Do I like that bikes are environmentally friendly? Yes. Would I still ride if every time I threw a leg over a bikes some unseen organism went extinct forever? Probably also yes, I'm not gonna lie. (But don't worry, that only happens if you ride a carbon fiber bike.)
And with that, I'm gonna go throw a leg over a bike now and I advise you to do the same.
XOXO,
--Tan Tenovo
59 comments:
I'm veggie and a cyclist, so does that make me eligible for extrasmugness? I know I annoy Stephan Pastis, or would if he knew I existed.
So, cow killings. We were hiking the Appalachian Trail with our beagle when we went through a stile, much to the annoyance of the local cows, which approached and almost surrounded us. This breed of cows had horns and they were kinda scary. Turns out cows don't always like doggos. (https://www.wideopenpets.com/study-finds-cattle-attacks-likely-dogs-around/)
I got my hatchet out and started pounding on a boulder, they moved back a bit, and we were able to circle around warily. Every since I hike with a large, heavy walking stick made of ironwood.
By the way, your previous post pictured a hatchet but called it an axe. City folk.
IIRC food poisoning kills like ten thousand people a year in the US as well.
Then again, the environment kills EVERYONE.
I have no idea if/how that is relevant.
Podio?
If chain lube was made from baby seal oil, I'd still use it.
Spot on, Snob. Green marketing on any product basically keeps a whole tribe of ’Muricans from buying it. They are the stupid ones, but still. Bikes are fun and increase your health and fitness. End of marketing story.
Americans are folk who think buying a new electric car is green. There’s no such thing as a green car, bitches. That electricity comes from coal, nat gas, or nuclear in the vast majority of the country. The storage of that electricity needs conflict minerals extracted from across the globe. Do a lifespan energy analysis from cradle to grave and show me any car that’s not a huge waste of resources in multiple ways. Used petro cars aren’t as clean in tech, but they’re not taking new resources and energy to make are they? It’s probably “greener” to keep a car made in 2000 running for 25 years than it is to keep buying new e-cars every 5-7 years, which is the smugness norm around here.
Bikes made from wood are probably like the worst bikes on the environment.
@huskerdont, you may have meant cattle, “breed of cattle”. Farmers.
Hi from Cyprus. Feeling blessed and just a little bit smug.
I am going to have a little talk with my bike - it has never put money in my pocket - RIPP EDOF
Cattle only kill like 20 people a year? Doesn't sound like much until you are one of those unfortunate 20.
Ban cattle; save lives.
I speak from personal experience. My Grandma got run over by a reindeer coming home from our house Christmas eve.
all this hype about investing in blockchain like it's a green currency...it's not. best to get on your bike and invest in some lube chain.
Nice cover with the polar bear. I was never inclined to ride to save the environment and even cancelled my gym membership once the riding weather improved; but could not help but admire those who doggedly work the treadmill as I sat in my car at a stop light across from the gym (won't endorse the name of the gym).
Car free for 6 years. Life has never been better. Fuck cars
You made my day with another great Outside article, Mr Bikesnob. I'm going to embrace the "annoys the driver" paradigm.
we all know vegetarians are the horriblist, worst peeps.
given that a veggie has to eat 18 billion heads of lettuce to get the calories / energy i get from one yummy burger, they are killing far more sentient beings.
shame on you, murderous vegetarians!
"there’s a certain visceral pleasure that comes from car ownership, but if you want something you can polish once a week that makes a nice throaty sound when you start it up, then I recommend investing in a new toilet"
lololol awesone
InstantPam
I assumed these were all female and no bulls were intermixed. (There are breeds where the females have horns, but truly I did not check the undercarriage of each.)
Blockchain computation takes massive chunks of electricity. This is why Bitcoin is harder and harder to generate as the computational complexity and electricity required increases with every new coin. Green currencies, my ass.
Pist Off,
How much energy does it take to produce, circulate, etc. paper and metal money?
--Tan Tenovo
Another top ten tan tenovo outside article; there must be at least a dozen of those. But back in the wildcat years, wasn't there an astute article comparing how far a $2 burger would get you on a bike and comparing that to $2 of gasoline. Of course there were many other variables, so I paraphrase.
