I just returned from a long trip and my differences in MPG were pretty dramatic. First tank was Shell unleaded and I averaged 37.4 MPG, then I filled up on some kind of generic gas and evraged 31.5 on the return trip. I wonder if it was a difference in gasoline or maybe simply different driving conditions.Both MPGs were checked at approx. 90-90% highway driving.What is the consensus here about the possiblity that the brand of gas used really makes that much difference in MPG so that difference in prices between Shell and say...Citgo,worth it . I may change to Shell permanently.
Last night my girlfriend and I were at dinner and she says, "I say something scary today!" I ask her, "What?" And she says, I passed the gas station on Verree Road and gas was like $4 a gallon!" :surprise: I've been keeping the tank topped-off on the LaCrosse for the past month.
16.XX mpg, that is just plain ugly miles per. So what are you going to do about it?
Hmmm, I don't think I will lose any sleep over it. I drive the LS400 a bit more as it gets 18-19 MPG, though on premium. No savings there. My 99 Ranger is the biggest disappointment. As it rarely gets more than 16 MPG. About the only driving we do is to church and the store both 3 miles away. If we go to Costco now it is 30 miles round trip. The real hitch is Costco is at 400 ft elevation. We are at 2000 feet. The drive goes up and down hills all the way. About half is Interstate 8 that is posted 70 MPH. You have two choices coming up the long grade. You can follow the big trucks and 4 bangers in the right lane at 40 MPH or stay up with traffic in the left lane at 75 MPH+. Once you are in the right lane you may not get out into the left lane. In a 5 mile stretch it goes from 600 feet to 1900 feet. There are sections the big V8s will kick down a gear to maintain the 70 MPH speed limit. Every time you drop to a lower gear it tears up your mileage. That was why I like diesel engines. That Passat Wagon TDI would maintain 75 MPH up that grade without even thinking about downshifting into 4th gear.
So what am I going to do about my 16 MPG vehicles. NOTHING until I can get a vehicle I like with a diesel engine.
So my mom is here for the summer, and one of her rituals is visiting relatives in Silver Spring, Md. She usually goes for about a week, and I drive her down there, then return a week later to get her. It's around 500 miles round trip, so for me it's always been a fun ride, especially the "alone time" on the solo legs.
GET TO GAS PRICES!!!!!!
Anyway.... so I look at the lady a few days ago and ask when, and she says that she is probably going to go by bus! Turns out that she is concerned about the cost of gas, so is looking at mass transit options. Funny thing is that she has no real idea of how much gas it takes to do this, no idea what a bus/train ticket costs, how she'll get from the bus to the relatives etc etc.
Point is, I'm a little curious as to how many behaviour changes are happening without benefit of any real research, but simply gut feeling.
I'm with you Gagrice. Wish a diesel option was out there for an SUV. While I'd love a Mercedes GL320CDI, I don't want to spend $65k plus to get it.
No kidding about the Ranger. I was looking at Expeditions the month or so ago and I looked at the window sticker on a new 4x4 Ranger w/ 3.0 v6 and manual trans. It was only rated for 19hwy. How is that possible when a 5,500lb SUV with a V8 can match that? No real reason to buy a Ranger over a f150 other than initial cost.
My Suburban is paid for so the $100 I spend a week on gas does not affect us one way or another. Sure I try to get better economy by slowing down and combining trips where I can. But, it hasn't stopped us from going where we want to go.
We were boating last weekend and the lake was crowded with boats of all sizes. People skiing, tubing, and wakeboarding just like any other weekend during any other summer. We've had the boat out 5 times and have spent about $150 on gas and I still have over a 1/2 tank that will last another trip out, maybe two.
I sold my 05 GMC Hybrid PU because I did not want to scratch it up. I bought this real clean 99 Ranger for $4k and added a rack to haul long things. I really expected it to get better mileage than my full sized truck with a V8. No matter how much I baby it the mileage is rarely over 16 MPG. Insurance is cheap and I dump loads of gravel in it or compost. I keep looking for a real clean pre 1995 Ford Power stroke diesel truck. It would have more room and lots more power. Probably about the same mileage. All my vehicles are paid for so gas is no big deal. I am driving less and less as we finally got all moved from our old place. I hate even leaving my hill top to go shopping. Life is good in spite of $4 gas.
