Author Topic: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour  (Read 9997 times)

The Money Monk

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driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« on: September 05, 2018, 11:03:05 PM »
I stumbled across an exchange on twitter of people talking about how bad the traffic is in California. One guy says it takes him 30 to 35 minutes to drive 2 miles to his gym!

Why the hell would you drive when its NOT EVEN FASTER than walking?! Especially if you are going to get a workout.

A bicycle would get you there in 15 minutes or less.

Madness. I had to share with people I know would understand.


slugline

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #1 on: September 06, 2018, 08:42:55 AM »
I wouldn't be surprised if parking regulations/policy at the location encourages this kind of ridiculousness.

Just Joe

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #2 on: September 06, 2018, 09:17:42 AM »
The bicycle solution - absolutely. Maybe it would be a ride through a traffic gauntlet. Assuming it could be done safely on a bike or foot - I get tickled by people who make choices like this.

Must.drive.everywhere.

Samuel

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2018, 12:42:03 PM »
This is a pet peeve of mine too, people avoiding modest physical exertion on the way to working out... I once watched someone wait 5 minutes for a parking spot close to the gym when there was plenty of parking 200 feet away, then watched them come in and start walking on a treadmill.


coynemoney

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #4 on: September 06, 2018, 01:49:46 PM »
Guaranteed that guy gets to the gym and does a 2 mile walk on a treadmill as a warm-up

honeybbq

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #5 on: September 06, 2018, 01:53:18 PM »
I used to go to a gym in Houston that had valet parking... and the parking lot was RIGHT THERE. Not down the street or hidden or anything (this is Houston, not NY).

Just Joe

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2018, 02:32:00 PM »
And these folks might complain about not getting their steps in for the day. Funny people out there.

MandalayVA

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #7 on: September 06, 2018, 02:37:16 PM »
If my fat, lazy ass can walk 2.15 miles one way to the gym in a reasonable amount of time, especially in Floridian swampy humidity, so can yours. 

pbkmaine

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #8 on: September 06, 2018, 05:30:38 PM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

Hula Hoop

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2018, 03:10:25 AM »
I walk to and from work each day, which is around 2 miles and that's good exercise and puts me in a better mood.  Not owning a car is the best exercise.  My kids are pretty fit too due to the constant walking and public transport.  I really don't get people who drive everywhere and then complain that they don't have time for exercise.

brute

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #10 on: September 07, 2018, 06:26:55 AM »
I was going to give some reasoning that he might not want to walk to the gym, but then I remembered that it's probably a Gold's or LA fitness or something dumb like that. The gyms I go to are usually in the warehouse/industrial part of town and walking is a bad idea. Commercial gyms though, yeah. Dude should probably walk, or hell, even unicycle.

merula

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #11 on: September 07, 2018, 06:46:33 AM »
There are physically disabled people who may need to do this. People who may not be able to walk or bike for long distances but use the gym machines/pool/trainers for physical therapy.

Assuming this dude isn't disabled.... yeah, no.

DS

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #12 on: September 07, 2018, 08:18:24 AM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

This is so true! I always put on athletic clothes to clean.

Jesstache

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #13 on: September 07, 2018, 11:03:17 PM »
We live 0.75 miles from our front door to the kids' school gate.  Me and my almost 5 year old and 7 year old walk/scooter every day to and from.  My neighbor drives it every day.  The other day she told me how impressed she is by the fact that we manage to walk it every day.  Every day she passes me on the way back home in her minivan when we're about 1/2 a block from our houses meaning she gets home about 3 minutes before I do so it's not like she's saving any time by driving and waiting in that ridiculous line.  She also told me the day goes by so fast with all the kids in school because by the time she goes to the gym (!) and runs errands it's time for pick up again.  I keep inviting her to walk with us but she hasn't taken me up on it yet... 

