Okay, I drove today, but it’s not exactly clear skies either.
Tomorrow, however, is National Bike to Work Day. Shops like the Charleston Bicycle Company and the Bicycle Shoppe will be giving out treats to bike commuters all day. Although I didn’t get much love from the city in tracking down contacts for this week’s cover story on alternative transportation in Charleston, they forwarded over an email announcing that City employees will get a free lunch and prizes if they bike tomorrow. Government food!
In honor of the holiday, and the story currently on the stands, here’s a little background on my favorite invention, many taken from the excellent book Seven Wonders.
•Worldwide, bicycles outnumber automobiles almost two to one, and their production out paces cars three to one.
•Despite its popularity elsewhere, the bicycle gets little use or respect, except as a plaything, in North America. Of all trips in the United States, less than 1 percent are made by bicycle.
•Early bikes had this ridiculous front wheel, and the pedals were attached, forcing you to turn your legs with the bike to steer. Ouch.
•Pound for pound, a person on a bicycle expends less energy than any creature or machine covering the same distance. (A human walking spends about three times as much energy per pound; even a salmon swimming spends about twice as much.)
“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” - H.G. Wells
And check this out…
November 2005 - I’m sitting at a coffee shop in Davis, Cal. when my girlfriend excitedly runs in and demands I come outside. 
I spend the next 8 hours hanging out with Brian, the man who built this 160-speed bicycle out of aluminum siding, styrofoam, and roofing tape. It’s got a series of gears working on each other and a flywheel, and cruises at 65 mph. Top speed? 110 mph. Believe it. That compartment in the back sleeps two, and he has a double-decker trailer that sleeps four more. Maybe you can crash with him at next year’s Burning Man - he’ll be there.
I wish I had a picture of dreadlocked Brian - “Look at this face. I’m the spitting image of King Tut. I’m the new Jesus! Hee hee haw haw hee hee.” (Hysterical laughter.)
Finally, here are a couple of videos I accidentally took while taking photographs with the vice grip mount for the story. I’m thinking Po’Ridge music video footage — coming soon. copsbycitadel.mov Download link
