Four Wheels Good, Two Wheels Bad

DowdMuska.com ^ | June 3, 2010 | D. Dowd Muska

[2ndDivisionVet]

Soon we'll be like 1960's Asia, where peasants rode bicycles and the elite had cars.

[jwparkerjr]

re: We will have accurate data when the 2010 census is complete

There is also something profoundly wrong with a nation where a constitutionally mandated enumeration of its people every 10 years collects info about bicycles!

[dr_lew]

Riding a bicycle to work is a beautiful and therapeutic experience. I know because I tried it, and pretty soon I’m going to try it again. Seriously.

[Roccus]

We will have accurate data when the 2010 census is complete,...

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Wholebunchalotta credibility there!

[blackbart.223]

The people who ride these things piss me off for one reason. Even if they have bike lanes they have to put their spandex asses in the roadway meant for cars and trucks.

[RobRoy]

I have bicycle commuted off and on since 1989. I’ve done every STP (Seattle to Portland) bike ride since 1991. The first 10 years in two days and the rest in one day. It’s 200 miles.

I like to bike ride, it keeps me in shape, and I am sharper when I get to work than I am when I’ve sat in a half hour of rush hour in a car. A couple of years ago, I counted the cars I PASSED on my 9 mile ride to work. I passed over 300 “stop and go” cars before 100 of them overtook me just before I pulled into the office. :)

I consider a mountain bike to be an excellent form of transportation when you put kevlar belted road tires on it. And if you leave the mountain tires on it is not only fun, but it can be a good way to get places during economic collapse. People do not realize just how fast bicycles are compared to cars in an urban area. Heck, I used to commute 46 miles round trip to my job in the University district. It took 55 minutes each way by bike and 1 hour and five minutes by bus.

I don’t force it on anyone else, and I have not gone down on a bike since I was jumping dirt piles in summer of 1965 in eastern Washington.

And no, I don’t stop at stop signs or even traffic lights if there is no traffic or cops. And I’ve been hit by three cars, all of which were badly scratched up by my handlebars and pedals but I stayed up with no damage whatsoever every time.

All that said, what makes it fun is that I don’t HAVE to. Nor would I force it on anyone else.

[dr_lew]

Say, how about Mark Cavendish? Is he God, or what? Screw the Green Jersey! That’s for wussies and Cavendish knows it.

[One Name]

I have a 20-mile drive to work. Lately, I am encountering cyclists leaving town when I am within 4-5 miles of work. More annoying is when I am leaving for home and catch them in my lane getting out of town.

They are either retirees or unemployed or perhaps schoolteachers off for the summer. They seem oblivious to those of us who actually have to be somewhere.

Now I did have a friend once who was an Army Ranger triathlete who used to ride his bike out to my place for a light workout. Different deal; dude had it going on and was ready to deploy in defense or our country.

These other clowns are just out for a joy ride. Maybe they should volunteer putting up square bales if they need exercise.

[blackbart.223]

"I like to bike ride, it keeps me in shape, and I am sharper when I get to work than I am when I’ve sat in a half hour of rush hour in a car."

Perhaps. But I'll bet you don't smell very good when you get to work. Especially in the summer.

[MediaMole]

Too bad you are such an incompetent driver you can’t manage to maneuver around a simple bike.

[piytar]

Four wheels OK, two wheels BETTER.

Of course, my two wheels are a Honda Shadow with overcompression and custom pipes pushing 70 hoursepower...

[dr_lew]

If you have your own office it doesn’t matter. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

[blackbart.223]

"Say, how about Mark Cavendish?"

I can't comment on this because I don't know who he is.

[doorgunner69]

Queue the spandex/exercise haters........

[grey_whiskers]

If you can find safe paths or roads, it beats fighting rush hour.

I can generally bike down to the teens -- tho' I have biked from 109^o in Phoenix down to -4^o in the Twin Cities.

My current job is not too far, but the path goes through some unsafe neighborhoods.

So it's back to the car for me.

Cheers!

[Pavegunner72]

I have a 15 mile trip into work and gladly share the road with any bikers who are out there enjoying themselves or commuting.

In your post, you came off like a pompus-ass who looks down on most other bikers- who don’t shave their legs and wear spandex.

Is that what Lance Armstrong would do?

[blackbart.223]

"If you have your own office it doesn’t matter.

Point taken. But if you don't have your own office you should consider the sensibilities of others.

[RobRoy]

I shower at work. It’s something I look for before I agree to a contract. Most serious companies have that now.

[One Name]

Yeah. I’m incompetent. Its bikes plural, in hill country. I’m attuned to tractors and deer year round. Those are accomplishing something, unlike the herd of green weenies.

If they were on their way to work I’d have a little more respect.

But, thanks for your keen insight....

[Kozak]

Sometimes, a bicyclist will do all of these things in one two-wheeled swoop. The city seems unable to stop it.”

I find a stick jammed into the front spokes works nicely.....