LED vs. CFL

I recently advocated to my condominium board that we replace some of our flood lights with light emitting diode (LED) flood lights. We currently have compact fluorecent lights (CFLs) that light our parking lot/alley. We have been energy conscience in the past and switched from incandescent bulbs to CFLs. At that time we saw a dramatic drop in energy consumption and costs.

During the winter, the cold temperatures really limit the light intentsity of the CFLs such that they produce very little light and lose effiency. My proposition was to use two LED floods on a trial basis.

At the end of the first month of use, our electricity bill dropped by approximately $25.00. That is by replacing two CFL bulbs of a total of seven bulbs. The reason for going forward on a trial basis is that LED bulbs cost approximately $60.00 a piece. The light expectancy is approximatley 50,000 hours (continuous use for almost 6 years!).

The light output in the winter is phenomenal compared to the CFL and the two bulbs will pay for themselves in approximately six months.

Cycling Pain

I have been taking an extended route, increasing my daily commuting mileage to approximately 36 to 40 miles per day. This has been great to improve my conditioning; however, I am still trying to ride every day as when my daily commuting distance was 25 miles.

I have taken this new route because it is through mostly residential neighborhoods with few stoplights. My old route is through an industrial/commercial area. I feel much more safe along my new route. The only problem is that the new route has much more elevation change along the route resutling in many more hills. Those hills are great for conditioning. (Note: Great for Conditioning = Suffering on the Bike)

My cycling pain that I am suffering now come from two things:
1) I am trying to save gas by cycling to work everyday; and,
2) I really enjoy riding with my cycling group on the weekend.

My wants are not measuring up with my needs. My need is to take some recovery days, that conflicts with my want to ride. I really need to be careful of overtraining and burnout.

At the end of today I will have surpassed 2,600 miles for the year. I have less than 900 to go to reach my goal of 3,500 miles.

Why does pride trump better judgement?

I have continued to log a lot of miles and my plan is to reach 3,500 miles by the end of the year. This shouldn't be a problem; however, I believe I am suffering the ill effects of overtraining. As of Thusday evening, I had completed 123 miles for the week bringing my total miles to 2,344 for the year. I am progressing nicely to my goal, but I had to take today off because of EXTREMELY sore legs.

I have started riding with the cylcing group again. The group departs early in the morning during the week (5:30am or 6:00am). I have continued to ride my Cyclocross (CX) bike with my commuting gear, while the others in the group are on their fast bikes. I ride with the group for about 12 miles and then finish the remaining 8 miles by myself on my way to work.

Yesterday about 6 of the group decided to push hard and I followed. Because of my overloaded condition, I couldn't match the pace and I fell off the back end of the mini-peloton. I thought the slow group would be on my heels soon, so I started an easy cadence. After a mile or so nobody was behind me. I decided to just continue on my way to work. At Spring Road, there is a serious hill (at least for the midwest). I did my typical spin up the hill and I saw the fast group that formerly dropped me in the dust. I was so thrilled to be behind them, that I jammed up and finished in the lead on the hill. Hmmm...I wonder why my legs feel like they are going to fall off.

Well, I totally let my pride get in the way of better judgement and I have to take a day off of the bike.

1900 miles as of today

Today I just turned the bike odometer over 1900 miles for the year. I am please with my pretty steady accumulation of about 100 miles per week. I have been trying to increase my mileage gradually according the "periodization" style of training. Over the past month, I have been doing approximately 125 miles/week which is biking to work 5 days/week.

As is stands, the 1900 miles of commuting. Estiamting an average of 30 miles/gallon and an average cost of gasoline over the summer, that amounts to a savings of about $200. After 1,100 more miles, there will be an oil change that I will not have to get for the car as well. Not too bad considering my total costs for riding have included:

New Brake Shoes ($20)
New Wheel ($110)
Tubes ($5)
Handlebar Tape ($10)
Tires ($25)

As it stands, I have a $30 advantage. Over this time period. I have picked up the appropriate cold weather cycling gear to hand the weather through December. I have not included these costs because they are funtional add-ons to accomodate riding (in the same way I have not factored in the costs of a car such as insurance, wear and tear, etc.).

Boost of Confidence

Today, while riding to work, I noticed another rider that joined my morning route at Manheim Road. He was clipping at a good pace and looked like a serious rider. This has been the first cyclist that I have encountered on the roads that looked like they were into riding fast. I was travelling at approximately 20mph when I saw him in front of me. I spun my legs faster to try to catch him. At this point he was probably 1/2 mile in front of me. I got my bike up to about 23mph. It took me about 5 to 10 minutes to catch him. I caught him while climbing the 290 overpass. After getting within about 10 feet of the rider, I began to feel the draft. I effortlessly closed the gap after hitting the draft and shot around the left side of the rider. He gave me a nod, and then slipped into my draft. This has been the first time this year I have had a serious motivation to push myself. My heart was bursting at about 190bpm. I saw his shadow hanging with me for about a mile.

