As we come to the end of Bike to Work Week 2009 (a US event that doesn’t feature in South Africa, yet), it was thanks to blogs like Lighter Footstep and Treehugger that I decided to dust off my bicycle, attach Piper’s bike to the Trailgator, and do the school run by bicycle.
But even though I am almost 13,000 kilometres from where the Bike to Work action has been happening this week, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the thrill of hitting the road on my bicycle, wind in my hair, mud spatter on my face (it’s winter here). Here are some of the online highlights of the week.
Cape Town Daily Photo featured a cool cycling photo depicting Biking and Cycling around Cape Town during Bike to Work Week, although I think it was coincidence.
Some cool cycling accessories from around the world:
London Cycle Chic – for London ladies who like to look good while cycling, Caz is the epitome of stylishness on a bike.
For parents, the awesome TAGA baby stroller that converts into a baby transporting trike:
And finally
For Cape Town’s southern suburb cyclists who need a bit of encouragement to get cycling to work, how about joining one of the Critical Mass rides every last Friday of the month from the Baxter Theatre at 06:45, meeting up with another group at the CTICC at 07:15.
In the UK Bike Week runs from the 13th to the 21st of June 2009.
Hats off to South Africa’s Optimal Energy for developing an electric car with a range that can cope with the distances between towns here. Let’s face it, the 190km that the Tata Indica electric car can stretch to wouldn’t get you from Cape Town to Hermanus for a whale watching weekend. With the Joule on the other hand, you could make it all the way to Oudtshoorn for the KKNK. Of course, you could make the same distance with the Tesla Roadster, but that would cost you a whole lot more, and need to be imported (import duty, massive carbon footprint, etc.).
So the Joule is pretty cool, it’s looks aren’t bad at all, and it is going to manufactured as a six-seater, so it’s perfect for all the rugby/cricket/hockey moms to be driving around town. Best of all, it will take your carbon footprint right down and reduce the pollution that you’re creating for all those little kiddies (and us grown-ups) to breathe in while they’re going about their daily school run. But that doesn’t solve the challenge of how you’re going to get from Cape Town to Splashy Fen without overnighting a couple of times to charge up your car.
There is a solution in the pipeline thanks to EV superhero Shai Agassi and his Silicon Valley start-up Better Place. It’s a prototype at the moment, and in Japan, but perhaps one day we’ll see our cities and towns dotted with battery swap stations like this one.
I think that we’re probably unlikely to see battery change stations in small Karoo towns anytime soon, but in the future, who knows.
Depending on affordability, I’d be interested in acquiring a Joule as our family car when they become available in 2012. In the meantime, I’ll be considering installing solar panels on the garage roof to keep it charged without relying on dirty electricity.
Swedish advertising agency, Acne, have built an enormous bus out of 50 cars at the side of the road on the way to the airport. This very effective “billboard” highlights the fact that while each car driving to the airport takes only 1.2 passengers, the Airport Coach takes over 50. The emissions saved by taking the bus are considerable, because the bus only emits that CO2 that 4 cars would.
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