duluth - looking good

[chanrider]

I’m pilin’ on… implying that you must use gas to ride your bike is pretty lame Hank. I lived downtown with a mtn bike for years and I found kick ass rides all over the place right from my apartment… just get some freakin’ street friendly tires and tear it up from home. There is great “terrain” to found in anyone’s backyard. Actually I have no idea where you live but it does not matter, implying you must drive your car to a bike trail head kind of makes you sound like a complete hypocrite. If this is what you really do don’t admit to it on a public forum while crying about fuel consumption.

[Hank]

Hank,
You need help man!
It costs you 10 bucks to go ride your bike? I think you just contradicted yourself.
Americans are accustomed to a higher quality of life. Americans are not addicted to oil.
If you don't like it here MOVE!
Quit yer whinnin' you sissy!
AAARRRRRR!

I could move to Hood River, no problem. But, I like it around here.

If you don't understand this chart, I'll explain it to ya. We are headed for a economic crash.

[champlin]

You guys are all fricken nuts, I don't care how I get somewhere, unfortunately I have to have an SUV to carry all my crap that I use and let other people use to go kiting, not to mention getting out on lakes that are not plowed in the winter, I had a honda civic si at one time but almost didn't make it off a lake once and that was it. Even so the SUV's don't get that bad of gas milage anymore at least not like they used to, unless you drive a Ford Excursion or something that big then your only getting 9 to 12 miles to the gallon anyway. So take what you need to ge to the lakes and have a good time, there is nothing anyone is going to be able to do about the consumption the USA uses anyway, so just live life guys and have a good time!

[Woody]

Charts, Shmarts

Since when did anyone let gas mileage come into wind factor? If the wind is blowing, we'll be riding. If there's a "gathering" of wind junkies, we'll be driving. Simple as that.

We pay over $4 a gallon here in Canada. You don't see us driving our dog sleds to work because of the high fuel prices. Be happy that the US has some of the lowest fuel prices on the planet!

Just 'ride'....

[Hank]

But we get nothing in return for those low gas prices except consuming 25% of the Worlds oil. At least in Europe, the high gas prices are used for public good. AKA, health coverage for all. Now our state wants to raise our gas tax to pay for the new 35W bridge. As early as 1991, MnDot's report cleary stated the poor condition this bridge was in! So they add 2 more lanes? The bridge was designed for 6 lanes of traffic in 1967, not 8.

Since when did anyone let gas mileage come into wind factor? If the wind is blowing, we'll be riding. If there's a "gathering" of wind junkies, we'll be driving. Simple as that.

You fail to understand the concept of "demand destruction".

[Woody]

Hank Buddy,

You need to spend a day with me and have a pull from a bottle of 'chill'...I have lots!

[Fred MPL]

Sounds like a balance needs to be struck. My opinion is that it is pretty selfish to comopletely turn a blind eye to issues such as this. On the other hand, it's almost impossible to live a totally green lifestyle.

I think a lot of people would benefit by using mass transportation just to get to and from work. The benefits are three-fold.

1. More than likely it is cheaper than driving and paying for parking (assuming you work downtown)
2. Less cars on the road mean an easier commute (read more time for windsports)
3. Of course it is more environmentally friendly

My hope is someday that my, soon to be daughter, will be able to drive a car for pleasure use. Unfortunately, unless people make significant changes towards mass transportation or technology that does not require a limited resource (oil), most people will not have the luxury of driving when and wherever they want.

Try taking some small steps. Maybe bike to work, or just try the bus or train. Chances are if you are going somewhere on the weekend you will NEED your car.

I think as used hybrids become more available, people will find out that we have a really big opportunity to become more eco-friendly.

Heck, I am pretty much a conservative but this really is an important issue.

Does anyone want to talk about capital punishment

[P R Key]

Hank,
Be thankful that we are all kiters/windsurfers. A lot of us do these sports because its green!

You should go to a wakeboarding chat/community and voice your opinion to them and quit harping on us. Maybe we should chart out how much energy it takes us to go kiting and how much we energy we conserve by kiting.

[Tom L]

Hank,

Here's a nice forum that would love to read your thoughts on Peak Oil and Demand Destruction. I'd post there, why pick on us sailors, go right for the jugular.

http://www.monstertruckcollectors.com/i ... ame=Forums

[JRN]

Next time I'll have to post in code so Hank can't carp about my reckless fuel consumption! Drove 180 mi. to Duluth...25 mi/gal.= 7 gal@ 2.75=$22.50. or around $45 both ways. Dammit Hank, now that I actually look at it that is a nice chunk of change! Why couldn't you just allow me to wallow in my myopic mire of mindless bliss. Thanks so much for bringing me back down to reality. I feel so much better now, knowing that I am squandering our precious natural resources in pursuit of my own selfish pleasure. Whoopee...I'm sure that $45 would have been much better spent on 30 seconds of helicopter opertation as our so called
"Leaders" gape in awe at their collective blunder. Peace Out, Jim N.

[ice_kmauve]

Jim, I know you created a nearly unforgivable waste of resources driving to duluth and back, you awful, awful monster. What I'd be more concerned about is the 4 hours you spent focusing your attention on driving. You could have been watching TV with that time.