Hula Hoop

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #14 on: September 08, 2018, 05:51:54 AM »
Jesstache  - I was going to say that maybe she drops the kids off in her car on the way to work.  That would make a little bit of sense if she had to drive straight on to get to her office.  But if she is a SAHM that makes no sense at all.  Especially if she also goes to the gym.  And it's also important that kids get exercise and walking/scooting to school is perfect for that.  Amazing.

pecunia

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #15 on: September 08, 2018, 06:31:03 AM »
California is one big freeway.  It can be very difficult to cross a freeway.  Much of the country is just not set up for walkers / cyclists.  I've stayed in places where places I've had to go to is just a few miles away.  I've asked, "Can I walk?"  The sober answer was a negative.  No money to be made from the walkers, I guess.

Fomerly known as something

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #16 on: September 09, 2018, 06:44:50 AM »
California is one big freeway.  It can be very difficult to cross a freeway.  Much of the country is just not set up for walkers / cyclists.  I've stayed in places where places I've had to go to is just a few miles away.  I've asked, "Can I walk?"  The sober answer was a negative.  No money to be made from the walkers, I guess.

On a similar note, I recently was in New Jersey for work.  In order to get from my hotel to the nice little town 1/2 mile away where I could get food walk around or whatever, one had to get on the on ramp then the off ramp to the interstate with no sidewalks.  Yup I drove the rental car to town.

Jouer

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #17 on: September 10, 2018, 12:21:42 PM »
California is one big freeway.  It can be very difficult to cross a freeway.  Much of the country is just not set up for walkers / cyclists.  I've stayed in places where places I've had to go to is just a few miles away.  I've asked, "Can I walk?"  The sober answer was a negative.  No money to be made from the walkers, I guess.

I agree about California. But I was in Tampa a few years ago for a week-long course. Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk from the venue so we walked every morning. One day our instructor told us to drive to [some location] and we told him we didn't rent a car. He was flabbergasted, saying there was no hotel within walking distance to where we were sitting. Sometimes it's about mentality, not infrastructure.

Just Joe

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #18 on: September 11, 2018, 09:33:20 AM »
We live 0.75 miles from our front door to the kids' school gate.  Me and my almost 5 year old and 7 year old walk/scooter every day to and from.  My neighbor drives it every day.  The other day she told me how impressed she is by the fact that we manage to walk it every day.  Every day she passes me on the way back home in her minivan when we're about 1/2 a block from our houses meaning she gets home about 3 minutes before I do so it's not like she's saving any time by driving and waiting in that ridiculous line.  She also told me the day goes by so fast with all the kids in school because by the time she goes to the gym (!) and runs errands it's time for pick up again.  I keep inviting her to walk with us but she hasn't taken me up on it yet...

Occasionally I will take part of a day off. Biking home I see that there are folks parked in the school line 30-45 mins before school lets out. Side benefit of an independent child - wants to walk home rather than be picked up. Not like I could pick him up more than a few times per year any how b/c work. Says he gets home before the bus.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2018, 09:35:07 AM by Just Joe »

Jesstache

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #19 on: September 11, 2018, 09:47:50 AM »
The neighbor is a SAHM like me and she did try to get us to join the “health club” her family (and a lot of the other families!) goes to.  It’s $250/month.  We briefly considered it (because they have a nice family pool and we could save some of that on utilities by showering there most days) but it just didn’t fall in line with our goals for the next few years... plus we’re active and fit without the gym.  Her and her family are very nice so it’s not to knock them personally as I know most of the people driving there live the same distance or less from the school.  She also justified it with the reasoning that her oldest is difficult to get up in the morning and they need every minute to get out the door that they can get, which I understand to a degree but honestly it’s the best part of my day and if we needed to be faster, we’d ride bikes.  The one time I had a morning appt, I told the kids we had to drive and they were angry they couldn’t ride their scooters, so I know they enjoy it too.

Slow2FIRE

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #20 on: September 17, 2018, 08:28:28 PM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

Not that I would pay someone to clean my house for me, but I have a very difficult time finding 400lb objects in my house that I can easily grasp to deadlift repeatedly (and drop without breaking).  Cleaning doesn't give me the kind of exercise I am interested in...so if I had to make that particular choice (because my time were that limited) I would absolutely pay someone else to clean my house so I can go lift some heavy iron.

Imagine if you wanted to go for a bike ride or a hike (for enjoyment, not commuting) and someone told you to just mow the lawn and paint your house if you want exercise...