"Worst part is in CA, most of the big PU trucks and SUVs are driven by young guys and gals without any fear. They drive like gas is free"
Actually, one of the rather nice PERKS of the gas price run-up is that most of these young rowdys in the jacked-up trucks will be forced to go back to their bikes for transport, thank goodness.
On a tangential note, I have seen a lot more motorcycles on the roads in the last few months than ever before. The news had a report recently that business at motorcycle shops is absolutely booming. Of course, this is good and bad: good because all these people are saving a ton of gas, bad because as a group I think the motorcycle riders might have the worst road manners and most dangerous behaviors of any group out there, no offense meant to any moto riders in the crowd here that actually OBEY the traffic laws on their cycles!
I can't count the number of motorcycles that pass me daily on the highway now, IN THE LANE I AM IN, or in the emergency lane. I am not talking here about when we are going 5 mph in traffic, I am talking about when we are going full highway speed. I am waiting for one to knock off an outside mirror - I am sure that day is not far away.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
as a group I think the motorcycle riders might have the worst road manners and most dangerous behaviors of any group out there
I am sure you are right. A friend just made a quick trip to Las Vegas to attend the funeral of a 22 year old nephew. He had a high speed accident the day he bought his new hot racer bike. No Fear is a slogan among our youth. I hope enough survive to keep paying my Social Security checks.
I'm very sorry to hear about your friends' loss, and over something so stupid.
I know that a few weeks ago I was on a road marked 55 and there was a pair of motorcyclists, one of whom was going the speed limit and acting safely in a rational manner, the other of whom was speeding and was doing the sharp movements of the handle bars to make the bike rock back and forth. They were obviously together, but you could just tell that the one being safe was embaressed and didn't want to be seen around the other. I know when I saw this guy, I was right behind him, I was sure that he would dump the bike, he wasn't wearing a helmet or any noticeable safety gear. I was seriously scared that I would have to scrape him off of the underside of my car, I'm not intending to be funny. I didn't want to take that risk and be the one to kill him so I went around him.
Just the other day I say a guy on a motorcycle going straight up the middle on the highway.
At Hummer, ``we're considering all options from a complete revamp to a partial or complete sale of the brand,'' Wagoner said.
``It is significant, but this is a late reaction to changing market dynamics,'' said one automotive consultant. ``The plans really should have been in place a number of years ago.''
Way to go GM, you're still selling more Hummers than hybrids and you market yourself as some kind of visionary green company. :surprise:
#8316 of 8329 Re: Biking is dangerous [gagrice] by tankbeans Jun 04, 2008 (9:54 pm) "I just wish I knew of a website where I could find the most fuel efficient speed at which to drive."
I haven't been able to find a site that tells you by make/model, but here is a calculator:
I wonder if it was a difference in gasoline or maybe simply different driving conditions
Air temperature (mainly affecting tire pressure) and time of day, windspeed and direction, whether you're tank stopped filling at the same point (don't assume when it clicks off it's always the same) all could make a difference. You also don't state whether you noted whether there was ethanol in the gas and how much as this can vary from urban to rural or from state-to-state.
So no one here can answer that; you'd need to setup some experiments over multiple tanks if you wanted to figure out whether it was simply due to brand.
I think this was done though by some magazine or such and found the only real differnce between brands is the detergent types and amounts.
Way to go GM, you're still selling more Hummers than hybrids
Don't you imagine they are selling the bulk of their Hummers to the military? I never did see many of the H3 models and the H2 is pretty rare even in So CA. The H1 is for eccentrics like Ahnold with more money than brains.
i'm not even counting the Hummer's sold to the Military
it's pretty easy to state because GM, who might sound like they've been doing hybrid's for a long time and just recently gotten into the act and they aren't selling anywhere near what they had anticipated.
Imagine what you'd make if you live in either of these countries, and then think about how much gas you could afford. Or what type of car you could afford on your salary.
Just last Sunday at noon, while travelling in our car on a 55 MPH US numbered highway that has plenty of curves, dips and crests and almost all double-yellow, we encountered an idiot woman bike rider riding at the edge of the pavement.
tedebear pondered:
I've read this several times, thinking perhaps I missed something, but I still do not see what the woman was doing to be classified as an idiot. Apparently, she was riding as far to the right of the road as possible.
