
Why Can’t Riding Bikes in America Just Be Normal? - jseliger
https://www.outsideonline.com/2281721/why-cant-riding-bikes-america-just-be-normal
======
blhack
Because Brooklyn and Manhattan are nothing like most of the other cities in
the US?

Also, what the hell is this author talking about? People are looking at your
bike because they think its interesting. It IS interesting, because it looks
very different than most bikes people have seen, even people who are "in" to
bikes (like bike messengers, that he mentions).

Also this:

>“How do you steer that thing?”

>“With the handlebars”

Oh man you sure showed him, author! The guy outside of the supermarket is
clearly showing interest in your unique, interesting bicycle. You don't have
to be a jerk about it.

\--

People in the US largely don't have the time to ride bikes. We work from
8:00am to 5:00pm, and it's too expensive for many people to live near where
their office is. If you pad an hour on each side of that work schedule for
commuting, that leaves 13 hours of non-work-related time per day, 8 of which
has to be dedicated to sleeping, leaving 5 hours to "live" each day. If you
take 30 minutes to get ready in the morning, and 30 minutes to wind down
before bed, that brings you down to 4 hours.

People want to reclaim as much time as they can for living. Cars give them the
ability to do that. It would be great if we all lived a mile from where we
work, and could all ride funky unique bikes to our jobs, then post self-
righteous blogs on a website called "bike snob" about how annoyed we are that
people notice our weird bike.

But we don't, and blogs like this only serve to further the distance between
cyclists and non-cyclists.

On a semi-related note: my city recently got a BUNCH of dockless bike share
bikes. They're EVERYWHERE now. Pretty much any bar, any grocery store, any
restaurant, shopping center, etc. all have a few bike shares parked outside of
them now. It's AWESOME.

And yet every bike-group I'm a part of is complaining about them.

So I don't know cyclists, maybe you should turn that "bike snob" lens towards
yourself and ask why more people aren't ditching their cars for bikes.

~~~
ricardobeat
Have you used the shared bikes? They are usually expensive, heavy, not
ergonomic and take up valuable parking space. Amsterdam recently went on a
collecting spree, outlawed many of them and reclaimed a few thousand parking
spaces.

“People don’t have time to ride bikes” - this is exactly what the article is
about: using bikes for normal tasks, like taking kids to school, going to the
grocery store, commuting to work. Not for recreation in your off time, or as a
sport.

Journeys up to 6-7km are absolutely normal, you don’t have to live next door
to the office to cycle. What else is stopping you?

~~~
khedoros1
> Journeys up to 6-7km are absolutely normal, you don’t have to live next door
> to the office to cycle. What else is stopping you?

Work: Close to double the distance, fast roads, aggressive drivers, and lack
of bike lanes on some parts of the route.

School: Wife takes the kid, and she hasn't ridden since her childhood. Similar
safety issues.

Groceries: It's possible to be out and back in the car in the time that it
would take just to get there on the bike. The car can carry a week's
groceries. Long hill on the way back, when already laden with food.

In all the cases, there isn't a culture of cycling in the area, aside from
packs of dozens of lycra-clad people on the weekends. Cyclists are seen as an
annoyance, and the minority of drivers that are dangerous and unpredictable to
other cars are worse to cyclists. That's the biggest thing stopping me
(although time and laziness are certainly factors, too).

~~~
wombatpm
Two words: Chicago Winter

------
tstrimple
The average commute is 15 miles and the average cycling speed is 9mph which
gives you an average of 3 hours per day commuting via bicycle. Can't imagine
why riding bikes isn't normal!

~~~
mi100hael
9 mph is awfully slow. Most cyclists who ride on a regular basis would be able
to average around 15 mph. An hour each way is still a little long, but not
terrible considering it doubles as a workout and obviates the need to visit a
gym.

~~~
matte_black
Cycling to work is in no way a replacement for proper full body workout.

It _does not_ obviate the need to visit a gym.

~~~
Buldak
Is a "full body" workout necessary for most people? Obviously you won't have
much in the way of upper body strength, say, if all you do is bike commute.
But my understanding is that the amount of exercise required to be healthy is
much less than what most fitness enthusiasts are committed to. It wouldn't
surprise me if simply biking to work were sufficient to net most of the vital
benefits of exercise for most people. (And even if it weren't, I'd still doubt
that a gym membership is necessary.)

~~~
matte_black
Full body workout becomes much more important as you get older, otherwise you
lose mobility much sooner in life.

------
burnte
Guy with very unusual bike riding through NYC wonders why he can't just be
seen as "normal" and not get comments. No one would have looked twice if we
riding a normal bike, but he is riding a VERY unusual (really neat, though)
bike, so yeah, you're going to get comments. Most of them were positive, too,
by the sounds of the article.

