It's all about how driving to rides is stupid, which is ironic because like the very next day I drove my son somewhere so we could ride our bikes:
I'm nothing if not a gigantic hypocrite.
Anyway, thanks for your patience, and I'll see you back here exactly when I return and not a moment sooner.
--Wildcat Rock Machine
Sick day podium?
ReplyDeleteYay Hypocrisy! Works in the White House, works at home.
ReplyDeleteEasy podium
ReplyDeleteDriving to ride in the sweet summertime?......Not since I've stopped doing hard core "training rides" and racing. Now, I can jump on my bike, ride two blocks through my subdivision, jump on a "bike path" for 4 miles, and then hit the open road. The "bike path" is usually the most dangerous part of my ride. In another two months, I'll probably start driving over to a friends garage, so that I can start doing "going nowhere, fast" rides.....Indoors. (I can't get motivated to ride in damp 30 degree temps)
ReplyDeleteNot a sick day Lieutenant, he's busy driving around to Strava segments that show favorable winds today.
ReplyDelete(Kidding Mr Wildcat, kidding!)
Many times in New Mexico (they have amazing regional buses that have >2,000 ft elevation changes on some routes), and sometimes even in Madison I have taken the bus uphill into the wind, and rode my bike the easy way, because sometimes I'm a Goddamn Lazy Bum, but in a Good (car-free) Way.
ReplyDeleteya, i hate 'driving to ride', even worse is 'driving to work'. ... ba dum dum.... thankyou!
ReplyDeleteNo 1904 Cadardi, it is I who is taking a sick day. Every year I dutifully get my flu shot. This is the second or third year in a row where I've come down with some sinus congestion, scratchy throat malaise as an after effect of the flu shot. Must be a getting older thing.
ReplyDeleteone of the best (or worse) examples is when people drive say 15 miles to attend a 30 mile charity ride.
ReplyDeletewhat pressure are ya'll running?
ReplyDeletealso, elsewhere you whitewash the 'e-bike' discussion by ignoring the reckless- in Brooklyn and Manhattan- e-bike delivery drivers who have all the worst habits of reckless cyclists at twice the speed. if they're mopeds and act as such FINE but then no salmoning, no speeding in the bike lanes in the dark (often without lights) etc... since I don't order shit for delivery either, I don't care about their "mission," which generations of hard working immigrants performed before them without any motors.
fuck the motorized skateboard creeps too (while we're here).
Anonymous 3:09pm,
ReplyDeletePeople have been complaining about and heaping derision on bicycle delivery people long before ebikes.
As I touched on in the Outside piece, this form of delivery isn't going anywhere, so the city needs to get smarter about it. These periodic crackdowns are useless for everybody.
--Wildcat Etc.
PS: Anecdotally I'd say LIC/Astoria is way thicker with delivery ebikes than Brooklyn or even Manhattan.
...I don't owe the bank money for the car I don't own, but I have friends who do... and they usually want to drive out of NYC and then ride. I can't blame them, either. The most nerve racking, and for some reason, difficult miles are within city limits.
ReplyDelete...One day we will all realize how smart you were by moving to the edge of the trail where you have the best of both worlds: a) the trail starts in your backyard, and 2) you can be in the heart of the beast that's the city in a short train ride, or a longish bike ride.
...Enjoy it while it lasts. We're all coming sooner or later.
Serial Retrogrouch,
ReplyDeleteYes, from a recreational cycling perspective this is absolutely the best spot within the city limits.
I would welcome an influx of Fred and Fredericas.
--Wildcat Etc.
I have to confess, I have never had a problem with a delivery guy on an e-bike. Not safety-wise and not interpersonally. They tend to not have anything to say. They don't spend a lot of time in my way. They just go, which is alright by me. I haven't had them ride too close. I haven't had them do anything particularly sketchy except for riding against traffic, but lots of people ride against traffic. (I hate salmoning more than Snob does, but let's not claim it's the sole provenance delivery guys.) I mean (and I don't mean to be sexist) young dudes who like Lucas Brunelle and older guys who want everyone to know "they still got it" are WAY more dangerous. I got 99 problems but delivery guys on e-bikes aint one. Also, an e-bike without lights is a made-up thing. This is all from someone who has a super heavy bike that I take pride in pushing under my own steam, so I'm not defending something I'm doing. I just think they get an undeserved rap. People don't like e-bikes because they feel like cheating, so they call them unsafe because in America you're allowed to eradicate anything that makes you feel unsafe. Meanwhile, some drunk person is trying to message their ex while driving a Camry. Whatever.
ReplyDeleteDear Leader,
ReplyDeleteWhat's Junior running for wheel size these days? My girl is about the same age, tallish, and rapidly out growing the 20" she's been on.
