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One year of cycling to work

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Re: One year of cycling to work

#301

Post by darklajid »

notauser wrote: post #109
77pt77 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biking in Singapore's humid heat does not sound pleasant at all.

It's actually really nice to bike in Singapore, provided you can shower at work. I cycled every day for a month along a mix of park connectors (cycle paths) and two and three lane roads. I only had one close pass from a car because on nearly all roads they have a whole extra lane to use to pass you in so if you ride assertively (in the middle of a lane) they just go around you. And the park connectors are beautiful,…

Biking in Singapore is

- warm: Sure, no argument here. Very warm..

- fast: No. Maybe. Let's hope that you don't ignore traffic lights: There are so many places that don't even care about bikes (underpasses/overpasses exist, but are hard to reach or less friendly to bikes by requiring you to ... wait for an elevator). You can understand the layout of the city, start riding and you will end up stranded. You will need to backtrack. The city hates bikes.

- safe: Yeah ... No. Singapore is not insane, but it's crazy enough. People don't understand turning signals. Drivers instead like to push into the direction they want to go, expecting everyone around them to follow along. This is, with no pun, in traffic terms a Little India.

I personally am fine to drive a bike here and being a nuisance, but most people don't do that. Literally everyone on the road is an asshole, some of these assholes drive Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini or whatnot. You do NOT want to scratch those stupid idiot's cars with your bike.

Traffic in Singapore is a huge and utter mess. Do not ride a bike here unless you're convinced that it's a good idea...

Re: One year of cycling to work

#302

Post by edejong »

abakker wrote: post #160
sandover wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at it in terms of effect on life expectancty. The risk of death from 1 hour of cycling reduces life expectancy by about 24 minutes. Wearing a helmet probably changes this by a couple of minutes. - http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safe... - https://nwurban.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/cyclings-impact-on-... 1 additional hour of sitting and watching TV in the evening, in an already sedentary lif…

I'm not sure it is appropriate to think about helmet use as having a bearing on life expectancy. The data on helmet accident avoidance is terrible. i.e. we have no idea what the severity of an accident "would have been" because that kind of data is never reported. Anecdotally, I've needed my helmet many times, but never reported its use to anyone. you could theoretically look at the injury rate for non-helmeted peopl…

Almost everyone in the Netherlands is driving without. Should give a good comparative analysis.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#303

Post by seanmcdirmid »

wila wrote: post #290
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anyone commuting to work should have a plan to deal with a helmet, it's such a trivial thing to plan for and deal with compared to maintaining your bike, having parking for it, arranging showers, etc. There are whole countries, like the Netherlands and Germany, where that simply doesn't happen. In fact, biking is much simpler in those countries, they don't even bother with showers (instead they bike more slowly).

Correct, besides that we also don't wear helmets. Note however that our road infrastructure is very different from most of the other countries. Getting hit by a car is not something we worry much about. Besides the bike friendly roads, chauffeurs are used watching out for bycicles. Then there's special laws where a car hitting a bycicle is always wrong. The reasoning behind that is that a byciclist is much more fragi…

Yes, but it does demonstrate show that armoring up bike riders isn’t the only sane option (we could improve our bike infrastructure and give them more priority).

Re: One year of cycling to work

#304

Post by s0rce »

troncjb wrote: post #131
sandover wrote: post #126

I've been cycling to work in downtown LA for nearly 8 years, 4 miles each way. I'm faster than a car over that commute. The weather is fantastic, and I am physically in great shape. Mental benefits are huge. I've gone about 15,000 miles in dense urban environments without any accidents of any kind. There are a number of keys to this: - Think like a driver -- it helps to be a good driver first - Think, period. Don't l…

> If you don't wear a helmet, don't worry about it, it doesn't mitigate that much risk. The exercise benefits of biking do way more to increase your life expectancy than skipping a helmet does to reduce it. This is very, very stupid advice.

This is heavily disputed. I suggest you read both sides of the argument and say something constructive.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#305

Post by VyseofArcadia »

alistairSH wrote: post #141
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

8:30. My hours aren't all that terrible, but after burning the candle at both ends for the better part of a decade of grad school, I'm a little worried about burning out.

Cycling might help with the burn-out. The exercise is good for you. Getting out of a stressful drive is good for you. Etc. Even if the ride is a bit longer, it's probably a net positive. Especially if you end up at the gym or jogging anyways - you get to double-count the bike commute as part of your workout. You didn't mention riding after dusk as a problem, but there are plenty of good bike light options available n…

Thanks for the lighting tips. I'm actually taking some urban cycling classes next month. I think at this point I need knowledge and confidence to make cycling a part of my commute.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#306

Post by sandover »

alsetmusic wrote: post #178
sandover wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't ride in the door zone. Don't let cars make you ride in the door zone. Take the car lane instead. I've gone 15,000 miles safely in dense urban environments because I am heads-up about the 2 main threats: intersections, and the door zone.

