KiddSisko

What you missed more than sarcasm was the BF bait and hook.

I do have issues with that whole statement in Slate though. Bikes are not cheap (except for maybe a Denali), carbon footprint issue (besides being irrelevant) is misleading because bikes/components are not manufactured out of unicorn tears and fairy dust, riding enough to obtain healthy benefits is a time commitment most find difficult, add to that the safety issue while riding enough to obtain health benefits, and finally, it's not the fastest by a long shot for most commutes.

Road cycling is an elitist recreation, and while I am proud to be among it's members, the last thing I want is to foist this delusional state of mind upon the masses.

Cheapest, least carbony offensive, most healthy mode of transportation is walking.

johnny99

You are wrong. Road cycling for transportation is hardly elitist. The problem is that right wingers usually equate bicycles with toys when bicycling for transportation is more common around the world (and in many parts of the US). Sure, walking is healthy and non-polluting, but it is not practical for every day transportation for distances of more than 1 or 2 miles. Even a cheap used bike can be useful transportation for the 5-10 mile range (which is more than most people's median car trip distance).

hairnet

https://richiet.com/2011/07/16/wolfpack-vs-jetblue/

along with the a couple cat 2 and 3 racers

wphamilton

Is not. I do it all the time, Q.E.D. And don't be dissin' my Denali.

KiddSisko

My ode to Carmageddon - the closed 405, taken this morning. All is back to normal now. Cars are crashing and blocking traffic as per usual.

Velo Vol 

Did it live up to the hype? Were there traffic jams miles long?

KiddSisko

Absolute biggest disappointment as far as mass traffic jams and mayhem go. Last time the local roads throughout LA were this uncongested was during the 84 Olympics, when people were convinced traffic was going to be horrible, so many either left the city or stayed home.

bitingduck

I saw another pic of them from the left side, but you could see the chain. From the chainline it looked geared.

bitingduck

At least two of the guys who raced the Jet Blue plane are Cat 1. One of them is a multiple time master's state road champion in California. At least two of them (including one of the cat 1s) are over 40. I'm too lazy to look up details on the ones I don't know about already.

noise boy

+1.5 hours for check in, and .5 hours on the other side for baggage pick up, not to mention getting to LAX from wherever you are, and getting from SFO to somewhere useful (SF) and it is easily 4 hours possibly longer.

bitingduck

yep. I've actually started driving from LA to the bay area because it's not much slower door to door (if at all) and a lot less hassle. And I can bring bikes. It used to be that I could get from my house in Pasadena to a meeting in Sunnyvale in about the same time (sometimes less) as getting to a meeting in Redondo Beach by flying from Burbank, but that's a lot less possible now.

Wesley36

You might be an elitist who road cycles for recreation, but cycling is not elitist nor is it only recreation (although it can be).

First off, cycling is a very inexpensive mode of transport. Even if you buy a $5k bike (which is clearly pretty expensive for a bike), a cheap car will probably cost more, without factoring in maintenance and gas (which is necessary is the car is to, you know, move).

Carbon footprint? Just because bikes are not zero carbon does not mean that they produce a comparable amount of carbon to almost any other mode of transport- low carbon is exactly what cycling for transportation is. Even if one rides a full carbon bike, carbon rims, carbon water bottle cages, the amount of carbon is actually negligible compared to most forms of transport (except walking).

Riding enough to help one's health? Again, it CAN be a massive time commitment, but the truth is that a 1/2 hour of exercise a day is more than most North Americans get, and that is not a huge time commitment at all, especially if one bikes for transportation (how many people spend less than a 1/2 hour a day commuting?).

And finally, on the commuting tip, I disagree. When I was living with my parents in the suburbs of Calgary and commuting to University, for example, it was less than a 20km round trip. Most of the way the commute was on 70 or 80km/h roads, but on days when traffic seemed light it took about a half hour each way. But 10km in a half an hour means that the actual average speed was 20km/h- not that fast for a bike at all. Most commutes that I know of are from one point in a city to another point in the same city- even in Canada, the least densely populated country in the world, 85% of people live within a half hour bike ride of at least one of their main driving destinations. Unless one is actually on the highway for extended periods of time, the chances that biking is significantly slower are not that high.

So on all counts, I call BS.

jmX

I've often wondered about the carbon footprint issue.

My car will get me to my office 50mi away on 2 gallons (12lbs) of gas, whereas I run on meat and veg which costs water, expensive transport of products, fertilizers, etc. They claim its 1000 gallons of water per 1lb of beef.Then there are the cow farts. On the other hand, gas transport and production is very much more efficient than raising crops and animals, and if you take the organic approach, the numbers get even worse.

I'm sure moving 3000lbs of vehicle around must be worse, but I bet cycling is not as "green" as people think.....at least not while people eat meat and eat strawberries raised 1000 mi away in a desert.

logdrum

If road cycling is defined using a kit + a racing bike yes. I have been commuting here in NM for almost 11+ years on a road bike 4-5 times a week. I bought the road bike from the bike swap from an ex racer for 400 in 2000. I raced MTB in the Northeast before that but commuted on my MTB as well. I don't feel it is elitist though although after the Lance reign it did become bike prices just shot up.

Unless you live downtown, walking gets old after 3 miles.

beanteck

There was some commentary about the race on CNN this morning as I walked by the TV in an office building. Of course they knew nothing about cycling, but the exposure is still pretty sweet.

learnmedia

A brief post-Carmageddon and WolfpacK Hustle victory analysis:
https://streetsblog.net/2011/07/18/wh...rs/#more-64305

"The general opinion around the Streetsblog Network today is that, all in all, it was a pretty good weekend for cycling and for rethinking transportation more generally."

hairnet

I know these guys and did Wolfpack a few times and I'm assuming they dont want names put up, so I didnt put any more info. Yeah, Wolfpack is currently far from its "hipster" origins

ianbrettcooper

I think there are a few interesting things about this race:

Firstly, it wouldn't have taken an elite group of cyclists to beat the plane travelers. The average speed of the folks who traveled by plane was something like 13mph (start line to finish line 38.4 miles, done in 2 hours and 54 minutes). I'm 20+lbs overweight and I could do that without even breaking a sweat. Many in the mainstream media are essentially labeling it a win 'against the odds', which indicates to me that they're unwilling or unable to recognize the fact that cycling is by no means a slow mode of transport in a city. Bicycle commuters routinely beat motorists on the morning and evening commutes.

Also, considering the average wait, baggage and security check time in an airport, it's surprising that the plane commute only took 3 hours.

Many drivers commenting on the blogs about this are engaging in typical sore loser fashion, claiming that the cyclists got a head start (which assumes that, normally, air travelers could just ignore the recommended check-in time - they can't unless they want to risk missing their flight), blaming the taxi driver's inability to find the destination for the loss (even though the cyclists had finished before the plane even landed), saying that the cyclists were exhausted while the airplane commuter was refreshed (that's the first time I've heard air travel delays called 'refreshing'), etc.

Also interesting is the fact that USA Today is about the ONLY mainstream media outlet to do a story post-race. Even MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who had made a big deal of the race before it took place, didn't even mention it on today's show. Not saying it's some sort of nefarious conspiracy. Just pointing out that this was only ever going to be a lighthearted 'filler' piece. No one in the mainstream is even thinking that bicycles are a serious transportation option - we're still mired in the 'cyclists are eccentrics' mentality. So the only people who are 'rethinking transportation' are folks like us, who have always recognized the potential of bicycles.