HuskerD.- A herd of cows,yes. Cows of a particular breed, yes. A breed of cows, no. The axe thing started it.
I'm guessing the bear on the bike makes him/her bi-polar?
I have to chuckle at the e-car owners (won't specify brand, but will just say most of the attitude I get comes from the owners of the one that is a pretty freaking ugly car IMO) who get so uppity as to their 'greeness' as compared to my little diesel....but they also fail to take into account how horrifically toxic their battery pack is (which will have to be replaced every so often, that or scrap the car)...it's so bad that they can't be recycled in this country...they ship them down to Mexico where human life is worth less and they do it. Yeah...my 90hp (and 150ft-lb of hill climbing torque) gets me 50mpg, AND can fit 2 bikes INSIDE (it's a wagon). Over 270k mi and purring like a little diesel kitten. That's my smugness. It would be great to be able to not have a car, but here in US we are so spread out (except in the big cities) that it's almost required to have a car. So yeah...I'm still using fossil fuel, but it's probably about as efficient as you can get for a vehicle in the big picture. As to cows, I was nearly killed by one a few years back while mtb'ing...came around a corner (high up on a ridge road in National Forest land) and there they were...cows n a bull. Short version, he knocked my off my bike and down the bank (and of his sight, saving my life)..then he stomped my wheels n went on w/ his women. Had it been an uphill on my left instead a downhill at that particular spot, OR if his aim wasn't PERFECT, I'd likely be dead cuz he'd have broken every bone in my body. I had a 14mi walk w/ shattered wheels to think about how lucky I was. So now I'm terrified of cows.
cleaner air is a good byproduct of cycling, but I don't see any of the big bike companies pushing that as the main reason to buy one? Maybe I'm missing something.
Re: veggies
If we aren't supposed to eat animals, then why are they made of meat?
Cow farts.
Both my bikes are green. Mainly because battleship grey wasn't an option.
Next up - TT test rides a bicycle made, er fashioned, er curated out of cow bones
Marin Pine Mountain 1 for sale on CL https://worcester.craigslist.org/bik/d/marin-pine-mountain-bike-275/6741463465.html
Bird bones would be lighter,bone density and all, for the weight weenuers.
Interesting column there, Snobo. The "why a car rather than a bike" issue is complicated. As a non-Murican, it did cause me to wonder if the hate against bieks is because "Americans love a winner, and hate a loser", as they say. No car, so you ride a bike instead? "LOSER!". Even the shittiest auto is better than the shiniest bike. "But I choose to ride a bike! I could have a car if I wanted." "LOSER! Why pedal a bike, when you could press the pedal to the metal in a CAR?!" In the US, willfully bikecycling means you either are a loser, or choose to be one. In many other countries, it's accepted that cycling is just a preferred mode of transport. Also a source of smugness, yes, but usually not. Does this ring true, or is my communist socialist upbringing skewing my view too much?
My dog read "if you want something you can polish once a week that makes a nice throaty sound when you start it up" and told me he thought of something else entirely.
I don't know what he means by that, but I know better than to ask.
I've been drinking a lot of seltzer water lately.
Snob,
Less. 6.9 cents to print a dollar, 75 cents to mine a bitcoin.
Matt,
The materials in a L-Ion battery really aren't terribly toxic, we ship paper overseas for recycling and that's about as benign as materials get. Also, cows look so friendly and placid, but damn if they aren't scary big and mean sometimes.
Olle,
I had one. An Atala Professionisti SLX. Battleship grey with blue panels. I'd probably still have it if it wasn't too big.
Noursk
Nailed it!
Snob,
Should have said 75 cents to mine a dollar's worth of bitcoins.
1904 Cadard,
But that's just the printing costs of the dollar. What about minting the coins? And what about all the other associated costs of circulating physical currency? I'd imagine just the utter pointless of pennies alone is a spectacular waste of resources.
--Tan Tenovo
Tan,
Pennies cost just over 1.5 cents to make and distribute, nickels are little more than 5 cents(see page 10). Dimes are less than 3, so that's a pretty good profit margin (seigniorage for the numismatists or coin freds).
