[CR]We are truly out of the mainstream

(Example: Racing:Jean Robic)

Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 20:07:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Tom Dalton" <tom_s_dalton@yahoo.com>
To: classicbicycle@gmail.com, Classic Rendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR]We are truly out of the mainstream

Ray wrote:

I still go back to my grammar school science class. The amount of energy it takes to walk the bike up a hill or ride up a hill is the same. I cannot cheat physics. It takes me just as much energy to carry a bike up a hill as it does to ride it over that same hill.

If some one looks at me cross for riding my old bikes, I take it in stride knowing that no matter what bicycle any of us owns, it takes the same amount of energy to go over a hill for a given weight. We all experience this when we gear up to go over a hill. If we are able to go over the hill in a high gear then it is harder to pedal but uses fewer pedal strokes. If we gear it down we pedal easier but more strokes. Same amount of energy just spread out differently.

Sorry Ray, but it's back to grammar school science class for you. The energy that you are talking about is potential energy gained (atop the hill), not the various forms of energy expended to aquire that potential energy. And, while the majority of the energy that we will expend to get up that hill, irrespective of the mode, is radiated as heat, a bike is going to get you up there more efficiently than walking (or a car) and, yes, certain bikes will do it just a little more efficiently than others.

Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA USA

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