Bandera

It does give an amusing break from vacuous twaddle that veers from a purported discussion of bicycles straight into fantasy, fiction and politics to lampoon the Twaddle-er.
One of the most traditional tools to deflate the pompous rhetoric of the humorless Hobbist-Pseudo-Eco-Advocate is: Humor.
See: Aristophanes, also Tarp.

Not amusing to you?

As always, suit yourself.

To get back on track, a pic of a bicycle that I enjoy riding.



-Bandera

TheLibrarian

Mostly for recreation, a bit of cardio and to keep the lungs in the best shape i can til I cut back. I need to gain weight so worry about losing weight cycling. I never stick with the gym for more than 3-4 months. Maybe with the winter coming i'll do my upper body strength training in that half of the year. I dont really use it for transport unless there is a problem with my car or licence. Forget the world, never had an interest in saving it. if anything i'll be standing on the hill top emptying aerosol cans and laughing maniacally to myself.

And nature, I like to get out in the woods. I rarely hike now that i've been riding. You can get up closer to the animals at speed before they realize you're there (and jump under your wheel). Got pretty close to a dear coming the other way on the trail the other day. He looked like he was going to stand and fight for a minute but then he realized I wasn't stopping or falling for it and he ran off.

Roody

IMO, you're just as goofy as the rest of us. And that's meant as a compliment.

ganchan

Add me to the "Don't have a car" list. I can catch buses pretty easily, but the whole process kind of sucks. My bike gets me to all those spots that aren't really far away enough to make the bus a smart move, but too far away to walk to in any reasonable amount of time. I also want to see whether it will help me lower my diastolic blood pressure a bit in the long term....

I gave up my car because I literally couldn't afford to keep repairing and operating it. Dipping my toe back into driving would be fun and would certainly expand my mobility, but at what price? If I really needed a car for a day or two, I'd be better off renting one.

Roody

Like you, I've always found th bike to be great for almost all of my transportation. The bus is a fill-in for certain distances, From a few miles up to the distance of hundreds of miles. I also use the bus more when I'm sick or have an injury. When my right wrist was in a cast for five months (twice), I actually bought monthly bus passes and rode the CATA every day. I have never rented a car.

ganchan

I accidentally stumbled on this article:
Surprise: The Wall Street Journal doesn't understand that bikes are transportation : TreeHugger
...and I realized that I totally relate to the woman they interviewed who uses her bike primarily for transportation, viewing health/fitness as a happy fringe benefit. Of course there's no wrong reason or motivation to ride. But I'm comfortable now with the idea of riding a bike without being a "cyclist."

mapeiboy

It keeps me sane and at the same time keeps my demon from coming to the surface .

Supermau

Being a slightly past middle-aged father, cycling has brought back a sense of adventure and freedom that I sorely missed. I commute and ride for fun and fitness. Now if I only had more time to ride! It sucks that most of my monthly miles are commuter miles but it's still time on the bike.

Druzis

Bicycling is my and my girlfriend weekends activity. We spend almost every weekend on our bicycles

Machka 

This past year cycling has become increasingly important to us ... as evidenced by the increased number of kilometres we have cycled so far in 2016.

And the desire to do more long distance cycling is driving the desire to incorporate commuting into our weeks.

American Euchre

This is a very cool post. No pun intended.

SamSpade1941 

Pretty darn important from a mental and physical health perspective... I derive a lot of satisfaction from cycling and my health has greatly improved. Sadly I have a girl friend who really does not like it but keeps silent mostly. I really wish I had someone to share my intersts with but she is not intersted at all in cycling and almost seems to resent it because it exercise.

michalshawn

It's absolutely the most important thing, but as the zen monks say, nothing special. It's the most natural way to travel, and I need to ride daily. But after all of these years, my ego is rarely involved, so it's not like I need to do a 50 mile ride to prove something, and riding for that long means that I cannot do other things with the time. So my rides are all utility rides except when they are for pleasure.

takenreasy

This. Plus I live in a relatively small city and could get away with never drive again if it was only up to me - but, that's not the case. At least when we do travel by car its an EV!

StarBiker

If you can't ride then you are old, or scared. My Father's wife is scared. Nobody rides on either side of the family but me.

Not that I really care what any of them do..........

Miele Man

I ride my bicycle to most everywhere I want to go. Sometimes if the weather is really bad or the distance is too far, I'll get my BinL or my niece to drive me. I guess that means I'm not really totally car free.

Cheers

bjjoondo 

Well since my wife had a heart attack in 2019 and needed to retire before she cold get her full SS retirement and I retired at 62 on SS retirement we just do not have enough income to have a car so the bicycle gives us the only real mobility for both recreation and utility that neither walking or mass transit can! So for us my bike and her tirke have great importance in our life! When we get to old to ride life will be nothing but struggle and be so much less satisfying! 🚴👍😁

AlgarveCycling

I have cycled since I was a small kid. I spent entire days out with my friends on our BMX bikes. Later, I was introduced to road racing and I was hooked on that. I also commuted by bike until about 24 yrs old.

I worked as a Design Manager in the Construction Industry and that meant travelling to sites across a large region - no more cycling commute but cycling remained a large part of my life until my early 30's.
When I relocated to the UK, I worked in London and surrounding areas, again, impossible to do the job I had by bicycle. It was only 5 years ago when I moved to Portugal and working from home that cycling returned in a big way for me. My wife and I each had a car in the UK, now we have one between us. My wife worked in Amsterdam for 3 years and we split our time between there and Portugal - in Amsterdam we only had bikes, literally no need of a car.

I race MTB, Road and train for those. Last year I cycled nearly 21000km. Double what I did in my car. My kids live in Copenhagen, Denmark and my wife's Family is in Gent, Belgium. They all get around exclusively by bike. My daughter is in her early 20's and has zero interest in getting a drivers licence. She lives in a city that has arguably the best cycling infrastructure in the World.

I literally only use the car - an EV - for shopping. I am in my early 50's and love cycling again, doing similar mileage to that which I did in my early 20's.

Miele Man

Bicycling is quite important for me.

I use my bicycle to go shopping and have brought rater large objects home on it at times.

I use a bicycle to visit people. I also use the bicycle to go to nearby cities.

Sometimes I just use the bicycle to go for a long ride in the countryside or just for exploring the areas near where I live.

I use a bicycle to go touring whether on paved roads or on logging/mining roads where I might not see a motor vehicle for a week or so at a time.

The day I can't ride a bicycle is the day I hope I'm dead.

Cheers

Greg161

Cycling is therapy for me. Getting out on a quiet road, my mind is free to just shut down and be a part of the natural world. Zen time.

c0urt

at one point in time it was easier just to ride my bike instead of listening to my dad lecture, and thanks to a medical condition I have to go 6 months without a seizure, and if i have an accident while driving it is an automatic felony, even before my medical issues, i was a bicycle mechanic, and loved my job, i ended up sick because we had to appear at races and events to advertise the company "best job ever" so it is just a little

JoeyBike

My bikes are tools. I am not emotionally involved with any tools in my tool shed. I need a hammer, or a saw, or a bike, I just go get it, use it for the task at hand, and don't give it much thought. Just because I fix a leaky faucet doesn't make me a plumber, and just because I jump on a bike to get somewhere doesn't make me a "cyclist". Bikes are tools, not objects of any sort of passion for me.

GP210

life style !