Weekly wrap 10.6.06
This week’s total mileage: 48 milesThis week’s mileage on e-bike: 17.5
This week’s mileage on a regular bike: 30.5
Total mileage since July 10, 2006: 540
Total e-bike mileage since July 10, 2006: 461
Total regular bike mileage since July 10, 2006: 79
Gas savings this week: 0 gallons
Gallons saved since July 10, 2006: 33.7
Price of gas today: $2.72
Gas savings since July 10, 2006: $104.29
Flat tires since July 10, 2006: 3
Notes: Seems like I spent all week driving my car. I went to Eureka three times. Ugh.
I consumed slightly more than 10 gallons of gas – the average weekly gas consumption prior to July 10, 2006, when this little experiment began. Because of this, my gas savings calculation this week comes to zero based on my flawed methodology (see previous posts).
FLAT TIRE
Today I was riding the e-bike on Murray Road when I heard a loud clicking sound coming from the rear wheel. I stopped to inspect the problem and assumed I’d find a broken spoke.
It was a bent nail, with the sharp end in the tire and the other half hitting the fender every time the wheel went around.
I removed the nail and the air hissed out of the tire.
Time to fix a flat. I checked my watch so I could time myself.
The wheel was removed and a replacement tube installed in seven minutes. Not bad.
But then it came time to inflate it with the mini pump.
I pumped and pumped and pumped. About 13 minutes had passed since the flat repair process began. The tire was inflated, but at a very low pressure – just enough to ride on it. But barely.
I don’t know if this was because I’m a dimwit, or because the pump is a piece of crap. I’m going to have to play around with the pump and solve this problem one way or another.
Fortunately, I was saved by the Brotherhood of Bicyclists. A fellow was walking by and informed me that he lived two houses away and had a nice floor pump I could use.
I took him up on the offer. I got my tire pumped up and we talked about bicycling.
A few minutes later I was back on the road with 70 psi in my rear tire.
SOLAR TOUR
On Saturday there’s a Solar Neighbors Tour in McKinleyville. A bunch of folks are opening their solar-powered homes to the public.
I plan on visiting several homes on my e-bike and I’ve mapped out my route using the Google Gmaps Pedometer. I’ll travel about 8 miles, which I’ve already included in the mileage for this week.
If I take a different route and the mileage varies, I’ll have to adjust the Weekly Wrap numbers.
SATURDAY UPDATE
I went in the garage this morning and found the rear tire on the e-bike flat. Dammit! So I used the road bike. I also changed my route and included a stop at the Dow's Prairie Grange to take a photo. The figures above, posted Friday, were changed to reflect today's my actual mileage.
XTRACYCLE
(Source: http://www.bikebox.ca/pix/xtracycle.jpg)
I spotted a woman riding an Xtracycle the other day in Arcata. As I understand it, it's a kit that you purchase which extends your rear wheel further back. A big, heavy duty rack goes over the wheel and is outfitted with large panniers. It allows you to haul large loads.
posted by Jack Durham @ 6:07 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks Patrick! It's nice to know someone is reading my ramblings.
I find the Xtracycle interesting, but I don't see how it would be useful for me. I can carry lots of stuff on my bike.
Eventually I'll get a trailer for larger loads, but I bet I won't use it that much.
Are the Xtracycle people constantly hauling large loads? I dunno.
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