Derek has a tasty offer here:

Loaning out bikes for food sounds like a winner to me. So anyone else? Who wants to borrow the bikes for an evening for lasagne? Scalloped Potatoes? Any kind of noodle casserole? Get creative people, I'm getting hungry just thinking about the possibilities..

[via email]

Hello!

I wanted to inquire about having Intercity Transit’s Bicycle Commuter Contest added to your list of events. This is the 21st annual BCC and encompasses all of Thurston County. Last year over 1000 people signed up, logged their commute miles (recreational miles do not count) and collectively pedaled over 87,500 miles. We prevented the release of over 80,000 lbs of CO2 into the air! Due to rising environmental concerns we are hoping to have another record year for participation. It is a lot like a “Bike to Work Day/Week” event, but spans an entire month to instill bicycle commuting habits that people will continue year round. Everyone that participates gets a package of goodies from area restaurants, bakeries, bike shops, book stores, etc. It is $5 to sign up, but well worth it for the goodies, as well as the free tune up registered participants can get at our Wrencher’s Ball that takes place Friday, April 25th at the Olympia Transit Center.

Let me know if this is something you think is appropriate for your blog. We also have a blog that I am trying to get going (new to this): http://ThurstonBCC.blogspot.com

Thank you, and love your blog!

Kerry Tarullo
2008 BCC Coordinator
Intercity Transit
360.705.5874
360.481.0122 cell
Check out the BCC Blog! ThurstonBCC.blogspot.com

Hola O-Blog Posse, E&I are out & about for the season, shopping on the bicycles. Our trip from Boulevard & Pacific to Fred Meyer in Lacey took 35min(round-trip...and that includes walking around on the sidewalk to the coffee shop...any time E's cyclo-computer detects movement it records, etc...), along a distance of 5.5 miles(round-trip), at an avg. speed of 9.4MPH (top speed of 18.2MPH during the trip).

This trip is not that much quicker in a car, plus no auto fuel was burned...it is bad enough that all the stuff we bought already has a "petroleum history" to it.

So, it perturbs me to no extent that some wonks on this blog consider ecology to be a fad or cult. Has anybody on this blog heard of the term "peak oil"?

I don't want to trade insult or BS.

--I'm just trying to start a local dialog on oil in American society...I figure that no one wants to pollute & that folks all want to save $$$, so maybe we-all can have a productive/reflective dialog:

Ya know we bicycle, but we also have ideas about a non-profit buyers' club that would offer the delivery of products locally to help folks reduce car trips.

-create local delivery jobs

-use pedestrian & bicycle transpo where appropriate & green vehicles for larger items

-feature online portal for individual & group purchasing

-reduce overall cost across the community for staples & basic commodities (like milk)

-form a transportation collective for trip sharing, community fuel depot, and automotive voc/tech.

I'm also interested in learning more about electric vehicle conversions, but this idea is separate from the nonprofit buyers' club. The buyers' club would be a 501c3/501c12 nonprofit, and offer products/services "at cost" like a coop with quarterly dividends for members.

E wants to start a FlexCar down here. 

any thoughts?