If you want to eliminate the penny, you'll have to get rid of Illinois first. I'm not suggesting that's a bad idea, just a prerequisite.
just catching up and came here for comments related to the author's wooden bike as it would related to the environmental aspect of cycling. leaving a bit disappointed.
snob, bitcoin is the 105 of the crpyto world. I roll ADA and some other one i bought and have kind of forgotten about once they tanked a few months back. oh, verge. thats what it was.
verge is the f'in claris of f'in crypto.
in other environmental news - landed in san francisco last night and love what you people have done with the place during my absence. everything is covered in soot and i can't see the bay from my lofty perch here by pac heights and i can't f'in breathe.
wild fires are the f'in sora of natural disasters.
actually, had renovo made more bikes i wouldn't be in this situation.
Mining copper to mint pointless pennies is a waste of resources, and bad for the environment.
How much energy is used by all the armored trucks rolling around, picking up literal tons of cash from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing? Not to mention the tons of cash carried by armored trucks daily, moving cash between retailers and banks.
Pointless?
Screw you.
Whoa,pbateman swbfe @351p (est).just checked the webbie cams.
Those in Cali,my heart goes out your way
My guess is credit cards have significantly reduced the amount of coin and paper money in circulation.
Is it just me or is everyone miserable because things are starting to freeze and its dark at 4:00 PM. As much as I try to tell myself I will enjoy biking through the winter, it just plain blows.
Chazu said:
"Mining copper to mint pointless pennies is a waste of resources, and bad for the environment."
Fun Fact: Modern US cents are 97.5% zinc; 2.5% copper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_(United_States_coin)
Your points still stand.
Personally, I would have liked to have seen Uncle Sam end the Lincoln cent after 2009 -- the 100th year of the Lincoln Cent design, and the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth.
Plus, the modern cents just look cheap. Look carefully at one from, say, 1972, and compare it with a 2015. The portrait is smaller and flatter, along with the lettering. The older coin design is in higher "relief." The portrait and lettering are larger, touching the rim, and more three-dimensional.
"Massachussets and Illinios"
Dutch spelling?
Put that in your wooden shoe/bike/pipe and smoke it.
Hi Snob, point taken regarding production of money, but saying that cryptocurrency in its current state is “green” is just as dumb as saying physical currency is green. Physical currency may be obsolete at some point. Bitcoin, where creating new coins takes ever-increasing amounts of electricity because of the computations, is the wrong way to replace it. Our half-assed electrical grid really needs to be revamped at its current load much less at higher consumption. All that electricity tends to come from high-carbon sources too like coal. I’m not just a knee-jerk hater, check Digiconomist.com for Bitcoin and Ethereum energy usage. It’s insane already and these are far from universally traded.
@NourskSiklist, You're definitely onto something and I don't think it ends at drivers. There's a snobbishness in the cycling community about people who ride bikes because they have to or are working class cyclists. The goal seems to be to get more people cycling no matter what, but then a simultaneous vague distaste when they're not sufficiently "aspirational."
I'll tell you a story. When i was about 1-2 years into #bikelyfe, this photo guy was put in touch with me . He had noticed how there are much fewer photos of cyclists of color (especially back when this story happened) and wanted to do a photo shoot. He had been referred to me and wondered if I would participate and if I knew anyone else. Now, I'm generally not into that sort of thing because 1) I think those staged, aspirational photos of beautiful reiki massage experts/DJs who ride their beautiful artwork bikes from Williamsburg to the Meatpacking District in head to toe Alexander Wang make biking seem less accessible, not more. (Not that I fit that bill in any way; I'm just not into "bike style" photo shoots) and 2) it seems like, with the exception of Snob and a few others, miles ridden is inversely proportional to pictures taken. But I said yes, because there's a higher principle that in NYC, you have to help creative people with their hustles if you can. So, I said yes and I gave him some names including a friend of mine who rides bikes and is a concierge on the UES and that I knew a bunch of fun messengers who live in the Bronx. He said thanks but that he was really looking for professionals, as if these people don't count. The shoot never happened.
