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Get a bike to save the planet

fokof

fokof

One day ,I'll be in the future
Mar 16, 2007
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#1
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I totally agree.
It's a philosophy that I live.

I'm 50 (soon 51) , never had a car in my life , I never had a driver license.
I bike 365 days a week (North east Americas)
I have a full/satisfying professional life.
I use Trains/Taxis/Bus when I can't bike.
Yes I can transport my stuff to gigs by bike :)

I think I'm in good shape
To be exact, I don't know , I never go to hospitals, maybe I got something I don't know :)

Cities are designed around the automobiles but if more people takes up cycling , authorities will adapt like they did in Danemark or other bike friendly places.
That may not apply to most of the USA .......

Discuss
 
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#3
In the bag : a VB99 and a 108p (monitor)
 

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#4
Where I live a bike is out of the question. I'd ride a horse if that were an option but without a fueled vehicle you're looking at an entire day to get anywhere and back. Fortunately though, I retired from the commuting work force a couple of years ago, and when I do freelance work now it's all on computer from home. Good thing is I average about 4 hours of work a week now and make more than I did when I commuted and worked a 50 hour week! Yee ha!
 
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#5
One of the main point of the book is that although 800 people died in bike accident last year in the USA , 200 000 died as a result to a disease related to not enough physical activities.
Not only cycling pollutes a lot less but it's also better for your health.

We choose where we live.
I chose to live near my work , it's a lot more expensive than if I chose to live in Suburbia but I pay less in transportation and illness. (read : quality of life)
I work in the music business , so most of the job is around downtown here.


YMMV
 
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#9
I had an acquaintance and his family move to Amsterdam and live on bikes now. They love the lifestyle. They will load up a huge cargo bike at IKEA and pedal home. The two kids have been on bikes since day one. When they lived in the US, they did keep a minivan. I am an avid cyclist. I also have two cars. While I may sell my old Mustang, I will always keep one. I have no children so I do not need to save the planet, just postpone its inevitable destruction for a bit.
 
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#10
fokof said:
In the bag : a VB99 and a 108p (monitor)
Click to expand...

Ok, you win! ;)

I would ride a bike if it wasn't for the fact that only 3 months of the year do we average temperatures below 30ºC (86ºF) and for the main summer months we hit over 40ºC (104ºF) every day. It is too damn hot in summer for me to ride my motorbike to work and back, nevermind a bicycle!!

Add this to the fact that Spanish drivers have absolutely no respect for cyclists, oh, and we have lots of hills everywhere!!!
 
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#11
I couldn't disagree more. Bikes make things much worse in my view. Most cities are not set up to allow for widening lanes to allow for the barely-a-trickle bike traffic. The few who do ride in my town cause more accidents than they prevent. One guy actually takes up a full lane riding a recumbent trike at about 20mph during rush hour on the three busiest to streets here. He has an awful attitude and flips off every third motorist by zooms past him.

On the secondary roads just outside of town groups of cyclists ride side by side taking up whole lanes at 25 mph in a 55mph zone. Same entitled attitude. I was behind a group once and the "leader" actually slowed down and got beside my car and threatened me with my children in the back seat. After I passed them I pulled over and had my wife drive away with the kids. Needless to say he didn't want to stop and talk then.

Don't be a jerk and hinder the rest of us. Get your exercise at home or at the gym and out of our way. We need to get kids to school and get to work without playing chicken with slow two wheelers.

Thanks.

Glad I could clear that up. Go save some body else's planet. :thumbsup:
 
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#12
two fingers said:
I couldn't disagree more. Bikes make things much worse in my view. Most cities are not set up to allow for widening lanes to allow for the barely-a-trickle bike traffic. The few who do ride in my town cause more accidents than they prevent. One guy actually takes up a full lane riding a recumbent trike at about 20mph during rush hour on the three busiest to streets here. He has an awful attitude and flips off every third motorist by zooms past him.

On the secondary roads just outside of town groups of cyclists ride side by side taking up whole lanes at 25 mph in a 55mph zone. Same entitled attitude. I was behind a group once and the "leader" actually slowed down and got beside my car and threatened me with my children in the back seat. After I passed them I pulled over and had my wife drive away with the kids. Needless to say he didn't want to stop and talk then.

Don't be a jerk and hinder the rest of us. Get your exercise at home or at the gym and out of our way. We need to get kids to school and get to work without playing chicken with slow two wheelers.

Thanks.

Glad I could clear that up. Go save some body else's planet. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Thanx , you are confirming my thoughts.
 
#14
two fingers said:
I couldn't disagree more. Bikes make things much worse in my view. Most cities are not set up to allow for widening lanes to allow for the barely-a-trickle bike traffic. The few who do ride in my town cause more accidents than they prevent. One guy actually takes up a full lane riding a recumbent trike at about 20mph during rush hour on the three busiest to streets here. He has an awful attitude and flips off every third motorist by zooms past him.

On the secondary roads just outside of town groups of cyclists ride side by side taking up whole lanes at 25 mph in a 55mph zone. Same entitled attitude. I was behind a group once and the "leader" actually slowed down and got beside my car and threatened me with my children in the back seat. After I passed them I pulled over and had my wife drive away with the kids. Needless to say he didn't want to stop and talk then.

Don't be a jerk and hinder the rest of us. Get your exercise at home or at the gym and out of our way. We need to get kids to school and get to work without playing chicken with slow two wheelers.

Thanks.

Glad I could clear that up. Go save some body else's planet. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Wow, did you get a pink mountain bike or something as a kid??

B2771.jpg
 
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#15
As soon as I see those fancy pants, tops, hats and goggles, I know that I am going to be in for an attitude when I am trying to pass the rider. I guess when you buy fancy riding stuff, you are automatically entitled to do what ever the heck you want on the road.
Here's a little tid bit for yah... in my city/province, it is illegal to pass a vehicle that is in the right lane, on the right. So all those bikes that roll up the gutter on the right, when you are at a red light are breaking the law. Most don't know that.
Here's another tip... as a cyclist, you may have the law on your side, but when a bike and a car collide, the biker will always lose. Being right, doesn't make for a better looking corpse.
Fishheadjoe
 
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#16
Gorn said:
Our infrastructure isn't set up for mass bicycle riding.
Click to expand...

Like I said in my opening post , probably most of the USA isn't bikable in big cities yet but it can change.
There wasn't much roads for cars 100 years ago ....... things can change but people have to change their attitude and habits. It's really tough but feasible.
 
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#17
two fingers said:
I couldn't disagree more. Bikes make things much worse in my view. Most cities are not set up to allow for widening lanes to allow for the barely-a-trickle bike traffic. The few who do ride in my town cause more accidents than they prevent. One guy actually takes up a full lane riding a recumbent trike at about 20mph during rush hour on the three busiest to streets here. He has an awful attitude and flips off every third motorist by zooms past him.

On the secondary roads just outside of town groups of cyclists ride side by side taking up whole lanes at 25 mph in a 55mph zone. Same entitled attitude. I was behind a group once and the "leader" actually slowed down and got beside my car and threatened me with my children in the back seat. After I passed them I pulled over and had my wife drive away with the kids. Needless to say he didn't want to stop and talk then.

Don't be a jerk and hinder the rest of us. Get your exercise at home or at the gym and out of our way. We need to get kids to school and get to work without playing chicken with slow two wheelers.

Thanks.


Glad I could clear that up. Go save some body else's planet. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

This ^^^^ is one of the most ignorant anti-bike rants I've ever read.
 
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#18
fokof said:
Like I said in my opening post , probably most of the USA isn't bikable in big cities yet but it can change.
There wasn't much roads for cars 100 years ago ....... things can change but people have to change their attitude and habits. It's really tough but feasible.
Click to expand...
Sure it can change but that's not the direction we're going. Electric self driving cars is what the infrastructure will evolve to accommodate. Maybe more bicycle friendly paths will be part of that.
 
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