Bikers: friend or foe?

A friend recently sparked a debate on cycling as a form of transportation. The superficial notion that biking is always better for the environment is not necessarily correct, according to a recent study done by a business school prof. The situation turns out to be more nuanced when you consider that by cycling, people will become healthier, live longer, and therefore use more energy and emit more greenhouse gases. He concludes that the longer lived but more efficient people will end up polluting about as much as the car drivers, give or take.

There was much subsequent debate on whether he did the study correctly, etc. Even if we assume he was correct, the choice becomes: bike and live longer or drive and die young. I think the answer is obvious.

Another interesting conclusion is that the worst people, in terms of pollution, are those who exercise but don't cycle. They will drive, thereby polluting, and live longer, thus polluting more.

While I'm at it, I'd like to share a real-world biker vs. driver confrontation. I was on one of my favorite rides, involving climbing, descending, rolling hills, forests, lakes, fellow cyclists and the usually very polite drivers. On a technical descent with no shoulder, a driver started tailgating me, honking several times. We were going about 40 in a zone marked with "caution 25mph" signs, and I was busy trying not to die, so I didn't pay too much attention to the impatient driver behind me. Usual protocol is to wait for a safer place to pull to the side and let the driver past. This lady didn't give me time to do that and practically brushed me as she ripped past my in a steep curve with cars coming up the other side. As she did so, she gave a blast of the horn that nearly scared me off the side of the cliff. My cycling friends will not be surprised to hear that she was driving a SUV--experienced cyclists are well aware of the correlation between car size and jerk-to-cyclist. At the end of the descent, I caught up to her at a stop light, pulled next to her, and motioned for her to roll down the window. Most drivers in this case ignore me, so I have to decide between doing something violent to their car, yelling, and fuming silently. Luckily, she obliged me and rolled down her window.

"Do you realize you almost killed me, and didn't save any time? What were you doing on a Saturday that you'd risk manslaughter to try to save a minute or two?"
"You didn't pull over to the shoulder."
"There wasn't a shoulder. It's just like going uphill behind a truck--you just have to go slower until I can pull over."
"But you didn't pull over to the side."
"Haven't you ever heard the phrase 'share the road'? That's because roads are built for bikes and cars."
"Well, not bikes."

The light turned and she drove off, undoubtedly thinking she was right all along.