2/8/2015 0 Comments Cycling NumbersOne thing I've done since I began regular cycling again in 2010 is to log my mileage each day. That has become data that just begs to be analyzed for the fun of it. Well according to the numbers I passed 2 major milestones in cycling this past week. The first was 15,000 miles ridden by bike or trike in the 4 ½ years since August 2010. That’s about 9 miles a day. Roughly 6 of those miles per day (70%) have been for commuting purposes (to work and back or to do errands – any trip I otherwise would have driven a car.) By cycling instead of driving a car I saved 13,650 pounds or 6.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions from entering the atmosphere. The second milestone was 1,000,000 calories burned during 1,668 hours of cycling. That is roughly the equivalent of burning 286 pounds, or the caloric equivalent of 1,494 Burger King whoppers, 3,707 scoops of Graeters Ice Cream or 5,888 Guinness Stout Ales. No fitness club was necessary. Imagine how absurd it would seem to me now if I had to drive to the fitness club to ride a stationary bike! All in all I have saved 683 gallons of gas, worth $2,298. If one calculates all savings, in addition to the gas, such as car maintenance, fitness club savings, less parking fees, lower insurance costs and all the indirect savings to the environment, highway maintenance, etc. then by some calculations at the generally accepted figure of $1.00 per mile the savings altogether are estimated at $15,000. That has more than paid for my original bike and the new trike, the velokit and all the maintenance since. Contrary to what it may sound like I do not ride every day. On average it comes to about 3 out of every 4 days or 70 % of the time. Riding can go in spurts, my longest stretch has been 35 days, but there have been droughts of one or more days due to more important family activities, terribly bad weather, long, long distance travel days, illness, laziness, or having no particular reason to ride. One thing that has extended my riding into the winter months has been the green velokit which protects me on 5 of 6 sides (left, right, front and back and top – nothing on the bottom.) I have logged 3,250 miles in three seasons with the velokit. It keeps me dry, cuts the wind and keeps me relatively warm in my upper body. The kit was made in Ohio by a fellow named “Krash”. It was handmade, mine was the 62nd one he produced and possibly last one, as he announced last year on his web site that he has retired from the velokit business. More blog topics ahead…
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