Bikes aren't always Green?

[bikes4two]

I'm not referring to the colour of the paint job, but the 'green' as in 'green policies' etc.

Anyway, I was having one of those mad, idle 'mind moments' that you sometimes get when skitting along a country lane on a sunny day, and it was this:

So there you are, cycling along a norrow-ish road. A car comes up behind you and slows down to await the right time to over-take. The time arrives, the motorist floors the accelerator to get by the cyclist safely and in doing so, uses far more fuel than if they'd been able to proceed at an economic speed without the journey being interupted by the presence of a cyclist.

So, in this case, having the cycle on the road has led to an increase in fuel and greenhouse gases.

Not sure where this point is going but I though I'd throw it into the ring for debate over coffee. Maybe I'll just get back on my bike and cycle into the distance, never to be heard of again.

[reohn2]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

[thirdcrank]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

+1

The Tour de France might be a better example.

[broadway]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

I agree, the cyclist could have pulled over

[yakdiver]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

+ 2......and my bike is green, british racing green

[bikes4two]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

I agree, the cyclist could have pulled over

Actually, I do on certain occasions - we all have to share the medium of our roads. When I get p****** off with bad drivers (not something I allow myself to do very often), I console my ire with the thought that without cars, we'd be cycling on rutted cart tracks

And another point to stoke the tea-shop fire. Exactly what size is the cyclist carbon foot print? All those fancy bikes, clothing and countess accessories you never new were needed?

[TonyR]

I console my ire with the thought that without cars, we'd be cycling on rutted cart tracks

To un-console you, its the other way round. The only reason there were viable roads for the early cars to get started was because of cyclists.
Guardian: 19th century cyclists paved the way for modern motorists' roads

[reohn2]

Don't blaim the bike for bad driving.

I agree, the cyclist could have pulled over

I'd agree if the car was held up for any length of time,say more than a minute,but if its just a matter of a few seconds,which it usually is (I tend to count if I'm holding up traffic), then I don't see a need to pull over .

[al_yrpal]

Yaaawn.... Does it really matter?

Of much greater significance is the sight of a Rolls Royce tidal turbine in this mornings Times. Its very heartening to see that, at last, a very successful major company is investing in a totally reliable green energy resource which the uk has in abundance rather than the looney solar panels and half baked wind turbine schemes that will practically shut down every january and which is costing us all a small fortune.

Change the title and have a debate that actually matters.

Al

[reohn2]

I console my ire with the thought that without cars, we'd be cycling on rutted cart tracks

To un-console you, its the other way round. The only reason there were viable roads for the early cars to get started was because of cyclists.
Guardian: 19th century cyclists paved the way for modern motorists' roads

Tony
Thanks for the link,some people don't realise how old our roads are and most motorists care even less,which is sad as the roads are there for all that use them.

[reohn2]

Yaaawn.... Does it really matter?

Of much greater significance is the sight of a Rolls Royce tidal turbine in this mornings Times. Its very heartening to see that, at last, a very successful major company is investing in a totally reliable green energy resource which the uk has in abundance rather than the looney solar panels and half baked wind turbine schemes that will practically shut down every january and which is costing us all a small fortune.

Change the title and have a debate that actually matters.

Al

Nothing we do is totally Green.As for the debate,you don't have to join in.

[mark a.]

There will be a point where the extra fuel spent by the car accelerating past a cyclist will be offset by the fuel saved when driving slower.

So to be environmentally friendly make sure the car stays behind you for longer!

[snibgo]

The amount of extra fuel burned by motorists waiting for me is trivial compared to the fuel I would have burned if I had taken my journey by car.

[Jonty]

I'm not referring to the colour of the paint job, but the 'green' as in 'green policies' etc.

Anyway, I was having one of those mad, idle 'mind moments' that you sometimes get when skitting along a country lane on a sunny day, and it was this:

So there you are, cycling along a norrow-ish road. A car comes up behind you and slows down to await the right time to over-take. The time arrives, the motorist floors the accelerator to get by the cyclist safely and in doing so, uses far more fuel than if they'd been able to proceed at an economic speed without the journey being interupted by the presence of a cyclist.

So, in this case, having the cycle on the road has led to an increase in fuel and greenhouse gases.

Not sure where this point is going but I though I'd throw it into the ring for debate over coffee. Maybe I'll just get back on my bike and cycle into the distance, never to be heard of again.

You raise a very important point IMO. How can cycling be green when 1) cyclists probably eat more than motorists and food production is a prime producer of greenhouse gases and 2) cyclist breathe more deeply and more often than motorists (especially going up hills) and thereby consume more oxygen and expel more carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas).
Also animals - which includes humans - which eat more produce more methane (a greenhouse gas).
Didn't the dinosaurs blow themselves away?
jonty

[byegad]

I console my ire with the thought that without cars, we'd be cycling on rutted cart tracks

Not so the first road upgrades were before cars were in use and driven by cycling organisations particularly the CTC who also introduced road signs warning of hills and the like.