Oooh, that was a nice commute!

[SadieKate]

But it sure sounds like you're generalizing.

And I bet you have some folks on this forum that can ride, but have difficulty walking -- or lifting their bike in/out of a car.

[NoNo]

Just curious, what school do you work at? I'm a College Park alum.

Your subject line were my exact thoughts riding in this morning (first ride to work since I crashed last month, woot!). It was cool enough for me to put my arm warmers on and I just enjoyed the lovely weather.

As for why people don't consider other methods of transportation, I'm with you on the laziness thing. But there's physical laziness, and there's convenience laziness. Walking/biking/taking mass transit mean you may have to get up a little earlier, adhere to a schedule, etc, and people don't like that. Then there are probably people like me that wanted to do things other than drive, but don't get around to it. It took me forever to start taking the train to work, but as soon as I did I thought "What the heck took me so long? This is great!" Habits are hard to break.

[GLC1968]

Habits are hard to break.

I think this is the key for the majority of the population. They've always used the car, so they don't think of other options until either 1) someone points it out, or 2) gas gets ridiculously expensive!


I'm guilty of the same thinking - though not always in the same way. A few weeks ago, we wanted to go to the farmer's market in our neighborhood to buy some plants. I was concerned about how to make it work since I didn't have a basket or anything on my bike. How do I carry the plants? In a bag? I was looking for a box of some sort to strap to my rack when H made a suggestion...why don't we just walk? Duh. Yeah - it was like 5 blocks away and I didn't even think about walking because I've conditioned myself to think 'bike'.

[Smilie]

why don't we just walk? Duh. Yeah - it was like 5 blocks away and I didn't even think about walking because I've conditioned myself to think 'bike'.

That's funny! We-as a population-are creatures of habit! I know I have done the same things, but that is what I am used to be doing! Funny how we don't even really realize it till it is pointed out to us!

[sfa]

Just curious, what school do you work at? I'm a College Park alum.

I'm at Howard Community College. My DH used to work at UMCP when he first moved to the area. Talk about a horrible commute--we were living in the Baltimore suburbs and he had to do the slog down I-95 every day.

I don't know if it's laziness so much as lack of imagination. The woman I'm thinking of in particular, the one who was complaining the loudest yesterday about having to drive past the campus to park at shuttle parking, lives just two miles from campus and gets in early every day to work out at the gym, where she runs five miles on the treadmill and then does 20 minutes or so on the weight machines. I don't know, maybe she has bad allergies or something. I don't think I would have thought of walking either except one day last winter (in my pre-bike days) I missed the shuttle and was standing there thinking "well, I could stand here freezing my butt off, or I could walk and be warmer and get to my car before the shuttle even gets back here." I don't think I had even given any thought to how close it actually was to walk--it was just necessity (and cold toes) that made me think differently.

Sarah

[Aggie_Ama]

I'm at Howard Community College. My DH used to work at UMCP when he first moved to the area. Talk about a horrible commute--we were living in the Baltimore suburbs and he had to do the slog down I-95 every day.

I don't know if it's laziness so much as lack of imagination. The woman I'm thinking of in particular, the one who was complaining the loudest yesterday about having to drive past the campus to park at shuttle parking, lives just two miles from campus and gets in early every day to work out at the gym, where she runs five miles on the treadmill and then does 20 minutes or so on the weight machines. I don't know, maybe she has bad allergies or something. I don't think I would have thought of walking either except one day last winter (in my pre-bike days) I missed the shuttle and was standing there thinking "well, I could stand here freezing my butt off, or I could walk and be warmer and get to my car before the shuttle even gets back here." I don't think I had even given any thought to how close it actually was to walk--it was just necessity (and cold toes) that made me think differently.

Sarah

Maybe if she complains again you could suggest she walks? Tell her how great you feel riding and how you didn't realize a short workout like that can really put you in a great mood. She may not listen but if she is already active maybe she will. I would rather run 2 miles outside even in the cold than a treadmill. Maybe she hasn't tried running outside? I ran for up to an hour on the treadmill for six months before every venturing outside for even a mile!