cccorlew

Thirteen reasons you shouldn't ride a bicycle.
https://ccorlew.blogspot.com/2013/02/...e-bicycle.html
All of them true.

Elduderino2412

He has a point.........or 13 points

sstang13

True, but so is HTFU.

joe_5700

So true...but I wish the snow would melt so that I can ride!

Breathegood

"Rain is wet" - yes, yes it is.

"All wind is head wind" - gotta agree with that one too.

wphamilton

#1 is just wrong, ccc. I think it might apply to why a hobbyist, or enthusiast, shouldn't ride a bike. Enthusiasts might spend extravagantly on the bike, clothes, helmet and other things you mentioned, but for someone more serious about riding and less serious about the hobby it's dead easy to slash those expenses.

I've saved more money this January alone (400 miles commuting) than I spent total on cycling last year (6500 miles).

banerjek

Nonsense. I've been riding many years, and cycling never messes up my hair.

Stealthammer

The only one I saw that made any sense to me at all was "Your hair will be a mess", and I have a comb.....

hhnngg1

Agree with some but strongly disagree with others.

- You can ALWAYS bike if it's hot out. Ok, it's harder to do hard slow climbs, but choose flat routes, and the wind will cool you sufficiently. It's WAY harder to run fast in hot weather due to the lack of big time air cooling.

- Your bike won't necessarily get stolen, especially your good bike.

- Sweat isn't YECH, it's legit.

- Bikes are prime time already. Hello Lance?


The only one that I actually do agree with is that it's expensive. Yes, you can minimalist it and barely get by, but if you want to really train day in day out, over years, you gotta make it enjoyable, and that requires a decent cash outlay. Nothing crazy big, but it's wayyy more than running or swimming, for example.

anthony 555

+1

wphamilton

I disagree again. To rephrase my earlier comment, I've saved more in the last 6 months by commuting (about 2400 miles) than I've spent in the last 6 years of cycling, including the purchase price of the bikes. You can enjoy it, even training, without exorbitant purchases. That equipment does have its uses of course, but by no means necessary for training or enjoyment.

ps, it does mess up my hair, what's left of it. That part is true.

wrote4luck

Some of them are BS. I bought a 1991 Fuji Roubaix for $65 in 2003 my freshman year of college and rode it to class everyday in college for 4 years. I replaced the tires and tubes once, thats it. I sold it for $200 when I graduated. Yeah, it was REAL expensive to commute I probably save $1000s in gas doing that. and it was faster too since I didn't have to deal with traffic and parking.

svtmike

Sooooo incorrect it's nearly indescribable. Get out in the open flats on a 100 degree day with 95% humidity sometime. No amount of blast furnace wind is going to cool you down under those conditions.

James1:17

absolute statements are always wrong.

YOJiMBO20

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

hhnngg1

Have done it in the South on a trip. Yes, it's not good, but try RUNNING in those conditions. Not even close.

Jobiensis

Curious, what amount have you saved over the last 6 months?

And some of you really need to lighten up, it's a joke.

cccorlew

Bless you, Jobiensis.

wphamilton

59 cents per mile, which is gas and maintenance.

escarpment

This is pretty funny, All 13 ring so true. but isn't the constant pain, maintenance, and agony the fun of it?

DarthShadious

One "fender bender" costs more than most bikes. How many of these happen daily?

Paul Y.

I have grown to like the deep furrows on my head from my helmet.
It reminds me of a freshly plowed corn field.

hhnngg1

While you CAN get away with spending very little if you use all well used stuff and nothing new, you'd be lying through your teeth if you told the typical new-to cycling person who was going to ride on a regular basis, and more than just down the block, that they'd be spending less than $500 to get started. In fact, if you said close to $2000 for all the stuff required for a new cyclist who has no stuff but wants to ride regularly and enjoy it, you wouldn't be exaggerating.

Commuters can get away with worse stuff - I intentionally rode the ugliest, cheapest, (and most awful riding) bike that was given to me as a commuter do to theft risk. I would NEVER ride that for regular training rides.

rangerdavid

he should post in the 41. meaningless.

jpfankuch

You can argue back and forth about almost any of the reasons depending on your circumstances. Some may be able to ride for cheap while for others it's expensive but arguing about it misses the point. The point of the article isn't a literal list of reasons to not bike but rather an underlying love of riding where after each point that you think applies to you, you think to yourself "I don't care about that because I enjoy riding so much". Corlew obviously likes riding despite any of those arguements and so does anyone on this forum. Feel free to debate any of the points but remember that they were only brought up to point out how much fun it is to ride.