SOLAR TODAY Blog

My colleague Neal Lurie cycles to work every day, about 10 miles each way (see his article about it here). It’s still snowing on and off here in Colorado, and I was waiting for consistently good weather (I’m such a wimp). But May 16 is Bike to Work Day, so last night I got the road bike down, pumped up the tires, and found my cycing shoes.

Boulder has well-marked bike lanes along major streets, and bike paths that bypass major intersections. Missing all those red light kept the ride to 15 minutes — about the same time it takes to drive the three miles.

The day’s riding will save me about 50 cents in gasoline, and about 4 pounds of carbon emissions.

The National Sporting Goods Association does an annual survey of sports participation. They say that cycling participation fell 10% this year — only 3.7 million Americans cycle regularly, and only about .4% of U.S. workers commute by bike (compared to 36% in Copenhagen) .

On the other hand, bike sales are up sharply. According to the Earth Policy Institute, twice as many bikes as cars are sold worldwide. 80% of those bikes are built in China. –Seth