Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Sun, 22 Jun 2008

SketchFest brings you: 3000 miles!

Ok, that's kind of a weird mash-up of topics.

Today, I had a walkthrough of the Theatre Off Jackson, where SketchFest Seattle will be having its big fundraiser event tomorrow night (you're coming, right?). I pondered my transportation options: Ninja 250, at 50 mpg and $4.35 a gallon, or bicycle, with what amounts to free energy costs?

Of course, there are other factors: I've been out of town for the last week, in San Jose on business, where I didn't have access to a bike. I did walk to work from the hotel, but that's about 1/8th of my normal amount of exercise, so I was feeling kind of sluggish. Parking in the International District (where ToJ is located) also ranges from terrible to atrocious, so even a motorcycle would have a hard time parking (one of the only knocks against ToJ actually, which is in many respects an excellent place to hold SketchFest).

Perhaps playing a small part was the knowledge, lurking in the back of my mind, that my normal bicycle had about 2995 (or so) miles on the odometer before I set out, so this ride would take me over 3000 miles. It's another useless milestone, but it's pretty cool in a way. If I had ridden those miles on the Ninja, I would have paid about $225 in gas (calling it $3.75/gal average over the last year and a half). It's not really that much in terms of money, but it's pretty tremendous in terms of emitted carbon and pollution -- the Ninja has no catalytic converter, so it puts out all the smog stuffs that cars stopped puffing out the tailpipe in the 80s.

Anyway, it was pretty cool, when I stopped at Uwajimaya to pass some time (having arrived early), to note that my odometer now read 3001.

Posted at 17:47 permanent link category: /bicycle

Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater

Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net.