Author Topic: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired  (Read 4946 times)

Daniel

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nereo

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2020, 10:54:28 AM »
I like the way this article begins:  'Do you like to drive?'

Often people will ask me why I ride my bike instead of drive most places, and I typically respond that almost every time I get on my bike I enjoy it, whereas I have a similar experience with driving once in a blue moon.

Set aside the cost difference, the health benefits, the ecological benfits for a moment.  Overall, cycling is more fun than driving for me.  We still have cars because we live in a rural area, and miss the days when we could drive our one car only a few times each month. 


Boofinator

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2020, 11:28:41 AM »
I love driving a car fast. I get much the same joy in riding a bicycle fast, but I can do it legally*, inexpensively, and without a thousand other vehicles using the limited road resources at the same moment.

*Track days were about 1% of my car driving, and when I did the calculations I figured I was spending thousands of dollars per enjoyable car drive.

GreenToTheCore

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2020, 07:26:11 PM »
That was great. I keep thinking we just need to get people out of their cars and then they'll understand. I'm hoping ebikes will help people try it out.

The_Big_H

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #4 on: April 08, 2020, 07:27:10 PM »
I'm a fairly recent convert to "full mustachian" (biking).   Only 4-5 months into the bike life but I can already tell its a full blown addiction.  So happy my wife is becoming addicted too although she's a little scared of the roads (cant blame her, its FLORIDA!).  I'm warming up to it and was just starting to bike to work 3 times a week until the virus put us all working at home... Now I MISS my commute.  Now I hardly ever touch the car as most anything we would want to go to (restaurant, grocery store, drug store, half our doctors) are in biking distance.  Even biked to go vote!

Its going to get to a point where we drive 4000-5000 miles a year combined, maybe (I hope).

I didn't touch a bike from age ~10 to 34.  I can't believe I didn't bike around college I friggin struggled to keep a crappy car going and paying insanely high parking fees.  How the hell this did not occur to me!

There is something so addicting about it that's hard to put into words.  Getting somewhere using just your legs and the freedom to hop traffic jams and not get stuck at double red lights or huge school drop-off lines, and front row parking because its pretty rare for the bike rack to be more than half full.  At first I couldn't believe we spent (total) $2000 so far on bikes and bike trailers, stand, tools, lights, helmets, but you know what... that's a pretty crappy used car. 

The bike doesn't need insurance, registration, tolls.  I also HATED working on cars, I don't know why I just dread the idea of ever getting underneath one.  But working on a bike... I'm learning, hey I can adjust a derailleur and remove wheels!

HotTubes

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2020, 08:42:52 PM »
I like to ride my bike to work when the weather is good, but honestly every time I do I surrender my life to careless texting drivers who simply don't accommodate bike riders

Great ideal but just too risky in my town

bloodaxe

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2020, 07:59:43 PM »
So happy my wife is becoming addicted too although she's a little scared of the roads (cant blame her, its FLORIDA!). 

Yep, Florida is the most dangerous state in the US for bicycling. Especially Tampa, Orlando, and Jax.

Also, it gets really hot during the summer. After my daily 2 mile bike ride to college I would arrive to class drenched in sweat.

Still better than driving in my opinion though :) 

The_Big_H

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2020, 06:38:33 PM »
So happy my wife is becoming addicted too although she's a little scared of the roads (cant blame her, its FLORIDA!). 

Yep, Florida is the most dangerous state in the US for bicycling. Especially Tampa, Orlando, and Jax.

Also, it gets really hot during the summer. After my daily 2 mile bike ride to college I would arrive to class drenched in sweat.

Still better than driving in my opinion though :)

Orlando is not safe for motorists, cyclists, or pedestrians.  However a lot of that danger is not uniformly spread out and certain parts of it are reasonably safe with OK-ish (by American standards) bike infrastructure.  There are a number of off-road trails and Orlando even has a decent mountain bike park, with pump track and single track trail, right in the heart of it (behind a Target).

That being said, the weather is good for cycling nearly year round (yes its hotter than hell here in the summer but you beat that by trying to find a tree canopy route, enjoying the wind, and a stainless water bottle to carry lots of ice water (or Gatorade). 

Personally I would rather ride in the heat than the cold/snow.

Rollin

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2020, 05:18:10 PM »
I'm a fairly recent convert to "full mustachian" (biking).   Only 4-5 months into the bike life but I can already tell its a full blown addiction.  So happy my wife is becoming addicted too although she's a little scared of the roads (cant blame her, its FLORIDA!).  I'm warming up to it and was just starting to bike to work 3 times a week until the virus put us all working at home... Now I MISS my commute.  Now I hardly ever touch the car as most anything we would want to go to (restaurant, grocery store, drug store, half our doctors) are in biking distance.  Even biked to go vote!

Its going to get to a point where we drive 4000-5000 miles a year combined, maybe (I hope).

I didn't touch a bike from age ~10 to 34.  I can't believe I didn't bike around college I friggin struggled to keep a crappy car going and paying insanely high parking fees.  How the hell this did not occur to me!

There is something so addicting about it that's hard to put into words.  Getting somewhere using just your legs and the freedom to hop traffic jams and not get stuck at double red lights or huge school drop-off lines, and front row parking because its pretty rare for the bike rack to be more than half full.  At first I couldn't believe we spent (total) $2000 so far on bikes and bike trailers, stand, tools, lights, helmets, but you know what... that's a pretty crappy used car. 

The bike doesn't need insurance, registration, tolls.  I also HATED working on cars, I don't know why I just dread the idea of ever getting underneath one.  But working on a bike... I'm learning, hey I can adjust a derailleur and remove wheels!

Very exciting! Great to hear that you are so enthused. My vehicle is used for towing the side business, so mostly it'll sit for a week. The bike is (are) used daily though - yes, even in FLA too! When it gets too hot I use the e-assist cargo bike.
« Last Edit: September 25, 2020, 05:20:09 PM by Rollin »

Askel

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Re: Car-Lite Life Style Article on Wired
« Reply #9 on: September 29, 2020, 06:17:00 AM »
I enjoyed this article quite a bit:
https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-i-used-to-love-cars-heres-what-drove-me-away/

I can relate entirely too much. Up until very recently, I was very, very much a car guy. I've been involved in several forms of racing, so much so that I achieved what I consider to be the pinnacle of success in that realm- signing the BACK of a check.  Even got a fancy new BMW to tool around in for a week and half every year.

But somewhere in there, I got into bicycle racing. 

And it was MORE fun than car racing could ever be. And insanely cheaper.   That's all it took, bicycles slowly took over my life. I commute, tour, race, and just generally bring bikes into nearly every aspect of my life.   

And now I'm just pissed about it. Years and years of chasing sports car dreams when all this fun was just waiting to be had so much easier and cheaper. 

I'm now the recovering alcoholic that vehemently flies off the handle about booze when the topic comes up, but for cars instead.