E-Bike vs Pedal Bike: This time it's personal!

Okay, it's not that personal. But this is not a study by the University of Whatever on the Isle of Some-Place-Far-Away. It's yours truly comparing a few recent days commuting in Lubbock on an e-bike and a pedal bike.

[Why am I writing this one? Well, there are a lot of questions out there about e-bikes and about their validity as transportation. Me, I love bikes in almost all forms, but I see the e-bike as a great tool for commuting and for low impact transportation. Lots of people consider an electric motor on a bike to be cheating, but I don't. I see it as an inexpensive way to get around with a tiny carbon footprint. (And it's a whole lot of fun!) For me, cheating is travelling a few miles in an expensive and inefficient vehicle that pollutes the air and promotes environmental destruction. The e-bike is definitely not a solution for everyone all the time, but it's a great tool to cover part of your transportation needs efficiently and often joyfully.]

The 500-watt Electric Bike

(Bought used on Craigslist with a bad battery)

The Mesquite-Hugger-powered Pedal Bike

(Given to me by a friend who wanted more room in his garage)

We'll start with the pedal bike:

Last Friday was a cold and very windy day here in Lubbock. (We have lots of those windy days.) The e-bike was needing a few small repairs, but I was determined to ride. So, I rode off to work and into the wind. And it was a workout!

Average speed of 7.6 mph. Ouch! And a 39 minute commute -  not good for someone hoping to make it to work on time - I did not. Yep, I was late to work and I arrived needing a shower and a nap. (Five miles in 39 minutes.)

Average speed of 11.1 mph (The ride home is usually quicker due to warmer weather and warmer old-guy muscles.) It was still windy, but the wind was at my (sail-like) backside and gave me a pretty good push. Even so, I took a 20 minute recovery nap when I got home. (4.4 miles in 24 minutes.)

So, the round trip commute time for the day was 63 minutes, and I was exhausted after both rides.

Now let's look at a similar day's commute on the e-bike:

[A little info about how I ride an e-bike - I pedal along with the bike. It's a bike with a boost, not a bike that does all the work. I generally arrive at my destination breathing heavily but I am not wiped out and I don't have an overwhelming desire to lie down and take a nap. As an overweight middle-aged guy, most things make me want a nap, but the e-bike doesn't.]

I love teacher in-service days - light car traffic on the residential streets! (Five miles in 25 minutes.)

4.6 miles in 21 minutes.

You can see, for me at least, that the e-bike doesn't offer a great deal more speed - it offers a lot more consistency. Regardless of how I feel, how cold it is, how windy it is, or what time of day it is, I have a good idea of how long it is going to take me to get to work. There's also a distinct possibility that I will be less smelly when I arrive.

Summing up:

The pedal-bike commute covered 9.38 miles in 62:50 minutes.

(Arrived smelly, late, and exhausted!)

The e-bike commute covered 9.61 miles in 46:12 minutes.

(Arrived on time, less smelly, and invigorated.)

(To be fair, smelly seems to be fairly constant state for me, but there are times when it's especially bad.)

But a friend of mine messaged me about one smelly issue a bike won't save you from here in Lubbock:

I'm with you, Captain Kirk!

Well, you can't have everything, but you can have a very low-carbon, low-cost commute and keep it consistent.

May you find your own low-carbon transportation that keeps you smiling, consistent, and not too terribly smelly or broke.

PS. By the way, recharging the battery after one day's commute will require about 15 pennies worth of electricity.

Fossil Free Friday: It looks like "the man" has discovered our evil plot to save the world!

Dateline Lubbock this morning:

There we were at the our usual morning hideout plotting to save us all when a whole bunch of them descended upon us in their fleet of world-destroying SUV's (less than half of them are pictured). Now we know they're watching us with our evil electric and non-electric bikes!

They are watching us!

If we have to go underground, just know that the Mesquite Hugger loves you all and appreciates the time you've spent reading this blog and the effort you put into making this world more livable for those of us who breathe!

May we successfully fight the evil, world-killing power of fossil fuels!

A Midtail Cargo Bike Review I've Been Hoping For - Benno Boost

[Yes, I know, I recently said I would stop actively seeking a cargo bike, but that does not mean I've completely quit paying attention to those lovely beasts.]

If you have followed my cargo bike obsession, you know that I've been leaning toward mid-tail cargo bikes rather than the long-tail models after sitting on a Yuba Mundo - it was like sitting on a train; a really long train!

So, I've found myself very Benno-curious and (Yuba Boda Boda V3 curious too).

I was pretty excited last night to stumble upon a video review of the Benno Boost on Electric Bike Review.

[Financial reality check: Yes, I know that a $4,000 cargo bike is way out of my league, but the non-electric version, the $1300 Benno Carry-On, is almost within my financial grasp.]

Read and/or Watch the Benno Review on Electric Bike Review

 

I can sure see this thing as a bike that would fit a lot of needs without being too extreme to make it a good daily commuter. How about you? What are your thought on the Benno?

 

If you're in Lubbock and want to check one out, just hop on over to Austin, Houston, or Santa Fe to visit your nearest dealer.

 

May we find some way to quit supporting the companies so powerfully bent on killing us all for profit. (Hi, Rex, TransCanada, and Energy Transfer Partners!)

Reasons for Americans to oppose a Canadian tar sands pipeline

[Yesterday, President Trump reopened a can of really nasty worms.]

A hand full of years ago, my wife and I went to Washington D.C. We went there with the intention of protesting and getting arrested. We did and we did.

We went there to protest the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline.

The Mesquite Hugger version of Where's Waldo?

