MobiusX

Anyone here who is able to live car free in an suburban sprawl area, especially rural? One that would have a subdivision and when you leave no sidewalks, etc... No real public transportation? I walked to the library and it took 2 hours and 30 mins. I bought a bike yesterday to be used whenever buying small things even though it will take like 1 hour even on bike. This place is only designed for cars, not people. It only takes 1 person to walk in the streets to disrupt traffic. I can just imagine it. I'm riding the bike, some fools beeps and tells me to get off the road, etc... I will simply reply " driving isn't the only way to commute" I'm not going to play this car game, I'm originally from New York and moved to another state 6 years ago in the South. Things I've witnessed have left me speechless. Someone driving to a house that is located on the same street? That's unheard of from the place I'm originally from. It's also lazy and unnecessary.

Caretaker

Sounds like you need to relocate to civilisation.

Robert Foster

As you ride more you time will get better. You are only covering a distance of 8 to 10 miles.

wahoonc

Sounds like where I live. We were in the country 12 years ago...now the suburban sprawl has come to us. With no upgrades in infrastructure. We have watched the traffic counts on our 2 lane road go from 2500 to over 11,000 cars a day! Doesn't do much for cycling, that's for sure. I continue to ride and hope that the clowns behind the wheel get the point that there are others out there on the roads besides them.

Aaron

Roody

IMO, in these sprawl situations, on high speed roads with no sidewalk, you're safer riding a bike than walking. Not that that's any consolation.

beezaur

I am car-free except for a very few things, and live in a rural area outside of a small town.

People are pretty much used to me in town. I run too, and make a point to wave at every car that approaches. Most people wave back. On the bike it is harder to engage people, but they do go out of their way to say hi to "bike man" in the grocery store, bank, etc. When I run I usually do it right off the bike, so I'm still wearing my cycling upper (I just change shorts and shoes).

Almost everyone is very friendly about my riding, but there are a few turds. It seems the little kids cheer me on but the teenage boys and young men (the big truck crowd) occasionally have something smart to say. That's just young males.

I get A LOT of comments about how good it is that I wear very, very bright clothing. I also have flashing lights and wear reflective ankle bands in any sort of poor lighting. People are extremely positive about the high visibility.

As cyclists we have a real disadvantage in public relations because no matter how you cut it, we interfere with car traffic. For a motorist that is really annoying. What's worse though is when they come on us suddenly or didn't see us and end up in a dangerous situation. Most people will react defensively and blame the cyclist for their not seeing us. No one is happy when that happens. Being a beacon of attention gives them the maximum warning time and puts them much more at ease.

Being polite about your riding, being seen, and engaging the population will go a long way toward helping your situation. People need to be able to see that you are doing what you can to be a responsible cyclist.

MobiusX

do you ride the bike for exercise or commute? I will start using for commute whenever I have to buy small items. It's not common to see people walking or riding bikes here that whenever a person does it, it's considered exercising. The way the subdivisions here are, no sidewalks and a lot of dead end curves, resembles a rat maze, the few people here who walk, end up walking in circles, you can't walk to a destination B since no corner stores are close or other stores, only houses exist in this place. How long does it take to get to a store riding where you live?

wahoonc

Both...I have to drive for work, some 45,000-50,000 miles a year, end of the day I am not interested in driving ANYWHERE. The grocery store, coffee shop are about 1.5 miles from the house. Nearest town is about 8 miles, but they don't have much outside of a WM, next largest town is about 15 miles north, then an even larger town 18 miles south, but that is going to be 24 miles when the close the road that runs through the military base. They are building nothing but lollipop subdivisions. Biggest PITA is the 800+ home "country club" that went in across the road. Used to be 1100 acres of timberland, now it is full of SUV driving, cellphone yakking idiots that don't observe speed limits, or stop signs.

We are looking at moving in the next couple of years, just not quite sure where. But it will be into a town center where things are much easier to get to.

Aaron

Roody

It's so sad to see the land you love covered with streets and parking lots.

