Pedals to the asphalt, what a night of biking festivities!
Arriving in Santa Barbara with the help and hindrance of the Santa Anna winds, we were embraced by the warm hospitality of the Ocean Futures Society making us feel right at home keeping our minds off the somewhat hairy ride. Meeting with John Michel Cousteau, Holly Lohuis and the rest of the crew and hearing about their adventures and ideas are truly inspiring.
Lucky for us we happened to be in town for the monthly Bike Moves event. A 300-strong victory lap of downtown Santa Barbara spreading bike advocacy throughout the city, never have you seen such holiday festivities on two wheels. Bike Moves in
conjunction with BiciCentro and the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition hosted our event for spreading the word of sustainability with urban homesteading workshops, an aquaponics display and slideshow along with the chance to raise some money with many thanks to the following for their generous donations for our raffle:
Bicycle Bobs
Wellen
Happy Harry’s Produce Market
Granada Theatre
Yoga Soup
The Wheel House
Island Seed and Feed
Telegraph Brewing Company
Isla Vista Food Co-op
Ocean Futures Society
All this cycling over that last 2 weeks got me thinking about what a great way to get around the bicycle is. Did you know that the bicycle is soon reaching its 200th year anniversary? Over the last two centuries the bicycle has come a long way, and now bikes number around 1 billion world wide--double the amount of automobiles. Bicycles have had many triumphs: from the ‘freedom machine’ by the women of the suffragette movement to alleviating poverty in rural areas of Africa and Sri Lanka by 35%. Not to mention that daily exercise from riding a bike has been linked to better health and lower risks of heart disease.
Apart from the obvious advantages for your health are the advantages to the health of our planet. Riding a bike reduces the amount of cars on the road, thus lowering the amount of oil being consumed and burnt. Of all of the oil drilled out of the ground, 74% of it is converted into fuel for transportation. Burning all of that oil leads to the release of hydrocarbons that have been linked to global warming and climate change. PCMs, which have been linked to asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases and a plethora of other gasses and minute particles, have been proven to be carcinogenic and hazardous to human health. One gallon of gas powers the average American car for 23.5 miles, whereas the average biker can go 732 miles on the same amount of energy. Makes you think that our zero miles per gallon two-wheeled wonder machines are pretty sweet devices.
With all that biking doing cycles in our heads, we visited Crane Country Day school and Carpinteria Family School to show them how they can live more sustainably through urban homesteading workshops making lip balm, shopping bags from old T-shirts and jar farming sprouts. Also our friend Fussilli made an appearance to show kids how to close in that nutrient cycle. And of course, in the theme of all things two-wheeled: a killer bike maintenance workshop teaching about the ABC’s of bike maintenance and how to repair the all too common flat tire.
Remember before you ride, the ABC Quick Check:
A – Air, check your tire pressure this can make your riding easier and also less likely to get a flat or damage your rims.
B – Brakes, make sure that they are working by fully engaging before the levers touch the handlebars, the pads are not rubbing against the tires and not rubbing when the bike is freewheeling.
C – Chains and Cranks, Make sure your drive chain is working by shifting your gears, make sure you lube your chain (especially after rain) and that all is taut and not going to make your life too difficult on the uphills.
Quick – Quick releases, make sure those wheels are on firmly and not going to come loose, could lead to some expensive dental work if forgotten. Also make sure you re-engage those brakes if you removed the wheel recently.
Check – Check all over for wear and tear and also good styling. Look good out there people!
Well until next time,
Be cool out there and remember to always wear a lid (helmet)!
Ben
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