FW: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!

-----Original Message-----
From: David Farber <dave@farber.net>
Date: Thursday, Sep 22, 2005 5:53 pm
Subject: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway!

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@gmail.com>
Date: September 22, 2005 5:46:21 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Where to go? Which way to go? No gas anyway! Reply-To: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@gmail.com>

Dave,

The bicycle touring list has been having some discussion about bicycles as transportation in this sort of disaster, both as transportation for evacuation and as transportation within a disaster area.

For evacuation, a touring bicyclist can easily make 8-10 miles per hour with a load of 40-60 lbs, and many typically ride 75-100 miles a day. Even an average bicyclist can make 5-7 miles per hour, and 50-60 miles or so a day isn't a big stretch, especially with motivation. That's not enough to get you from Houston to Austin, but it's certainly enough to get you from Galveston to Houston, and a lot faster than the reports we're getting today.

For transportation within a disaster area, a bike is faster than walking and easier to maneuver over/around debris than a vehicle.

So a bike is not a solution in all cases, but it ought to be included in the space of possibilities.

By the way, are the back roads as jammed as the major highways? The map shows a spiderweb of farm roads between western Houston and Austin.

Mary

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