Andy's words » Environment

Fain riding instead of driving

andy — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 00:03:45 +0000

From Yehuda Moon:

It’s easy to fall back into old habits.

Penumbra of Climbing

andy — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:16:06 +0000

On Saturday I did Terrible Two and with that completed California Triple Crown Stage Race.

Here is a recap:

Mulholland Double ~ 208 miles, 16,470+ feet of climbing
Devil Mountain Double ~ 206 miles, 18,600+ feet of climbing
Terrible Two ~ 200 miles, 16,480+ feet of climbing

It was totally awesome; I recommend to everybody.

As for the individual doubles I did so far, here are my comments:

Solvang Double ~ great first double. It is relatively mild and the scenery is great.
Davis Double ~ looking at the profile it would seem easy, but it is really hard because of 100+F all day. Make sure to start early, get those flat miles in as quickly as possible and have insulated water bottles.
Mt. Tam Double ~ lots of climbing, but you do it early in the ride. I recommend this one to everybody.
Knoxville Double ~ shares a lot of roads with Davis Double. When I did it it was not nearly as hot and it was still hardly bearable.
Mulholland Double ~ absolutely mind blowing scenery. It is a lot of climbing with one of the longest climb towards the end.
Devil Mountain Double ~ unlike Mulholland, which has relatively mild climbs, this one is in your face climbing. Just when you recover from one climb, there comes the next one. The toughest climb is Sierra road at 160 miles. And to hit you again, there is another climb at 200 miles.
Terrible Two ~ pretty nice scenery of Napa and Sonoma. That said, Sonoma county has in my opinion the worse roads in the area. Be prepared for some serious potholes, gravel, non-paved roads, etc.

From organization stand point, anything organized by cycling clubs is best. Knoxville Double and Devil Mountain Double trump everything else. Their organizers go above and beyond. Mt Tam, Terrible Two, and Davis come close behind. Lots of quality doubles, for example Mt Tam and Terrible Two, will have valet bike service at the rest stop. This way you can go grab some food, while they take care of your water bottles and your bike. Solvang and Mulholland on the other hand are organized by Planet Ultra, which for some reason has some serious organizational problems. They do rides on awesome roads, but they do beginner mistakes, such as forgetting water, running out of food, no sunscreen, etc.

But hey, go out and ride!

Abate the Animal Suffering

andy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:00:28 +0000

Happy World Vegan Day 2009!

Bombinate the Message

andy — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:34:55 +0000

Sorry about all the videos lately, but looks like some really good stuff out there.

Munificent Pandemic

andy — Sun, 10 May 2009 23:11:08 +0000

Let’s Gainsay the Food Establishment

andy — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:07:34 +0000

I would prefer people would go vegan, but this is a great first step. Go Meatless on Mondays:

If we all just commit to one day a week without eating meat, the effect will be great over the course of the year:

Our greenhouse gas emission reductions equal US switching from a car with average fuel efficiency (that’s about 22 mpg for the entire fleet) to a high efficiency car such as the Toyota Prius (50 mpg).

We will save about 1 ton of water, enough to fill up the bathtub 22 times per week

If everyone in the US did this, we’d collectively save about 12 billion gallons of gasoline

(from TreeHugger)

While you are checking out the Meatless Monday website, make sure to check their recipes, such as Zesty Carribean Banana Muffins.

Pulchritude Nature

andy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:14:09 +0000

Looks like Mother Earth even in the time of great danger still knows how to show us that she cares about us. Let’s return the favor. Let’s…

Bike to work ~ reduce air, noise, and visual pollution.
Live in 20 minute neighborhoods ~ Save time, money, and your life
Make electricity out of sun, wind, and tide ~ It is cheaper and almost maintenance free
Go vegan ~ Much healthier and better for the environment

Happy Earth Day 2009!!

Froward Towards Driving

andy — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:49:43 +0000

TreeHugger has a great article comparing cars, buses, and bikes. They compare the real estate sacrificed by each mode of transportation.

This image pretty much summarizes everything.

(Image: Press-Office City of Müenster, Germany via TreeHugger)

Hidebound Politicians

andy — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:17:45 +0000

There are several politicians in the world that are just so boxed in their private universe that whatever they do is somehow justified. A typical examples are US politicians that support the coal industry. As a consumer of electricity in US, I am part of the problem. However, short of not using electricity and protest, there is not much I can do. These politicians, on the other hand, do have power to make the change. But they seem to refuse to do that. Cynic in me would consider this to be caused by the politicians being payed by the evil-doers, but I sure hope that the reason is that the politicians are just not informed. How could anybody sacrifice the parks, the rivers, the drinking water, the air, and so on and be complacent in destroying the world for their children and their children’s children.

To make my point even stronger, watch this video and consider these politicians.

Declaim Destruction of Oceans

andy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:33:58 +0000

Expurgate The Smell

andy — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:33:07 +0000

I finally found the air freshener I like. It is perfect. It most certainly covers any other smell. Don’t trust me? Watch the commercial for it.

Eclectic Bike Parade

andy — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:46:56 +0000

I attended a San Jose Bike Party ~ Mardi Gras on Wheels! It was an awesome and crazy time biking through the busy sections of Campbell, Santa Clara, and San Jose. JC and I spend most time riding behind GM who was on a tandem bike dragging a full size couch.

Talks About Wanton Subjects

andy — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:32:26 +0000

I listened to several great talks lately. Here are some of my favorite speakers.