Just Joe

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #21 on: September 18, 2018, 08:02:33 AM »
Build yourself a stack off firewood and then move it from one side of the back yard to the other and restack. Go arm wrestle some farmer's horse. Lots of ways to get fit for free.

Dragonswan

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #22 on: September 18, 2018, 03:15:30 PM »
It's not the getting to the gym on my own power that's the challenge; it's getting back home after the workout kicks your butt.  So you drive to the gym so so you can drive home.  (If I'm upright and not limping - bad knee- when I come out of class I consider that a win.)

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #23 on: September 18, 2018, 04:28:52 PM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

Not that I would pay someone to clean my house for me, but I have a very difficult time finding 400lb objects in my house that I can easily grasp to deadlift repeatedly (and drop without breaking).  Cleaning doesn't give me the kind of exercise I am interested in...so if I had to make that particular choice (because my time were that limited) I would absolutely pay someone else to clean my house so I can go lift some heavy iron.

Imagine if you wanted to go for a bike ride or a hike (for enjoyment, not commuting) and someone told you to just mow the lawn and paint your house if you want exercise...

I painted my house this summer and it was the most brutal squats workout. Took me a week to recover. It would've cost an extra $6K to pay someone to do it for me. That's a lot of gym time ;-)

zephyr911

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #24 on: September 19, 2018, 07:52:08 AM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

This is so true! I always put on athletic clothes to clean.

I do squats and lunges to pick up pinecones. Can't hardly walk the next day. Best leg day ever.

eljefe-speaks

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #25 on: September 20, 2018, 01:39:22 PM »
Much of the country is just not set up for walkers

In my city (in the southeast), they put almost zero sidewalks over bridges. When you are walking on the sidewalk, the sidewalk ends at the bridge. People frequently walk it anyway. So they end up walking in the two available feet in-between speeding cars and a knee high ledge. It's complete madness.

Also - I walk to the gym 90% of the time. On one occasion an asshole driver came close to hitting me as he pulled out of his apartment complex. Then, he came very close to hitting me AGAIN as he pulled into the gym - which is IMMEDIATELY NEXT DOOR to his apartment complex.

eljefe-speaks

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #26 on: September 20, 2018, 01:42:34 PM »
.. and walking/scooting to school is perfect for that...

The word "scooting" was so close to "school" that I mistakenly read it as "shooting" like 3 times. 'Merica!

MgoSam

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #27 on: September 21, 2018, 11:18:59 AM »
Haha,that's hilarious!

I was just in LA about a month ago for a week, half of which I spent working and the other half with my college roommate. So I got a rental and arranged to drop it off at a Hertz center a mile from my friend's place. My friend is from Chicago and his wife is from LA and she was flabbergasted why anyone would walk when I could easily take Lfyt. It was a mile walk and it was beautiful outside. There was a guy selling churros and so I bought one and munched on it while walking back to his place.

LennStar

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #28 on: September 24, 2018, 09:52:19 AM »
I stumbled across an exchange on twitter of people talking about how bad the traffic is in California. One guy says it takes him 30 to 35 minutes to drive 2 miles to his gym!

Why the hell would you drive when its NOT EVEN FASTER than walking?! Especially if you are going to get a workout.

A bicycle would get you there in 15 minutes or less.

Madness. I had to share with people I know would understand.

It is a bit late, but I will just insert the classic picture


mm1970

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #29 on: September 24, 2018, 12:53:35 PM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

Not that I would pay someone to clean my house for me, but I have a very difficult time finding 400lb objects in my house that I can easily grasp to deadlift repeatedly (and drop without breaking).  Cleaning doesn't give me the kind of exercise I am interested in...so if I had to make that particular choice (because my time were that limited) I would absolutely pay someone else to clean my house so I can go lift some heavy iron.

Imagine if you wanted to go for a bike ride or a hike (for enjoyment, not commuting) and someone told you to just mow the lawn and paint your house if you want exercise...
Yeah, there's exercise and there's exercise.  You can be fit doing a lot of household chores, plus walking, biking, etc.

But if you are looking for a certain kind of fitness, you have to train for that.

