AlmostTrick

That's funny. The most common question about bike commuting I get is "How far is your ride?" (like you, 12 miles is the answer) and the most common answer is something like "Oh, that's not too bad". (even though they seldom or never even ride around the block)

AlmostTrick

I know several women who say they prefer working with men because of exactly what you describe.

YouthInAsia

kickstart, let's not take things outta context here. I think what he's saying is this: Most people, at least in US society, eat too much and don't excersise. Obesity is at an all time high. He's right.

moobot22

Smartassery is nothing to be ashamed of. It's dumbassery that needs to be ridiculed.. And really, what are we smart asses without dumb asses to provide us material?

moobot22

I work in an office full of women twice my age. There are 2 other guys in the whole building. Honestly I prefer these ladies to any other group I've worked with. "Hey, good morning, I love that ___ fill in article of clothing___ where'd you get that? I was thinking of biking up to the outlet this weekend, I'll have to check that ___fill in store___" morning communication done. Insert noise canceling headphones and proceed to write simple HTML code that makes them constantly remark about how smart I am. day over. return home. Bike.

YouthInAsia

LOVE THAT. I can relate like you don't know. Got a good laugh!

AlTheKiller

not all knee problems are created equally. I have had two bad injuries on my right knee within a two year period. Fractured the tibial plateau both times. Lots of spraining both times. ACL is a little stretched. I can't bend it nearly as far as my good knee, it just stops.

I cycle every day, and it's pretty much the best thing for my knee. I was sick the other weekend and didn't go out for two days and that brought my limp back because my knee stiffened up.

It helps that I was quite active and athletic before the injuries, and I'm also a lightweight which is great for knee problems. And I know even I often come up with excuses because I'm terrified of reinjuring my knee in a stupid way, and the looseness in my acl makes me take great care hiking in loose terrain and I pretty much don't run anymore, though I can. But some people have enough range of motion issues for a proper pedal stroke to be an issue, or the mixture of bad knee and bad bike handling and horrible fitness makes them just focus on the "bad knee" part and give that as an excuse. I've also known people with meniscus issues and anything besides a super easy gear gave discomfort.

jfowler85

You've assumed that is what the ladies meant, and in addition you have taken it way too personally.

My wife says the same things to me about my commute, which is shorter than yours. What she means when she says this is that it is impressive to her, relative to the fact that she bikes a total of 0 miles every day. I would say the same thing to someone who cycles 50miles a day to commute, and I would mean the same thing by it.

noglider 

I don't think it says much about the person saying it ("wow, that's impressive") or about the person doing the 12 miles each way, but it does say a lot about our population. I do 13 or 14 miles each way. As such, it does mean I'm a heck of a lot fitter than most people, but most people are woefully unfit. Look at pictures of people in rural African villages. They do a lot of manual labor, and they are brimming with muscles. Now, I don't crave a rural village lifestyle, but something is really out of balance when a 12 mile bike ride is seen as ambitious or difficult.

But I don't mind these comments. I'm fine with others seeing me as amazingly fit. Let them. Most of it is idle chatter anyway.

YouthInAsia

I think you make a valid point.

Redhatter

Show them this then they won't think ~20km each way is so impressive.

cvskates

They're impressed because what you did is impressive. My commute is about the same length, and I think I'm pretty awesome for doing it every day.

Athlete or not, working a full day and biking 90-120 minutes on top of it is a lot. You'll just have to come to terms with your own awesomeness, and your coworkers reverence of it.

baron von trail 

My co-workers are often impressed by my food choices. They stare at it and make awestruck comments as if eating fruit and oatmeal is like raw sushi fish or something.

noglider 

Heh, I get almost those reactions, too. In a sense, @cvskates is right that we are awesome. Well, look. We are if we want to be. And if we don't want to be, we're not. Take your pick.

treadtread

My commute is between 5 to 6 miles, round trip, depending on route. Now I agree that isn't much, but I'd rather take the comments you get over the dismissive "that's not much" comments I get from people who take the car to the restaurant a quarter mile down the road. So be happy with the comments you get

bikesd

I got the same comments (even from myself). I'm proud of me for getting off of the couch and rolling in to work.

