Originally Posted by
Burton
But currently I`m going through three liters of juice a day and at $2/liter that makes gas look cheap! I`m only biking 15 to 30km/day to so I`m thinking my liters/ hundred kilometers is pretty dismal!
Why on earth are you drinking three litres of juice a day if you're only riding 15-30km? Swap the juice for something like 2.5l of water and 500ml of juice. After a 30km ride if I'm sweating (which I often am if I've been pushing myself) I'll drink a glass of isotonic drink from a powder, which costs me something like 65p.
And then there`s all this specialized bicycling clothing that I need a lot of because I sweat in it and have to change out and wash the stuff every day. Makes a business suit look cheap and air conditioning feel like heaven!
You probably don't actually need any specialized bicycling clothing. I cycle in regular clothes, the only things that are cycling specific that I have are padded gloves (£15), helmet (about £50 IIRC) and I bought a pair of sunglasses so I don't put my expensive prescription Serengeti's in harms way (I think they were about £40).
And tires? A great bicycle tire costs over $50 and only lasts a few thousand miles. Even my performance car tires were good for 20,000kms! Whats wron with this picture?
Can you get a performance tyre for your car for $50? I'd be surprised. Personally I can replace both my bike tyres with good tyres, replace the cassette, chain, chainrings and still spend less than my annual car insurance costs. If I drove something more desirable than an ageing sensible family car I could throw in more major components.
On the other hand bicycling is a physical activity that`s great at getting rid of stress! So my stress level is way down, and at 58 I`m still not on any medication and am in reasonably good physical shape. Lots better than anyone else I know of in my age group.
Ok - so maybe bicycles are just more FUN than cars - particularly when it comes to rush hour traffic!
Definitely more fun in rush hour. Especially when there's a good bike lane, it's great to pass all the stationary cars. It's really good when you get to blow by something very expensive and very fast... I just loved a couple of occasions recently near home. One was a Nissan GTR, the other was a Ferrari 458 Italia. Both capable of insane speeds, both overtaken by an overweight guy on a mountain bike because they were stuck in traffic.