Hirondelle

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #30 on: October 31, 2018, 04:51:29 AM »
The neighbor is a SAHM like me and she did try to get us to join the “health club” her family (and a lot of the other families!) goes to.  It’s $250/month.  We briefly considered it (because they have a nice family pool and we could save some of that on utilities by showering there most days) but it just didn’t fall in line with our goals for the next few years... plus we’re active and fit without the gym.  Her and her family are very nice so it’s not to knock them personally as I know most of the people driving there live the same distance or less from the school.  She also justified it with the reasoning that her oldest is difficult to get up in the morning and they need every minute to get out the door that they can get, which I understand to a degree but honestly it’s the best part of my day and if we needed to be faster, we’d ride bikes.  The one time I had a morning appt, I told the kids we had to drive and they were angry they couldn’t ride their scooters, so I know they enjoy it too.

Now in my country it's rather bike/walk friendly, but there's many schools in the area that actively encourage kids to get to school by bike or foot. Schools encourage this for the purpose of fitness/health as more and more kids are overweight and move too little, but it also reduces the traffic clogging around schools (note; parking lots and streets aren't made for 100s of people dropping off their kids in my country). Children get some sort of reward for each day they walk or bike to school during a week or month long program. Think about things like stickers for each day and something bigger (candy? idk what they got) at the end of the week. I've read that it actually helped getting children to also walk/bike more often after the 'action week/month'.

Would it be an idea to get such a thing going in your local school? Especially if many kids live in the same street and there's a safe way to walk it should be doable to get some parents to volunteer and collectively walk the kids to and from school every day.

nereo

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #31 on: October 31, 2018, 07:41:25 AM »

It is a bit late, but I will just insert the classic picture



I knew someone was going to post that picture here...
The people in that photo (able-bodied) are tools.  But gyms have escalators and elevators for a reason.  In addition to being ADA compliant, many of their patrons are there to do physiotherapy.  Many of them can't walk, or walk up stairs easily.

Just sayin' - people look at an escalator and say "it's that absurd to have an escalator going into a gym!?" - well, actually, it's not.

MgoSam

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #32 on: October 31, 2018, 01:15:43 PM »
A friend of mine that's a gym trainer posted how much he hates seeing able-bodied men/women that park in handicap parking spots. I, along with other people, posted about how he ordinary people can sometimes look normal but have a disability we know nothing about, and he agreed but added, "The one I just posted about is currently doing springs on the treadmill."

gatortator

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #33 on: October 31, 2018, 02:31:01 PM »
I do squats and lunges to pick up pinecones. Can't hardly walk the next day. Best leg day ever.

I do this with leaves on my back deck.  Agreed-- my legs are ready for winter sports with all of the fall cleanup!

This is so true! I always put on athletic clothes to clean.

also agreed-- wiping down base boards always doubles as a lunge workout for me!

flipboard

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #34 on: November 01, 2018, 11:36:26 AM »
California is one big freeway.  It can be very difficult to cross a freeway.  Much of the country is just not set up for walkers / cyclists.  I've stayed in places where places I've had to go to is just a few miles away.  I've asked, "Can I walk?"  The sober answer was a negative.  No money to be made from the walkers, I guess.
Even if you can walk... you're likely to spend more time waiting for pedestrian lights to turn green at any junctions. One time on a business trip to the Bay Area I decided to walk to a nearby supermarket - it took about 10 minutes to ge there, half of that was waiting to cross one single road.

LetItGrow

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #35 on: November 04, 2018, 01:02:32 PM »
I definitely notice how uncommitted most of America is to active lifestyle when I go for a run while travelling. Many states, many places, often quite hazardous to get in a couple miles, with no sidewalks, trails, shoulders, or sometimes intersections with no pedestrian signal at all. It is especially irritating when I am somewhere that is a generally newly developed area. I know it costs money, but man it is frustrating.

