Mr. Boehner,
In reviewing your comments on the new energy bill, I found many of them to be on the mark, however, the comment that people riding their bicycles to work that “this is not going to solve Americas energy problem� is not incorrect, however, none of the legislation currently before the house is “going to solve America’s energy problem�. Let me elaborate briefly; it is well known that no single program is going to help us become independent of overseas oil, but by riding my bicycle to work last year I avoided the use of well over 100 gallons of gasoline, Insignificant I know, but in July of last year one of my co-workers started using public transit AND his bike to get to work, he lives 80 miles away and avoided the direct consumption of roughly 1,000 gallons of fuel in 6 months! Two weeks ago another co-worker started riding his bike to work and estimates that he will avoid direct consumption of over 200 gallons of fuel in 2008.
I have since moved and am living farther from work this year and anticipate a savings of 250 gallons this year, so adding it all up for my office of 10 people, we are going to save almost 2,500 gallons of fuel this year!!! Were there a tax incentive for bicycle commuting, and 1 in 100 working adults (181 million according to the US Census) took advantage it it, with an average commute distance of 10 miles (average mpg of 20 for actual fleet on the ground, not cafe) for 30 weeks of the year, that would have the potential to save over 135.8 million gallons of gasoline or a little over 6.9 million barrels of oil ( a little under 1/2 of one days national consumption). And that’s if only 1 in 100 people took advantage. My experience is that where I live, roughly 1 in 50 working adults use a bicycle to get to work, and that number is increasing every year.
So next time you think that the sweat of people riding their bikes to work is just a quaint gesture, here are some numbers to think about, just like voting, every individual can make a difference in the fight to become independent from aggressive oil-rich countries.

Thank you for your time

“Let’s have a minute’s silence for all those people who are sitting in traffic on the way to the gym to ride a stationary bicycle.” – US Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)

I’m going to keep trying.

And although you feel the need to mock those who try to make things better, I understand it’s from the injury the tools have inflicted on you and I really hope what we’re doing will help heal you someday.

This year we even have a presidential candidate that promotes bicycling in his platform. Are you actively supporting him or are you just going to sit around and complain about it?

So cheer up, it’s not just cyclists getting screwed.