Dan, this one’s for you, because sometimes I take things way too literally.
I love living without a car. One of my favorite things about using my bike for transportation is that even the most trivial of errands can easily turn into an adventure.
I have been needing to replace my aging toothbrush and I decided that today was the day. After a two mile ride I got to the store and because I am actually still a little kid, I picked out a toothbrush in my favorite color.
Once through the checkout line, I clutched the toothbrush firmly in my hand and headed out the door and back to my bike.
Before I was ready to jump back on, an older gentleman paused on his way into the store to talk to me about my bike.
Him: Does it have good air-conditioning?
Me: Real good. And the faster I go, the better it gets.
Then he asked the question that all older guys ask me. It makes me want to laugh every time because they always think they are so witty and original by asking this question when in reality, every single guy in their age demographic ask me this. Thankfully, it is a fun question to answer.
Him: How many miles do you get to the gallon?
Me: Well, now that I think about it…I haven’t put in any gas since the day I got her, so I guess I get a lot of miles to the gallon.
We laughed.
Him: So, are you a local?
Me: Sure am. I live right in town.
Him: Okay, you must not bike too much then.
Me: I use my bike for transportation so I do bike every day. I love it!
Him: That’s great, I used to have a bike. But what do you do in winter?
Me: I have a mountain bike with studded tires.
Him: No way! That’s crazy!
He began walking toward the store again and then looked back to deliver his parting remark.
“I will be looking for you in the obituaries!”
I chuckled. And then I remembered how scary those type of comments were last year. My, how things have changed.
There were a lot of cars on the road as I biked up main street toward home. More than usual, it seemed. Ahead of me, I noticed an Amish buggy holding up traffic as the horse trotted carefully down the road. I also saw another horse and buggy coming down toward us on the other side of the street.
It was the sweetest thing ever. When the horses spotted each other in the midst of a sea of motor vehicles, they both began to whinny and neigh, calling out happily to each other. My heart melted, they were so ecstatic to see a fellow horse in a world of cars.
“Same here.” I thought. Seeing one cyclist on the road brightens my entire ride, although I usually refrain from neighing.
The Great Toothbrush Adventure turned out to be a stunning success, especially for my teeth, which are currently very, very clean.
Let’s see, converting food calories into the equivalent in gasoline calories, take into account your height, weight and average speed (all guesstimated of course), I’m betting between 760 and 850 mpg.
I’m at 780 north of 22 mph and 840 at cruising easy speed (18 mph). Yes, I did the math a while back. It’s a simple conversion, really.
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Nice, I will use that next time! Because I will get asked again 🙂 I love that you have actually calculated it, haha.
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Actually wrote a post on it… Let me see if I can find it…
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Is it this one? https://fitrecovery.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/riding-a-bike-is-four-times-more-environmentally-friendly-than-walking/
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Yep!
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Here it is:
I was off though… I’m way more efficient than I thought… it was 800 &1300 mpg!
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Efficient indeed! If cars were anywhere close to getting that kind of mileage I would be slightly tempted to buy one…
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Oh, I doubt that. 😉
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Me too. The only good car is a toy car, haha!
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U had Great come-backs to that man!!! I am cracking up reading this!!
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Thanks, I get to practice my comebacks a lot 😉
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! You made my day! My standard answer is that I get about 20 miles per cookie. I even have a shirt with that motto. It gets the same laughs your comments got. I really like cookies.
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You are very welcome 🙂
Cookies are awesome, especially cookie dough. I love that you even have that written on a shirt. That’s called being prepared!
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Ha! Good subject to day. You should give up cooking and write for a living. Buuuuuut since your a chef, I thought you may like this series on PBS. Here is a sample.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/what-phils-having/paris/
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p.s. I get about 30 miles to the croissant.
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That isn’t bad mileage for a pastry 🙂 Thanks for the link, I am always on the lookout for new cooking shows to watch, haha
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That is the lamest excuse for a bike ride EVER, what a waste just going out for a toothbrush!!! I would have stopped for Ice Cream too. 🙂
I love reading your adventures and look forward to them. Thanks for taking to time to share them.
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That actually makes a lot of sense, with a new toothbrush it is okay to eat tons of sugar!! Every ride can be an ice cream ride! You sir, have inspired me.
And thank you for your kind words 🙂
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Still don’t understand why it’s not infinite mpg. There is no gas to put in the bike. I guess you could make an argument for number of miles per pint of water or energy drink.
Now you can use your old toothbrush for cleaning the bike 😀
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Apparently gasoline contains the equivalent of 31,000 calories per gallon so you can use that as a basis to figure out how many miles you would get on a bike for that amount of calories. It is pretty weird to think of gas as having calories…
Yup, the old toothbrush will be put to good use!
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I love the dialogue in this piece Bri… between humans and between horses! Lovely!
The power of the simple toothbrush to open up the day! 🙂
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And they clean teeth as well! The humble, multipurpose toothbrush 🙂
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