Richmond Outside

Pedal Power, an advocacy and outreach group formed by Ethan Seltzer to promote energy sustainability education, is hosting its annual Pedal Power riding event this Saturday, March 17. (http://pedalpower2012.eventbrite.com/). Richmond Cycling Corps will hose the event in its Scott’s Addition facilities.  They’ll hook your bike up to trainers which are capable of producing electricity. The effort (i) illustrates how hard it is to generate power and (ii) generates electricity that powers the event, including music and cook-tops. The event includes competitions to see who can crank the most watts, tons of cool swag, plus beer and grilled-cheese sandwiches.

Seltzer said that, as of yesterday afternoon, there were still 17 of 40 spots remaining. Last year the race/ride/festival of power generation sold out. One of the cool features is that the power generated is measured in watts/kilogram, so a 35-year-old dude with 4-percent body fat and quads of steel can race against someone far less fit — someone like me.

Last year, Seltzer said, with 40 people riding for one hour, they generated just enough electricity to power the cooktops that cooked lunch. He hopes people make the connection between how hard they’ve worked to produce that energy and how easy it is to spend it — and get fit in the meantime!