LennStar

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #36 on: November 05, 2018, 01:20:51 AM »
I definitely notice how uncommitted most of America is to active lifestyle when I go for a run while travelling. Many states, many places, often quite hazardous to get in a couple miles, with no sidewalks, trails, shoulders, or sometimes intersections with no pedestrian signal at all. It is especially irritating when I am somewhere that is a generally newly developed area. I know it costs money, but man it is frustrating.
The streets cost money. Sidewalks etc.? You can get them for 1/10th of that cost. AND you use (aand seal) less space.

nereo

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #37 on: November 05, 2018, 05:44:32 AM »
I definitely notice how uncommitted most of America is to active lifestyle when I go for a run while travelling. Many states, many places, often quite hazardous to get in a couple miles, with no sidewalks, trails, shoulders, or sometimes intersections with no pedestrian signal at all. It is especially irritating when I am somewhere that is a generally newly developed area. I know it costs money, but man it is frustrating.
The streets cost money. Sidewalks etc.? You can get them for 1/10th of that cost. AND you use (aand seal) less space.

I absolutely agree that we need more walkable/bikeable infrastructure, and I advocate for such.  But this the cost issue is probably the #1 detractors use whenever a proposition comes forward to expand sidewalks and bike paths.  A rather simple two-lane bridge over a small river might cost $10MM, and adding a sidewalk on both sides $1M more.  Suddenly there's a very loud camp yelling about a million dollar sidewalk that's only 300 feet long and would 'only' get used by a few hundred each day.  So it gets voted down largely on cost, and there's no safe, efficient way for people to get from one side of town to another via foot-power.  Never mind that the bridge would service only a few thousand cars per day (less on a dollar-per-car basis) and the problem of more people walking is a chicken-and-egg problem (without safe routes, few will walk or bike, and without walkers or bikers, city councils have a hard time passing infrasturcutre supporting it).

Perhaps the most comicly tragic example is the walk/bike path on the new SF Bay Bridge.  The bridge goes from SF to Oakland and has a midpoint on a small island (Yerba Buena), and it cost $6.4B to build.  A planned bike path would have connected downtown Oakland (pop 500k) to downtown SF (pop 850k) along a 4 mile route.  SF built their half of the bridge with a nice bike path, but Oakland shot it down... because cost.  There was a brutal fight in Oakland not to pay  the estimated $160MM needed to have 12' wide paths on both sides (remember the bridge cost $6.4B) So now there's a multi-million dollar bike path that goes to a tiny island, instead of connecting the two cities.  There's no feasible alternative route, so instead there are 'bike vans' and of course BART (commuter trains) but no way of actually walking from city to city without taking a ~50 mile detour south of the bay.

I'm currently involved in a rather heated town issue (population 5,000) to add a walking path and bikeable shoulder along a 0.9 mile stretch which would connect about 400 homes to our main street.  There's no other safe way of walking to the economic center of town from this fairly populated section. It's amazing how many oppose it ... because cost.

The collective attitude is that roads are absolutely vital, but sidewalks and bike paths are a luxury.  Once a road is built it almost never gets deleted (and often its expanded) - yet sidewalks are constantly gobbled up because, hey, we need more lanes or more parking.  It's a downward spiral towards more vehicles and away from people walking.

Hirondelle

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #38 on: November 05, 2018, 05:48:59 AM »
Wouldn't there be a different way of framing the costs of sidewalks or bike paths to make people realize how relatively cheap they are and how much it could SAVE the users (e.g. gas, health, less accidents)? It's mind boggling for me to even imagine that people would oppose safe bike/walking paths so I can't really come up with anything that's not-obvious. Have those people ever even been to a place where you could walk or bike and realized how nice it is?

nereo

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #39 on: November 05, 2018, 06:59:54 AM »
Wouldn't there be a different way of framing the costs of sidewalks or bike paths to make people realize how relatively cheap they are and how much it could SAVE the users (e.g. gas, health, less accidents)? It's mind boggling for me to even imagine that people would oppose safe bike/walking paths so I can't really come up with anything that's not-obvious. Have those people ever even been to a place where you could walk or bike and realized how nice it is?

As someone who's spent quite a bit of time advocating for more walkable and bikeable infrastructure at town meetings - I don't think there's any one argument that is a 'silver bullet'.

Many of the critics get hung up on the cost.  Often these people want to drastically reduce all government expenses, and when they hear that a mile of bike lane might cost $1MM they flip out - never mind that building that same stretch of road cost $10-20MM. Nevermind that we have an obesity epidemic because of our sedentary lifestyle coupled with poor diet.

