Weekly wrap 8.25.06
This week’s mileage: 49.5 miles
Total mileage since July 10, 2006: 245.5
Gas savings this week: 3.5 gallons
Gallons saved since July 10, 2006: 17.2
Price of gas today: $3.19
Gas savings since July 10, 2006: $56.32
Notes: What’s not to like about a 35 percent reduction in fuel use? I got some sunshine, fresh air, exercise and saved $11.16 in fuel this week.
After spending an afternoon working on my roof Thursday, I took a refreshing ride over to Pierson Park and listened to Buddy Reed and the Rip It Ups play some blues. Reed informed the audience that Muddy Waters’ real name was McKinley Morganfield. So McKinleyville and Muddy Waters were presumably named after the same person.
On the way home I passed by a church that was holding a special meeting on solutions to global warming and climate change. I didn’t have time to stop in, but I did notice the parking lot was filled with cars! But that’s OK. As I understand it, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss solutions. I assume that reducing fuel consumption was one of the topics and that bicycles were discussed. At the next meeting, most participants will get there on their bikes and have a lot of fun doing so.
Today I came up with an idea. Next week I plan to make a few trips on my regular road bike. I want to compare the e-bike experience with the regular bicycle experience. I haven’t been on a regular bicycle since early July, so I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like.
As I stated in my earlier blog postings, there are pros and cons to the e-bike compared to the regular bike. With the e-bike you’re weighed down with a ton of lead batteries and a heavy front hub that provides rolling resistance.
A regular bike should feel light and zippy in comparison, except when I get lazy and don’t feel like pedaling.
That’s basically the dilemma I’ve faced since purchasing the e-bike – sometimes the motor is a fantastic piece of technology which allows me to travel at great speeds with little effort, but sometimes I feel like pedaling and the e-bike is a real drag, like bicycling with a load of cinder blocks.
One possibility is to use a regular bike on some occasions, and the e-bike on others. This would make sense, because sometimes I’m in the mood for a little exercise, and sometimes I’m not. If both bikes are ready to roll, I could make a decision based on how I feel. It would also prolong the life of my batteries.
I may also take one of my crappy thrift store bikes and permanently house it at my downtown office. This would come in handy when I take the e-bike into town, but then want to run errands at local stores where the e-bike would be too tempting for the criminal class.
One of the great things about bikes is that you can afford to have different kinds to meet different needs. One of my nicest bikes is a high-quality racing bike that I purchased years ago for $15. What was wrong with it? The paint was scratched and it had a flat tire.
Weekly wrap 8.18.06
This week’s mileage: 39 miles
Total mileage since July 10, 2006: 196
Gas savings this week: 1 gallon
Gallons saved since July 10, 2006: 13.7
Gas savings since July 10, 2006: $45.16
Notes: I drove the car a lot this week. I was running late on Monday afternoon and couldn’t do my Arcata route. That meant I used the car on Tuesday and racked up a lot of miles. Then on Thursday we drove to Ferndale for the Humboldt County Fair. Today (Friday) was a bicycle-only day. Of course, without the bike, I would have driven even more.
Night Rider
I’ve covered the monthly meetings of the McKinleyville Community Services District Board of Directors for more than 12 years.
Although generally important, the meetings are often long, boring and downright tortuous.
About 30 to 40 minutes before each meeting, I develop a psychological condition I call the “Pre-MCSD Meeting Blues.” I fall into a deep funk at the prospect that I’m going to have to leave the comfy confines of my home and sit for hours on an uncomfortable plastic chair and listen to people drone on and on.
But on Wednesday I was upbeat. No blues at all.
While I wasn’t particularly jazzed about going to the meeting, I was looking forward to riding the e-bike there and testing out my new light set on the way home.
I travelled about 14 miles the afternoon before the meeting, but I pedaled a lot to conserve battery power. This allowed me to zap on over to the meeting at full power. I arrived a few minutes before 7 p.m. cool and refreshed. I brought the bike in the room and locked it up in the back.
And then the meeting began. We pledged our allegiance to a flag. The minutes from the prior meeting were approved. There was a discussion regarding who should pay to restock the restrooms at the local ball fields. It went on and on. There was just enough humor – some intentional, some not – to keep me entertained.
