General Cycling Discussion - I posted the clif bar challenge video on a wheeling forum...

And the first response I got was this:


Okay, so here is the problem I have here. I have a bike, and I would ride it to places, and I do, but there are some trips that necessitate a car. Try carrying 15+ bags of groceries on a bike. Can't do it!

I used to have a 10 mile or so trip to work (now it's a 45 minute drive in a car...so a bike is out for that just on time) and I would totally do the 20 miles per day on the bike. However, I have a job (for the next 5 days lol) which requires me to be professionally dressed. This does not include sweating profusely after arriving at work in the summer...or any other season. So I can't ride a bike to work. Maybe I could if it had showers, but then I don't do public showers because nobody else bothers to take care of them and keep them clean. Since I'll most likely always be in this industry - riding a bike to work is impossible.

Then we have other issues which involve other people. Mainly the idiots on roads who don't know how to drive. I'm much safer in a car. I don't like riding on the roads, and will try to only ride on more residential streets to get somewhere. Also the idiots who like to steal things like nice bikes make me not want to leave it sitting out much.

When I can, I ride my bike, but that's usually for exercise and I go on bike trails and such. Also I can't see many trips which I could replace with a bike because most trips other than work are to buy things which require carting them home, or going on trips that are longer distances.

Now, I'm not stupid. I knew posting a pro-bicycle type video on a 4x4 forum wasn't going to get the same response as on here. I just wanted to share the video. But this seems like the typical American attitude towards bicycles to me. Would you agree?

10 miles in 45 minutes in a car??? Hmmm. I think the poster is an idiot as 10 miles in 45 minutes is easily done by bicycle with minimal sweating...maybe the poster is offroading.

I am not as amazed that you tried posting that on a 4X4 forum I am amazed you didn’t expect the answer to be just what is was. The response was reasonably thought out from the perspective of a person that already has a 4X4 or car and has the limitations placed upon them by that decision. Reaching someone after they are halfway into a race is nearly worthless. To reach one it has to be before they have invested time and money in a lifestyle like the person that responded to you. There are some rules to debating an issue that might apply here. Never debate a choice in bikes if you already own one you are comparing, it becomes personal. Never question a lifestye choice someone else has made if they are already doing it and are happy about it. You are spitting in the wind.

As much as the bike industry is into promoting utility cycling I am amazed that they don't have more bikes pre set up for utility use. I would love to see more bikes come with baskets/saddle bags and lights, or at least with a discount coupon for a utility set up as well as a tip booklet on how to do all those things on a bike. As it stands now you have to really be into bikes to understand how to overcome all those obstacle mentioned.

Ummmm... what is unreasonable about his response? We have a different perspective, but from his perspective it seems pretty reasonable. Before I started commuting, I probably would have said the same thing. I see him as looking at the practical disadvantages of cycling, and doesn't have enough desire to try to overcome them. Heck, maybe hang gliding would be cool, but I don't have enough desire to do it to overcome the obstacles preventing me from trying it.

10 miles in 45 minutes in a car??? Hmmm. I think the poster is an idiot as 10 miles in 45 minutes is easily done by bicycle with minimal sweating...maybe the poster is offroading.

I think what he was saying is that he used to have a 10 mile trip to work, but now he has (a longer) one that takes 45 minutes.

Ummmm... what is unreasonable about his response? We have a different perspective, but from his perspective it seems pretty reasonable. Before I started commuting, I probably would have said the same thing. I see him as looking at the practical disadvantages of cycling, and doesn't have enough desire to try to overcome them. Heck, maybe hang gliding would be cool, but I don't have enough desire to do it to overcome the obstacles preventing me from trying it.

That's kind of what I was thinking, is that this would be a typical response from someone.

I think what he was saying is that he used to have a 10 mile trip to work, but now he has (a longer) one that takes 45 minutes.



I got the same idea from the response. He used to live 10 miles away but now he lives 45 minutes by car from work. I was in the same boat as the responder when I bought my first house. We rented a house about 10 miles from where I worked and then bought a house about 25 miles from work. I tried riding for a while but soon the warmer weather made me sweaty and it was easier to drive. Once my first child was born cycling was a weekend recreational activity at most. We almost had to have a van just to take the Port-a-Crib, Massive diaper bag, and the wind up swing everywhere we went. Once we started shopping at discount stores like COSTCO and bought a freezer cycling to the store was out of the question. Cycling didn’t become practical for us again till it was back to just the two of us and the house was paid for.

It isn’t that people couldn’t find a way to do many of the things without a 4x4, SUV, Van or big car it is how easy it is to do things with them and how hard it is to do the same things without. It doesn’t have to be a lot harder either. Throughout history mankind has used his brain to make his life easier. Running and jumping on your prey was one way to get food but tossing a spear was easier and more effective and a bow was easier still. Finally guns made it about as easy as it was going to get until they decided to raise their food and not hunt it at all. Even harvesting crops has been turned over to machines because it is easier and more efficient. It is just that people are going to need something more than hearing someone say it is better to cycle than to use a car before they will even consider it.