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One year of cycling to work

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Re: One year of cycling to work

#321

Post by u801e »

rpearl wrote: post #296
alsetmusic wrote: post #178

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. 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.

In most (all?) states in the US cyclists are legally allowed to take the lane when it is unsafe to stay to the right.

The UVC (Uniform Vehicle Code) that most states base their traffic laws on states that bicycles do not have to keep as far right as practicable when the lane they're in is a substandard width lane. They further go on to define a substandard width lane as one where a cyclist and another vehicle cannot travel safely side by side with both vehicles within the lane.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#322

Post by u801e »

gerbilly wrote: post #257
ilovecars2 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is NOT OK to go through red lights, whether in a car, on a bike or on foot. The rules are the rules and we should all abide them. It happens all the time in London where bikes go through red lights and weave through pedestrians (sometimes at speed) who are crossing the road. Pedestrians are even worse - and often walk or run across red lights and almost get hit from a bus, car or bike. It’s madness!

I bike to work everyday and I don't follow the rules of the road, and neither should other cyclists. In a system designed for cars, it's just false piety and won't keep you any safer. The one rule I do follow is that I am courteous and polite to everyone, drivers and pedestrians alike, and I remain hyper alert to everything that is going on around me. That's the only rule you need.

But following the rules makes you predictable in terms of what actions you're going to take and makes it easier for other road users to interact with you in a predictable manner.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#323

Post by u801e »

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.

I think it's better to concentrate on educating riders on bike handling skills and skills they need when riding in traffic rather than concentrate on helmet use to the exclusion of all else.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#324

Post by ilovecars2 »

thescriptkiddie wrote: post #315
ilovecars2 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is NOT OK to go through red lights, whether in a car, on a bike or on foot. The rules are the rules and we should all abide them. It happens all the time in London where bikes go through red lights and weave through pedestrians (sometimes at speed) who are crossing the road. Pedestrians are even worse - and often walk or run across red lights and almost get hit from a bus, car or bike. It’s madness!

I many places is is allowed and even encouraged for cyclists to go through red lights and stop signs. It's called the Idaho stop [0]. It's believed to be safer than waiting at the red light provided that the intersection is clear. Consider that rear-end collisions are the most common cause of cyclist fatalities [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_stop [1] https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/how-get-killed-bike-…

This worries me. What if the intersection is clear but the joining roads are blind (as is often the case in old European cities). Could I cross the red light, get hit and then claim “well I was just following the Idaho stop... I’m not at fault here. The intersection was clear when I set off”?

I’m surprised about it being safer, and would be interested to see some stats on it. It could be more common in the US where cities are grids because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a near miss where a cyclist almost got rear ended in London. However, I do see a lot of cyclists getting cut off by buses and cars on corners and at junctions.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#325

Post by def- »

bitL wrote: post #157

I was once at SAP and the roads around their HQ form a maze. No wonder public transport takes so much time. Bike would be vastly preferable, though it depends on weather. I've heard SAP allows fully remote work, so I am wondering why are you commuting to office anyway? You can save 1h/day for living your life easily.

In our team we don't do full remote work, I don't know about other teams. You can occasionally do home office. I prefer being in the office for work for these reasons:

  - different space for work and private life makes it easier to separate them
  - being able to simply chat with colleagues a bit
  - looking over problems together more easily
  - get out of the house for a while, have a more regular daily routine
  - free lunch ;)

Re: One year of cycling to work

#326

Post by keithnz »

w0utert wrote: post #80
comprev wrote: post #72

Cycling to work is normal here in the Netherlands, especially in the cities. Given a few times when I've been sick, I've ridden almost every day to work and back (8km), regardless of the weather (and the Dutch weather is famous for being rubbish). I'm a cyclist at heart so really enjoy the daily commute along the canals, back streets and cycle paths of the city. To be fair, even the nightclubs have cycle parking - an…

