acidfast7

I question my life decisions when I start doing things I don't like. So, I just don't do them. This includes commuting by car.

RubeRad

I don't like or dislike bike commuting. I like saving money, and I like listening to my podcasts. A quantum of exercise is a side benefit for me. A quantum less environmental impact is a side benefit for the rest of you. You're welcome.

I certainly never cycle on the road for recreation. That's what mountain bikes and trails are for.

acidfast7

I guess I'm in a different position, where I choose to cycle in because I enjoy it.

I can walk within 30 mins (£3-6).
I can take a train for a reasonable cost (£4).
I can take a bus for a reasonable cost (£3).
I can cycle commute (free).
I can über/taxi in (£3).
I can drive in (free).
I can run in (£3) but would rather run along the sea before the workday starts.

I do like saving money, hence my long-term BSO thread.

I do like doing well for the environment as I enjoy it every day.

I usually just do what I like, or else why do it? Hence by initial post.

cyccommute 

You aren’t alone. But sometimes you have to do things you don’t like. I commute by bicycle because I do like it..even in snow and cold weather. It beats fighting traffic. That said, the density of people like those in the video would make the ride a lot less pleasant. It’s the same as fighting car traffic except with less predictable (and perhaps dumber) people.

RubeRad

Not surprising, we're different people living different lives.

How do you figure driving is free but walking/running is not?

acidfast7

I was attempting to be friendly.


My lack of resistance to coffee (to work) / beer (to home).

nuxx 

I raise you the busiest in the world (40k/daily): https://vimeo.com/141516172 ...it’s actually on my daily commute!

acidfast7

And that's a much nicer location!

alan s 

They must not measure bike commuters in China. They probably have 40K an hour.

https://images.app.goo.gl/T2Tv6a84Td5tWgcK6

nuxx 

Pretty sure that’s an appropriated car lane though? They also have substantial 2-wheel motor traffic mingled in with resulting high accident rates... so... hardly commendable

alan s 

Scooters. Hilarious!

robertorolfo

That was pretty awesome. Thanks for that. Sums it up perfectly...

AusTexMurf

This was filmed in Austin, Tx. Plenty of scooters, here.

robertorolfo

I can only imagine. The best part was the bit about unnecessary weaving around, which also seems to afflict the doughnuts riding the electric skateboards.

nuxx 

I really disliked (and was disappointed with) biking in Amsterdam... trekking across the Netherlands was alright but not really indicative - didn’t experience Utrecht - but it’s basically a large village so not really an applicable model for large scale commuting.

I am however enormously thankful/grateful daily whenever I commute by bike anywhere in my hometown of Copenhagen... and is one of the main reasons I’ll have difficulty thriving anywhere else - and that abstinence from biking was a large part of being miserable while living in Vancouver.

acidfast7

I do miss living in CPH. Danish is hard though.

Utrecht is essentially a university town and not a capital city. I was quite sad to see scooters/moped in use in the bike lanes in AMS. That **** gets shut down in Germany straight away. Also never saw it in CPH.

The UK is a mess, however everyone is quite friendly and bike-aware, even moreso than CPH/Germany.

Getting out of the city for midsommer?

We're headed to a house in Lille Sverige (of all placenames!) in Hillerød.

acidfast7

I also think there is an important distinction being missed by many posters in this thread.

That's being a tourist and cycling around and living there and actually commuting with such infrastructure. These are totally different.

There are a lot of commenters saying that it's not nirvana and it's too busy. When I first moved to Stockholm, then Copenhagen, I would have agreed. However, after a few weeks. It makes a huge amount of sense. A quick handdrop and I get on/off the cycleways and do all my shopping. It's actually super nice.

Coming from commuting in Maine and Texas where it's a barren wasteland for commuting (with the exception of Austin), it's bliss and it makes a huge amount of sense.

However, I can appreciate that Midwesterners here stating that it's too hectic in those videos. I think they'd get used to if they gave it a shot in earnest or actually needed it to commute on a day-in/day-out basis. Thus, I can't really hold it against the people in thread without the proper experience.

CPH is still by far my favourite place to live/commute. Frankfurt was a good second option though. And, contrary to what's stated in the thread, enforcement is quite serious (especially in Germany) and people don't **** around in general.

nuxx 

...yes - I'm sorry about that >_<

I'm a little surprised at UK'ers being more "bike-aware" than people in CPH? You can't really survive CPH without being attuned to cycling, there's more bikes than people! I often work from London - where biking seemingly remains largely an extreme sport.

