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One year of cycling to work

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Re: One year of cycling to work

#381

Post by bhandziuk »

u801e wrote: post #375
bhandziuk wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, absolutely I'd rather be wearing a seat belt designed to to a 20 mph spec in a 60 mph crash than no seat belt at all. I'd take anything at all to slow down my body/brain from coming to a complete stop. The sudden stopping is what kills. If the only thing slowing down my brain is my skull then that is worst case scenario, unless of course, my skull shatters, then I guess my brain slows down at a more acceptable r…

> I'd take anything at all to slow down my body/brain from coming to a complete stop. Except that in this case, the belt just comes off its anchor points and doesn't slow you down at all. Just like a bridge rated for a 10,000 lbs load will collapse when a fully loaded 80,000 lbs tractor trailer drives over it. If something is going to work, then it had to be designed and tested for it. You can't simply believe it's g…

Let's say you're on the 10th story of a burning building and the fire department is below telling you to jump. They have one of those cartoon sheets to catch you but it's only rated to catch people falling from the 5th story. If you jump you'll hit the sheet at 40 mph but break through it and hit the ground at 10 mph. Do you shout at them to take the sheet away because you want to hit the ground at the full 40 mph because the sheet won't do enough good?

Edit: and just to address this specifically

> Except that in this case, the belt just comes off its anchor points and doesn't slow you down at all.

This is not true because the energy that went into breaking that anchor point is energy your body is no longer carrying. The belt did slow you down and even in breaking could still have saved your life.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#382

Post by RandallBrown »

s73v3r_ wrote: post #267
RandallBrown wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're uncomfortable, mess up your hair, make you extra sweaty, and you need to put them somewhere. None of these are good enough reasons to not wear a helmet while you're riding a bike, but any one of them would be a good enough reason to not ride your bike at all. That's the point OP is trying to make by saying you can skip your helmet if you want.

"They're uncomfortable" If that's true, then you are not wearing a properly fitted one.

Okay, would it be better if I said less comfortable?

Re: One year of cycling to work

#383

Post by closeparen »

akgerber wrote: post #277
closeparen wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Bicycles are inherently more space-efficient than cars— the space-inefficiency of which is the root cause of urban automobile congestion: http://urbanist.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83454714d69e2017d3c37d8a... As cycling becomes more popular, the larger cycling constituency will be able to demand more road space— but congestion will much less of a problem, because it simply requires less space to move a large number of peopl…

We have learned from freeway expansion projects that constant-factor improvements in capacity induce growth in utilization until we return to an equilibrium level of congestion. We're in the early stages of this process for bicycles, so the pain is low for now, as it was when early adopters had the brand-new interstate highways all to themselves. As it was, more recently, when hybrids were allowed in the Bay Bridge flyover lane. What happened? Everybody got a Prius.

For environmental, health, and inclusivity reasons (constant factor improvements in transportation capacity do, after all, mean constant factor improvements in access to cities) it may be preferable to have gridlock in bicycles rather than gridlock in private cars.

But don't think for a second that we can grow sprawling mega-regions indefinitely without gridlock.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#384

Post by petre »

vivan wrote: post #24
reti wrote: post #17

I cycle around 3 times the distance he does daily to and from work in London. I've been doing this for 5 years. It's probably fair to say I take more days off than he does though (I leave the bike at home if going for a drink). I suppose the same could be said for any form of regular exercise, but it makes such an improvement to how I feel when I get to work, and my general well-being. The pollution in London has alw…

I live in London and I'd love to cycle to work, but the infrastructure (for my route) just isn't there. And for people who aren't experienced cyclists, it is even worse as lack of confidence actually leads to more accidents.

Yet you have quite some cyclists that ride in crazy traffic among double deckers and fast cars. Most of them wear neon yellow clothing. Is it required by law?

Re: One year of cycling to work

#385

Post by josiahpeters »

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…

I treat helmet safety like I do gun safety. ALWAYS TREAT A GUN AS IF ITS LOADED. If you don't, you behave differently around it always. And that's how people accidentally shoot their friends or themselves (even cleaning their gun). If you choose to not compromise on fundamentals like that, you are positioning yourself and others for less risk from the get go.