Are you familiar with the Land Bank movement? Land Banks are government or quasi-government agencies that buy up land for the public good. In urban areas they have been buying up blighted properties since the real estate crash. But their original goal was to buy rural properties that were threatened with sprawl type development and hold it so it can't be developed. Another tactic is for Land Banks (or private foundations) to buy only the development rights for farmland and wilderness lands, while the property owner retains the title to the land.

Cyclepup

We live in a somewhat rural area with very few sidewalks, even along the highway that runs through town. So far we've managed to do fine by going car lite and using our bikes for all the in-town errands and some that take us into the next town (city, actually). Our post office is almost 5-miles one-way from the house, as is the farmer's market and library. The nearest supermarket is 9-miles (city) and our feed store for dog food is 14-miles (city). A typical errand ride into the city would take 4-hours. This is to get dog food and then groceries on our way home. That would be a 29-mile round trip day with a stop for lunch before picking up groceries. To date we've not had any problems with drivers being aggressive or rude. Some have been inattentive and had a few close calls that way, but we're very cautious and alert so we've managed to avoid injury so far.

wahoonc

We are our own landbank Never going to develop the land, really can't, due to being landlocked as well as having wetlands on it. Problem is we own 40 acres out of several thousand that has been sold for development. Only really good thing is that the land immediately adjacent to ours belongs to the US Government. It was purchased as buffer zone for the big military base, they won't be developing it, they bought it as part of a 2500 acre package from the Rockefeller family back in the early 1980's. Based on what they paid for that...I am sitting on a million dollars of land

Aaron

MobiusX

I tried the bike this week. It took 9 minutes to escape the subdivision that has very steep hills that I had to get off the bike and walk up. It takes 14 minutes to the 1st nearest gas station and 25 minutes to the second closest. I went back home after this, total of 57 cars had to go on the other lane to make way. 0 walkers I saw and 0 people riding bikes. This is how rare it is. The library is 8.5 miles so it will take way more than 1 hour, especially when you are forced to walk up steep hills. The entrance of the subdivision steep hill when I go down, I don't have to pedal for 2 minutes, that's how steep it is.

wahoonc

Sounds like an electric assist bike might be of some help? Unfortunately not everywhere in this country is cyclist friendly, and you have to do what you can to make it work.

Aaron

Robert Foster

Maybe a Kindle would help. About a second to download and no hills. Many books can be downloaded for free and even if you don't have a kindle reader you can download it on a smart phone or Computer.

gerv 

There's a lot of ways to deal with the OP's situation, but I'm struck by this one. It makes life so much easier when your neighborhood is designed for walking or biking.

Roody

I don't know about your age, physical fitness, and riding experience, but it's likely that you will become much faster and stronger after only a short time on the bike. Don't let those hills defeat you! Ride up them a little further every day until you can make it to the top.

MobiusX

I'm getting used to it now, but it's so steep that it will always be difficult for anybody.

Loose Chain

NO.

I have used a bicycle in college as my main transport even though I owned a mint VW hippie bus (year was 73). It stayed under a cover in the dorm parking lot and only went places when we all could save up gas money (remember, the oil embargo?).

I also commuted to work for several years in Phoenix except in the summer.

But, where I live now, rural, closest town is 6 miles and it is not a full service town. I do bike to the Subway, hardware store and library but my work is 45 miles away in the city. Thing is, we value the quiet, rural life on acreage with gardens, vegetable plots, fruit trees and room for my dogs to play and wild deer and turkeys, the occasional skunk, coyotes and all sorts of birds and animals visit us.

Curious LeTour

Thanks for this post.

As for myself, I'm confused. I'm living 4 miles from Austin's city center, but I miss some things about rustic small towns. I grew up as a cowboy. I hope to hear more success stories about living car free outside of the city.

wahoonc

I looked at a kindle and a nook, however of the 5 books on my side table only one is available in E-format, that would seriously crimp my reading.

Aaron