[dave t]

You fail to understand the concept of "demand destruction".

Or maybe you fail to understand the concept of "stoke destruction".

Every board-head in the state could drive to Duluth and back 5 days a week or stay home reading wind speeds on the net. It won't change the arrival date of the very last supertanker by a single day. I do what I can but I won't give up the activities I love to save a few gallons of gas.

It's too bad most of us can't afford to live on a lake but even if we did, we would half the time still need to drive to a good launch to catch wind because it is always different.

Since we need to drive to the launch anyway, why not drive to the best lake we have when it is set to produce some nice wind and waves?

Catching a good day on Superior is about as good as it gets around here so you can sit home and worry about the fate of the world without oil or you can get off your butt and get the most out of the time we've got til it's gone.

[Tighe]

Wow, this thread sure went astray. Let's keep the stoke positive. There is a lot of crap out in the world, let's just keep focused here on the stoke.

[Hank]

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies

Oil has been the cheapest and most convenient energy resource ever discovered by humans. During the past two centuries, people in industrial nations accustomed themselves to a regime in which more fossil-fuel energy was available each year, and the global population grew quickly to take advantage of this energy windfall. Industrial nations also came to rely on an economic system built on the assumption that growth is normal and necessary, and that it can go on forever.

When oil production peaks, those assumptions will come crashing down.

As we move from a historic interval of energy growth to one of energy decline, we are entering uncharted territory. It takes some effort to adjust one's mental frame of reference to this new reality.

Oil discovery in the US peaked in the 1930s; oil production peaked roughly forty years later. Since 1970, the US has had to import more oil nearly every year in order to make up for its shortfall from domestic production. The oil business started in America in the late nineteenth century, and the US is the most-explored region on the planet: more oil wells have been drilled in the lower-48 US than in all other countries combined. Thus, America's experience with oil will eventually be repeated elsewhere.

Global Discovery of oil peaked in the 1960s. Since production curves must eventually mirror discovery curves, global oil production will doubtless peak at some point in the foreseeable future. When, exactly? According to many informed estimates, the peak should occur around 2010, give or take a few years.

When the global peak in oil production is reached, there will still be plenty of petroleum in the ground - as much as has been extracted up to the present, or roughly one trillion barrels. But every year from then on it will be difficult or impossible to pump as much as the year before.

Unconventional petroleum resources - so-called "heavy oil," "oil sands," and "shale oil" - are plentiful but extremely costly to extract, a fact that no technical innovation is likely to change.

The hard math of energy resource analysis yields an uncomfortable but unavoidable prospect: even if efforts are intensified now to switch to alternative energy sources, after the oil peak industrial nations will have less energy available to do useful work - including the manufacturing and transporting of goods, the growing of food, and the heating of homes.

Given the fact that our national economy is based on the assumption that economic activity must grow perpetually, the result is likely to be a recession with no bottom and no end.

http://www.richardheinberg.com/endorsem ... partysover

[TomG]

I don't get political to often, however, this BS about raising the gas tax for the bridge is a joke. I also not to versed in the peak oil thing so I cannot speak on that.

I've found KTLK an invaluable from of information. Hank I would suggest you call Jason and comment on the peak oil. I would like to hear on that. I like to be informed.

However, Here is info on the local LRT and how a waste of space and money it is. This is Jason Lewis Radio show.

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/ ... _-_KTLK_FM

Also Don't be fooled if you think that humans and are SUV's are causing global Warming.. Then watch this.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9933351566


Now I feel we do need to get off the Fuel thing and if We americans put our minds to it we can and will figure out a better form of fuel that will meet our way of life.

[Tom L]

Amen..........

Hank lives in a dark & dreary world. Hank, I don't know why you even bother to get up in the morning.

You have little or no faith in the ingenuity of man, if you don't think the free market & market forces will eventually solve the energy crisis.

[Bryce]

Also Don't be fooled if you think that humans and are SUV's are causing global Warming.. Then watch this.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 9933351566

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Dur ... _director)

I hate to stir the pot.. but seen and looked up that video at one point. The video and the guy who make it are a joke as much as the peak oil people... Propagana on both sides... no real (non distorted) facts.[/url]

[Dave Z]

Yup - ya gotta dig a little deeper - stir, stir stir:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_ ... ng_Swindle


Carl Wunsch, professor of Physical Oceanography at MIT, was originally featured in the programme. Afterwards he said that he was "completely misrepresented" in the film and had been "totally misled" when he agreed to be interviewed. He called the film "grossly distorted" and "as close to pure propaganda as anything since World War Two."

Hey, Back on topic - Duluth might be good this Sunday. LETS DRIVE!!!!!

[Travii]

Wow. Is this a kite forum?

The real solutions to our energy problem won't come from a bunch of politicians arguing until they're blue in the face. Furthermore, arguing on the internet is retarded.

The real solutions will come from the research labs and universities. I am an aerospace engineer at the U of M. We do have solutions to the energy crisis in the works. They need just a bit more time and research dollars.

Keep it above the belt guys,
Travis

[Tighe]

would love a good session on Duluth. Super psyched to spend more time on the SS Fuse. Vivid memories of the few sessions last year, big open troughs, glossy faces, oh yeah : )