Biking Part III

The Long Arm Of Dependence

Last entry I alluded to a cyclist’s encounter with a snow-plough, and only later suspected that I might have created the expectation of some tale involving an errant snowplough driver and a locked bicycle. Certainly, this is a topic worth exploring, since the lack of space allotted to bicycles after the winter begins is a huge problem in this city that claims countless numbers of bicycles every year. I invite anecdotes from readers on their experience of losing a bike to this hazard, or others who may have witnessed some such accident. Perhaps we can build a case that might help persuade the powers-that-be to provide resources, infrastructure or at least public awareness about this problem.

But this is not the focus of my current blog entry; the snow-plough I’m thinking of was heading right for me, while I was riding… but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Earlier this winter, as I biked home from downtown in the wake of a blizzard, I first started thinking about what I might write in this series of blog entries on biking, and winter biking in particular. On that ride, I was met with the rather daunting task of climbing a snow-covered bike path up Park Avenue next to the Mountain. Just getting started involved a lot of wasted energy as my rear wheel spun in the thick and chunky snow at the foot of the hill. But then I found my groove and began to climb, working up a lot of heat in doing so. I passed people walking, and I kept pace with rush-hour traffic (always nice), and then I had to stop. Straight ahead was the aforementioned snow-plough barrelling down the hill toward me. My only choice was to dismount and step aside. The driver, a woman in her thirties, was just doing her job, and couldn’t possibly have known that she broke my rhythm, destroyed my momentum, stole my thunder… but before I could even worry about any of that, she was gone and in her wake, all the way up the hill, lay a beautifully cleared trail of compacted snow with a sprinkling of pebbles for good measure. What can I say: the rest of the ride up was a breeze… I could only chuckle to myself, thinking as I pedalled how my ride was now freshly subsidised by diesel power.

Biking is one of the greenest ways to go in this day and age, hands down. But it’s humbling to be reminded just how the technology of the bicycle is thoroughly dependent on industrial systems, supply chains and ultimately – as with just about everything else in our industrial society – fossil fuel supplies. The studded tires that I champion so enthusiastically here are a prime example of petroleum products (as are all tires), which in turn contribute to pollution –in the form of particulate matter while riding, and later as landfill at the end of their usefulness.

Bikes themselves are also dependent on infrastructure for their practicality and mobility: mostly in the form of concrete (a major contributor to greenhouse gases emissions in its manufacture) and asphalt (a petroleum by-product), both of which are expensive (and energy-intensive) to maintain. On the other hand, arguably the right bike for the right conditions can handle the off roads in most kinds of weather – I can ride reasonably well along a foot path of compacted snow – but, this is not the “even playing field” that makes biking accessible to the majority.

I say all of this not to be down on the bicycle, but because I think it’s important to remind ourselves of these facts: that biking is really only more green in relation to the predominant, pervasive culture of the automobile, and like most every form of commonplace technology in the current era is thoroughly dependent upon the use of fossil fuels for it’s existence.

What’s interesting is that it is significantly and overwhelmingly so much more green, despite this revelation. In fact, in today’s global industrial world of resource depletion, energy challenges and global warming it would be an enormous progressive measure of conservation and to transition every able-bodied car driver to the bicycle as quickly as possible. A pipe dream, it may be, but it makes for a good thought experiment at least: imagine we could get past the cries of “injustice” and “hardship” and have every car driver trade in for a top-of the line bicycle. Think of how much less space would be required for infrastructure to accommodate all the commuters: probably less than half (the other half could be reserved for cargo transport and other specialty vehicles – which would not be tied up in congestion). Next think of the amount of energy would be saved: the volumes of gasoline not burnt off in the practice of shuffling about in one-tonne of plastic and metal every day would be staggering. Of course it would require a lot of physical exertion on the part of each and every commuter, but this has its benefits as well. But as reluctant as I am to admit it, for all practical and emotional purposes the idea is an impossibility.

It is however, worth thinking about just a little bit more… Consider if you will just how much room there is for improvement in our transportation formula; just how much cost could be absorbed by efficiency/ conservation measures alone. These costs could be measured in terms of public health, reduced carbon (GHG) emissions, and infrastructure wear and tear/maintenance.

In terms of public costs to society, biking is on record as one of the most beneficial practices one could take up. Contributing to the health and fitness of the public is just the start. I suppose if we had many more cyclists than we do, the statistics might be different, but generally a bike’s lower top speed and adept manoeuvrability means that it has a much better safety record than the car. And in fact, it has been shown that the presence of more bikes has a generally calming effect on all traffic across the board.

As far as “doing one’s part” to reduce, and otherwise limit carbon emissions in hopes of forestalling runaway climate change, it is well documented that the cost of doing nothing far outweighs the costs involved in making changes. And yet, biking represents one of the easiest, cheapest transitions available to nearly every citizen in the western world (health permitting). Changing our habits has long been one of the most recommended methods promoted by environmental groups, and, in the light of the international community’s repeated failures (Kyoto, Copenhagen, etc.), doing one’s own part may be the last line of defence in this struggle.

Which brings us to the cost to you, the consumer: a high-end bike costs about half or less than the cost of your run-of-the-mill scrap-box used car. Now, in my opinion, unless you have aspirations in the area of professional cyclist, you don’t need to go anywhere near “high-end” to be completely satisfied with your ride. In fact, the budget of a typical driver (purchase, insurance, gas, repairs, tickets etc.) amounts to an enormous windfall that most cyclists would be hard-pressed spend in its entirety, even if a trailer and a second (winter) bike was thrown in. What’s more you could cancel your gym membership once the practical use of your bicycle takes up the time and calories you would otherwise spend money to burn.

It may be true that as an industrial product of the global economy, the bicycle is not entirely neutral: it has a carbon footprint. And if we want to keep a whole lot of them rolling, there will always be costs to society to do so. But it is safe to say that the absence of a tailpipe that characterises the bicycle is a very attractive attribute which represents a very potent advantage over that other mode of transport that we somehow used to love so much. Isn’t it about time that love affair was put to rest?

Now, it is unlike me to go on so long on such topics without conjuring the notions of energy shortages and supply challenges in the years to come. I write these posts as a “peak-oiler” after all…. Next week I’d like to take a closer look here at the energy/ transportation equation, and why it just might be a good idea to have a “plan B” in your toolkit if the car is currently your primary mode of transport.

At the same time, it’s important to have a reasonable grasp on what the likely consequences of our society’s general inability to meet the challenges of reducing green-house gas emissions are, for it’s the consequences that will likely reshape the living arrangements of the future.