~~~
huebomont
You need to pay more attention to biking in NYC. Drivers HATE bikers to an
incredibly unreasonable extent.

~~~
orangecat
As a pedestrian in NYC I wasn't fond of them either. At least once a month I'd
have a near miss due to a cyclist barrelling through a red light at full
speed. I know it's a only a minority that does things like that, but it
unavoidably creates a bad impression.

~~~
Joe-Z
I guess traffic will always elicit emotional reactions in people. I bike
through a tourist-laden, relatively narrow, street on my way to and from work
and, my god, the amount of people just wandering around aimlessly seemingly
having no sense of their surroundings is astonishing.

------
bluedino
Here in the rust belt, if you're on a bicycle and over the age of 25 or so,
the stigma is "I don't have a drivers license because of multiple DUI's"

That said, the guys that ride bikes are _tough_. They do it in in the rain,
through the cold and snow, in the dark with no lights. Pedaling miles going
along picking up cans, riding back home with plastic grocery bags full of 40oz
beer bottles to enjoy the rest of their day.

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Piskvorrr
"having things thrown at me from car windows (this has happened to every
cyclist)"...I am genuinely shocked. I would not expect that from a third world
banana republic, not a fact-of-life in the USA.

~~~
blhack
This is absolutely _not_ a "fact of life" in the USA. At various points in my
life, I have spent a lot of time riding my bike on the streets. I have never
had anybody throw anything at me.

Although this is probably because I am courteous and acknowledge that my bike
going 15 mph is essentially an obstacle to all of the cars which are going 45
mph.

~~~
Piskvorrr
Thanks. It did seem to be an offhand mention to me, something like "well,
that's just how life is: water is wet and cyclists get pelted with trash."
Glad to hear this is not universal.

------
kevmo
The title of this blog - "Bike Snob" \- answers its own question.

~~~
chapium
I found it to be self deprecating, in a humorous way.

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oceanghost
Inclimate weather is why. Bikes are well and fine when it's not too hot, not
too cold, and not raining, and if you're in shape and not suffering from any
serious medical problems.

Otherwise, its the car.

------
rexgallorum2
In the case of the US, it's really an infrastructure issue. Attitudes follow
from that.

I grew up in the US and live in Europe now, and I bike or walk everywhere. The
difference is of course staggering.

Here, biking is just something ordinary people do to get around, and it
doesn't require any special equipment or make any kind of statement. In the
US, biking is primarily associated with recreation and a specific subculture.

In the US case, changing infrastructure priorities and urban planning
practices will go a long way toward alleviating the problem.

------
alvern
+1 for the Yuba Supermarche. That cargo bike is super fun to ride. The
steering takes a minute to get used to, it has a 4:3 ratio. For every degree
you turn the handlebars, the front wheel turns 1.33 times more. It handles
speeds up to 30mph suprisingly well.

I made a quick video when we got one in the shop last summer.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l_M6UrHY5k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l_M6UrHY5k)

~~~
toomuchtodo
You can also add electric assist to cargo bikes such as these, making them
even easier to use.

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watchdogtimer
I made a bike[1] very similar to the authors about 10 years ago and have used
it as my main vehicle ever since.

It's been extremely useful for getting groceries and hauling packages.

My experience has been similar to the author's, with people curious about it
and often taking pictures of it as they drive past.

[1]-[https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bc7bvq1ipqznTImR2](https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bc7bvq1ipqznTImR2)

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NegativeLatency
That bike would fit right in in Portland. Would still probably get some
comments, but cargo bikes are not uncommon.

------
axau
> For that matter I’ve also never had anyone of any gender implore me to be
> careful when loading my children into a car, which statistically speaking is
> far more warranted.

This would be extremely surprising to me. Citation needed.

------
jseliger
I also just read and submitted "We’re witnessing the fastest decline in Arctic
sea ice in at least 1,500 years"
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16414695"and](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16414695"and)
cannot help wondering about the connection between the two.

