Bike to work week - Day 4.

For those of you that have been biking all week, congratulations, you've almost made it through the whole week. I'm proud of you. Way to go. It's starting to be fun now isn't it?

Notice any changes in your attitude? Your productivity? Your health? Your wallet? It's nice huh? Keep it up!

Here and here is some interesting commuting info for you today.

FACTS ABOUT BICYCLING AS A COMMUTE OPTION · More than half of all Americans live less than five miles from where they work according to Bicycling magazine. · Only 1.67% of Americans commute by bicycle. · In Japan, 15% commute by bicycle · About 12 bicycles can be parked in the space required for one automobile. · Traffic jams in the 29 major cities cost commuters an estimated $24.3 billion each year. · There are approximately 139 million automobiles in the United States. · The number of bicycles in the U.S. is estimated to be about 103 million. · One hundred bicycles can be produced for the same energy and resources it takes to build one medium-sized automobile. · The average cost of a new car in the U.S. is $13,532. · The average cost of a new bicycle in the U.S. is $385. · The average number of barrels of oil consumed daily in the United States is 17 million. · Driving consumes 43% of those barrels of oil. · Industrial world cities typically use at least one third of their land for roads and parking lots for motor vehicles. · Commuting by bicycle produces zero pollution. · On average, the commute to work accounts for only one out of five auto trips taken by drivers each day. · Trips per day by purpose break down this way: - Home to work = 1.27 trips per day - Shopping = .98 trips per day - Other personal business = 1.17 trips per day - Social and recreational = .99 trips per day · Average miles per trip by purpose - Home to work = 11.0 miles per trip - Shopping = 5.1 miles per trip - Other personal business = 7.4 miles per trip - Social and recreational = 11.8 miles per trip · For a comparison on true cost savings, consider that you can drive your car to the grocery store and spend 35 cents for a bar of soap, adding 7 cents for the gas, or you can ride your bike to the corner convenience store and pay 41 cents, actually saving a penny and getting some exercise at the same time. · The number of bicycle commuters doubled between 1983 and 1990, according to the Bicycle Institute of America. · In China, bicycles outnumber cars 250 to 1.

Today's miles = 20.46 miles