Go me & go you too!

Artkansas 

It depends. Often I can easily ride when walking is difficult at best.

baron von trail 

If pressed, I'm sure everyone can come up with an excuse not to ride or exercise at all and just lie on the couch eating potato chips and sucking down soda pop. Is there anyone over the age of 40 who does not have something ailing them?

mstateglfr 

I fail to see how these arent legit reasons for not commuting by bicycle to work.

• If one lives too far away to make it work, that seems like a good reason to not bike commute. Say they need to be at work at 7am and live 20miles away. Their spouse works out in the mornings at 5am so they are back at 6am. 20 miles in 1 hour?- not going to happen. Perhaps the spouse should not work out in the mornings and instead in the evenings. Oh no, they have kids and that takes an hour away from the whopping 3-4 possible hours each day they can see their kids.

Now if someone doesn’t have a children/obligations, 20mi with a 7am work start is possible.Its asking them to leave at 515 or so, but yes it is possible.

• A bad knee could be a very good reason to not bike commute since moving it with resistance more than a couple thousand times is required to go 10 or so miles. Sure, if its just a sore knee that takes time to loosen up, that may not be a reason to keep from bike commuting. But I also don’t consider that to be a bum knee.
• People are concerned about staying safe while riding since they see so many bad drivers each day when they drive. I certainly wouldn’t fault someone for being concerned that they wont stay safe when riding on streets, especially considering they most likely havent done it before. This is something that is possible to overcome, typically.
• Yeah…family activities in the evening are absolutely a legitimate reason to not bike commute. Take that 20mi commute with a 7am work start. They finish at 4pm(9 hours, 1 for lunch) and have a commute that will get them home at 545. Oh no, Timmy’s soccer practice starts at 530 and Tina’s dance class is at 6! Well that wont work. But hey, make your spouse take both of them! And have your spouse also get dinner ready while helping little Tommy with his homework.
• Um, not having a bike is a pretty bike impediment to commuting by bicycle.

The reality is that commuting by bike is not realistic for many(most) due to other life obligations. Family being the biggest. Kids take priority(or at least I think they should since you chose to have em). Being home and with them for the few hours each day you can see them is important to most.
Bike commuting works best for the outliers. Those who are single, or without kids, or have grown/older kids. Those who have flexible work hours, those who have a later work start, those who don’t need interstates to get to work, those who live close enough to work to make it feasible. Those who don’t have to go home to let out the puppy, those who don’t have to pick up kids from daycare, those who don’t have to get kids to sports/activities.

The closer to work people live, the easier it is to bike commute to work. Or I guess I should say the closer to home people work, since to me home should be the constant and the center. The later people can work and earlier they can leave, the easier it is to bike commute to work.
Overall, we don’t live in a society and don’t have a job market that accommodates to bike commuting. Its unfortunate, really.

Daniel4

I started a thread similar to this several months ago and got flamed and trolled started with someone posting "Who are you to judge?" Just be careful.

I-Like-To-Bike

Thank Goodness that there are a few bicycling studs on BF to point out most other people's shortcomings. And laff at these totals duds and their allegedly lame excuses for not being studly bike commuters like A&S posters.

YouthInAsia

I-Like-To-Bike, I noted this on page one, but you probably didn't read all the comments on this thread.
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Let's not take things outta context here. I think what he's saying is this: Most people, at least in US society, eat too much and don't excersise. Obesity is at an all time high. He's right. (rideBjj was just a little harsh with his words.)

I-Like-To-Bike

Every excuse for not bike commuting is "invalid" for the self described A&S "studs"; elsewhere noone need provide an excuse to these duds.

Drew Eckhardt 

It's not realistic due to lifestyle choices. Most people would rather spend their finite budget on a larger house far from city centers with jobs than a smaller, less prestigious dwelling nearby.

Most people see their children less because their lifestyle choices dictate living an average of 16 miles from work which can make for a two hour round-trip commute they're not spending with their family.

But not incompatible with bike commuting. You can even come out ahead on time when it lets you skip spending time at a gym and in traffic.

ThermionicScott 

That's also the lamest reason not to. Used bikes can be found at any price point down to free.