Maintenance: 16 cents

Often i talk about the budgetary benefits of being car free. Maintenance costs are one of these - especially compared to car maintenance.


Recently i decided to get a new air tube - that bit that connects the bike pump and the tyre. The old one had started to leak - i think it had a crack in the rubber. I'm not sure when i got that pump, but i think i've had it since at least '97.

Anyway, the new connector cost me a grand total of $2.25. I figure that to be about 16 cents per year, which i reckon is a fair bargain - particularly considering i had a gift voucher for the store. :)

5 O'Clock Shadow

Ok, technically it was closer to 6pm, but i love the look of bicycle shadow on the bike lane wall as the sun sets.


The vertical lines, the colour, the shape - i just had to capture it.

In Emergency, Take Bike

Had an interesting situation at work today. We had a function across the river at the state library. As people were arriving, a crucial item was suddenly needed from the city office. No time for walking, or for mucking about with a taxi nudging its way through inner city streets.


Fortunately, someone (me) had a bicycle. From our centre-city block to the river, across it, and round to the state library ... all in 5 minutes.

I was suitably proud, but i'm not about to become a bicycle courier ;)

How The Dutch Did It

The Netherlands is quite famous for its bike-ability. How did it get this way? This 6 minute video gives a short history of the Netherlands and bicycles.



In short, years ago they started a deliberate effort to have less driving and more riding. It was in the 70s that they decided that the place was over-run with cars, that too many people were dying on the roads, and that energy was getting too expensive to be dependent on the car.