dasman’s World

After reading today that the Australian Government is considering subsidising the cost of converting cars to run on LPG, I got curious about how environmentally friendly such an option is.

Turns out, its pretty good!

As background for those who haven’t heard about LPG conversions, it is possible to convert cars to run on Liquid Petroleum Gas, rather than petrol. LPG is available in most large petrol stations, and is substantially cheaper than petrol. On the downside, you do use more than standard petrol, and the conversion process typically costs between $2000 and $2500. Because of the relatively high cost of conversion, the more your drive, the more cost-effective the conversion is - Taxis, for instance, are often converted to run on LPG. Subsidising the cost of conversion, as the Government is considering, would make this attractive for people who drive shorter distances too.

The Australian National University seems to have done a feasibility study on converting their fleet to LPG. They found that using LPG resulted in between 12 to 24% less CO2 emissions over unleaded petrol. Or, to look at it another way, its like taking the car off the road 1 to 2 days a fortnight.

Thats not bad. Its worth pointing out though (as a card-carrying Prius fan!) that driving a Prius gives a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions! And cycling….well, thats better again!

Continuing what has become a tradition for me, I went in the Big Canberra Bike Ride again this week.

This is a great event they hold each year, on the Canberra Day long weekend. It consists of a 25 km ride (not a race!) around Canberra, with a stop-off halfway along for cup of tea, and a slice of carrot cake. Very civilised!

I’m not sure what the numbers were like this year, but last year I know they had around 800 riders. People are notoriously bad judgers of crowd numbers, but it looked similar to last year, so I’d guess 800 again this year.

Here’s a little piccy I snapped from my phone’s camera about 30 minutes before the start:

The weather looks a little forbidding in the photo, but it was actually a really nice 20 or so degrees (thats Celsius!). And it was a nice added element to have the Hot Air balloons float over as we prepared to start.

Being a very social ride, you get all sorts joining in - I saw at least 3 unicycles and a whole pile of recumbents. Ages seemed to range from around 10 to around 80. Really good to see so many different people getting out there.

A great day, that was finished off for me by brunch at a nearby cafe with some mates! Its a hard life… Going back for my next mountain bike ride around the 24 Hr Mont track is going to be a real shock to the system…

Anyways, highly recommended if you’ve never done it before. For the no-yet-cyclists, a nice, gentle introduction into riding around the Nation’s capital. And for the more experienced, a good ride with a great atmosphere. Whats not to like?!

Got up nice and early today to take my road bike out for a little pedal. The weather was glorious - blue skies, but not too hot, maybe 20 degrees. It was early, around 7am, so traffic wasn’t too bad.

Would have been idyllic if it wasn’t for the 5 different magpies taking offense at my presence during the hour long ride. One of them was particularly persistant, swooping me for a good kilometre or so.

I don’t bear them any ill-will though. They’re just following standard defensive behaviour based on learned experience with other humans. Swooping season last 4-5 weeks typically, which is a tiny fraction of a year, and a bike helmet protects you from most of it.

Plus its a powerful training motivator. Amazing how much faster you pedal with a magpie snapping at your ear!

The weather in Canberra is improving, so I’m running out of excuses to not be on my bike. To give me added incentive, I’m spending hard-earned money on cycling “stuff”!

There is a planned purchase of a new mountain bike coming up - exciting stuff - stay tuned!

In the meantime, I’ve bought a CamelBak - for those who don’t know these are backpacks, typically designed with cyclists in mind that also include a water reservoir, with a drinking tube. I’ve taken it on one short ride, and wow! So much better than your standard drink bottle - you can hold heaps more for a start, but more importantly, you can grab a drink whenever, even when powering up a steep hill, picking your way between gravel, rocks and loose sand.

With a waterbottle, you’d be stuck waiting till you got to an “easy bit” at the top before you could slake your thirst, plus your water bottle would have that tasty flavour of dust

Saw the start of the 24 Hour Mont yesterday, and it was great! Apparently something like 2000 riders in around 600 teams.

For those who aren’t across it, the event runs for 24 hours, with the idea being to do as many laps as you can. Obviously, the bigger the team you’re in, the easier - you get more of a break between laps.

And yes, there are some people who join up in a team of 1. Hats off to you peoples!

Its certainly a pretty inspiring sight. The next day I hopped straight on my MTB and did some checking out of Majura Pines. Maybe next year, I’ll get off my butt, and go in the Mont myself - assuming I can find a team of 50 odd people

Check out the start of the event: