Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Be happy Bike to work.

csharpening.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 141 posts

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#121

Post by ikailan »

ImprovedSilence wrote: post #93
nicholassmith wrote: post #9

Please anyone reading this don't wear headphones, you've removed one of the most useful senses for knowing where there's a potential problem. I'd love to cycle to work, the only problem is it's a 160 mile round trip, so it's not too sustainable. I've thought about cycling the journey from my house to the train station but then I've got the additional problem of dealing with a bike on a busy train (two trains really),…

Let people do what they want. If someone wants to enjoy music on their bike, fine. This coming from someone who doesn't ride with headphones in, but only because I was never one of those people that had headphones in 24/7. I always felt music distracted me from the joy of riding a bike (or the pain of riding a bike, when it comes to training.) or that bike riding distracted me from the joys of listening to music. But…

There's an earlier comment about how this makes you a danger to OTHERS. If you're just a danger to yourself, that's that.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#122

Post by accoinstereo »

jgfoot wrote: post #77

I have been bike commuting for nine years. The biggest things that change since the initial rush of delight? First, as time goes on, you care a lot more about safety. Newbies may write about how they can meditate or listen to music while riding, but experienced riders know they must always stay alert. You shouldn't be meditating, you should be focused on potential dangers. Second, the weight loss? Not as big a deal a…

> Second, the weight loss? Not as big a deal as time goes on.

Sure, deciding to bike commute isn't a guarantee of sustainable weight loss. But no single activity is. Combine its caloric deficit with a sensible health plan and you'll reap its benefits.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#123

Post by lambda »

nicholassmith wrote: post #56
lambda wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get a folding bike. There are quite a variety of folding bikes these days in a wide range of sizes and price, and they are actually pretty nice bikes. For a lot of choice (cheap to expensive, big wheel and small), check out Dahon http://www.dahon.com/ , or if you want a really high-end folding bike that folds down really small, Brompton is the way to go http://www.brompton.co.uk/ . There are a few other bra…

If I had a bit of a longer journey post train it'd be a good idea, but it's under 5 minutes from the station to office. A commenter below suggested locking it up at the station I leave from (which I was a bit hesitant about) but I might try it that way. Some of those do look pretty nice though, I remember seeing the first folding bikes and it looked like people riding clown-bikes, they've definitely stepped up the qu…

One of the nice things about the Brompton is that you can partially unfold it (just raise the handlebars), and roll it along behind you like a cart. So if the train->office trip is too short to bother unfolding it, riding it, and folding it up again (though those are really quick, they take about 15 or 20 seconds), you could just raise the handlebars back up and walk it up to your office.

Watch the video I linked to, or skip to the last 5 minutes or so; that's a Brompton (slightly modified, the seat and seat tube usually stay attached), and you can see how quick and easy it is to unfold the bike and ride off.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#124

Post by ikailan »

wasabinerd wrote: post #88
ikailan wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, okay, I can buy that. Guess I'm thinking like a city rider. I used to read a lot of bike blogs in SF and in almost every case where the biker was seriously injured, they were not wearing a helmet.

I have problems with the general tendency of always minimizing risk. When did risk become something to avoid at all cost? Follow that path and you end up avoiding everything that makes life worth living. It's not about whether you should wear a helmet on a bike. It's about accepting the fact that you are going to die and stop worrying about it and start living. I don't want to die but I'm not going to let the risk of…

I think it's one thing to overly minimize risk, it's another entirely to take stupid risks where the payoff doesn't match the risk. I play sports and get injured from time to time (I am still healing from an ankle injury sustained months ago), but it's worth it given how much fun I have - but I still bought shin guards because getting taken out for a week because of a bad kick just isn't worth it (that's more time I could be playing soccer, for instance). It's the same thinking with bike helmets. I want to be around to bike more.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#125

Post by jonotime »

youngian wrote: post #112
jonotime wrote: post #63

My ride to work is over an hour each way. Been doing it every day for years here in the northeast U.S. A mostly residential route. Funny thing is if I take the bus, it takes the same amount of time. I started doing this out of a distaste for cars and statistics show that driving is actually much more dangerous then biking. Weather-wise, I far prefer snow to rain. The hardest part is cold feet in the winter - never fo…

Have you tried neoprene booties? They worked great for me in the midwest. My feet stayed plenty warm, and I didn't even bother to wear thick socks. The hands were always my biggest problem.

Yup. I used to wear booties when I wore clipping shoes. But then I switched to heavy boots without clips and it was warmer. Never had a problem with hands. I got some down ski mittens. In fact they are too hot - but the key is 'mittens'. Once I discovered that, there was no looking back.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#126

Post by finnw »

jgfoot wrote: post #77

I have been bike commuting for nine years. The biggest things that change since the initial rush of delight? First, as time goes on, you care a lot more about safety. Newbies may write about how they can meditate or listen to music while riding, but experienced riders know they must always stay alert. You shouldn't be meditating, you should be focused on potential dangers. Second, the weight loss? Not as big a deal a…

I'm still riding the $300 bike to work that I bought 10 years ago and it still helps me control my weight (as I discovered when I stopped for 6 weeks.) The reason? My $300 bike is a lot heavier than your $3000 bike.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#128

Post by finnw »

GlenAnderson wrote: post #70
nicholassmith wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had a bit of a longer journey post train it'd be a good idea, but it's under 5 minutes from the station to office. A commenter below suggested locking it up at the station I leave from (which I was a bit hesitant about) but I might try it that way. Some of those do look pretty nice though, I remember seeing the first folding bikes and it looked like people riding clown-bikes, they've definitely stepped up the qu…

I don't know what your station is like but my wife and lots of others do this from Bristol to London (~235 mile round trip by road). http://goo.gl/xscqD - image search for Bristol Temple Meads bike rack Fortunately my trip between uni/childminder/home is quite short so I'm going to try running it when term starts again.

At first glance I thought you meant you cycled from Bristol to London, which would be quite impressive if you did every working day of the year.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#129

Post by jlarocco »

nicholassmith wrote: post #87
jlarocco wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please anyone reading this don't wear headphones, you've removed one of the most useful senses for knowing where there's a potential problem. That's nonsense. If a person is listening to headphones so loud that they can't hear approaching cars and/or problems with their bike, then they'll still probably ruin their ears long before biking with headphones causes them a problem.

It depends entirely on the headphones, I have some Etymotic in-ear buds that cancel external noise on about half volume. It's not just how loud you go, but what the headphones do to ambient noise in general. And still, a lot of people do listen to music overly loud, and will probably damage their ears, so they risk ruined ears and not being fully aware of everything going on around them.

My point is, it's silly to make such a general statement just because a few people will be stupid. Most people have sense enough not to crank up the volume and not use noise canceling headphones while biking, and there's no reason for them to not enjoy music while cycling.

Re: Be happy Bike to work.

#130

Post by jlarocco »

tdfx wrote: post #20

As someone who will be commuting by bike soon, I have to ask: what do you do when it rains/snows?

For rain in the spring and summer I just get wet. We have a locker room with showers at my work and I have a waterproof bag, so I just bring a change of clothes.

For snow and cold rain there are water proof rain pants [1], base layers [2], and shoe covers [3]. If you stay dry then staying warm isn't a big problem because the exercise will warm you up. I live in Colorado, and when it's snowing I put a water proof layer over my normal cycling clothes, and it's usually warm enough.

  [1] http://www.hucknroll.com/mens-rain-pants
  [2] http://www.hucknroll.com/mens-base-layers
  [3] http://www.hucknroll.com/booties-shoe-covers
Post reply on HN