Per New World Dictionary - idiot: a very foolish or stupid person
Concern about possible injury/death from cars and suvs should be reason enough to not travel this US numbered road on a bike. I did not mention, but it is also very heavily travelled by semis. The point that I encountered the idiot woman, the road was curving and at a crest and was about 3 miles from a full interchange with the interstate that has gas stations and 2 huge truck stops. She was headed in that direction. Besides being an idiot, she is also very inconsiderate in having traffic, including semis, having to slow down to safely get around her.
I was an avid bike rider when I was a child, riding on "side" streets with low traffic volume, until perhaps age 14-15. I had more common sense as a child then adults I see today riding their bicyles in my area. To protect stupid bicyclists, perhaps bike riding should be banned from all US, State numbered roads and other high traffic and higher speed roads.
So she is an idiot why? I guess you've pulled the statistics and it indicates that riding a bicycle on that road results in substantially more injuries/fatalities per mile than car travel or that road has more bike accidents than similar nearby roads. Surely you did a little research before coming to your conclusion because it doesn't sound at all obvious to me from reading your post.
To protect stupid bicyclists, perhaps bike riding should be banned from all US, State numbered roads and other high traffic and higher speed roads.
If you want to ban cyclists from state roads you'll have to take that up with your congressman. There is no law that forbids cyclists from using the same roads and it is not stupid to do so, especially if there is not a parallel side road within a reasonable distance.
Part of my daily commute involves riding on a state road with absolutely no shoulder. Why do I do this? There is a river between where I live and where I work and that road has the only bridge crossing it for many miles either way. I have to travel this road during afternoon rush hour. I've never, ever had any problems with motorists thinking I was slowing them down. I suspect that they can see that it's either the bridge or swim across with my bike.
Perhaps a better use of a congressman's time would be to educate any stupid motorists about the rights of cyclists on the roads.
Sorry, still not seeing the idiocy. From what you describe, it sounds like she was being as considerate as she should have been expected to be. Had she been riding in the center of the lane, that would have been rather idiotic as well as inconsiderate. Had she been riding on the left, that would have certainly been idiotic, and depending upon the law, illegal.
Sounds like what she was doing was within the law. Riding the edge as you describe was considerate.
she is also very inconsiderate in having traffic, including semis, having to slow down to safely get around her.
Here you have just got it backwards. At least the traffic, including semis, was considerate enough to slow down.
perhaps bike riding should be banned from all US, State numbered roads and other high traffic and higher speed roads.
Perhaps. If you genuinely believe this, write your legislature. Petition to have the law changed.
OK, I drive a car.... and I see further than just the car directly in front of me - I try to keep my following distances long enough so I have a sense of the big picture.
I drive both. However, in the truck, it's just easier to take in the "big picture". The lower down you sit, the more effort it will take to do that, as there will be more things to block your view.
One other thing that might help with my truck though, is that it's old. Very squared-off, so I can see exactly where the front ends, and within a few inches of where the back ends. The windshield is fairly upright, and none of the roof pillars are all that big. It also has huge mirrors. A newer truck is going to be more rounded off and have thicker roof pillars, so visibility may not be quite as good.
Thanks for the site. I had a problem finding the transmission ratio for my car. I found final drive, but the other one I could locate. Every number I plugged in made the numbers look way off.
I tried the first site. If you could help me it would be great. Thanks for your time.
he wasn't wearing a helmet or any noticeable safety gear.
We are getting into the season where I start to see a lot of idiots riding pocket rockets wearing nothing but shorts and sandals. Man I would hate to be by them when they lay their bike down dressed like that.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I think this was done though by some magazine or such and found the only real difference between brands is the detergent types and amounts.
Usually gas at different branded gas stations comes from the same refinery. So the gas from a shell station and the gas from the Mobile station across the street most likely came from the same refinery, the only difference would be the additives the particular brands want added.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I think I figured it out. Is it supposed to be the best speed to travel at for a given RPM? If that's the case then for my car it would be about 65 at 2500, or is it just what the engine will be turning for a given speed?
if you read most long term tests, say on a website, or magazine, at 40,000 miles vehicles get noticeably better fuel mileage. my focus per ownership year: 28.2(11k), 29.6(21k), 30.5(32k), 31.4(42k)
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
Concern about possible injury/death from cars and suvs should be reason enough to not travel this US numbered road on a bike.
I do agree in principle with your thinking about bikes on busy roads that are not designed for bikes. If I was forced to slow down on my commute to work I would probably get upset. As that would cost me more gas in slowing down and speeding up. If more people start riding their bikes it is going to become more of an issue.
