Jack's Electric Bicycle

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.

posted by Jack Durham @ 7:13 PM