If we were wealthy enough, we'd be there protesting the same thing now. From an environmental standpoint, the Alberta tar sands are an absolute nightmare. They have destroyed an absolutely beautiful and crucial wilderness area in Canada. They have destroyed a way of life for the native peoples who have lived there for centuries. They have created toxic living conditions for every living thing in the area.

"dirtiest of fuels" and "game over for the climate"

Beyond that immediate area, the environmental impact is even more catastrophic. The potential for carbon release is vastly higher in tar sands than it is for standard crude. Expansion of tar sands extraction, delivery, and processing has the potential to release enough carbon to destroy the conditions for mankind to continue living.

How do tar sands differ from conventional crude?

Imagine that you are searching for drinking water. Regular crude would be a spring-fed mountain stream. Tar sands would be water drained off of buckets full of swamp mud. Crude is oil. Tar sands are just what their name says they are - a mixture of tar and sand that can be treated and processed extensively to create a very low-quality oil.

Why should Americans be opposed to the Keystone XL?

Economically speaking, TransCanada is a Canadian company that needs to get their product down to Houston so that it can be processed and sold internationally to the highest bidder. yes, building the pipeline would create a very small number of temporary jobs for a few Americans and an even smaller number of jobs for workers to maintain the pipeline. There will also be money for the refineries. But the financial winner here is a Canadian company.

On top of that, lots of American landowners are being forced off their land (you have to love eminent domain) so that a Canadian company can sell their really nasty oil to the international market. And America will be left to clean up after the oil spills so prevalent in tar sands pipelines.

Besides the environmental impact and lack of benefits for America, what is so bad about this particular pipeline?

Mechanically speaking, tar sands pipelines are also a nightmare. Tar sands are way too thick to flow through a pipeline. So, some very caustic chemicals are added to thin the nasty stuff enough to flow. Then you end up with a very caustic chemical pushing sand through the pipes. It's a very effective liquid sandpaper wearing away at the pipes and joints. These pipelines leak, spill, and spoil often.

Are tar sands spills different from crude oil spills?

When This Oil Spills, It's 'A Whole New Monster'

Absolutely. Tar sands oil is much heavier than conventional crude and heavier than water. Therefore, tar sands spills are much harder to clean up. When they hit a body of water, they immediately sink to the bottom and into the mud. This ruins water supplies, farmland, and wilderness areas. There is ample evidence that those who live near these spills have much higher incidence of several forms of cancer.

Other than making one Canadian company and its employs considerably wealthier, the negative impacts of this pipeline drastically outweigh any advantages to building it, especially for the people of the United States.

Giving Tuesday Meets Carbon Reduction - Expand your reach!

Black Friday. Small Business Saturday.

Thank God It's Sunday.

Cyber Monday. Giving Tuesday.

The Story of Stuff. (Annie and Free Range, you are always in  my head.)

I lay in bed a few mornings ago with all of this stuff swirling in my head. I had to get up. I was getting nervous.

How do we make the world a better place? It's going to take a lot more than just parking our gas-powered cars and changing our light bulbs. (But those are a start.)

For me, everything goes back to slowing and stopping climate change. Yes, there are lots of other incredibly important causes to support; however, as it gets harder to live and breathe, all of those other problems get worse. As we see species quickly disappearing and cultures being wiped out, the term Pro Life takes on a much bigger meaning.

How do you slow climate change? You limit carbon release. (Yes, we've always had carbon release, but we humans have become experts at it and our ingenuity and creativity in that department is killing us all.) And we, the Americans, are doing more than our fair share of the damage. Look around you, do you see people near you working to limit carbon release? Do you see people near you working actively to increase carbon release? Answer the same questions about your immediate family.

Around me, most people want cheaper gas, a bigger car, a larger house, and more stuff.

Since today is Giving Tuesday, I thought I'd throw out a few of my favorite organizations that are working hard to slow climate change:

Citizen's Climate Lobby

Watch the Intro Video

I support the CCL because I am a cynic and the CCL offers me a different type of hope. The CCL is a multi-partisan approach to helping us reduce our carbon while supporting the economy and offering (financial) hope to all citizens. Their approach is not one that expects altruism to save our environment. They are offering a sensible approach that is based on a carbon tax and dividend (while making life better for all).

The Sierra Club

Watch the Intro Video on this page

The Sierra Club has been around more than 120 years. The original vision of the SC was to protect wild and natural places. Here in the 21st century that vision has not changed. but it has expanded to protecting the entire planet and all life on it - including us humans. The part of their mission that truly draws me in is their drive to Move Beyond Fossil Fuels. As times get more desperate, the Sierra Club keeps stepping up their game. (You can find the Texas chapter here.)

GreenPeace

Pardon me on this one, but all my life I've known Greenpeace to be a bunch of non-violent badasses who go after whaling ships in little rubber boats. That's how they got started back in 1971 and they haven't backed down yet, but they've definitely broadened their scope.

Learn more here

350.ORG

Check out the 350.ORG intro video here

(Yes, I had to throw in the bicycle screenshot)

Okay, so those are the biggies for me when it comes to saving the planet, but they are definitely not the only ones. So, if these don't fit your approach, do a little research and find those that do. Let this be one way your voice can be heard.

May your actions match your beliefs!

Bonus: 3 More Organizations near and dear to me:

The Haven - a Local, Non-Profit, NO-Kill animal shelter

People for Bikes

League of American Bicyclists

Struggling with Grace

With word of the attack on the protesters at Standing Rock last night, I am struggling.

To see another action against people on behalf of an oil company causes me to believe less and less in a country that is by the people and for the people.

It looks like a country that is by the government and for big business.

May we love our neighbors and stop supporting businesses (and governments) that serve only money.