Commuting - I hate the green comments

99% of the people I know of always point out its awesome that I bike because of how green it is. When in reality I don't really care about how green it is, I just care about how awesome biking out on the open road is. Why can't people understand that people still ride bikes not because they save money, or are good for the planet, but that biking is fun!?

who knows probably never, maybe when they figure out that hybrid cars are not good for the enviroment, oops did i just spill the beans. No but really i agree with you i mean yeah i care about the enviroment but really i love riding more

You hate that people point out they like you're doing something good for the environment whether you intended it that way or not?

I guess its not "cool" to be perceived as being green by you. Maybe you should carry around some motor oil with you and start a fire with it everytime someone mentions this to you so that you can maintain your "polluter" cred.

Do you also get upset when people mention that cycling is healthy?

99% of the people I know of always point out its awesome that I bike because of how green it is.

99% seems a little high... but what ever.


When in reality I don't really care about how green it is, I just care about how awesome biking out on the open road is. Why can't people understand that people still ride bikes not because they save money, or are good for the planet, but that biking is fun!?

Are you a republican? If the answer is yes then I understand your pain on this matter.

I would love if someone called me "green". Everyone around here thinks if you are riding a bike you must have gotten a DUI and lost your drivers license. One day I will move to the West Coast where bicycling is at least a little more socially acceptable.

You hate that people point out they like you're doing something good for the environment whether you intended it that way or not?

I guess its not "cool" to be perceived as being green by you. Maybe you should carry around some motor oil with you and start a fire with it everytime someone mentions this to you so that you can maintain your "polluter" cred.

Do you also get upset when people mention that cycling is healthy?
Im pretty sure what he means is that people think that his sole purpose of riding is to be green

Are you a republican? If the answer is yes then I understand your pain on this matter.[/QUOTE]

LMAO!!! AHAHAHAHAH I got a good laugh on that one. But no I'm pretty liberal.

Why not just say, "Yeah, and in addition to that......."

Man, the things people get caught up on sometimes. You "hate" when people say that? Wow. I suggest you reserve that hate cannon for something that is truly opposing and threatening you.

I get that comment as well. I just reply that I am trying to do my part, and then ask them what they are doing to save the planet.

People talk to me about wishing they could bike more and it makes me cringe because I don't intend to be any kind of example and even if I don't mind collateral benefits they're certainly not my main motivation.

Anyway I can't really articulate in whatever time is available for that sorts of small talk that the reason I can bike more is because I like it so I do it. Not 'cause I have to or I should.

I ride for the exercise and enjoyment not any fruit cake political statement. I commute because it is the best way to make sure I get the cardio I need to try to prevent another heart attack.
When I started commuting there was a Beasty 454 powered 3/4 ton Suburban in the drive and a Toyota 4Runner on 33's that can crawl OVER a Preius (but it actually will get 24mpg on the hwy as it is geared to run that size tire). There is a 1970 Convertible LeMans (same body as Lance Armstrong's GTO) in my garage with a built 400 with a high rise intake and a Demon 750 that I hope will get 10mpg topping it off sitting on the stand next to it that will be coupled to a Munci. I will enjoy every bit of time that car turns tires into smoke with the very tight posi it has. Now a Mini van with a Blower is in the driveway. :D
I am all for better air quality but I do not believe Global warming crazyness is anything more then a Communist plot perpetrated to empty our pockets. People like Gore are the biggest hypocrites in the world and in 20 years we will be watching that shown in full on the history channel.

I am all for better air quality but I do not believe Global warming crazyness is anything more then a Communist plot perpetrated to empty our pockets.


Damn, those commie cyclist bastards! Something needs to be done about them if you're to keep America safe!

At least around here, the 'green' argument wouldn't hold water - people burn way more fuel in accelerating around me than I would have used if I drove a car.

Do they look like this?

http://www.hybridcars.com/files/imagecache/article_lead_image/files/graphics/south-park-smug-313.gif

I think I get what the OP is saying. When I commute to work, I have to come to stop at a crosswalk just outside my office building. Frequently while waiting for the light I run into folks I know walking into the building who aren't aware that I commute to work. Just yesterday someone told me how "admirable" it is that I bike to work. I just said, "Thanks for thinking that, but I'm actually really selfish - I do it for me."

BSE Come over to West TN if you want to see funny looks while you ride. BTW, you can always tell the DWI riders, they ride on the wrong side of the road and on the sidewalks!:notamused:

I did some off the cuff calculations on my bikes vs my van. Now I'm not sure of the overall enviromental impact, but to the best of my calculations it cost me about the same to ride a mile as to drive a mile. These are milage vs cost and maint.

