bicycle culture

[JmcG]

I too try to do a lot errands and go places on a bike. In this area, where there's always traffic, it's so refreshing to ride a bike everywhere, especially when you're moving faster than the cars. We live a mile from the grocery store, and will ride over on our bikes if we're not buying too many groceries. It's actually so much easier to ride to the grocery store than driving and I don't think it takes any longer. On a Friday afternoon, driving can take longer!

We also like to go house hunting on our bikes and explore new neighborhoods. This past Sunday we rode to a new neighborhood that we just discovered while riding on Saturday - and went to all the open houses in the neighborhood. This area is really nice for biking b/c between all the bike trails and area roads, it's really pretty easy to get around on a bike. I love using my bike as a main mode of transportation - it's somehow freeing to the spirit. When I commute to work, it takes about an hour, where driving only takes 15-20 minutes, but I'm in such a better mood after riding than driving, even though the drive is much quicker.

[cherinyc]

All i know is that in most cities, they can only widen the roads so much and the number (and size of) cars keeps growing. this means worse traffic, and THAT means, more of us are going to just realize that it's actually easier to get from point A to point B on a bicycle.

Reading this thread makes me very sad - mostly b/c of the above statement. The roads are getting worse, the cars are bigger, and contrary to what you said mimi - it's making it MORE difficult to travel on my bike. Actually the correct word would be dangerous.

I too have my LBS shop and a grocery store under 5 miles from my house, however, in order to get there I have to travel on a very high speed type highway (3 lanes accross - each side) go through a 4 way intersection as well as a famous NJ jug handle. AND - in an area where there is always lots of traffic. I've really come close to trying it - on the hopes that all the crazy drivers will be civilized - and not be on their cell phones, or eating a sandwich, etc....but I really feel like it's gambling with my safety. (and I'm a pretty big risk taker, trust me)

People here will turn a road's shoulder into a full out lane, if it means getting in front of 2 more cars (and they'll do it going 60 mph).
Gosh - I can't wait to leave NJ.

[mimitabby]

Reading this thread makes me very sad - mostly b/c of the above statement. The roads are getting worse, the cars are bigger, and contrary to what you said mimi - it's making it MORE difficult to travel on my bike. Actually the correct word would be dangerous.

I too have my LBS shop and a grocery store under 5 miles from my house, however, in order to get there I have to travel on a very high speed type highway (3 lanes accross - each side) go through a 4 way intersection as well as a famous NJ jug handle. AND - in an area where there is always lots of traffic. I've really come close to trying it - on the hopes that all the crazy drivers will be civilized - and not be on their cell phones, or eating a sandwich, etc....but I really feel like it's gambling with my safety. (and I'm a pretty big risk taker, trust me)

People here will turn a road's shoulder into a full out lane, if it means getting in front of 2 more cars (and they'll do it going 60 mph).
Gosh - I can't wait to leave NJ.

Well, it's not bad enough yet there Cheri. when the cars are in gridlock, you will discover they are very easy to get around!

aren't there any lights that you can cross against? I do remember crossing highways in NJ IN A CAR and it was already quite an adventure in 1970!

[xeney]

One of the reasons that my husband and I will never have any money is that we make living in a cycling/walking friendly area a priority. Actually, it's not the reason we will never have any money; it's just the reason that we live in an old house that isn't really big enough for us. But neither of us is willing to commute by car, which limits his job options and pretty much keeps him in the public sector instead of out there making a kajillion dollars and buying me $5,000 bikes. My office is probably going to move in the next four years, and that means I will be looking for a new job or going into private practice. I am just not willing, as long as I have any choice at all, to get in a car and drive every day.

I get a lot of "you guys are so lucky!" from coworkers and relatives, but that irritates me a little. We bought our house when prices were really cheap in this area, but the neighborhood was also a little crappy. We were just very committed to living here. Many of my coworkers used to live in this area, but as they made more money and started families, they moved to the nicer suburbs, and now they spend two hours every day in their cars. Choices.

