# Human on a bicycle is the most efficient traveler
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-on-a-bicycle-is-the-most-efficient-traveler/958214
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 22, 2022, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-on-a-bicycle-is-the-most-efficient-traveler/958214 "2022-01-22T06:02:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-on-a-bicycle-is-the-most-efficient-traveler/958214/21 "2022-01-23T23:16:23Z")
For skis, wouldn’t it be n+2?
EDIT: Oh, and I did once see a fellow who worked as a landscaper, who hauled a lawnmower behind him on a trailer on his bike. Some of the places where he said he had clients were well away from where I met him, as in, it would have taken me (without a trailer) over an hour to bike there.
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### Author:  [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2022, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-on-a-bicycle-is-the-most-efficient-traveler/958214/22 "2022-01-24T05:19:13Z")
ebikes are great. I have a pretty early gen one that has a lot of flaws, but it’s still a ton of fun to ride. Most serious bikers would give the thumbs up to see someone out enjoying themselves even when I would pass them on the uphill. 🤣 I would always say, be happy to trade bikes if we can trade knees as well. My knees just can do the Seattle hills, but on an assisted ebike it’s totally doable.
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [January 24, 2022, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-on-a-bicycle-is-the-most-efficient-traveler/958214/23 "2022-01-24T21:42:56Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#):
>
> > [@Dr.Strangelove](#):
> >
> > CSX says:
> >
> > > CSX trains can move a ton of freight approximately 492 miles on a single gallon of fuel.
>
> My trucking friends would always say that 200 of those will be in the wrong direction! Which is to say that a train will move freight 492 miles when you need to move it 92 miles from point A to point B. Real life examples from that time (mid 90s). Something going from Wichita to New Orleans would often go through Chicago and take three days.
>
> Disclaimer these “trucking friends” were on the staff of the Owner Operator Independent Trucking Association, a trucker’s lobbying group.
But isn’t that pretty much true for any hub-spoke transportation network? If you ship something by FedEx Ground it’s probably going on a truck to Memphis, even if Memphis in the wrong direction, unloaded, and then loaded onto another truck to its destination. And pretty much the same if you ship it by air, except it’s moving faster.
Granted, your independent owner-operator trucking friends probably do take their loads directly from point A to point B.
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