You’re out of milk and you have to run by the bank.  So, you grab your keys, get into your car, turn the ignition and make a 10 mile roundtrip errand. You’ve just emitted 9.5 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Most of us are guilty of it, but let’s put it into another context. How many trees will it take to absorb the CO2 emitted from that one trip during one 12 month period?

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that one ten year old conifer tree that grows at a moderate rate, will sequester 7.4 lbs per year. So, it will take approximately 1.3 conifer trees over the span of 12 months to absorb the CO2 emitted from that one trip. Ouch!!

The only way to truly (as opposed to purchasing credits) offset that is to plant 1.3 trees every time you travel 10 miles in your car, which would take about an hour OR ride your bike instead of driving, which would also take about an hour.  The latter will save on all of the externalized costs associated with burning one gallon of either domestic or imported oil to begin with.  Why not stockpile your CO2 savings and do both?

Sources:
www.epa.gov/oms/climate/420f05001.htm
www.urbanforestrysouth.org/resources/library/method-for-calculating-carbon-sequestration-by-trees-in-urban-and-suburban-settings

After a main cable broke on the bridge on October 27th, traffic throughout the entire Bay Area has been negatively affected.  Officials plan to re-open the Bridge by Friday evening…we shall see.

The Freedom ThickSlick made its debut appearance at Interbike this year and could be seen on bikes built by Foes Racing (foesracing.com) and Shorty Fatz (shortyfatz.com).

If you desire a fast rolling tire designed and built to provide for improved lifespan and durability, the ThickSlick might be your choice.  Not for the road racer, the ThickSlick is designed for the urban rider in mind or the rider clocking in serious commute miles.  The ThickSlick is offered with your choice of DuraStrip, a centerline Kevlar strip, or Urban Armor Casing, which consists of a combination of the DuraStrip and added sidewall protection.  Best of all, the ThickSlick fits in any budget with price points set at $19.99, $29.99, $39.99.  These price points hold throughout the Freedom tire line.  Additionally, Freedom offers a great variety of saddles ranging in price from $29.99, $39.99, $49.99. 

Demand Freedom at your local dealer!

Congratulations to Team Mountain Khakis to a victory at the USA Crit Race at Mandalay Bay as well as an overall victory of the USA Crits Championship Series.  Team Mountain Khakis ride on the Freedom Racine saddle.

The largest bike show in the world, Eurobike, is a week of walking countless halls checking out the newest of the new product lines offered by companies worldwide.  It’s both impressive and exhaustive.  When Gary Gleason, Jason Moeschler and I traveled to Germany to represent for Freedom USA/WTB USA, we decided to travel with our bikes to commute from Weingarten, the location of our hotel, to the halls of Eurobike, located in Friedrichshafen.  What we found was an impressive network of separated bike paths, small villages, and beautiful countryside.

It is no wonder that Germany boasts a bicycle ridership figure in the neighborhood of 20%.  Besides the first night returning to our hotel where we took a number of wrong turns, the result of jetlag, getting from point A to point B in Germany is mostly a matter of reading signs, following the arrows and pedaling your bike in the correct direction.  Of the near 35 mile roundtrip commute, less than a mile was on roadway shared by cars.  Most of the trip was on separated bike paths along with a few light dirt paths.  It seemed that bike ridership to the show was decent, but not overwhelmingly impressive.  As you can see from the bike rack photo, the bike parking was never full.  In fact we passed several traffic jams on the way to the show every morning, an interesting dichotomy to experience in one of the world’s most bike-friendly capitals. 

It was a pleasure to bike in Germany and I would recommend it to anyone seeking to explore Europe in-depth.  The mere act of commuting by bike to the show transformed our work trip into an adventure holiday.