When I was a kid my parents chose to move to the country, to an area where it was seven miles to the grocery store (but my mother usually drove fifty miles to buy her groceries at the Air Force commissary instead, because it was cheaper) and forty miles to my dad's job. The reason I never rode a bike as a kid is that we weren't allowed to ride on the roads because of all the drunk farm kids and the huge semis on our roads. If my parents couldn't drive us somewhere, we were stuck at home.

When I grew up and moved to the city (first Los Angeles, then Davis and eventually to Sacramento), I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life: I wanted to be able to walk to the grocery store and to restaurants and theaters, and most of all to my job. I have commuted on foot or by bike since 1992 and I don't intend for that to change. When we were buying a house, we didn't look at a single house that was not walking or biking distance to my job and to the area where my husband is likely to work for most of his career.

We occasionally talk about moving out of state, but this is always the priority: we have to be able to do almost everything we need to do by walking or by biking. Period. Life is too short to spend it stuck in traffic.

[mimitabby]

Xeney,
great post. Yes, it is all about choices. I too, live in a small dumpy house in a working class neighborhood so that I can choose to spend my money AND TIME on things more important.
I have a 4 mile commute and have had that commute for almost 30 years now!

[cherinyc]

When I grew up and moved to the city (first Los Angeles, then Davis and eventually to Sacramento), I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life: I wanted to be able to walk to the grocery store and to restaurants and theaters...

Xeney - I think you've helped me a great deal with what you've said above. I am getting ready for a move to Denver, CO - having lived on the East Coast my whole life. And when I tell people I am moving there, the first question I hear is "oh? are you moving for work?"
NO - I am not - I am moving for life. This is the first time I am moving somewhere - that I am NOT going for financial wealth, but for quality of life. To quote you above "I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life". Well maybe not so quickly, but I have learned that I don't want to be in an area that is not health/life friendly. Nor do I hope to have a child someday, and raise them in an area that they can't be outside and active.
To each his own right? But I applaud you, and mimi, and the others - who have put material things (higher wages, bigger houses, etc) second to just being able to feel healthy and alive.
I am feeling very overwhelmed and emotional (slightly teary) about all this right now...that tells me I've just had a "EUREKA" moment.

[mimitabby]

Xeney - I think you've helped me a great deal with what you've said above. I am getting ready for a move to Denver, CO - having lived on the East Coast my whole life. And when I tell people I am moving there, the first question I hear is "oh? are you moving for work?"
NO - I am not - I am moving for life. This is the first time I am moving somewhere - that I am NOT going for financial wealth, but for quality of life. To quote you above "I learned very quickly what I wanted out of my adult life". Well maybe not so quickly, but I have learned that I don't want to be in an area that is not health/life friendly. Nor do I hope to have a child someday, and raise them in an area that they can't be outside and active.
To each his own right? But I applaud you, and mimi, and the others - who have put material things (higher wages, bigger houses, etc) second to just being able to feel healthy and alive.
I am feeling very overwhelmed and emotional (slightly teary) about all this right now...that tells me I've just had a "EUREKA" moment.

I left NJ in 1970. I would be lying if i said i had no regrets. It would have been nice to be near my grandparents for the rest of their lives, but on the other hand, I just had to get out of the ratrace. Seattle is a big highpowered city, but things are just so much more lowkey here (we invented grunge!)
Good luck.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When my DH and I bought our house 3 1/2 years ago, at first we thought we wanted a nice secluded country place out in the sticks. But after thinking long and hard about it, we made a conscious decision to buy a smaller property IN TOWN purposely so that we would be able to walk or bike into town much of the time. We also anticipated a time when gasoline would be unobtainable. We did not want to have our life depend on our cars (we already work at home with our own business). We love being able to do our errands into town now on bike or by walking!

Take heart- cars are no longer getting bigger and bigger! GM and Ford are unable to sell us their monster vehicles anymore and going bankrupt- people ARE buying smaller cars (look how Toyota and Honda are expanding their plants every day to keep up with demand), and they ARE beginning to consolidate their trips. And people ARE buying more bikes and using them!