Others are so conditioned to driving everywhere they can't imagine others would benefit from better access.  'You can't walk that far' is a common theme, even when the distance is half a mile away. Carrying groceries any distance beyond the parking-lot is unthinkable to them.

Finally there's the perceived notion of class.  To some, poor people walk/bike, rich people drive.  Why should they (the wealthy) use their tax monies to support the poor (who - the perception goes - are poor because they are lazy in this 'land of opportunity').

ETA: More biking-centric, but there's a lot of people who just hate cyclists.  Partly exasperated by bad encountered between bikers forced to use car lanes mixed with road rage, these people think it's their right to drive someplace but that cyclists should be banned.  As a cyclist I've been yelled at, honked at, and fake-swerved at even though I follow all the rules of the road. Again, we've built a culture of cars, and for many the idea that pedestrians or cyclists should be given equal access to routes is blasphemy.

LennStar

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #40 on: November 06, 2018, 01:12:32 AM »
A rather simple two-lane bridge over a small river might cost $10MM, and adding a sidewalk on both sides $1M more.
Just make them a counter proposal: Remove the car lanes and save 90% of the cost!
If you guys worry about the costs, that is the best way, right?

Not to mention that there are huge economic profits for society if you bike instead of driving a car. Kopenhagen has build a bridge for cyclists only. They estimate the costs will be recouped in just 5.5 years. A car bridge likely never reaches the cost-recoup point.

And as far as the lazy goes: Who is lazy, the ones walking or the ones sitting in a car?

I know, I know, that is logic and logic does not work for many people, especially from the right side of the political spectrum. It is like with poorness, they behave like it is an air-transmitted illness.

Maybe they should just watch videos like these:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq28fU2AuMU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOSeVCYt0XQ

If you build roads, you get cars (and traffic jams). If you build bike lanes, you get bikes and way less traffic jams, including for cars. Very simple.

« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 01:48:40 AM by LennStar »

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #41 on: November 14, 2018, 06:49:28 PM »
The inconceivable for most to walk further then the parking lot with groceries.  I regularly walk to get small purchases from a grocery store about a mile away from my house.  The check out person last weekend told me she was amused to be putting my 2 onions, some carrots and a lb of mushrooms into my backpack.  Um even with a light load, it's easier to carry my stuff home on my back then in my hands.  I'm sure I'm the only person who walks in on a semi regular basis though.

LennStar

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #42 on: November 15, 2018, 01:38:15 AM »
The inconceivable for most to walk further then the parking lot with groceries.  I regularly walk to get small purchases from a grocery store about a mile away from my house.  The check out person last weekend told me she was amused to be putting my 2 onions, some carrots and a lb of mushrooms into my backpack.  Um even with a light load, it's easier to carry my stuff home on my back then in my hands.  I'm sure I'm the only person who walks in on a semi regular basis though.
I bike, but yes. The amount of cars even for relativly small purchases is numbing. Also when the talk came up to forbid platic bags, the reaction by many was: How do I carry my stuff?

To which my reaction was: Do you carry them in a plastic bag? Those stiff, oncomfortable to grip things you have to pay money for each time?
In my whole life I have only used them a hand full of times, when I were surprise buying something. All other times I just use one of those:

They are a lot more durable than plastic ones (a decade or more) and don't get holed by heavy rectangular packages.

And btw. you could make plastic bags that are even more durable.
My mother still uses an East Germany 70s chic apron that she made into a bag. The looks are a bit rediculous, but it is lightweight, can be crumbled into something so small you can hide it in one hand (with a big hand), you can wash it easily and it can carry everything. You can nearly look through it, but I once carried a 6 kilo sharp egde thing in it. The bag had a bump in it after that for a few days, but it came back into shape. Amazing stuff. Like Nylon stockings before the makers decided they need stockings that are less durable to boost sales.   

Linea_Norway

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #43 on: November 15, 2018, 01:57:55 AM »
What I find even more amusing is the friends who pay someone to clean their house so they have time to drive to the gym. Cleaning is good exercise, people. And there are no membership fees.