Having finally been spurred with an edge of competitiveness, I went into a higher gear. I pushed my bike to 27mph and my heart to 201bpm. I glanced back to find that the other rider did not want to match my pace and he dropped off.

This was an extremely exciting encounter and made for a great confidence boost.

Max Recommended Cycling Weight: 180 lbs

While I was riding yesterday, I noticed that the back end of my bike has a bit of a shudder when I was going approximately 20 mph. When I looked down at my rear wheel, I noticed that the wheel was out of "true" and wobbling approximately 0.5" off of center at one point. If it hadn't been for my disc brakes I would have been calling somebody for a ride, as rim brakes would have grabbed onto that wobble and made for a disasterous ride.

When I got to work, I set to "truing" the wheel by adjusting the spoke tension. As I scrutinized the location of the loose spoke, I noticed that no spokes were loose. Upon closer inspection, it was evident that the spoke/nipple grommet had pulled through the wall of the rim. This was evidenced by an inch long longitudinal crack along the rim. I attempted to identify an inexpensive replacement wheel only to find that repairing my wheel would cost a minimum of $150 and a replacement wheel ranged from $150 to $400. It is pretty hard to find a 700c wheel with a disc hub.

Fortunately, someone ordered just such a wheel from a local bike shop near my home. That person special ordered the wheel and never actually purchased it. My good luck, right! Well, I am a heavy rider, otherwise known as a clydesdale in cycling lingo. The mechanic at the shop advised me against purchasing the wheel as the maximum recommended riding weight for cyclist gear is 180 lbs. This sort of blows my mind...I have only weighed less than 180 lbs for about 6 months of my adult life, whereas, I have riden on the order of 20,000 miles.

Anyway, I purchased that wheel and it served me well this morning. Hopefully no more grommets pull through my wheels.

Cycling Update

Lately, my conditioning has really started to pay off. When I was first cycling this year, my heart rate was through the roof, my breathing was labored, and my legs were almost always fatigued. For instance, my Heart Rate Monitor from my first week of commuting had the majority of my ride time in my maximum heart rate zone. My heart rate average was around 195. AVERAGE!

Since starting to commute to work seriously on May 7, 2007, I have averaged approximately 100 miles per week with a few excursions above and below. I am now finishing week #11 of commuting comprising a little over 1,100 miles. The neat aspect of how the cycling has progressed is that I first focused on cardiovascular condition (getting my heart and breathing rate down). Second, I focused on spinning my pedals at approximately 90 rpm. Third, I have focused on overall speed. Now I am focusing on technique specific speed and climbing drills. There is a point that the bike feels like an extension (or part) of your body, as in, you can will the bike to do things with minimal effort.

I have been pleased with my progression, although not as rapid as last year. I like the more deliberate and structured progression that I have going on right now versus the intensity(overtraining) from last year.

The Pleasures of Commuting

I love commuting to and from work. I am able to log about 1.5 hours per day of riding that I would otherwise be sitting in a car. Then again, the thing that I don't like about commuting, is that people can be oblivious to other users of the road.

For instance, on Monday evening, a driver made a quick maneuver to the right while traveling at about 25 mph. It just so happened that I was position immeiately off of the rear quarter-panel of that car. The result was that I got pinched between the car and a mailbox. Fortunately, I rode it out and stayed on the bike. The driver, to my knowledge, first became aware of my presence when I hit his driver side mirror with my hand, and expressed my displeasure with a raised hand and a WTF expression on my face. Imagining that I was done with this encounter, I continued pedalling. The driver, however, displeased with the fact that he almost ran me over and that I touched his car, drove exceedingly fast to catch me. I say this because he drove into the oncoming traffic lane to pass cars to approach me. He drove next to me (within inches) and was yelling at me. I gave him the American hand gesture to get out of my face (a choice finger raised), and yelled "get outta here!" at the top of my lungs. He sped to the next intersection and exited his vehicle to approach me. I deftly veered around him. He proceded to repeat that maneuver. He drove to the next intesection and began to get out of his car. I simply turned down another road to avoid any further escalation of the event.

While this was happening, I did not log his license plate number. The only thing I know it that it was a smaller blue car. Bright blue, like the color used on the Internet Explorer title bar . I think it was a Toyota Celica or another similar economy car. The driver was a heavy african american man, approximately 6' to 6'2".

Given this man's irrational behavior and the threat that he posed to my life, I am logging the event here to make sure my story is told, in the event that fellow decides to visit me again on the road.

