The bicycle, the simple bicycle, a brilliant design, it has differed rather little since the invention of the modern bicycle in the 1880s, they continue to enthrall many with the great joy one can only get from riding in the open air at great speed, producing virtually no noise as one races down the road in their bicycle.
No form of transportation, walking aside, is better for you the more you practice it. On a bike, unlike walking, you get from point A to point B using less energy and in much less time. Unlike an automobile, the fuel can be completely sustainable, you can grow it in a backyard, a balcony or a rooftop. (Or someone else's like a friends.)
The cyclist's fuel is also not $3.25 a gallon either.
Gas-free cars are being hyped as a way to save the future, but biodiesel and ethanol as fuel sources are expensive with their own problems, electric cars while technologically much more sound then originally thought are not nearly widespread enough to make a difference. The bicycle being a century old technology still able to maintain a place in the modern world needn't worry about such issues as technology and energy supplies by comparison.
Just a thought, instead of driving to the gym, spending great amounts of money on gasoline and a gym membership, get a bicycle and ride to the gym, or just ride your bike more for excellent results! A bicycle is a gym membership all in one package.
Obviously bicycles are not for everyone, but neither are automobiles.
Two great quotes on cycling below, one from a guy who sees the bicycle as an independent, healthy and sustainable form of transit, another who doesn't share nearly the same enthusiasm to say the least.
"Modern industrialized states [are] resentful of a few cleverly arranged pounds of tubes and spokes. The cyclist creates everything from almost nothing, becoming the most energy-efficient of all moving animals and machines and, as such, has a disingenuous ability to challenge the entire value system of a society. Cyclists don't consume enough. They can propel themselves 1500 pollution-free miles on the energy equivalent of a gallon of petrol. The bicycle may be too cheap, too available, too healthy, too independent and too equitable for its own good. In an age of excess it is minimal and has the subversive potential to make people happy in an economy fueled by consumer discontent." Jim McGurn
"Mankind has invested more than four million years of evolution in the attempt to avoid physical exertion. Now a group of backward-thinking atavists mounted on foot-powered pairs of Hula-Hoops would have us pumping our legs, gritting our teeth, and searing our lungs as though we were being chased across the Pleistocene savanna by saber-toothed tigers. Think of the hopes, the dreams, the effort, the brilliance, the pure force of will that, over the eons, has gone into the creation of the Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bicycle riders would have us throw all this on the ash heap of history." ~P.J. O'Rourke
No comments:
Post a Comment