Thankfully I applied the same ALWAYS mentality to wearing a helmet for my biking commute. I was obeying traffic laws when a pickup truck turned into me while I was traveling through a green light. I had right of way and he wasn't paying attention and clipped me fairly hard. I tried to break and skid about 10 feet as he turned into me. I ended up in the hospital with a severe concussion and a terrifying 6 hours for my wife as she sat next to me. Praying that my lost memory would recover as the concussion wore off. I was initially forgetful of us having been married for less than a year. Eventually I started remembering things again, quite a scary moment for us.

Funny thing was I was riding to visit a friend who was just a few blocks away. He had recently criticised me for wearing a helmet to go less than a mile to visit him.

Fast forward a year and finally getting the nerve to ride again. My first trip out and a teenager blows through a stop sign without looking and almost hits me. In broad daylight, flashing lights on my bike and all.

There is an inherit risk in riding my bike to work. And a helmet may not provide a meaningful mitigation of risk. (I've never bothered to look up statistics, maybe you have?) However, I can control just a few variables to ride or not, ride defensively or not, and wear protective gear or not. I certainly have no control of the motor vehicles drivers or their distractions. So I choose the variables that I can control without losing the joy of commuting as a cyclist.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#386

Post by ePierre »

I like to ride my bike to work because it's much faster than taking the bus (20 minutes versus 40+ minutes) . However, when it rains, I take the bus. And it rains quite often where I live (Taipei).

Any advice from fellow bikers? Clothes to wear, gear to get, etc.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#387

Post by kbrosnan »

HumanDrivenDev wrote: post #244
unicornporn wrote: post #34

I'm at my 12 year of every day bike commuting. Before I commuted 10 km each direction, now I'm at 6 km. If I have activities after work, I ride to them too. So my total ride length is a fair bit longer than what my commute is. The public transportation network here in Stockholm is good, but wouldn't even consider cramming myself into a packed subway train or bus. Even at this time of the year when it's -5 degrees cel…

I'd hate to ride anything 'supple' on my commute path, which includes a lot of debris and broken bottles. I do miss riding on smaller wheels though. 26" was much nicer to get rolling than 700c, and there's a lot of stop-start. 26" rigid bike are extinct now though it seems.

Parent is suggesting combining 650b/27.5" wheel sets with large volume 27.5" tires. This gives you an outer wheel diameter near a 700c wheel. Something like this Durano 27.5 x 1.10 tire [1] and sealant would make for a bomb proof commuter.

[1] https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/racing_tires/durano...

Re: One year of cycling to work

#388

Post by def- »

ePierre wrote: post #386

I like to ride my bike to work because it's much faster than taking the bus (20 minutes versus 40+ minutes) . However, when it rains, I take the bus. And it rains quite often where I live (Taipei). Any advice from fellow bikers? Clothes to wear, gear to get, etc.

I take a towel with me to dry my exposed body parts. I use Vaude softshell jacket (Posta) and pants (Tirano), but they are more for colder weather. In summer I'd prefer to switch clothes after arrival. There are also overpants and overshoes for the rain, but personally I don't like them because they make you sweat more.

Re: One year of cycling to work

#389

Post by harg »

Retric wrote: post #204
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…

Just be aware that heavy exercise near significant car exhaust is fairly bad for your lungs. If you go a moderate pace it's not that bad, but if you like going all out a face mask is a good investment.

The benefits of exercise actually usually outweigh harm from pollution in many developed cities, e.g. London: https://ig.ft.com/sites/urban-cycling/assets/pollution-londo...

Of course if you live in a very polluted city the harm is much more pronounced: https://ig.ft.com/sites/urban-cycling/assets/pollution-world...

Source: https://ig.ft.com/sites/urban-cycling/

Re: One year of cycling to work

#390

Post by cesnja »

bbarn wrote: post #104
deathanatos wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also bike in the SFBA. I also drive there, too. > I didn't run red lights Thank you . As both a biker and a driver, I appreciate this. Too many bikers don't do this, and I've witnessed too many close calls for those that don't. I've been heckled by other bikers for stopping at red lights, so I know that sometimes this can be a pain to actually stick to.

It's the same as when driving a car. The real time savings of acting like a jerk is so small it's just not worth it.

Sure, but as a cyclist, you frequently have the ability to just slip by without obstructing anybody.
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