There were two good items in the January/February issue of Bicycling Magazine. Unfortunately, neither is available online. The first was about local mechanic Santiago "Pinky" Gonzalez and the second about bike commuting.
Gonzalez is one of the founders of Revolution Cycles and runs the tech center at the 11,000 square foot Clarendon store. The article mentions how he's built bikes for the Secret Service, National Park Police, Lance Armstrong and Presidents Clinton and Bush. He points out that Secret Service agents ride their bikes hard (our tax dollars at work) and have ruined numerous rims and cracked a few frames.
The second article is about the value of bike commuting. A 29 mile bike commute (the amount the average American commutes each day) would save $12, reduce auto emissions by 24 pounds and burn 1315 calories. Then they have advice: get a comfortable bike, put slick tires and lights on it, use a backpack or seat post pack instead of a messenger bag (it can hurt your back), go slow if you have no shower, turn your commute into a workout (mine already is) by doing intervals at traffic lights, map several routes - some that are direct and some that are pleasant, and finally some stuff about rolling over storm grates. Of course I've had that "is biking cheaper?" argument and while I'm sure it is, people who I respect are adamant that it isn't.
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