Posts tagged Tour De France
Is Cycling Sustainable?
June 28, 2023 1:29pm
by
rob
The 110th edition of the tour starts on Saturday, and the website Rouleur asks “How Sustainable is the Tour de France?”
“Cycling, we all know, is going to help save the world, but only if professional cycling doesn’t ruin it first. The Tour de France, and professional cycling, is so bad for the environment that comparing it to the important and beneficial movement of encouraging cycling and active travel in our cities is like looking at two completely different things.”
I would agree that the Tour probably has a larger carbon footprint than the Super Bowl, NASCAR and Burning Man combined. But let’s leave racing aside, how green and sustainable is cycling in general?
People in the bike industry love patting themselves on the back for being environmentally conscious. And sure, we all love nature. But is the bike industry really that green? With planned obsolescence, increased use of carbon fiber, and the trend toward the electrification of everything? I know that my newer 11-speed drivetrains are not gonna hold up as long as my 8-speed drivetrains. And nowadays most of the bike manufacturing is done out of sight out of mind in China, and who knows what the practices are like over there. Not that everything was so great “back in the day,” either. I remember in the early 90s when Klein got a heavy fine from the State of Washington for dumping paint in the river.
Here in Bellingham, Washington, where most of the great trails are literally within a mile or two of downtown, most people still choose to drive to the trails. And many of those riders shuttle to the top, too. Meanwhile road cyclists increasingly use their cars to transport their bikes farther away from–you guessed it–cars.
I’m not innocent, either. Other than maybe tires, chains, tubes and lube, I have enough bike stuff in my house to last me several lifetimes. But I’m guilty of buying new stuff, too! I want a new dropper post. And that new Shimano GRX stuff is HOT!!!
There are some ways that cycling is truly green and helps build a better future:
• E-bikes are increasingly being used as car replacements.
• Local bike co-ops and non-profits do a terrific job of repurposing, reconditioning and recycling. Please support them!
• Recommerce sites like BikeList, eBay and PinkBike help motivate people to get those old bikes out of the garage and into the hands of people who will actually use them.
• Companies like Time and Chris King are making serious efforts to work on sustainability.
• There’s even some hope on tire recycling!
So yes, I still think bikes can be fairly green. The WorldTour? Not so much.
Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Am I being too harsh? Let me know in the comments!
Photo credit: Dan Cavallari
“Cycling, we all know, is going to help save the world, but only if professional cycling doesn’t ruin it first. The Tour de France, and professional cycling, is so bad for the environment that comparing it to the important and beneficial movement of encouraging cycling and active travel in our cities is like looking at two completely different things.”
I would agree that the Tour probably has a larger carbon footprint than the Super Bowl, NASCAR and Burning Man combined. But let’s leave racing aside, how green and sustainable is cycling in general?
People in the bike industry love patting themselves on the back for being environmentally conscious. And sure, we all love nature. But is the bike industry really that green? With planned obsolescence, increased use of carbon fiber, and the trend toward the electrification of everything? I know that my newer 11-speed drivetrains are not gonna hold up as long as my 8-speed drivetrains. And nowadays most of the bike manufacturing is done out of sight out of mind in China, and who knows what the practices are like over there. Not that everything was so great “back in the day,” either. I remember in the early 90s when Klein got a heavy fine from the State of Washington for dumping paint in the river.
Here in Bellingham, Washington, where most of the great trails are literally within a mile or two of downtown, most people still choose to drive to the trails. And many of those riders shuttle to the top, too. Meanwhile road cyclists increasingly use their cars to transport their bikes farther away from–you guessed it–cars.
I’m not innocent, either. Other than maybe tires, chains, tubes and lube, I have enough bike stuff in my house to last me several lifetimes. But I’m guilty of buying new stuff, too! I want a new dropper post. And that new Shimano GRX stuff is HOT!!!
There are some ways that cycling is truly green and helps build a better future:
• E-bikes are increasingly being used as car replacements.
• Local bike co-ops and non-profits do a terrific job of repurposing, reconditioning and recycling. Please support them!
• Recommerce sites like BikeList, eBay and PinkBike help motivate people to get those old bikes out of the garage and into the hands of people who will actually use them.
• Companies like Time and Chris King are making serious efforts to work on sustainability.
• There’s even some hope on tire recycling!
So yes, I still think bikes can be fairly green. The WorldTour? Not so much.
Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Am I being too harsh? Let me know in the comments!
Photo credit: Dan Cavallari