The Weight of Gas

OK, I actually haven't received the bike and haven't even signed the legal release and contractual stuff that goes along with winning (like I have to acknowledge that riding a bike can be hazardous, I agree not to run for public office for a year, and I can't plug or endorse any products). But I'm excited and a bit daunted. Part of the overall plan for BikeTown is to track how much weight we bike commuters lose over the course of the summer. I'm not the best control group for that experiment, as I'm also gearing up for running the Twin Cities Marathon this Fall.

But I am into saving on gas and d0ing my part to reduce dependency on oil. I drive a rusting 1990 Ford F-150 pick up truck, which gobbles up gas [but lets my five year-old son ride up in the cab with me so we can talk]. At $2 or more a gallon, I'm spending about ten bucks every other day in all the driving I do. Yeah, I'm one of those guys who, instead of just filling up the tank once, puts about $10 in the tank all the time, thinking that I'm not really using that much gas.

So, we'll see how much this will save me over the summer. Instead of losing pounds of fat, I'll shed pounds of gas. With a gallon of gas weighing about 6 pounds (water weighs just over eight), I stand to lose hundreds of pounds.