tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084027558231536347.post1392352831319247967..comments2023-10-17T04:36:56.590-07:00Comments on THE GREEN RIDERS: Barstow to somewhere in the Mojave DesertThe Green Ridershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00812811378202012353noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084027558231536347.post-41400741674402741492010-05-01T07:32:00.009-07:002010-05-01T07:32:00.009-07:00Wow, what a treat to be out in the blooming desert...Wow, what a treat to be out in the blooming desert. I'd love to be there with you!NanUhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11596765792663269178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084027558231536347.post-56293504338922497122010-05-01T04:49:13.918-07:002010-05-01T04:49:13.918-07:00Thanks for all the updates, you wonderful siblings...Thanks for all the updates, you wonderful siblings! And thank you for inspiring us all to greater sustainability! I'm eagerly reading everything you send, every day.<br /><br />Regarding fudging: for me, the more important message is that given the diversity of terrain on our wonderful planet, bicycles are not the only answer. As inspiring as riding a bicycle can be, there is very little margin of error -- if I crash on my bike, the chances of getting killed or permanently injured are huge. I ride in a 35 MPG car, because I believe it's safer -- not that it necessarily is safer, but I just FEEL safer -- and, frankly, because it's more comfortable; and because I like to have my wife and dogs along, too, not to mention groceries and peripheral supplies. <br /><br />When we get 100MPG, biofuels-powered or hydrogen powered, or PHEV cars, I'll probably choose one of them, or a combination of car-to-rail-to-dirigible-to-jet or whatever.<br /><br />Clearly, cars and trucks running on paved roads are not the whole answer, either. <br /><br />Meanwhile, no matter what mode of transport we choose, this wonderful earth has deserts, rivers, oceans, and mountains for which bicycles are ill-suited as a sole mode of transportation. Sometimes walking or biofuel- or hydrogen- or wind- or solar-powered dirigibles might be the more appropriate mode. E.F. Schumacher taught us that appropriate technology matters -- a hammer is not the most appropriate tool for all tasks, neither is a bicycle, no matter how it is powered.<br /><br />Your message is that we need to live in greater harmony with the earth, and that no single technology provides the whole answer -- it takes diversity. <br /><br />So I have no problem with your riding in a car, on a train, in a boat, or a dirigible for as long as it takes to get back on a path that is safe and well-suited to your PRIMARY mode of transit. If you ride 99% or 95% or 75% percent es macht keinen Unterschied für mich -- you're out there feeling the wind and the sun and the cactus, meeting the people along the way, inspiring us all to pay attention -- that's what matters. Keep on peddling!Paul Sheldonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01403542343639642991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1084027558231536347.post-50728993778148784962010-05-01T02:22:49.902-07:002010-05-01T02:22:49.902-07:00Hi Catherine and Oliver,
First of all, I am grea...Hi Catherine and Oliver,<br /> <br />First of all, I am greatly enjoying the write-ups of your adventures - good stuff!<br />And the photos are great too - especially the latest ones of the cactus and clouds - beautiful!<br /> <br />And then, on your comment about your "impure" action of taking the car instead of the bike for 90 miles, I had this thought: All life uses energy to live - is just that man uses too much energy doing useless stuff and making useless shit, and most of that energy is non-reuseable. What you are doing is showing what one can do with energy that is more reusable, increasing sustainability. However, if you ride on a road that will damage the bikes, that seems to me to be less sustainable than taking the car, because the bike has been manufactured (using non-reusable energy) and would have to be repaired (again using non-reusable energy, at least<br />for the most part, probably). So it's a trade-off, in a sense, and you might even be using less non-reusable energy by using the car instead of damaging the bikes. (You could have walked the bikes for those 90 miles, but that would have thrown off your schedule quite a bit.)<br /> <br />My two cents... I have no idea if that makes sense and/or of the math would work out...<br /> <br />Last summer I read a book about a man who walked from the southern tip of South America to the northern tip of North America, and whenever he<br />had to ride (illness, breakdown of material, etc.), he went back to where he left off and walked the part where he had ridden. But he was on a personal mission, whereas it seems to me that your trip is to show what can be done and to publicize a more environmentally-friendly mode of transport. <br /><br />In any case, keep on keeping on - onward and upward!<br /> <br />Love,<br />AntoniaAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13607027923975618081noreply@blogger.com