In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.
In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
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Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#22In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.
I use to commute 35 miles each way without owning car, it was taking quite a lot of time, so I moved closer to work, but I still don't own car.
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? With enough training (build up the habit) and if you don't exert yourself too much (it's not like you have to go 20mph all the way), you shouldn't sweat too much. Add in a pair of showers on work site and you're golden. > In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. That's an issue of brain-de…
All great solutions, but the infrastructure just isn't there (as already mentioned). Blame it in "brain-dead urban planning", or "stupid housing considerations", but that doesn't change the fact that biking to work is simply not possible for most people. If you live in the suburbs of New York, biking to Manhattan to work just isn't practical. If you live in the middle of the country, biking to work can be a nightmare…
Oil drives concrete & consumption. Crack in a US sidewalk? Break it up and pour a new pad. Euro sidewalk? All pavers. Pull 'em up, fix a sewer line or whatever and put the same ones back down.
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#24Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#25Makes me miss living in Berlin!
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#26In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes absolutely. I used to live in a suburb of Stuttgart, and that was around the first time I really tried biking. It was definitely worth it, the well maintained bike lanes, the free burning of the fat, lovely relaxing scenery and off course a few extra bucks saved per day. Biking lanes, is in my book a top investment a city can make, wonder why not many keep it high on their priorities.
Boulder, CO in USA has done a LOT for putting in bike lanes. Very bike-friendly city. Up there with Portland, OR and Austin, TX
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#28In other words, I should come into work completely drenched in sweat? In many parts of the USA, it is very humid and temperatures can easily reach 90 and above. How do you expect people to bike in such conditions? In addition, many people commute long distances to work, which may take up to an hour just by car. Bikes are great, but not very practical.
It all depends on the environment you are in, which is not a static unchangeable monolith. You have choices. Maybe living somewhere where biking is practical would involve making choices that go against your priorities, but those are your priorities.
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
It gets humid in Europe, too. They survive.
Most of Europe is far drier than the US. I don't know of any place in Europe which would be similar to Japan or Florida (consistent high heat and very high humidity during months on end in Summer), though they might very well exist.
Re: In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars (2009)
#30I lived in Münster, Germany for a few years. Münster is THE bike town in germany. Statistically every citizen has 1.8 bikes. And i begann to love biking there. A lot is done in that city to make biking the #1 way of transportation. Now I am living in Cologne, Germany and see the difference. I miss the good bike lanes but I kept biking in cologne. Nothing is better for your head than biking a few miles home after a ha…