> Don't ride in the door zone. Don't let cars make you ride in the door zone. Take the car lane instead. Please don’t do this. During the time that I commuted on a bicycle, it was very frustrating when other cyclists didn’t follow the rules of the road (zipping through stop signs is another example). It causes resentment in drivers. This leads to aggressive behavior towards cyclists.

You are mistaken about what the rules are in most states. To take one example, in California, you own the lane and cars cannot pass unless they can give you three feet of clearance.

http://ktla.com/2013/09/23/gov-brown-signs-law-requiring-car...

Re: One year of cycling to work

#307

Post by darly »

3pt14159 wrote: post #270
imperialdrive wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've biked heavily for 30 years... advising people to wear a helmet never works. What works 99% of the time is the first freak crash. Not a crash where they felt like they were speeding, or not paying attention, or drunk... then they think it was avoidable. It takes a crash where you hit a rare little crack in the road, or a bump hidden in the shadows, or a car doing a u-turn out of the blue... then it 'clicks' Or, i…

Take everything you just said and apply it not to a bicycle helmet but to a full face motorcycle helmet. Now do you see how you sound? Bike helmets marginally help, but the same marginal difference is found going from bicycle helmets to full face motorcycle ones. I’ve broken my face in 4 places in a bike accident where the only thing that would have helped would have been a motorcycle helmet, but I don’t go around to…

You don't actually need a full face motorcycle helmet, that's overkill for cycling speeds (and uncomfortable with exertion). I regularly commute to work by bike and after a bad fall where I almost landed on my face, I decided to upgrade from a normal helmet to a full face bicycle helmet. You can get a decent one for ~$150 and it'll give you some protection even if you fall flat on your face. Highly recommend as a normal helmet doesn't do much for your face and a lot of falls could result in facial damage.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#308

Post by abakker »

edejong wrote: post #302
abakker wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it is appropriate to think about helmet use as having a bearing on life expectancy. The data on helmet accident avoidance is terrible. i.e. we have no idea what the severity of an accident "would have been" because that kind of data is never reported. Anecdotally, I've needed my helmet many times, but never reported its use to anyone. you could theoretically look at the injury rate for non-helmeted peopl…

Almost everyone in the Netherlands is driving without. Should give a good comparative analysis.

Well, That is a very interesting example of why we can't compare populations. Many posts on HN have highlighted just how cycling-savvy the Dutch are both as cyclists and as motorists. Arguably, a Netherlands specific comparison would tell us something about whether helmets improved outcomes, but they wouldn't necessarily tell us anything about the rate, because falls may be less likely in the first place.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#309

Post by lb1lf »

fsloth wrote: post #300
lb1lf wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been mostly biking to work for years now, on an island off the northwestern coast of Norway. I have found that studded tyres are more of an annoyance than an asset on 99 out of 100 winter days. On anything but wet ice, regular tyres do surprisingly well - to the extent that I've felt no need for studs at all during quite literally thousands of kilometers of riding in the snow - yes, grip is not as good as on asp…

Thanks for this! I biked many years throughout the year to work in Finland but after series of bronchitis hitting me on consecutive winters I quit winter biking. I'm thinking maybe I could try again - and given your analysis I'll not let my lack of winter tyres stop me :)

Just avoid slicks (d’oh!) and you’ll likely be fine. The only concession I’ve made to winter conditions is riding at slightly lower tyre pressure to get a larger contact surface. In snow it doesn’t make much of a difference, but on ice it works wonders.

As for the bronchitis, I’ve luckily steered clear - but a colleague of mine who had it good and hard a couple of times swear that since he started wesring a mask, he hasn’t had even a hint of it.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#310

Post by edejong »

bhandziuk wrote: post #175
troncjb wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so the helmet gain is only a small marginal difference This is such, such flawed logic. If you are a cyclist getting hit by a car, the averages and statistics don't matter at all. If you are the cyclist getting hit by a car, the helmet is not a "marginal difference". Your protective gear matters. You need to consider the individual cyclist when you are making sweeping statements about the usage of protective gear.

If I were not wearing a helmet routinely I'd be so paranoid about getting hit/falling/some injury that there would be no health benefits at all. Wearing a helmet is comfortable, relatively in expensive and life saving. There is really no argument to be made to not have one on your head. I can't believe you are needing to even make a pro-helmet case at all here.

Arguments:

1. Wearing makes you less cautious

2. Car drivers think ‘you’re protected’ thus make larger risks

3. Helmets are inconvenient to carry around at your destination

4. It hampers the development of saver bicycle road situations, since ‘the cyclists are already protected’

I’m dutch, driving without a helmet since forever (started at 2 years old). Most serious accidents on the road that I know of are broken colar bones, broken hips and broken wrists. You really need a strange fall the land on your head. I guess with a head-on collision perhaps?

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