Several hours later, it was time to ride home. The streets of McKinleyville were dark and empty. I turned on my Bell “Dark Flyer” bicycle light set, which I purchased at Kmart earlier that day.
These lights looked top notch in the packaging, and cost a little over $20. That’s about twice as much as I had hoped to spend.
The front lamp, mounted on the handle bars, includes a halogen main beam and two LEDs. The halogen lamp can run for 5 1/2 hours on four AA batteries, while the LEDs can run 200 hours, according to the packaging. There’s a switch that allows various options – halogen only, halogen and LEDs, LEDs only and flashing LEDs.
There’s a rear lamp with red LEDs and various blinking options.
Both worked fine, but the plastic is cheap and the switches seem even cheaper. They’re kind of crappy and don’t inspire confidence.
Still, the beam was bright and lit my way home.
As someone stated at Wednesday’s meeting, McKinleyville is “pre-metro.” This is evident at night. Other than Central Avenue, there are few streetlights on my route home. It’s extremely dark.
It made me realize something – with a few exceptions, almost all of my nighttime bicycle riding took place in San Mateo, where there are streetlights on every corner. I don’t even recall using bicycle lights down there.
McKinleyville is entirely different. When you’re blasting down Hiller Road in the middle of the night, the only illumination comes from the bicycle lights. It goes from dark to darker on the Hammond Trail.
I was worried about cats, potholes and God-knows-what in the roadway. Would I see an obstacle before it was too late? That was questionable given the speed I was travelling.
Once I got off Central Avenue, I didn’t see a single soul Wednesday night. It was just me, my bike and the darkness of night.
It was exhilarating. I had the entire road to myself and plenty of battery power. It was full throttle all the way.
Next time I need to remember to wear gloves.
Weekly Wrap 8.11.06
This week’s mileage: 45 miles
Total mileage since July 10, 2006: 157
Gas savings this week: 3.2 gallons
Gallons saved since July 10. 2006: 12.7
Price of gas today: $3.30
Gas savings since July 10, 2006, based on today’s price: $41.91
Notes: I’m pleased with my gas savings this week. I turned off the car on Monday afternoon and didn’t start it again until Friday afternoon. I saved 3.2 gallons, despite the fact I had to drive about 30 miles today to pick up inserts on the south end of Eureka,
Had it not been for the Eureka trip, I could have realized a 40 percent reduction in weekly fuel usage! Not bad.
But I did have an electrical problem. On Thursday morning I was strapping the battery bag on the bike rack. I slid it forward and – ZAP! – sparks were flying all over the place for about a second. At the time I figured the little plug touched the seat post and somehow made an electrical contact. No biggy, I thought.
I hooked everything up and the bike worked as usual. I made multiple trips into town, including a ride up to the airport to check the increased security due to the thwarted terror plot announced that morning. I met an explosives-sniffing dog named Ingo and took a few photos. The total mileage for the day was 14.
That night I went to charge the batteries and discovered that the little “phono plug” on the battery pack where you insert the male end of the charger was fried. It was so warped that it couldn’t even be plugged into the charger.
The battery didn’t get charged that night, but there was still enough power for a pedal-assisted trip to town this morning. That means I travelled 18.5 miles on a single charge. Of course, to get this mileage, you have to pedal a lot.
I went to Radio Shack this afternoon and purchased a new “phono jack.” I disconnected the battery wires one at a time and taped them down in such a manner that I would be guaranteed to properly reconnect them.
I then replaced the “phono jack” and hooked everything back up. I plugged it into the charger and then plugged in the charger. Everything appears to be working fine.
But I’m still concerned about how that little phono jack got fried. It doesn’t make sense to me.
Mileage, idiots & a mission
MILEAGE
The other day I learned about a new tool for determining mileage. You can check it out at:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/
Assuming it’s accurate, I’ve been seriously underestimating my mileage. A trip from my house, to the post office, the office and back is about 4.5 miles. I previously estimated that it was a 2-mile trip.