Not that I would pay someone to clean my house for me, but I have a very difficult time finding 400lb objects in my house that I can easily grasp to deadlift repeatedly (and drop without breaking).  Cleaning doesn't give me the kind of exercise I am interested in...so if I had to make that particular choice (because my time were that limited) I would absolutely pay someone else to clean my house so I can go lift some heavy iron.

Imagine if you wanted to go for a bike ride or a hike (for enjoyment, not commuting) and someone told you to just mow the lawn and paint your house if you want exercise...

I painted my house this summer and it was the most brutal squats workout. Took me a week to recover. It would've cost an extra $6K to pay someone to do it for me. That's a lot of gym time ;-)

I also painted the house (only the ground floor). I used a stool to sit on for the lower parts. because I didn't like to do the squats. I also needed to stand on it for the higher parts.

Just Joe

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #44 on: November 15, 2018, 07:34:15 AM »
I'm amazed at how useful bicycles have become (to me). Yes, everyone in the flat lands knows this already but around here in the land of the "'hollers and hills" bikes were just something kids put up with until they were old enough to get a driver's license. Then, like soccer, they were forgotten.

I built an ebike a while back and it takes care of the hills problem.

With a Dollar General over the hill a couple of miles away a quick run for milk or some forgotten detail for dinner it seems ridiculous to jump in a 4000 lb vehicle to fetch 16 oz of spices or a gallon of milk. Hop on the bike instead and you're there in under ten minutes.

And, I could peg the throttle the whole way there and back and get zero exercise on some hot summer evening when I didn't want to sweat. IRL an ebike doesn't have very good range over the hills using the throttle. On my bike the throttle uses perhaps three times more power than the pedal assist system. My 30-40 mile range bike then only has a ten mile range.   

soccerluvof4

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #45 on: November 25, 2018, 07:37:27 AM »
Whenever I think of California Traffic I cant help but think of the Movie with Micheal Douglas "Falling Down". Since i have seen that movie to this day I like California less! haha. I'd have no patience for that. But agree, come on a 2 mile walk for those that are capable unless like some mention its just impossible because the freeway system is so enormous.

nereo

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #46 on: November 25, 2018, 09:47:40 AM »
Whenever I think of California Traffic I cant help but think of the Movie with Micheal Douglas "Falling Down". Since i have seen that movie to this day I like California less! haha. I'd have no patience for that. But agree, come on a 2 mile walk for those that are capable unless like some mention its just impossible because the freeway system is so enormous.

I know it's en vogue for a large segment of the country to hate California - but California is a very large and diverse state. There's a number of towns and cities that have been leaders in creating pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the US, and while traffic anywhere around LA or SF can be horrific, it's very city specific. There are huge stretches of the state with wide open spaces and where traffic is almost unheard of.
California is not just downtown LA.

Cali

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #47 on: November 25, 2018, 07:23:52 PM »
I know it's en vogue for a large segment of the country to hate California - but California is a very large and diverse state. There's a number of towns and cities that have been leaders in creating pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the US, and while traffic anywhere around LA or SF can be horrific, it's very city specific. There are huge stretches of the state with wide open spaces and where traffic is almost unheard of.
California is not just downtown LA.

Actually, considering how crowded LA county is, we have a lot of dedicated bike infrastructure and we pave the heck out of everything so sidewalks are readily available.

https://dpw.lacounty.gov/pdd/bike/map.cfm



mm1970

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Re: driving to the gym at 4 miles an hour
« Reply #48 on: November 26, 2018, 01:45:43 PM »
Whenever I think of California Traffic I cant help but think of the Movie with Micheal Douglas "Falling Down". Since i have seen that movie to this day I like California less! haha. I'd have no patience for that. But agree, come on a 2 mile walk for those that are capable unless like some mention its just impossible because the freeway system is so enormous.

I know it's en vogue for a large segment of the country to hate California - but California is a very large and diverse state. There's a number of towns and cities that have been leaders in creating pedestrian-friendly infrastructure in the US, and while traffic anywhere around LA or SF can be horrific, it's very city specific. There are huge stretches of the state with wide open spaces and where traffic is almost unheard of.
California is not just downtown LA.
But every year they show the aerial of LA traffic right before Thanksgiving, to the whole country!