From Steve Jobs to Big Trees, Why Everyone Loves Bicycling

While most people are still indoors as safety measures against COVID-19, we compiled a few interesting facts about cycling. It is always good to know trivia about things you love. Our riders are passionate not only about riding bikes but also about the environment & ecological balance of our current state. So we compiled a few fun facts that might motivate you to ride cycle more. 

1) Bicycle is the most efficient way to transport. Even Steve Jobs was fascinated with it.

There is nothing much to be written about here. Just watch this 1-minute clip from Steve Jobs' early days & the chart following.

The point he was trying to make is -

"The computer … is the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds"

Be Blown Away!!!

 

So next time you go out on a bike ride, be proud that you are using the one of most efficient machines ever built by humans. 

2) The first bicycle was made in the year 1850

Man's obsession to move fast has been since the early ages & his efforts first paid off in 1817 with the machine then called as Velocipede. Since then, bicycles have been an ever-evolving product where engineers are working day & night to improve efficiencies by even .001% 

3) The Bicycle Hour Challenge

Just like the Tour De France is considered the holiest of holy tours in bicycling, the Hour Record is considered the purest bicycle record form. It is a very simple record - the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. But its simplicity makes it extremely brutal also. 

Innumerable people attempt this record every year. And different types of bicycles have made it a very complex race to time. For details, you can read all about it here. But if you want to know the gist of it, the current record ( as recognized by Union Cycliste Internationale in the men's category) was set in 2019 by Belgian rider Victor Campenaerts, who covered 55.089 km, making him the first person to clock an average of above 55 mph for an hour on UCI approved bicycle. 

4) Carbon footprint of cycle

Ok. Let me put the numbers first. 

Carbon Emission per person per km 

Car (2 people in car) = 316 gm

Bus (50 people) = 120 gm

Bicycle ( 1 rider) = 16 gm

Also, a fully grown tree absorbs around 33 gm per day. 

So, if a person switches from car to riding a bicycle for just 1 km a day, he will be saving approximately 300 gm of carbon emission per day. Or simply put doing the same amount of air cleansing as done by 10 fully grown trees every day.