Saving Energy with a Passion

In concert with Chris's recent post, Experiment 1-a, stating a propensity to commit before figuring out all the details of how to do something, he bought himself a road bike to commute to work. This is something that he has wanted for a number of years for exercise as well as commuting. After the bike came all the other unplanned accessories: helmet, shoes for clipless pedals, a light, reflective clothing, water bottle, bike pump, tire repair kit, etc. In addition to accessories there were the logistics of extra toiletries to shower and clean clothes to change into once he got to work, plus all the extra food required to replace approximately 600 extra calories burned biking 6.8 miles each way. Next there was the experimentation of route finding with considerations such as what is the most direct route with roads that are the best in terms of least traffic, lowest number of traffic lights and won't have a passing train obstructing the path.

Chris seems to have worked out most of the kinks and claims to be truely enjoying his new mode of transportation, even though he comes home sweaty every day from exerting himself in the mid-ninety degree weather. With gas prices being just over $4/gallon, he figures that biking to work five days a week saves nearly $100/month. That's pretty significant. Now if I can just keep up with the laundry and the nourishment required to support this endeavor....