Cycling Update

I have been able to continue commuting back and forth to work. The weather has been warming and the humidity rising. That has made for more punishing conditions (i.e., sweating bullets). I have been riding my cyclocross bike (disc brakes, heavy duty rims and wheels) while I have been shedding the courvade weight. Fortunately for Kat, she lost the majority to her pregnancy weight within three months. I, on the other hand, have a lot of work ahead of me. Since last year, I am about seven minutes slower, each way to work, compared to last year. Last year my communting times ranged from 35 - 42 minutes to cover the 12.5 mile commute. Now I am averaging about 42 - 50 minutes. I am on a slower bike, but not THAT much slower. I have only been concentrating on the basics. If I really push, I can spike my heart rate to about 215 beats per minute. Because that is pretty dumb, I have been trying to maintain a ceiling heart rate of about 170 bpm (average 140) while holding a cadence of 90 rpm. I have not been focusing on speed because right now, my heart rate recovery time and pedaling efficiency are key. Over the past four weeks, I have covered the following distances:

Week 1: 100 miles
Week 2: 100 miles
Week 3: 87.5 miles (left directly from work to drive to MN over Memorial Day Weekend)
Week 4: 100 miles (this week)

I recently picked up a CompuTrainer (CT) on eBay for indoor riding. I have used it only once, but it was the most intense and exciting way to ride a bike indoors. The CompuTrainer is ultimately a video game for cycling. Imagine seeing someone riding a bike indoors jumping out the saddle to really hammer on the pedals, jammining through the range of gears in the front and rear, and exerting themselves in a pure physical challenge.

On the CT you ride a course that you can build, download from the CT website, or record with a GPS and then upload. The system is calibrated to rider weight, preset wind conditions, drafting off of other riders, and a whole lot of other really neat stuff. The CT is where I will be able to add training over the weekends and in the winter. It is one of the coolest gadgets around!

My Perspective on those that Deny Global Warming

The earth is the center of the universe. (hubris)
The earth is flat. (lack of knowledge)
Humans can not cause global warming. (lack of information/lack of knowledge/hubris)

These are the rules to live by when, despite evidence to the contrary, the antiquated views rule.

If someone were being treated for a serious illness, and spoke to several specialists, and that person received a resounding echo of the treatment necessary, it would be obvious to follow that advice. Even though that person may deny the sickness and fear the consequences, the treatment is still necessary.

When contemplating the solution to global warming, perhaps a similar approach should be excersiced. Resoundingly, the experts agree: manmade emissions of CO2 are resulting in global warming, the solution is to reduce the rate of emission. There will be consequences, an uncomfortable period of transition, and recovery. In the end everyone will be better off.

$3.59/gallon!!!

Chicago has highest gas prices in U.S.
The Associated Press
Published May 21, 2007, 5:50 AM CDT

Chicago now has the highest gasoline prices in the nation, according to a nationwide survey released Sunday.The average price of self-serve regular gasoline hit a record high of $3.18, rising more than 11 cents over the past two weeks, according to the survey. But Chicago came out tops at $3.59 a gallon.The latest national average figure topped the record of $3.07 set two weeks ago, which had been the highest price since the average cost of a gallon of gas hit $3.03 on Aug. 11, 2006, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country.The latest price also beat the previous inflation-adjusted record of $3.15 per gallon in March 1981.In the latest survey, a gallon of mid-grade gasoline averaged $3.29, and premium cost $3.40.The lowest average price for regular fuel was $2.87 in Charleston, S.C.In California, regular grade gasoline dropped 2 cents to $3.41.

National Bike to Work Week...Part II

I think that National Bike to Work Week is similar to Earth Day. A symbolic acknowledgement of what people "should" do. Putting a date on a calendar and declaring it significant does not really change peoples behavior.

Because I drive a hybrid, I did not realize too much savings over the week. Given the hybrid usually get 36-37mpg, that is equivalent to:
[100 miles per week / (36.5 miles/gallon)] x $3.49/gallon = $9.56 per week .

Compare the hybrid to my 1991 Chev 1/2 ton pickup, that is equivalent to:
[100 miles per week / (16 miles/gallon)] x $3.49/gallon = $21.81 per week .

Extrapolate that to an average month:
(52 weeks / 12 months) x Dollars Saved = Total Monthly Savings
Camry Hybrid = (52 weeks / 12 months) x $9.56 per week = $41.36 Saved / month
Silverado P/U = (52 weeks / 12 months) x $21.81 per week = $94.52 Saved / month

I often wonder why, in the face of high gas prices, people do not change their habits. This can be done simply by riding a bike (isn't there an obesity problem in this country?), buying a hybrid or more fuel efficient car, and/or taking public transportation. Granted, public transporation numbers are up as are hybrid sales, and I applaud those that are doing their part. The part that disappoints me is when people complain, yet do nothing. Specifically, complaining that oil company execs are making too much money. Do your part to make sure that the bike shop owners and hybrid car manufacturing execs "make too much money". In short, do not complain of the cost of fuel if you are unwilling to reduce your personal consumption of fuel. Maybe I am oversimplifying the issue...