You see regular looking people on non glamourous bikes as much as anywhere above 145th street, but "they don't count" and many don't want to document them or include them in "the biking community." Yes, they ride bikes for transport and fun every day just like we do but it's just...different. ...and then they use the lack of visibility to try to tear out our bike lanes. (Man my comments are long)
fun fact - I like eating soup with chopsticks
Snob, have you seen this article about how much bikes changed in the last 25 years?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/11/25-years-of-two-wheeled-tech/
Thinking that tubeless as something new? Emergency downshifting requiring brifters?
this wildfire seems less green than either currency.
i by no means can confirm, my tool kit contains no meteorological tools nor any charts and graphs of recently published data analysis, or a jeweler's loupe for numismatic inspection.
i just carry an empty patch kit, no pump, a very limited multi-tool, some various shumutz and maybe two worn out tire levers.
but i can confirm the smoke is making my eyes itchy and neither cash or crypto have ever done that to me.
not super strong evidence, but my two cents on the matter of pennies
@ 1904 Cadardi (November 12, 2018 at 2:09 PM),
Thanks for correcting me on the recycling of rechargeable batts...I looked it up (like I SHOULD have done before) and you are correct sir. Not sure where I had picked up that the NIMH batts were so toxic...but I've run w/ it all this time and was wrong (I hereby humbly apologize and beg forgiveness to all I've ever smugly used that misinformation on). Damn...now my diesel isn't quite so green after all (but I STILL get 50mpg and usually at/over 800mi on a 16.5gal tank). And yes, cows ARE still very scary...a 1000 to 2500lb animal standing in the trail...adding young'uns and or bulls in the mix is a recipe for disaster.
Pist Off - While I agree that crypto currency gobbles up large amounts of energy, it isn't all high carbon. In the Pacific Northwest, where much of the generation is hydroelectric, crypto currency "miners" are setting up shop (or trying) because the electricity is cheaper.
As winter takes over don’t let your meat loaf
I once kayaked a creek where there were a bunch of cows (refuse to say cattle) who watched from the bank as I went by, then ran up the bank, ran along to the next crossing, and were in the edge of the water when I went passed. I was young and stupid(er) and didn't know enough to be afraid, just thought it was cute, although their speed was surprising to me; my grandfather's cows couldn't be bothered to do more than a mosey.
This has absolutely nothing to do with bikes, but I'm really efffing bored at work and none of the blogs seem to have any new bikiness.
"Our half-assed electrical grid really needs to be revamped at its current load much less at higher consumption"
Any thinking of crypto currencies in the context of political boundaries is not applicable to crypto currencies.
Electrical production is much less expensive and more stable in other parts of the world, and no nation can lay claim to, or prevent the exchange of, digital currencies.
Today, it is possible to send Bitcoin (BCH) to anyone in the world with a cell phone via SMS. I've done it. It works. Impoverished people in Africa have flip phones with SMS service. They're too poor to have a bank account, but they can certainly exchange digital cash for goods and services.
Snob, speaking of how biking intersects with other social issues - how are relations between people-with-homes-who-ride-bikes and homeless people in NYC at the moment? It's all blowing up a bit in Portland OR right now, as shown on bikeportland. Just curious, being a bit of a Homelessness-Fred myself.
Speaking of social issues, I drove the car I time-share with the bank today because SNOW. While sitting in traffic I saw a "8645" sticker on the car in front of me. Googled it, and approve.
And bringing huskerdont's comment back to bikecylces, as I pedaled along the MUP in the dark (because its always f'n dark this time of year) on the way home last night I passed a few deer grazing that generally ignored me. A half mile later I cam upon a buck who decided to run along the MUP next to me for about 1/4 mile. I slowed so I did not pass, fearing a left hook antler style. Sure enough he cut left across my path to run down an embankment. Beautifully packaged red meat.
JLRB,I want one of those.You broke my arm and I giggled it.yep,right with ya on that one.
"if you want something you can polish once a week that makes a nice throaty sound when you start it up, then I recommend investing in a new toilet" this was simply brilliant
Post a Comment