Maybe the no pedestrians or bicycles ban should be extended to highways that do not have marked bike lanes. Or maybe we should get the NHTSA involved. They can determine the safety equipment required on a bike to give a person the same level of protection that is required in a car. Airbags, seat restraints, ABS, VSC, roll cage etc etc... Why should bike riders or motorcyclist be exempt from being protected by law.
43 miles driven 11.4 mph average speed 9.4 mpg economy A fun day in Manhattan
Wow, I thought you were describing your bike commute, until I got to the line with the 9.4 mpg.
Here's mine thus far (I'm still at work):
17 miles traveled Approximately 17 mph average speed (I didn't check my bike computer) Unknown mpg A typical hot and humid June day in St. Louis
I did notice that prices at one gas station are down to $3.81 today, from $3.84 yesterday. I thought the start of summer would have them going the other way.
Wow I didn't hear about that and you are right it is beyond words. Stuff like that happens and people wonder why they are having a hard time revitalizing downtown Hartford.
That is truly disgusting. I would be ashamed to live in a city like that. I avoid going into any city unless I absolutely have to and I try to find places to go where I wouldn't need to go into a city. That is just one example of why I feel that way. I would probably have helped the old man because that is the way I was brought up, but I guess some peoples' values are backwards.
People that I won't help though are hitchhikers. There are too many people out there who hitchhike only to assault those who picked them up. That's off topic, sorry about that, but in a way it is pertinent because people might hitchhike to save gas. I don't know.
are there any rental companies that have Civics in their fleets nowadays? I've always heard that Hondas are hard to come by as rentals, but I had a '91 Civic as a rental ages ago.
I'm actually a bit curious to try one out for an extended period and see if I could tolerate living with something that small. My only real experience with them is sitting in them the auto shows, but I found them to be pretty comfortable for a small car.
I thought about maybe renting one for a week, and seeing how well it does. Maybe take a short trip in it, gather up some friends and drive around to see how it does under load, etc.
The hertz local editions around here have Accords from time to time so yeah they might get Civics too. I would call a few places up around you and see what they have.
Cool...I might look into that, then. Funny, but when my Intrepid was in the shop for about 3 weeks for a random stalling/refusal to start issue, I wasn't even thinking about a new car. Now that I've had it back for 8 days, and it's behaved perfectly, I'm in the mood for something different.
Civic is a sweet little car, you should check it out. Usually Enterprise has so-called "premium" cars, and that will often include a few VWs, Toyotas, and Hondas so you can probably find one there to try out.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Does anyone else find it a bit ironic that the Big Three, soon to be the Little Three, fought the CAFE standard and are now losing billions because their vehicles do not get decent mpg. Maybe those millions spent on lobbyists and lawyers would have been better spent on engineers and research into other areas -- better mpg perhaps.
the Big 3 ought to be seriously endevouring to develop new ideas in gas mileage right now, CAFE-linked, hybrid, fuel cell, all-electric, or not. The EV-1 was killed for what reason, gagrice? I am, of course, driving a ICE car right now but since the turn of the '08 year on I've been thinking all-electric propulsion for my next rig. By all rights my next car will be all-electric in propulsion.
One National Park around here that would be great for bike riding would be Saguoro National Park in Tucson. It's located on the city limits to the west and east of the city. Named after the large cactii that are prevalent in the park. I guess that is full of well-paved trails that are great for biking.
I would be an excellent candidate for bicycling to work. My commute is all of a 1/2 mile.
Do you think it would do better than your uncle's Corolla? I'd say the fuel economy of a Civic would be somewhere in the Corolla's neighborhood. That is, unless you got Civic hybrid.
I think that GM and Ford are on the right track,but Chrysler is still wallowing in the "good ole days". As soon as their two stage hybrids are available,GM will be fine. I hear that Ford will be bring hybrid Fusions on line(God knows when) and once they do,they will be very competitive.Both Malibu and Fusion are very nice cars as is the Ford compact(35MPG). If the Hunkia become more popular,as they should,it will get really crazy out there
This incident was discussed on the Today show this morning.
Sadly, I have to admit the behavior of the drivers of the two cars that were apparently "racing" doesn't really surprise me that much. I can't adequately express how much it bothers me that I'm not all that surprised.
but the behavior of everyone else in the following minutes
"Maybe those millions spent on lobbyists and lawyers would have been better spent on research into better mpg."