Addle Elections

andy — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:18:04 +0000

Today is an election day in USA. Here in California, people will most likely elect the “that guy” as opposed to “that other guy”. In any case, make sure to
GO OUT AND VOTE! and HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

I don’t really want to tell you who to vote or what other measures and propositions to vote yes or no on. I would like to ask you something though. Either vote for something, that you believe it, even if that is a candidate that does not stand a chance, or if you vote for the least bad, make sure to keep them accountable.

Most people talk about keeping politicians accountable, but they don’t really act on it. For example, a recent minority party suddenly become a majority claiming that they will do a sweeping changes that people want. Once they came in power they actually supported most of the extremely bad policies. Some of them were so bad that the previous majority did not managed to pass. And there is no accountability, since the same new majority will probably be even stronger this time around. Their excuse is that they do not have big enough majority and that the president will veto things. But, what I really think is that they are afraid of losing their precious money from their supporters. Remember, it is not the people who elect a candidate but their financial supporters.

So, if you are a USA citizen, do your civic duty and vote. Then, make sure to get your vote counted. And I don’t mean by taking photos of ballots or doing all this other things to prevent voting fraud. Make sure your vote is counted, by making sure the things you are voting for actually do happen. Vote based on issues and not a person.

Finally, I heard of this and I think everybody should join the Million Mad March. It is a

one million angry people to gather with us in the streets of their state capitals and march in protest of the direction that our country has taken, and the dissection of the people’s role, towards what seems to be our eventual removal from the political system meant to protect and represent us.

So, one more timemake sure to
GO OUT AND VOTE! and HAVE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Exalt the Vegetarians

andy — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:11:33 +0000

Happy World Vegetarian Day!!

Go VEGAN!

Undulate the Impact

andy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:57:52 +0000

Torrid Greenland

andy — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 21:51:28 +0000

Watch in “real-time” the ice melting.

Well, I guess there is going to be more water for everybody.

Peregrination Math

andy — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:14:01 +0000

Should the bikes be on the roads? Well, this is a tricky question… for some people. For me it is pretty simple. Yes. But, let’s go baby steps. What is the best way to travel? It turns out the most efficient way is bike. The least efficient way is a single passenger car. In between are things like trains, buses, walking, etc.

But what is the cost of each mode of transportation? Well, walking is pretty much free. For biking, you got to buy a bike. Most people will say that trains are super expensive, because you have to build tracks etc. But what about cars? What is the cost of a car? Well, let’s do a quick math. My assumption is that we buy a car and throw it away 10 years later.

Normal car: $17,000
Gas for 10 years at 22 mpg and 15,000 miles per year and $4 per gallon: (15000 / 22) * $4 * 10 = $27,240
Oil changes every 3000 miles: (15000 / 3000) * $15 * 10 = $750
Repairs let say $500 per year: $5,000
Insurance and registration is another $900 per year: $9,000

Did I forget something? Anyway, according to my math, the total cost of having a car for 10 years is about $58,990. But is that the total cost of driving?

Let’s start by comparing this to a bike. Not completely fair comparison, but let’s try it anyway:

Normal bike: $800
Panniers, trailer: $600
Tubes, break pads, let say 10 tubes a year ($5), 2 tires a year ($20), 2 sets of break pads a year ($20): $1000
Repairs let say $200 per year: $2,000

Did I miss something here? Well, the total is $4,400. And this is for a bike that is tuned twice a year, gets new tires and break pads once a year, has panniers, trailer and so on.

Ok, how about public transportation. Assuming you live in the Bay Area, you are looking at the cost of a bus and Caltrain, Bart, Ace, or Amtrak. So, you are looking at anywhere from $5 to $12 per day for the commuter rail, and couple of dollars per day for the bus if you need a local connection. Assuming the worst, you are looking at $2 for a bus in the south bay, $6 for the Caltrain to San Francisco, and another $1.5 in San Francisco. This twice a day is $19 per day, which in 10 years is about $49,400. But this is the worst case. Also, all public transportation modes have 10 rides or monthly plans. Also, there are commuter tax breaks for the public transport. All these incentives can lower the cost of riding down to couple of $100 per year.

So, according to this, whoever can bike to work should. There is significant saving in that. So even ignoring impact on environment, health, and time, this should be enough motivation for most people to change their transportation habits.

Bevy of Pages

andy — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 18:22:14 +0000

Here are some random pages I saw and I thought were cool/funny/interesting/crazy:

Pay off your share of the US national debt

Transportation

Bike to work is healthy
Energy cost of movement
Live longer, run
Cool and scary photos of traffic from space

Vegan

Naked chicks protesting against UK guards wearing fur
E. coli in Whole Foods beef

Social Security Number

Protect your SSN
How secure is your SSN

Fatuous Rules

andy — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:01:53 +0000

Since I moved to California, I have been biking to work and around town. I still have a car, but since I hardly use it, it is on a good way out. Currently it is used as a garage for my road bike. Not the most effective use of a car, but hey, at least I don’t drive it.

I have a funny story that happened a while ago, but I finally happened to remember it again. One day I am parking my bike into my car and there is a note on my car. The note said that since my car was abandoned, it will be towed away. I had to explain them that my car is fairly new, fully registered, on a dedicated parking spot, has the tag of the apartment building, etc and I just don’t use it that often, since I bike to work. They responded by saying that if I go to vacation I should let them know. Explaining that I did not go to vacation did not help a whole lot. Eventually the person told me that since the car has so much dust on it, they could not see the apartment building tag. This was of course complete lie, since you could see the tag without any problem. So, finally they pretty much told me that I have to use my car at least once a week.

So much for the green environment.

After this incident I checked my lease agreement for the apartment and they actually spell out that you have to move car at least once every five days. What is wrong with this picture? I pay for that parking spot. My car is completely legal, I have all the papers, registration, insurance etc. Why do I have to move it? Anybody?