San Jose, CA. Bike to Work hosted its sixth annual Commuter Race on Tuesday, May 12, 2009.
A hybrid bicycle competed against a Toyota Prius hybrid, a Zenn all electric car, a regular bicycle and a tandem bike duo.
All the bikes beat the cars by a good 10-20 minutes during the treasure hunt-style race that began at the intersection of Front and Cooper streets, made stops at The Buttery on Soquel and Branciforte avenues and again at New Leaf Market on 41st Avenue before crossing the finish line at the tiki on the Capitola Esplanade.
The tandem team came in first place with a time of 22 minutes. The Zenn came in fourth place at 42 minutes, followed two minutes later by the Prius.
While there have been a couple of years where cars came in first place, the race was meant to show how efficient bike commuting can be, as well as to promote a cycling as a healthy commute solution both for people’s bodies and the environment, race organizers said. The cyclists were able to maneuver around cars and traffic, while the two cars were stuck.
All the race participants chose their own route. The rules were to follow road laws and be safe.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:05 am
The guy on the left is riding an English Brompton folding bike:
http://nycewheels.com/brompton-folding-bike.html
We will try to get them to also add an electric bike to the mix in next years NYC commuter race (Which is won by bicycles every year – course)
My choice for the electric commuter bike would be the OHM Urban:
http://nycewheels.com/ohm-urban-electric-bike.html
Bert