Tell those people to talk green to you when they are fat, sick and broke. The joke will be on them.

It's not easy being green.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/a/ae/Kermitbike.jpg

Comment how great it is that they drive everyday. They may not get the point. But they probably never will.

Damn, those commie cyclist bastards! Something needs to be done about them if you're to keep America safe!

America and our precious bodily fluids.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1KvgtEnABY

At least around here, the 'green' argument wouldn't hold water - people burn way more fuel in accelerating around me than I would have used if I drove a car.

It's not my gas they're burning, so all the "green" I'm concerned with is staying in my wallet. Bike commuting 3-4 days a week leaves me enough spare cash to drive the Blazer somewhere fun on my days off.

They're trying to make excuses to themselves for why they're not doing it by casting it as some Big Thing. Don't worry about it, at least they're being polite.

I really don't understand people getting bent out of shape to what amounts to a compliment.

How do you guys feel when you're actually insulted?

being green is way down on my list too. But I do feel guilty about it when I'm driving and I could have ridden.

I don't think people really realize how much nicer our town would be if a significantly higher percentage of people rode to work. Ignoring the gas usage and pollution, the main street in town is a loud, crazy car-created unpleasant mess for most of the day.

Yeah i ride mostly because i don't drive....legal issues, but it has become a passion of mine that i never knew would develop. Now i don't even care when i get my license back, and people i work with think im crazy....but then i also have more energy, and am more fit than everyone i know...lost 60 lbs in the past 2 years, thanks to riding.
They say we're the green generation....yeah i don't think so!
I still love motorsports, and nothing burns more fuel and has as little emission regulations as racing does.
So no, i ain't no hippy.....i'll race whatever i got, just happens to be bikes at the moment :)

Chicks dig my tiny carbon footprint.

99% of the people I know of always point out its awesome that I bike because of how green it is. When in reality I don't really care about how green it is, I just care about how awesome biking out on the open road is. Why can't people understand that people still ride bikes not because they save money, or are good for the planet, but that biking is fun!?

This drives me nuts too - I mean, I do like that biking is a "green" activity (in more ways than one) and that is part of why I do it, but for the vast majority of the population this is simply not a motivational point. I do it first for fun, second for health, third for the cost savings, and lastly because it is green. If people realized how much more fun and awesome this is than sitting on your ass stuck in traffic, they'd probably do it. But they think people do it because it's green.

I ride in general and commute because it is a blast, not to mention an excellent source of exercise. The "green" thing, which I like, is just icing on the cake.

I'll admit, I'm selfish, I ride because I enjoy it.

I wish people thought I was green... but I live in a state largely funded by oil companies... so the only people riding bikes are old guys with DUI's. If there's anybody being "green" here I've never seen them... and I ride because I love bikes (I have a supercharged sport compact I love to drive).

It's the same sickness, really... people jumping to conclusions.

I don't get peeved when people tell me how I'm being all "green," but I do make a habit of pointing out that green has nothing to do with it - my poor old 1992 car has 164,000 miles on it, and I figure every mile I put on the bike isn't going on the car. I'm too cheap/broke to buy another car, so I wanna make the one I have now last as long as possible. And if it has a finite amount of miles on it, then riding my bike at every opportunity is lengthening the amount of time until I hit that finite amount of miles.

So it's now become an odd challenge - some things I can't do by bike like I'd like to (doctor's appointments in town 40 miles away) and some things I haven't quite figured out how to do yet (like go to the freakin' laundromat), but I'm still hoping one day to be able to go without the car for, say, a whole month and not just a week like now.

I don't like people assuming I'm green. Some people think that because I rode a bike a few miles to get to work it means I'll be interested in their recycling drive or raising epa regualtions or some such nonsense. I ride a bike because it's fun and I'm fat, not because I'm part of some agenda.

I don't get peeved when people tell me how I'm being all "green," but I do make a habit of pointing out that green has nothing to do with it - my poor old 1992 car has 164,000 miles on it, and I figure every mile I put on the bike isn't going on the car. I'm too cheap/broke to buy another car, so I wanna make the one I have now last as long as possible. And if it has a finite amount of miles on it, then riding my bike at every opportunity is lengthening the amount of time until I hit that finite amount of miles.

I find that the best way of 'being green' is just to be cheap. Biking is part of that for me. I get where the OP is coming from, though.

