The ROI of riding

Each day I ride my bike to and from work I save money.
The best parking spot I can get, early bird special, is $7.00/day in the building I work in. It's nice if you can get it but the reality is that it's $18/day if I don't get here before 7:00am.

I can only add part of the gas and wear and tear on my truck as a savings because a friend is using it for their commute of about 6 miles round trip a day.  Still with gas at about $3.00 a gallon right now and at about 22mpg in the truck on a good day on the highway, a 4 mile trip saves me about $1 a day.

The Federal numbers give me about 55 cents a day for wear and tear at about $2.25/day (4 x .555) in savings.

$7 + $1 + $2.25 = $10.25 or really about $10/day in savings.

All this means is that my bike pretty much pays for itself in about 160 days of riding...  How many folks can say that about the car they just bought???

One of the reasons to Ride

US oil imports down, domestic production up

More domestic drilling will not end the need for imports, however. The United States holds only 2% of the planet’s proven oil reserves, but Americans consume 25% of the world’s daily output of crude oil.

Ride Notes

Road a bit on Sunday.
2 and from work on Monday and Tuesday. Skipped Wed. And rode again today.

Woot!

Ride Notes

It's gonna Rain... It's gonna Snow....   Do you still ride?  I did.  I looked at the forecast for later today and saw the grim notes of rain with a change to snow as it cools off.  60% chance of precip in sunny Colorado means you need to expect to get wet.  Gear up and ride because the parking is still cheaper, the weather will change and gas is on the rise...

35F felt like 30 with cloud cover and cool wind blowing in.
Just one dip on the road who didn't right hook me but came darn close...

Ride Notes

I can handle the cold... I'd ride at zero with the right gear on.  It's the wind that sucks.  It felt like I was riding backwards at points in my ride today.  Slowest ride to work on the new bike.... Still, I beat the bus in..

75 miles on the Odo.  30F on the ride in this am.  5-15mph gusts from the West...

Weekend Rides

Saturday was gorgeous. Wind made the ride feel like an uphill battle with an 70lb load. My love of books, the Tattered Cover, was worth it.

Sunday was windy and chilly and a trip to the Mercury Cafe for a bday lunch and then the Great Divide for a couple of samplers with a good friend was well worth it.

The wind turned into a nice tailwind home. Thru the park to look at some possible City Park Jazz locations and then home to do a little bicycle therapy.

Kickstand hack

Got this idea off the interwebs from click-stand.com and a couple of instructable hacks. 2 pieces of aluminum tube, a steel dowel, a twist nut from a pipe clamp, old shock cord and a plastic end cap. Oh, and a small bungie for the brake until I find one of those thick rubber bands.

Ride Notes

33F and another headwind. Gotta love that. I felt like a slug on the trip home.

4 way stops. While I appreciate the gesture, not really, don't wave me thru a stop. It's the law that I have to follow and I would hope that the tank drivers here in Denver would help me and other cyclists by following the same law.

Ride Notes

Snowed yesterday and while I could have ridden I'm not mentally there yet even with the new bike.

28F slight headwind.
Most of the roads were clear and the one spot with a full sheet of ice had me white knuckling the bars at 5mph.  I'm alive and I'm not sure I'll get fully comfortable on ice/snow, it's a start.

Ride Notes

2/22/2012  -- first commute to work on The Sarge
Fast.  The new setup is very quick and nimble.  Shifting is smooth and getting used to trigger shifter v twist took a bit with gloves on.

Ride home was smooth and easy. Going up the hill at 16th and Lincoln was very nice... The new gearing setup and the Alfine hub work well together.