fast. Faster than the bus at least. I almost got run over by a truck though. It swerved at the last minute and then the car behind it almost hit me. It's good to be back on the rodes.

Although I can't believe I spent $80 on lights. I went in to buy the bike while it was light, but by the time I left it was dark and I didn't have a choice. I bought the same thing at Kmart last time for $15. Well, not exactly the same.

This is totally a fitness day. I went to the gym for two hours as well. Fun fun.