This is the insidious nature of political corruption. It stifles the natural market forces of competition and reward for achievement. It deprives everyone of the benefits of technological advancement for the sake of enriching a few executives and politicians in the short term.
Like my uncle who retired from Ford says, "The big 3 don't sell cars, they sell stock." They only do just enough with the cars to get those quarterly revenue numbers up, so they can enrich themselves right now. No regard for the long term, or the big picture.
The problems GM, Ford, and Chrysler face today are simply the result of thier own corruption. I don't feel sorry for them. .
Comments
Hmmm, I don't think I will lose any sleep over it. I drive the LS400 a bit more as it gets 18-19 MPG, though on premium. No savings there. My 99 Ranger is the biggest disappointment. As it rarely gets more than 16 MPG. About the only driving we do is to church and the store both 3 miles away. If we go to Costco now it is 30 miles round trip. The real hitch is Costco is at 400 ft elevation. We are at 2000 feet. The drive goes up and down hills all the way. About half is Interstate 8 that is posted 70 MPH. You have two choices coming up the long grade. You can follow the big trucks and 4 bangers in the right lane at 40 MPH or stay up with traffic in the left lane at 75 MPH+. Once you are in the right lane you may not get out into the left lane. In a 5 mile stretch it goes from 600 feet to 1900 feet. There are sections the big V8s will kick down a gear to maintain the 70 MPH speed limit. Every time you drop to a lower gear it tears up your mileage. That was why I like diesel engines. That Passat Wagon TDI would maintain 75 MPH up that grade without even thinking about downshifting into 4th gear.
So what am I going to do about my 16 MPG vehicles. NOTHING until I can get a vehicle I like with a diesel engine.
GET TO GAS PRICES!!!!!!
Anyway.... so I look at the lady a few days ago and ask when, and she says that she is probably going to go by bus! Turns out that she is concerned about the cost of gas, so is looking at mass transit options. Funny thing is that she has no real idea of how much gas it takes to do this, no idea what a bus/train ticket costs, how she'll get from the bus to the relatives etc etc.
Point is, I'm a little curious as to how many behaviour changes are happening without benefit of any real research, but simply gut feeling.
No kidding about the Ranger. I was looking at Expeditions the month or so ago and I looked at the window sticker on a new 4x4 Ranger w/ 3.0 v6 and manual trans. It was only rated for 19hwy. How is that possible when a 5,500lb SUV with a V8 can match that? No real reason to buy a Ranger over a f150 other than initial cost.
My Suburban is paid for so the $100 I spend a week on gas does not affect us one way or another. Sure I try to get better economy by slowing down and combining trips where I can. But, it hasn't stopped us from going where we want to go.
We were boating last weekend and the lake was crowded with boats of all sizes. People skiing, tubing, and wakeboarding just like any other weekend during any other summer. We've had the boat out 5 times and have spent about $150 on gas and I still have over a 1/2 tank that will last another trip out, maybe two.
I sold my 05 GMC Hybrid PU because I did not want to scratch it up. I bought this real clean 99 Ranger for $4k and added a rack to haul long things. I really expected it to get better mileage than my full sized truck with a V8. No matter how much I baby it the mileage is rarely over 16 MPG. Insurance is cheap and I dump loads of gravel in it or compost. I keep looking for a real clean pre 1995 Ford Power stroke diesel truck. It would have more room and lots more power. Probably about the same mileage. All my vehicles are paid for so gas is no big deal. I am driving less and less as we finally got all moved from our old place. I hate even leaving my hill top to go shopping. Life is good in spite of $4 gas.
Think outside the box"
Oh sorry, I thought it was clear I meant "the greatest chunk of gas savings in your car come from JUST SLOWING DOWN"
Certainly, a lot more gas can be saved by just leaving the car in the driveway. ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Actually, one of the rather nice PERKS of the gas price run-up is that most of these young rowdys in the jacked-up trucks will be forced to go back to their bikes for transport, thank goodness.
On a tangential note, I have seen a lot more motorcycles on the roads in the last few months than ever before. The news had a report recently that business at motorcycle shops is absolutely booming. Of course, this is good and bad: good because all these people are saving a ton of gas, bad because as a group I think the motorcycle riders might have the worst road manners and most dangerous behaviors of any group out there, no offense meant to any moto riders in the crowd here that actually OBEY the traffic laws on their cycles!
