So if you watched the video you get the idea of what it looks like.  If you read the Wiki entry you know what the issues are and essentially how it works.  Now, for my impressions.

Its a blast! It was a little uncomfortable blowing through red lights with the masses because by my very nature I am a rule follower.  When I ride on my own I depend on traffic laws to keep me as safe as possible so ignoring some of the essentials really goes against my grain – but I do understand.  You get comfortable riding in the mass and you get good and weaving around other cyclists and riding in VERY close proximity.  In fact, you get very dependant on it very quickly.  There is safety in numbers.

The message is good. I like what the heart of the event is supposed to communicate.  Alternatives to driving cars everywhere.  Making motorists aware of the presence of cyclists and how they need to keep an eye out for them even when its unexpected.  Cycling is a very entertaining and healthy way to get around.  I would love to see more of that mentality here in Murrieta.

In numbers, people demonstrate the worst of humanity… I wish I could say that everyone there maintained the ideals of the event.  But instead, I heard cyclists taunting motorists.  I heard them calling drivers names and banging on their cars.  I saw some disposing of beer cans on the road as they went along their way.  I saw too many people blowing an opportunity to show that they are truely different by behaving exactly like the people they want to educate.  I have news for you, it doesn’t work like that.

All in all, it was fun and I would love to do it again but I do have my reservations about the behavior of some of the cyclists.  I don’t suppose you can get everyone to behave themselves all the time but I don’t know if it should ruin a thing that doesn’t hurt anyone, the police tend to just keep an eye on and definately gets some healthy attention.

Lots of people I know are working to challenge the gas pump and have resorted to the two-wheel option.  It started with Jeff a long time ago running around on his Honda Trail bike and then all of the sudden one person after the other got a scooter.  Even Vince got in on the gas saving toy.  Oh, and did I mention I did too!?  Not that my commuter bicycle isn’t awesome and even better on gas, but its hot around these parts and its not cool to show up and someone’s house tire, panting and sweating all over their furniture.  That is where my spare time in front of the computer has turned into spare time tinkering in the garage getting my Honda Trail bike up and running.  Yup, I dragged Jeff’s old disassembled one out of his garage and rebuilt the critical parts and replaced the missing ones.  Its up and running now and I have been driving around for the last couple of weeks on about 8$ of fuel.  It gets between 80 & 90mpg and it can comfortably push me 45mph into the wind.

What I am particularly drawn to is its a cheap bike if you find one in parts and they are so simple you can fix anything on them for little money and little time.  There is a reason they are the best sold motorcycle in the world.  Honda still sells them in other parts of the world.

I have to say, with the fuel consumption and the entertainment value of these little Honda bikes I might just become a fan of all things old, small and Honda.

Today Vince had my truck and Christy takes her car down to Temecula to pick up the shuttle to work. Not having any other option I grabbed my clip shoes and hit the road. I found myself at Bicycle Warehouse and went ahead and picked up this rack and pannier bag set. The rack was a new arrival, Matt had to pull it out of a box to show me. It is rated for 50kg (thats 110lbs for you English speakers). That is a far cry from the other racks I had looked at and this one was $5 more. The bags were $39 and I really labored over spending the money on these bags since I wasn’t 100% sure how I would use this bike. I figured if I never used them the shop would take them back. On the way home I ran a few errands for tomorrow and couldn’t believe how the bags kept expanding every time I would stop to pick something up.  I stuffed a box of blank lables, several packages of badge lanyards, a 3lbs bag of grass seed and a new watering hose attachment.  I could have stopped by the grocery store too!  And even with the added weight on the bike it wasn’t too bad climbing hills. Nice thing about being a converted mt. bike is that this thing has LOW gears.

I have really come to enjoy riding this bike around town. I think at first I didn’t like it much because I was too easily winded, too much down hill riding on the DB. A few rides around this hilly town will whip anyone’s lungs into shape. Have any of you responded to fuel prices in creative ways?

The good news? Beaming all the solar energy we could ever need down to Earth from space appears more feasible than ever before. The bad news? It’s going to take a lot of money and political will to get there.

Click here to read about it at Green Options.

This engineer is excited, if a little skeptical about the night-time generation. But they are going to build a test model so I really hope that we will see an alternative to our fossil fuel-dependent energy model in the United States.

Check out the write up if you haven’t already.