6km one-way isn't very remarkable here indeed, in terms of distance I would consider it a short bike ride. I'm cycling ~8km each day myself now, but I have colleagues who do ~15km one-way each day, which I would consider on the high end for a bike commute. I agree with the sentiment of the article though, which is that cycling to work basically has only advantages if the weather is good. When it's raining or particul…

any using e bikes? I keep pondering it, it's ~20km for me to commute one way. Luckily there's bike path nearly the whole way, but seems on the edge of being practical. One advantage is there is no extra charge for taking a bike on a train if I end up with bike troubles.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#327

Post by rconti »

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #274
rconti wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The consistency is a vastly underrated quality of bike commuting. One amazing thing I've found is I'm more likely to do social events after work, even ones that are a great distance, if I don't have to worry about traffic. For example, sometimes after I work I bicycle 90 minutes to San Jose and don't think twice about it. If I had my car it would PROBABLY take 45 minutes, but I honestly have no idea. Or I could go ho…

Sorry for the basic question, but how do you bike for 90 minutes without being covered in sweat and needing a shower when you arrive at your destination?

On my morning commute it's not bad, because mornings are cool. If I put on a windbreaker due to the chill, then I get a little bit sweaty. Once I stop riding, the sweat naturally dries after a few minutes. I don't need a shower just because I perspired somewhat.

If I'm going down to San Jose I'm probably meeting friends at a bar or going to a show or something. Hardly the end of the world to work up a mild sweat and then my body dries after I stop, then as I start to feel a chill, I put warmer clothes on. It's not an issue.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#328

Post by gerbilly »

u801e wrote: post #322
gerbilly wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bike to work everyday and I don't follow the rules of the road, and neither should other cyclists. In a system designed for cars, it's just false piety and won't keep you any safer. The one rule I do follow is that I am courteous and polite to everyone, drivers and pedestrians alike, and I remain hyper alert to everything that is going on around me. That's the only rule you need.

But following the rules makes you predictable in terms of what actions you're going to take and makes it easier for other road users to interact with you in a predictable manner.

I don't ride erratically because it freaks people and it's impolite.

It depends how many people are around, and on the entire situation.

I've had sketchy situations when stopping at stop signs. The drivers in my area don't expect cyclists to stop at stop signs, since most don't.

So in that case following the rules made me more unpredictable, and confused everyone involved.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#329

Post by Tomte »

The bike is great. VSF fahrradmanufaktur. Used to be an organisation, run by a few hundred smallish bike shops who worked together, but was bought up by a company later.

Still great bikes. Steel frame, sensible parts that work well together (none standing out as a customer magnet and coupled with lower-quality other parts), sensible prices. And a really beautiful color scheme.

I have a very similar one as the author (or maybe the same?). But I really should have gotten the sister model with hub gear and chain case.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#330

Post by rconti »

closeparen wrote: post #255
nsedlet wrote: post #124

I commute about 6 miles each way between Brooklyn (home) and Manhattan (work). I've been raving about it to everyone I know because it's legitimately changed my life. It feels amazing, saves money, keeps me in much better shape, gives me more energy at work. It's slightly faster than the subway, and significantly faster than driving/cabbing at rush hour. I also love that transit time is very consistent (even relative…

Bikes have few problems with traffic because entire rights-of-way are dedicated to a tiny constituency. As bicycling gains popularity, I fully expect bike lanes to exhibit the same traffic problems as car lanes. You’ll still get more throughout from the space, but with a density of bikes meeting or exceeding the density of cars, traffic will certainly become a thing. Now, as always, it’s a good idea to arbitrage and…

This makes no sense. There's a limit to how densely people can live, and I see no reason bicycle infrastructure can't support all of those commuters, even if it has to be expanded somewhat.

We DEFINITELY know roads can't scale enough to handle the cars, but when each person takes up a tiny fraction of the space they take up now in their cars (plus closer following distances due to lower speeds), there's simply no problem.

I've commuted in places where there is lots of cycling, for example Munich, and yes, you have 'normal' car-like traffic (sometimes in a row of 10 bicycles and you might have to wait for faster bikes to pass before your chance to pull out to pass) but it's not gridlock like in cars on the streets.

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