I can't count the number of motorcycles that pass me daily on the highway now, IN THE LANE I AM IN, or in the emergency lane. I am not talking here about when we are going 5 mph in traffic, I am talking about when we are going full highway speed. I am waiting for one to knock off an outside mirror - I am sure that day is not far away.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I am sure you are right. A friend just made a quick trip to Las Vegas to attend the funeral of a 22 year old nephew. He had a high speed accident the day he bought his new hot racer bike. No Fear is a slogan among our youth. I hope enough survive to keep paying my Social Security checks.
I know that a few weeks ago I was on a road marked 55 and there was a pair of motorcyclists, one of whom was going the speed limit and acting safely in a rational manner, the other of whom was speeding and was doing the sharp movements of the handle bars to make the bike rock back and forth. They were obviously together, but you could just tell that the one being safe was embaressed and didn't want to be seen around the other. I know when I saw this guy, I was right behind him, I was sure that he would dump the bike, he wasn't wearing a helmet or any noticeable safety gear. I was seriously scared that I would have to scrape him off of the underside of my car, I'm not intending to be funny. I didn't want to take that risk and be the one to kill him so I went around him.
Just the other day I say a guy on a motorcycle going straight up the middle on the highway.
``It is significant, but this is a late reaction to changing market dynamics,'' said one automotive consultant. ``The plans really should have been in place a number of years ago.''
Way to go GM, you're still selling more Hummers than hybrids and you market yourself as some kind of visionary green company. :surprise:
"I just wish I knew of a website where I could find the most fuel efficient speed at which to drive."
I haven't been able to find a site that tells you by make/model, but here is a calculator:
http://www.kabamus.com/garage/gears.html
and the wikipedia article that tells you how to manually calculate it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gear_ratio#General_description
Air temperature (mainly affecting tire pressure) and time of day, windspeed and direction, whether you're tank stopped filling at the same point (don't assume when it clicks off it's always the same) all could make a difference. You also don't state whether you noted whether there was ethanol in the gas and how much as this can vary from urban to rural or from state-to-state.
So no one here can answer that; you'd need to setup some experiments over multiple tanks if you wanted to figure out whether it was simply due to brand.
I think this was done though by some magazine or such and found the only real differnce between brands is the detergent types and amounts.
Don't you imagine they are selling the bulk of their Hummers to the military? I never did see many of the H3 models and the H2 is pretty rare even in So CA. The H1 is for eccentrics like Ahnold with more money than brains.
it's pretty easy to state because GM, who might sound like they've been doing hybrid's for a long time and just recently gotten into the act and they aren't selling anywhere near what they had anticipated.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/world/2008-06-05-fuel-prices-asia_N.htm
Just last Sunday at noon, while travelling in our car on a 55 MPH US numbered highway that has plenty of curves, dips and crests and almost all double-yellow, we encountered an idiot woman bike rider riding at the edge of the pavement.
tedebear pondered:
I've read this several times, thinking perhaps I missed something, but I still do not see what the woman was doing to be classified as an idiot. Apparently, she was riding as far to the right of the road as possible.
Per New World Dictionary - idiot: a very foolish or stupid person
Concern about possible injury/death from cars and suvs should be reason enough to not travel this US numbered road on a bike. I did not mention, but it is also very heavily travelled by semis. The point that I encountered the idiot woman, the road was curving and at a crest and was about 3 miles from a full interchange with the interstate that has gas stations and 2 huge truck stops. She was headed in that direction. Besides being an idiot, she is also very inconsiderate in having traffic, including semis, having to slow down to safely get around her.
I was an avid bike rider when I was a child, riding on "side" streets with low traffic volume, until perhaps age 14-15. I had more common sense as a child then adults I see today riding their bicyles in my area. To protect stupid bicyclists, perhaps bike riding should be banned from all US, State numbered roads and other high traffic and higher speed roads.
If you want to ban cyclists from state roads you'll have to take that up with your congressman. There is no law that forbids cyclists from using the same roads and it is not stupid to do so, especially if there is not a parallel side road within a reasonable distance.
Part of my daily commute involves riding on a state road with absolutely no shoulder. Why do I do this? There is a river between where I live and where I work and that road has the only bridge crossing it for many miles either way. I have to travel this road during afternoon rush hour. I've never, ever had any problems with motorists thinking I was slowing them down. I suspect that they can see that it's either the bridge or swim across with my bike.
Perhaps a better use of a congressman's time would be to educate any stupid motorists about the rights of cyclists on the roads.