[pooks]

Recently added a VERY lightweight German-made mirror that really works well.
.

Tell me more? We bought mirrors that we thought would work but they were awful.

As for choices -- yes, we've been told we're "lucky" but we also have made financial sacrifices to be so lucky, and stayed in our house long after most of our friends upgraded, etc., etc., etc. It definitely is about choices, and hopefully we're all making the right ones. Probably the people who think I'm "lucky" wouldn't give up any of their lifestyle to share in my "luck," and I wouldn't take on their bills to have their lifestyle, so there ya are.

I did the post office ride today, went to Starbux, and suddenly decided to do the long, new ride I mentioned upthread. It was great. This is my favorite time of year, and it will only get better!

[Tuckervill]

I get a lot of "you guys are so lucky!" from coworkers and relatives, but that irritates me a little. We bought our house when prices were really cheap in this area, but the neighborhood was also a little crappy. We were just very committed to living here. Many of my coworkers used to live in this area, but as they made more money and started families, they moved to the nicer suburbs, and now they spend two hours every day in their cars. Choices.

:applause:

We, too, get that "you're so lucky" speech. Lucky my BUTT. We WORKED for what we have. What's so hard for them to realize is they think they're working hard for what THEY have, but they have their priorities all mixed up.

DH went in to a bank to talk about refinancing our house. The guy's face actually fell when he said we only needed to finance $100k. What? You can't buy a new house here for less than $250,000 (it's way worse in other parts of the country, I know). The bank guy was fully expecting us to be maxed out on our credit and the debt-to-value ratio on the house. No. We don't live that way. We gave up a lot of "amenities" so we could have an acre of land in a city (near a bike trail), and that's all we paid for it. We LOVE our neighborhood and we love that each house is different and unique, and we love our 110 yo Victorian with original windows that we picked up for less than HALF what people working two jobs get all starry-eyed over in the new subdivision up the street.

I guess my rant is over now, but I could go on and on. lol.

Karen

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Tell me more? We bought mirrors that we thought would work but they were awful.

I have to say here that when I first bought my little Third Eye helmet mirror, I found it hard to get used to. Seemed to block my field of vision, be annoying to constantly adjust, etc. My brother had told me of how he had bought a helmet mirror and discarded it after a day because it "blocked his vision". But because I wisely have a policy of NOT doing what my brother does (!), I gave my mirror more time because I figured it might simply take getting used to.
Other types of mirrors would not fit on my drop bars with bar-end shifters.

I'm really glad I stuck with it, because after about 2-3 weeks it became second nature to me, I didn't even notice it in my field of vision anymore, and adjusting it became quick and easy. I absolutely LOVE being able to glance at it and see the ENTIRE panorama in back of me- including all the road shoulders. Amazing how a little 1 inch round mirror can show you the entire world in back of you. I tend to glance at it automatically, just the way I do with my car rearview mirror, and at any given moment I do feel safer knowing what's going on traffic-wise all around me, and what's coming up the road 2 blocks behind me.

[Geonz]

I'm afraid I sometimes glance in the mirror... when I'm walking down the street, not wearing a helmet I'm so accustomed to it. I make a point of maintaining the habit of looking behind me so I don't cream myself if I'm wearing a differnet helmet.

[SandyLS]

I took the dog for a walk yesterday and caught myself trying to glance into my non-exsistant take-a-look eye glass mirror!

[BeeLady]

The mirror I bought was made in Germany and expensive, about $24, but weighs only a few ounces (or few grams). I just looked it up at Performance bikes on-line and it is the "Ultra-lite weight bike mirror'" and they have if for $19.

Very little distortion, quite adjustable and really a nice big view at about any speed. Fairly easy to move from bike to bike too, if you need to.

ps I am using this mirror with flat handle bars, no bar ends, and have no problem with it, contrary to one of the reviews at PB.

[Geonz]

Now *this* is bicycle culture:
(dancing with a tire pump)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...27263006761549