Chicks dig my tiny carbon footprint.
hehe i had a good laugh at that thanks

99% of the people I know of always point out its awesome that I bike because of how green it is. When in reality I don't really care about how green it is, I just care about how awesome biking out on the open road is. Why can't people understand that people still ride bikes not because they save money, or are good for the planet, but that biking is fun!?

They may think you're sacrificing, being noble for the environment--play it up brother! Play it up! Sometimes being green is fun, who knew?

99% of the people I know of always point out its awesome that I bike because of how green it is

So what would you say if somebody challenged you about biking and ask if you're trying to be green or something? And then proceeds to tell you that you need to move your tree-hugging, liberal ass to socialist Europe if love it so much...

Chicks dig my tiny carbon footprint.

Did you mean to say carbon fiber footprint?

I don't like people assuming I'm green. ...I ride a bike because it's fun and I'm fat, not because I'm part of some agenda.
I think that makes you green... sorry! :)

Moved to Berkeley Ca where you are expected to be a "Lean Mean Green Pedaling Machine!" :)

Problem solved.

I fully agree...my decision to live car free (although my fiancee drives, and I take advantage of that at times) has a lot less to do with the environment and a lot more to do with practical inner city commuting realities. I think the truth is that the green thing is largely a trendy marketing ploy, and one that will become less prevalent with time. As has already been mentioned, the green hybrid cars aren't really much greener than normal cars...it's trendy. I think that's true for a lot of these companies advertising green. Citibank is green? How? Exxon is green? Huh? Marketing.

To me decisions about legitimately going green are only going to happen by economic necessity. When it's cheaper to recycle, we'll recycle more. When gas is a fortune, we'll use it less. Etc. The only practical green initiatives are Government tax based policy decisions...like cutting back on road subsidies and spending it on public transit. My cycling isn't about saving the world...it's about enjoying it, feeling good, burning a few calories, skipping inner city traffic jams, easy and free parking and storing my transportation inside the house. I've had a love affair, off and on, with bikes ever since I was 10...which was long before I knew what ozone was.

Part of it is also that I can't afford a Ferrari (at least without making sacrifices I'd never make). I can't afford a Picasso. Bikes are one of the few things where I can afford the best of the best. I can get some of the finest machines ever produced with two wheels and appreciate their workmanship. Maybe I can't afford a ferrari, but I have a bike hand built in the Merckx factory out of Reynolds 753, one of the finest steels man has produced, for the captain of the Motorola team. That bike cost me 1/20th of what people pay for a mass produced compact car.

I would love if someone called me "green". Everyone around here thinks if you are riding a bike you must have gotten a DUI and lost your drivers license.

Around my home, the only people that ride bikes are recent immigrants that can't afford a truck yet. A neighbor asked me if I got a DUI since they'd "never seen a white guy ride a bike as much" as I do.

OP: i agree with you wholeheartedly. I do it because a) lycra makes my ass look good and b) it's a fun workout. OMG INFINITY MPG yeah not so much. i still enjoy driving my car as well

The only bike users I see are bums using mountain bikes too small for them or a stolen kid bike on sidewalks or wrong side of the road. Global warming always in the media is a lie by communists. Other planets are warming up too.

The only bike users I see are bums using mountain bikes too small for them or a stolen kid bike on sidewalks or wrong side of the road. Global warming always in the media is a lie by communists. Other planets are warming up too.

Oh yeah, the one you came from is warming up also? :p

So what would you say if somebody challenged you about biking and ask if you're trying to be green or something? And then proceeds to tell you that you need to move your tree-hugging, liberal ass to socialist Europe if love it so much...

I would point in the direction of Texas and explain why people over 60 shouldn't be allowed d to vote because all they seem to do is vote for poor republican candidates cough BUSH.. cough BUSH.. who have destroyed our countries relationships with other nations and screwed our economy into the ground.

Global warming.. No that can't be true. The weather is just rapidly changing all over the world for no reason at all. The ozone has been depleting for millions of years didn't you know...

Chicks dig my tiny carbon footprint.

So you're saying size matters?

When people say something about how green I am, I usually say something like, "yeah, _____ seemed a little off in the cafeteria today..." or invite them to go on a bike ride with me :)

Oh yeah, the one you came from is warming up also? :p

One of them yep.

Global Warming on Mars, Pluto, Triton and Jupiter
http://seoblackhat.com/2007/03/04/global-warming-on-mars-pluto-triton-and-jupiter/

One of them yep.

Global Warming on Mars, Pluto, Triton and Jupiter
http://seoblackhat.com/2007/03/04/global-warming-on-mars-pluto-triton-and-jupiter/

Triton and Pluto aren't planets. Which of the remaining two were you from again?