Quote: (02-01-2019 07:23 AM)Richard Turpin Wrote:
Cyclist (and driver) here.
Firstly, there’s no denying that a lot of cyclists let the side down. Partly, because they are dickheads, but partly (and this is just a theory) because cycling in traffic is such a tense, risky venture that cyclists are in a permanent state of anxiety. Every car that passes, or drain avoided is a frightening ‘What if?’ scenario.
Personally, I see cycling as a big win for lots of reasons. I commute daily to work, a 20 mile round trip. The trip is partly road, but mostly a well-maintained cycling path through woods. I can make this as slow, comfortable and pleasant as I like, or I can go for broke and try and get a good time. That’s the beauty of cycling; it can be as easy or as hard as you like. For those saying cycling doesn’t get you fit…?! Pure crazy talk.
Biking to work gets me fit. There’s just no doubt about that. It fits perfectly with my lifting routine. Whereas (excessive) running can be detrimental to lifting.
It saves me a shitload of money. Seriously, to the point of making me feel genuinely foolish for not ditching the car years ago.
It’s fun. Cycling in nature is tremendous. You can go places and take shortcuts that a car can’t.
There’s a real sense of freedom that’s hard to explain. I’ve no reg number. Nobody knows who I am. Even cctv would just catch someone with a helmet, sunglasses and scarf in the winter, anonymous.
It feels good not giving big oil and government my hard-earned taxes! Really good. Dare, I say it; ‘rebellious’.
When I ride on roads, I try hard not to be a dick. As a driver, I hate road cyclists myself, so I understand.
Cycling a threat? Maybe to fatties. Maybe to the government. Maybe to oil companies. Maybe to banks.
I’ll leave you with some nice quotes that illustrate my cycling worldview;
Quote:Quote:
The bike is an automatic life-balancing machine. A money-printing fountain of youth. The health and financial benefits can make the difference between “broke" and “millionaire.” within a few decades
MMM Blog
Bikes convert a slow human with a walking speed of 3.5MPH into one of the fastest creatures on land, with an easy cruise of 15MPH and a top speed of over 40MPH on level ground and 50+ downhill for athletic people. - MMM Source
"Bikes are virtually free, and require no insurance, registration, license, parking spaces, or any other hassle" - MMM Source
"It is not an exaggeration to say that a bicycle is probably the single most important and highest-yielding investment a human can possibly own." - MMM Blog
“When you go out and ride your bike through cold, or rain, or heat, you come back
as an invigorated champion, and you feel great for the rest of the day."
“Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers—those people ride a bike.” -Wolfgang Sachs
“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.
Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” -Elizabeth West
"The secret weapon in the fight against foreign oil is rusting in your garage".
I currently live in a country where cars and gasoline are both expensive. Two wheels are standard for people working deliveries. The first major capital investment every bicycle delivery driver makes is a motorcycle. This city is dense enough even 50cc scoots work during the day, but the 90% of motocicletas I see are 100-125 cc for that extra margin of safety the extra acceleration offers.
Theory proposes, but kinetic disposes. Compared to old country, the two wheel culture is very polite. Pedal folk and motor folk are very aware of their invisibility to drivers.
But I'm a voluntary pedestrian here in a city where the locals keep telling me motochorros and bicichorros holding up people is a thing, though I have yet to see anything suggestive of that intent since my second day here. Nevertheless from time to time when I take relaxing walks on the rambla young bucks on bicycles and foot attached wheeled toys will attempt to enforce their mistaken ideas of wheeled supremacy on the mixed-use pedestrian dominant footpath. Where timid locals get out of their way in a panic, I politely maintain my lane and the wheelfolk nearly always divert to ample space I leave them. In the other cases the the wheel folk either found themselves entering my path blind. In the rare case a wheel folk diverted too late for them to maneuver in their envelope of safety, kinetics offered a valuable lesson.
The truth is human powered wheels are toys. Leisure vehicles of the priviledged. The impedence mismatch between the mobility of pedal bikes and motor vehicles combined with their poor visibility of actual traffic means the only responsible way to take a bike on the road is with an attitude assuming every single motherfucker driving a cage just finished at least a fifth of whiskey.
During my two years in Carbondale, Illinois and many more years travelling to, from, and through Carbondale the mass bicycle jerkles did nothing but harden my heart in opposition to allowing adults to play with their unpowered toys on the road.
Imagine you are headed to a job interview. You've driven 100 miles, and you arrive to the city ahead of schedule by half the time you allocated to passing farm equipment on rural highways. You encounter a slow moving mass of bicicletas occupying both lanes in your direction where the tail is people walking alongside their toys. The more athletic fuckers are playing along side streets to burn off some energy and make finding an effective detour impossible. By luck you park your car with minutes to spare, but after trying to game hardened hr cunts during the interview you face exiting the pinko hellscape of bicicleta activism.
Smug is a serious problem in the US with "activists" and cucked bitches enabling situations where bitches are entitled above their actual station. Motorcyclists are acutely aware they lose car vs. motorcycle collisions and generally act accordingly. Motorcyclists when they protest for their interests don't do so by fucking which vehicles that could end their lives with no actual fault to the other driver's intentions. Frequently bicicletists high off of their own bean farts make themselves pests encouraged by WAPO op eds telling them "socially just" traffic laws out to accommodate their blowing red lights.
An unavoidable part of living in the US is the fact that the country is big and many places are far. If a bike "works for your commute" fine, but recognize that a Kawaskai Ninja 250, Honda PCX 150, or Yamaha Zuma offer a higher margin of safety without pissing off people who have economic reasons for choosing 4 wheels, even if a bunch of fuckers with no reason to drive proceed to do so.