Jack's Electric Bicycle

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.

posted by Jack Durham @ 8:09 PM