I started riding from home when I had my first kid. It changed things for me. I was so cramped for time, I just couldn't justify driving to every ride. I still drive to rides but efficiency became paramount = getting the most riding in the least amount of time. I became one of the small percentage of parents that actually looses weight and gets fitter when they have kids. Fuck that whole #dadbod thing.
ReplyDeleteOutside?
ReplyDeleteI like it better when you're funny.
I'm going to continue to be insufferably smug every time I manage to combine commute/trail ride/public transit. I recognize I am fortunate to have five trail systems nearby where this is an option. I also recognize the inherent silliness of driving three hours to ride in circles for an hour or ride on roads with a bunch of other people, but I'm going to keep doing that as well.
ReplyDeleteThe King of Park Slope,
ReplyDeleteI don't really give a shit what you like.
--Wildcat Etc.
Anonymous 4:35pm,
ReplyDelete24.
--Wildcat Etc.
On your left!
ReplyDelete"When I consider how that two-hour ride book-ended by an hour of driving each way could have instead been four hours of solid saddle time". Loved the article, but the two hours driving time would equate to much more than two hours of saddle time.
ReplyDeletewats7,
ReplyDeleteNot in New York!
--Wildcat Etc.
speaking of smug: i've long tried to adhere to the rule 1:1 minimum drive time versus staying-where-i-drove-to-time and 1:24 for air travel, which at least has limited stupid cross-country/trans-oceanic flights for 30 minute business meetings, the equivalent of riding over a few logs.
ReplyDeleteas for the 4x4 truck full-suspension crowd, in their defense, digging into my memory of the 70s and 80s, many of those same people (or their cogeners) made the same drive in similar vehicles only to unload motocross/atv/snowmobiles into the woods.
finally, back to bike-geeking, yes, it's fun to bash specialized, but they did do a good job with the kids bikes, better than cleary i think. i'd find the single speed, however, a curious choice for riding with kids. i need all the gears i can find to deliver pushes uphill while i'd be outrunning them on flats/minor hills. but maybe your kid is super speedy by now.
(pick all images with cars)
I liked this passage from your Outside artickle:
ReplyDelete"In any sane world all road bikes would be comfortable and there would be no such thing as aerobars."
That's what I've been saying for years. No need for aerobars on a recumbent because you're already aero. And comfortable.
Tilford rode to a lot of his local races. And back home afterwords. Tilford was awesome.
ReplyDeleteWell, technically I think 2 hours is 2 hours, whether it is behind the wheel or in the saddle. In New York you may well cover more miles in 2 hours on the bike than in the car, but it's still going to be 120 minutes.
ReplyDeleteIt's not up to me to provide entertainment for you Bike Snob NYC you're a smug and arrogant pisshead
ReplyDeleteLogan Johns,
ReplyDeleteNice try. Feel free to come back and insult me again after you learn how to put together a sentence that actually makes sense.
--Wildcat Etc.
damn,SNOB , I make a little funny comment & you jump waist deep in my ass. Screw You .
ReplyDeleteThe King of Park Slope,
ReplyDeletedamn,KING , I make a little funny retort & you jump waist deep in my ass. Screw You .
--Wildcat Etc.
PS: Where was the funny comment?
Driving the bike to the ride(s).
ReplyDeleteTraveling from NC to DC to NY to PA and back. mostly family biz, but brought along the two wheeled non- motorized non-electric pedal powered machine for my own biz .
> no speeding in the bike lanes
ReplyDeleteSince there is no speed limit in the bike lane (other than 25mph, which e-bikes don't attain), there can be no speeding in the bike lanes. If people set a reasonable and safe speed limit, then we can talk about bikes speeding.
> I'm going to continue to be insufferably smug every time I manage to combine commute/trail ride/public transit.
I suppose I get that on my compute from Westchester - NYC via Van Cortlandt Park. But why would I want to get off my bike to ride transit?
Anonymous 5:55pm,
ReplyDeleteIf you're going too fast for the conditions then you're speeding the bike lane.
I often combine bikes and transit. Odd that you can't think of a scenario in which someone might want to do so. Do you never stay in the city late? Or are you just being insufferably smug about the length of your commute?
--Wildat Etc.
The often disappointing effort-to-reward ratio of driving to a ride almost always is because the ride is a loop. Point A to point B rides with travel via public transportation are (or can be) sensational.
ReplyDeleteScranus
ReplyDeleteShould I put my stretchy clothes on before getting into the car?
ReplyDeleteI rarely drive to ride but the few times I do I feel odd having chamois on my scranus while pushing the gas pedal