That means that I’ve put a lot more miles on the bike than listed in my “Weekly Wraps.” I’ll use the new mileage starting with this Friday’s “Weekly Wrap.”
TUESDAY TRIP
On Tuesday I travelled 13.2 miles. Even the smallest hills suck a lot of power, so I did a lot of pedalling and saved the electricity for when I needed it. The strategy worked. On every hill the motor provided me with "assistance," which means I pedaled but did in a leisurely fashion. In the last half mile, the battery was nearly drained.
IDIOTS
I’m perplexed by people’s actions on the Hammond Trail. I often come across people walking side by side and blocking the trail. So I ring my friendly sounding bike bell. I do so twice – once when I’m far away and again when I’m closer.
Most people hear the bell and move aside so I can pass. But some just stand there and ignore it. It’s not until I’ve come to nearly a complete stop and say “excuse me” that they move.
Maybe I need an angry sounding horn.
THE MISSION
Today I was going to take the car to town to haul four 10-foot-long, 3-inch roof flashings for my never-ending construction project. The idea of using the car was bumming me out because I really want it to sit in the driveway until Friday, if possible. I want my gas savings to be 30 percent this week.
So I decided I would attempt to haul the flashing on the bike. I zipped on over to Thomas Home Center, bought the flashing and proceeded to tie it to the bicycle frame. Luckily I remembered to bring some old rags to wrap around the flashing so it wouldn’t scratch the bike.
I felt like a hazard on the road, with sharp pieces of metal extending from the back and front of the bike. If anyone on the Hammond Trail failed to get out of my way, I could have skewered them. (See my other blog for comments regarding kebobs.)
The flashing made the bike feel unbalanced. It was also difficult to pedal the bike because the flashing was near my leg.
No problem – I have an electric motor. So I zipped on home and made it back without injuring anyone or myself.
With that mission accomplished, I wondered: What else could I haul on the bike?
Weekly wrap 8.4.06
This week’s mileage: Approx. 10 miles
Total mileage since July 10, 2006: Approx. 112 miles
Gas savings this week: 1.5 gallons
Price of gas today: $3.30
Gas savings since July 10, 2006, based on today’s price: $31.35
Notes: This was not a good week for saving gas. Besides my usual 200-mile jaunt on Monday, I drove my car an additional 91 miles between Tuesday and today (Friday).
On Tuesday the e-bike was fully charged, loaded and ready to go when I received a call that I had screwed up this week’s newspaper mailing. So I jumped in the car, raced to the Arcata Post Office to fix the problem and didn’t use the bike that day.
I used the bike as usual on Wednesday and Thursday, but I also had to use the car for multiple trips to the hardware store for supplies.
Today I used the bike. But then I needed to drive the car to Eureka and then up to Trinidad. I burned a lot of gas.
As you can see by the numbers above, my savings this week dipped down to 15 percent. My goal at this point is to maintain a weekly gas savings of at least 20 percent.
I’ve been riding the e-bike now for nearly four weeks. It’s become a habit. When given the choice, I would always use the bike over the car. That will likely change when the rains return.
As I stated before, the Saturday and Sunday trips are the best because they’re short and there’s no reason to conserve power. It’s almost like using a moped, especially when on flat ground.
The bike is becoming like my car – filled with crap and in need of cleaning. The saddle bags have newspapers, rate sheets, note pads and various scraps of paper. I quick cleaning is on my “to-do” list.
I had to make some adjustments to my morning coffee routine. At first, I attempted to transport my coffee and CP’s ice mocha in the cups they came in. I tried to wedge them upright in the saddle bags so they wouldn’t spill. Needless to say, that didn’t work.
So I purchased a bunch of water bottles (bicycle canteens) at a thrift store. Thrift stores, by the way, are overflowing with water bottles, some of them brand new and still in wrappers. They sell for 10 cents to 50 cents each.
Seems like a lot of companies slap their logos on these bottles and hand them out to customers and employees as gifts. These then make their way to the thrift store, along with all the bread machines that people bought a few years ago.
With multiple bottles, there are always at least two available even when some are in the sink.
To make sure my coffee is hot when I get home, I slip the canteen into a clean sock for the trip home. It provides the perfect amount of insulation.