Sounds like what she was doing was within the law. Riding the edge as you describe was considerate.
she is also very inconsiderate in having traffic, including semis, having to slow down to safely get around her.
Here you have just got it backwards. At least the traffic, including semis, was considerate enough to slow down.
perhaps bike riding should be banned from all US, State numbered roads and other high traffic and higher speed roads.
Perhaps. If you genuinely believe this, write your legislature. Petition to have the law changed.
I drive both. However, in the truck, it's just easier to take in the "big picture". The lower down you sit, the more effort it will take to do that, as there will be more things to block your view.
One other thing that might help with my truck though, is that it's old. Very squared-off, so I can see exactly where the front ends, and within a few inches of where the back ends. The windshield is fairly upright, and none of the roof pillars are all that big. It also has huge mirrors. A newer truck is going to be more rounded off and have thicker roof pillars, so visibility may not be quite as good.
I tried the first site. If you could help me it would be great. Thanks for your time.
We are getting into the season where I start to see a lot of idiots riding pocket rockets wearing nothing but shorts and sandals. Man I would hate to be by them when they lay their bike down dressed like that.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Usually gas at different branded gas stations comes from the same refinery. So the gas from a shell station and the gas from the Mobile station across the street most likely came from the same refinery, the only difference would be the additives the particular brands want added.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
11.4 mph average speed
9.4 mpg economy
A fun day in Manhattan
my focus per ownership year: 28.2(11k), 29.6(21k), 30.5(32k), 31.4(42k)
I do agree in principle with your thinking about bikes on busy roads that are not designed for bikes. If I was forced to slow down on my commute to work I would probably get upset. As that would cost me more gas in slowing down and speeding up. If more people start riding their bikes it is going to become more of an issue.
Maybe the no pedestrians or bicycles ban should be extended to highways that do not have marked bike lanes. Or maybe we should get the NHTSA involved. They can determine the safety equipment required on a bike to give a person the same level of protection that is required in a car. Airbags, seat restraints, ABS, VSC, roll cage etc etc... Why should bike riders or motorcyclist be exempt from being protected by law.
11.4 mph average speed
9.4 mpg economy
A fun day in Manhattan
Wow, I thought you were describing your bike commute, until I got to the line with the 9.4 mpg.
Here's mine thus far (I'm still at work):
17 miles traveled
Approximately 17 mph average speed (I didn't check my bike computer)
Unknown mpg
A typical hot and humid June day in St. Louis
I did notice that prices at one gas station are down to $3.81 today, from $3.84 yesterday. I thought the start of summer would have them going the other way.
this would be my bike route
People that I won't help though are hitchhikers. There are too many people out there who hitchhike only to assault those who picked them up. That's off topic, sorry about that, but in a way it is pertinent because people might hitchhike to save gas. I don't know.
Once again that story was extremely nauseating.
I'm actually a bit curious to try one out for an extended period and see if I could tolerate living with something that small. My only real experience with them is sitting in them the auto shows, but I found them to be pretty comfortable for a small car.
I thought about maybe renting one for a week, and seeing how well it does. Maybe take a short trip in it, gather up some friends and drive around to see how it does under load, etc.
Reverse psychology, perhaps?
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
One National Park around here that would be great for bike riding would be Saguoro National Park in Tucson. It's located on the city limits to the west and east of the city. Named after the large cactii that are prevalent in the park. I guess that is full of well-paved trails that are great for biking.
I would be an excellent candidate for bicycling to work. My commute is all of a 1/2 mile.
2021 Kia Soul LX 6-speed stick
You are an excellent candidate to walk to work. Even stopping for a cup-a-joe, your commute would take what, about 15 minutes.
Sadly, I have to admit the behavior of the drivers of the two cars that were apparently "racing" doesn't really surprise me that much. I can't adequately express how much it bothers me that I'm not all that surprised.
but the behavior of everyone else in the following minutes
just completely disgusting
This is the insidious nature of political corruption. It stifles the natural market forces of competition and reward for achievement. It deprives everyone of the benefits of technological advancement for the sake of enriching a few executives and politicians in the short term.
Like my uncle who retired from Ford says, "The big 3 don't sell cars, they sell stock." They only do just enough with the cars to get those quarterly revenue numbers up, so they can enrich themselves right now. No regard for the long term, or the big picture.
The problems GM, Ford, and Chrysler face today are simply the result of thier own corruption. I don't feel sorry for them.
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