bike and exercise

Some people have worried that using an e-bike means getting less exercise, since the motor assists your pedaling. Apparently multiple studies have found that yes, there's less effort per time, but people with e-bikes spend more time biking, for a larger total amount of (moderate) exercise.

I suspect there's something similar with my (acoustic) bike. I generally use it as "better walking" without really exerting myself often (except where slopes and gravity force me to), and with all the gentle slopes around here, a fair fraction of the time I don't have to pedal at all. But it's getting easy to be out for a few hours, with only my tailbone complaining (and maybe it's finally giving in?) whereas between 90-120 minutes of walking in a day tends to make some joints and muscles complain.

I'm also finding that I've gotten used to the speed, and walking can seem painfully slow...

bike speedometer

A few weeks ago I bought a bike speedometer, some wireless Cateye model. I brought it home, figured out how to install it... and it didn't work. The max range from sensor to computer is 60 cm, which I guess is fine for the typical road bike. But my wheel radius is 3 inches shorter than normal, and my handlebars are high, and it was like 60 cm just to the top of the wheel.

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Urbanism

Finally, you may recall my making several posts about density and walkability and bikeability. Now I have more precise data. Someone on a bike not optimized for speed, making pretty minimal effort, can still trivially break 6 MPH (assuming no major slopes) and easily hit 9 MPH. 12, OTOH, may take some effort, and be less sustainable. (And, depending on block length, may not even be worth the effort -- by the time you got up to speed, it could be time to slow down again for the intersection.)

So assuming an average walking speed of 3 MPH and no hills, people can very easily bike at 2x or 2.5x while making less effort than walking, and likely 3x for the same effort as walking. Thus covering 4x, 6.25x, or 9x the area. Gee, it would be nice if our streets felt safe to bike on, right?