Taking a little trip with the girlfriend to Flensburg south of the German border in July... I reeeaally hope our new rack+panniers arrive in time: https://www.tailfin.cc/products/x-se...ges-by-tailfin

There's some wonderful MTB trails in the two adjacent forests (Tokkekøb Hegn and Dyrehaven)... I should get back there sometime... I actually picked up a pair of Cosmic Pro wheels from a biking- enthusiast couple who live more or less exactly where you're headed - any affiliation?


I reckon you're right it takes a bit of a mental adjustment - if you're used to being a unicorn cyclist - only sharing the road with a few select other idealists (and a whole bunch of cars)... suddenly being engulfed in an absolute ubiquity of comme-il-faut biking culture... it both challenges your identity as a cyclist ...because there's absolutely nothing "special" about that at all in that setting... there's literally more cyclists than cars in Copenhagen... and the contrast inevitably makes everything feel crowded as you suggest... but once you get accustomed to the general infrastructure... dedicated traffic lights giving cyclists head starts over cars... public bike pumps every few 100 meters and not least the unquestioned right-of-road being the socially preferred traffic compared to motorists... I think it's hard not to appreciate how much quality of life that yields - and to be fair - the bike paths here are generally nowhere nearly as congested on average as these videos indicate. I easily commute at +30kmph on my carbon flatbar straight through the city centre (including that bridge from the video).

acidfast7

Hi man!

Reading / writing is somewhat easy with German / Swedish knowledge. Speaking is entire different. Even saying Købnhavn didn't make sense at first! But, I got better over time.

London isn't really the UK in my opinion, it's like NYC or Tokio, which supercede their host country.

I'll be running in those forests with a dog (house sitting for 2 weeks after the party!) The couple has three children (and two cars!), so no money for wheels I would wager. Throwing that Midsommerfest will probably break the bank, I would wager!

I did get some riding in from Hillerød to city center and that new "cycle superhighway" is great.

https://www.google.com/maps/@55.9043...7i13312!8i6656

twas about 30km from there to our flat at Gråbrødretorv.

I would wager that most posters here would rapidly adjust and learn to love it if they had the option to work/live there.

Enjoy Flensburg (and don't get any points )

Stadjer

Not really. Utrecht is a 400K city in 650K agglomeration. It has been the capital twice. Universities have been in mostly in the big cities for ages, that doesn't make them university towns.

The scooters have been banned from the bikelanes, and now have to join the cars, with a helmet. It was introduced about two months ago but enforcement has only started this week. It doesn't go down very well. The main problem was a certain age group on (illegally) tuned scooters, the mopeds already had to ride with the cars with a helmet on. The idea to have the low power scooters on the bike lane wasn't that bad, it just got out of hand. Now the people on scooters that still have the intented speed have to ride between cars, also where the max speed isn't 30 km/h but 50 km/h. I guess they should have lowered the max speed at the same time. But we'll see.

They have had years of practice, also if they're from the countryside. It's not ruled by formal rules (cycling side by side is allowed btw @cyccommute), it's more like swarm behaviour and overthinking it doesn't help.

It would be a bit rude wouldn't it. People cycling with little kids and all and then someone shows up dressed to crash, makes them wonder what he is up to.

acidfast7

Sorry, that was a generalisation. Probably not a good one either. In the end, I feel like Utrecht doesn't have the tourist pull of AMS. (To be honest, I actually hate AMS due to the tourists but end up going occasionally.) I have some collaborators at UU in biophysics, which is extremely strong. I like the city quite a bit but it doesn't have that capital feel, which is nice in some ways and not nice in others.

I was blown away to see scooters on the bike lanes after living in CPH where I never saw that. (Maybe that has changed since I left.)

Glad to hear that enforcement is starting.

I-Like-To-Bike

What is a "handdrop"?

FiftySix

High volume traffic is high volume traffic, no matter if on foot, on bicycle, or in a car.

Decades of experiencing high volume traffic certainly can make one a bitter old man. Travelling amongst hordes of people for the last 30+ years has made me a bitter middle aged man.

acidfast7

Drop the hand from the bar to signal that you're going to turn. Sometimes with a point if there is no turning bikelane or fast/slow bike lane divide.

acidfast7

Disagree. In a car and on a motorway one can't stop.

On foot or on a bike one is in control of one's destiny even in the London tube.


One can get out by just standing next to the wall as the trains come every 90 sec, which is unbelievable really.