Logging your Biking and Commuting Miles

Noah from the Commute by Bike blog (and his own KC Bike Commuting blog) has posted a very useful Bike Log spreadsheet which he plans to use to track all his biking miles in 2008. It's clear that this spreadsheet is useful, as he had a whole year of experience using his 2007 spreadsheet to learn what needed to change - so the 2008 version is sure to be a hit. As he says in his comment reply to other readers (who are also suggesting he check out bikejournal.com and other specific sites), "Google Spreadsheets lets you update from anywhere as well as collaborating with others, including revision control. It would be trivial to keep an online team spreadsheet for all of the bike commuters you know in town, or anything of the sort".

Site:	Commute By Bike blog and KC Bike Commuting blog
Page/Post:	Keep Track of your Riding
Spreadsheet #1:	2007 Bike Log Spreadsheet (this one is fully loaded with 2007 data)
Spreadsheet #2:	2008 Bike Log Spreadsheet (this one is improved, but almost empty, as he has just begun to use it in 2008) Get Your Own Blank Copy by Clicking Here (note, each click on this link will give you another copy in your google docs list)

Note: That "get your own copy" link above is a google spreadsheet version of the excel file posted by Noah on the Commute by Bike blog - which I've imported to give people more direct access. I only made one change to that file: I added a link back to the author's blog within the summary sheet. You can see a preview of it here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pO3Ze62OAU2HnHswCF-NCDw&hl=en

Collaborating Information on Bike Sharing

There's a new trend in public transportation called "Bike Sharing" - discussed in a BusinessWeek article and well-followed by a blog by MetroBike LLC. MetroBike recently blogged about a collaborative spreadsheet started by TransLink (South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority) which is attempting to share information about these Bike Sharing programs across all the cities which provide them. An interesting use case in global collaboration online - with a green tint ;)

Site:	Bike-Sharing by MetroBike
Page/Post:	Online Public Bicycle System Inventory
Spreadsheet:	Public Bicycle System Inventory Spreadsheet

Audi A2 Fuel Consumption

The International Audi A2 Owners club seems like a pretty active online community. One user posted a Fuel Consumption log that looks like it's been maintained since February of 2005. Most interesting was the calculation which shows this automobile achieving 62 miles per gallon!

Site:	Audi A2 Int'l Owners Club
Page/Post:	Alan_UK Spreadsheet Post
Spreadsheet:	Audi A2 Fuel Consumption Log

Calculating the efficiency of an Electric Car

A comment on the GM-Volt site (from Darren - Comment #45 on this post) included a link to this Electic Car Efficiency Calcuator. Darren ends his comment with: "My electricity would have to cost more than $0.225 CAD/kWh to make the volt more expensive to drive than a car getting 50MPG. However, it was mentioned before and I agree that they payback isn’t what’s going back into my wallet. The payback is the reduction of my carbon footprint and dependence on foreign oil while driving a car that doesn’t look like a suppository."

Site: GM-Volt Site
Page/Post: What will it cost to drive a Chevy Volt
Spreadsheet: Electric Car Efficiency Calculator

Growing Tomatoes and tracking results

Earthbox is the self-described "Worlds most revolutionary gardening system". It is a "maintenance-free, award-winning, high-tech growing system controls soil conditions, eliminates guesswork and more than doubles the yield of a conventional garden-with less fertilizer, less water and virtually no effort." In the Forums, there is a discussion and spreadsheet regarding the tracking of results from growing different species of Tomatoes. While their data set isn't extensive (1 row per sheet?), it still is an interesting example for those more daring to collect results collaboratively.

Site: Earthbox
Page/Post: Forum - BER Topic Revisited
Spreadsheet: BER Results for Tomatoes

Hybrid Car Mileage Tracking: Honda Civic

CleanMPG is a community site where you can "Learn how to raise fuel economy and lower emissions in whatever you drive". A new user (dSharp) posted this spreadsheet on the forums which tracks and charts his fuel economy. A good example for those who want to do the same.

Site: CleanMPG.com
Page/Post: Fuel Economy and Hybrid Premium
Spreadsheet: Honda Civic Hybrid Mileage Log