As an additional fuel saving measure, I just mounted a Yakima SkyBox to the roof of my car to get the storage benefit of a minivan/crossover without paying the mileage penalty. Now I will be able to use my pickup less and less. Anyone can add a rooftop carrier to a fuel efficient car to obtain additional storage vs. buying a large vehicle.

National Bike to Work Week

This week was National Bike to Work Week and yesterday was National Bike to Work Day. I have gotten back into the mode of commuting to work. Right now, I am focusing on trying to reestablish a base level of fitness. I pedaled 100 miles last week after I ride home today this afternoon, I will have accomplished the same this week.

With the gasoline price extremes we are seeing currently, and the National Biking initiative, I was surprised to see at most two other cyclists in the 25 miles a day I ride. I should note that there is one rider that I see everyday included in my count of two.

As is common among cyclists, a rider will typically pass vehicles that are stopped at lights or stop signs along the space between the vehicle and curb. Yesterday, on National Bike to Work Day, a driver veered very close to the curb, cutting off the route to pass. While he was stopped I passed around the other side of his vehicle to avoid a right hook. I assumed that this driver was going to make an imminent right hand turn and was close to the curb for that reason. When I made the pass, his extended middle finger suggested that he closed that gap to prevent me from passing him.

Perhaps, when I am given the opportunity again, I will use the extended finger to grab onto, to help me stop my bike and have a conversation regarding driver/cycling safety. I do not want to be negative in pointing out this event. But, as my wife mentioned, you can carry your bike over your shoulder, and you can't do that with a car. When a car and bike collide, there is a clear loser - the cyclist.

Is Ethanol Cost Effective?

From Clean Air Choice, this link presents a comparison cost of E85 to Unleaded.

Consider the following:
1)Ethanol contains approximately 76% of the energy as gasoline (see below)
2)Ethanol's Return on Energy is approximately 1.24:1. That means that the BTU expended yields approximately 24% more BTU.

ETHANOL BY THE NUMBERS
Energy for Ethanol (100%) EEtOH = 75,700.00 BTU/Gallon
Energy for Gasoline (100%) EGAS = 115,000.00 BTU/Gallon

Energy in E85 (Ethanol Content Ranges from 70% to 85%)
EE85 = [(0.85 * EEtOH + 0.15 * EGAS) +(0.70 * EEtOH + 0.30 * EGAS)] / 2
EE85 = 84,542.50 BTU/Gallon

Energy in Blended Gasoline
EPUMPGAS = 0.10 * EEtOH + 0.90 * EGAS
EPUMPGAS = 111,070.00 BTU/Gallon

Comparison of Blended Gasoline to E85
Efficiency of E85 = EE85 / EPUMPGAS
Efficiency of E85 = 76%

This evaluation reflects the energy that is available for the automobile to consume. For E85 to break even with gasoline is must cost at least 24% less for the economics to be attractive. The following factors in that the Return on Energy for EtOH is

Equivalent Cost of Fuel based on Energy
Gasoline $2.85
E85 $2.17

FOSSIL FUEL CONSUMPTION

1 gallons of E85 = 84,542.50 BTU
Fossil Fuel Energy Expended = 68,179.44 BTU
1 gallon Gasoline = 111,070.00 BTU

Based on equivalent energy: 1.31 Gallons E85 = 1 Gallon Gasoline

1.31 (Gallon E85/Gallon Gasoline Equiv E85) * 68,179.44 BTU Fossil Fuels
= 89,572.58 BTU Fossil Fuels / Gallon of Gasoline Equivalent E85

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Hank the Tank!

I have created a new blog for Henry. His pictures can be seen here.

Henry's imminent arrival

Katherine's water broke this morning at 1:50am. She had her first contraction at 2:23am. I will post again after Henry makes his debut.

One down, one to go!

One month ago I discovered that I passed my P.E. exam and do not have to worry about that exam ever again. Now I am preparing for my P.G. exam. The P.G. exam is on March 2, 2007 which is three days before Henry's due date. I hope that my head is in the right place considering I will likely be distracted because Katherine could go into labor at any minute while I am taking the exam, or a Henry will be at home and I am sure that I'll be thinking about him.

Nursery (Part II)

It has been a long (and hectic) time since my last post. Since the prior post, we have brought the nursery to a more final point.