Tour of Presteigne

This weekend sees the launch of one of the world's most unusual and interesing cycle events, when electric bicycle enthusiasts, manufacturers, developers and supporters get together for two days in the Welsh border country to celebrate, share, and compete in a friendly way. www.tourdepresteigne.co.uk.

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This is the fourth year of the Tour de Presteigne and Green Wheelsshow and each year its International reputation grows so that it is now seen as THE most important date in the Electric Bike calendar.This year all the most important manufacturers will be showing bikes at the Industrial Estate in Presteigne which is an ideal venue for people to try out all the latest makes and models.There will be bikes on show from eZee, Powabyke, Wisper, Kalkhoff, Emotion, Urban Mover,PowerSmart, Airnimal, Nano, Heinzmann and lots more. The organisers also expect to have examples of the brand new groundbreaking design from ex -MclarenFormula 1 engineer Richard Thorpe who has just launched a brand new British lightweight portable two wheeled electric transport machine, The GoCycle. In addition visitors to the show will also be the first in the country to try out a new range of electric sports bikes from the renowned Spanish bike maker BH. These sporty pedelec machines branded Emotion are probably the most handsome electric bikes ever made and are being imported by the tiny Presteigne firm OnBike.

It is a mark of how important this small Mid-Border show has become that they have also been chosen alongside the Geneva Motor Show as a venue for people to come and see the fabulous Morgan LIFE Car. This prototypewas developed with the aid of local hydrogen engineer, Hugo Spowersthrough his company Riversimple. It is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and emits only water vapour. The car is expected to accelerate from 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds with a top speed of 80 to 85 mph and a range of 250 miles. The LIFECar is a very efficient vehicle - the fuel consumption is claimed to be the equivalent of 178 mpg. If the hydrogen it uses is produced using renewable energy, say from hydroelectricity, this makes the Morgan a true zero emissions vehicle. The car on display is not a production vehicle, but Morgan is planning to put into production a car which is derived from it, using hybrid power."

Comments

[Elsa]

Check this link, I am currently reading the book in french I bought in Paris, it was translated in English as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epsxtnz6878

Product Description
A best-seller in France, and already translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Korean, Herve Kempf's "How the Rich Are Destroying the Earth" now appears in its first English edition. In this important primer on the link between global ecology and the global economy, Kempf makes the following observations: First, that the planet's ecological situation is growing ever worse, despite the efforts of millions of engaged citizens around the world. And second, despite environmentalists' emphasis that 'we're all in the same boat', the world's economic elites - who continue to benefit by plundering the environment - have access to 'lifeboats' that insulate them from the resulting catastrophes. Societies have not been able to effectively combat the expanding ecological crisis because it is intimately linked to the social crisis in which the ruling form of capitalism has been organized to impede democratic initiatives.This link explains the failure to make progress against the greatest emergency of our time, because in this relationship the oligarchy plays an essential and destructive role. For this reason, solving the ecological crisis depends on disrupting the power of the world's elite. We cannot understand the entwined ecological and social crises, Kempf argues, if we don't see them as the two sides of the same disaster - a disaster that comes from a system piloted by a dominant social strata that has no drive other than greed, no ideal other than conservatism, no dream other than technology. But Kempf also calls for measured optimism: 'Despite the scale of the challenges that await us, solutions are emerging and - faced with the sinister prospects the oligarchs promote - the desire to remake the world is being reborn'.

Take care
Elsa x