jaa1085

wild animals

high fuel costs are only funny if your food harvests itself and walks itself to the store.

aley

The point being, we should look at the ramifications of our own choices before we get too smug about how much better we are than those who have made different choices.

And to throw a bit of much-needed bike content into this thread:

They had the bike path that I take to work torn up for months last year while they laid the pipeline to carry water from the San Juan/Chama diversion project from the treatment plant to various points in Albuquerque. That part sucked - they turned an easy road crossing into a hair-raising exercise in dodging cars being driven by boneheads who often couldn't be bothered to look for bikes on the temporary path. I'm glad the work is done, and when they finished they laid down nice new pavement on the path so it's much nicer than it was before. I'm all in favor of water diversion projects when they lead to better bike infrastructure.

Lamplight

Thanks for the info! The two areas I had in mind (eventually) are the Pacific Northwest or New England (probably Burlington). Cold doesn't bother me much, although I admit I would be a bit nervous about winter in New England. I also don't mind rain at all when it's just a drizzle, and I like cloudy weather. When we get rain here it's usually a downpour or nothing.

lil brown bat

Your recommendations apparently don't take into account the realities that we live with here. It must be nice to be able to heat to 55 degrees all winter. I wish I could do that.

dynodonn 

Low heating budget, poor insulation at your place? My buddy in Alaska keeps his place a 68F.

arnijr

I love my Montero, even at $9 a gallon. It's meant for travel in the interior, where you need the 4wd and the low range. Bigger tires and differential locks are a plus. There are some beautiful places you'd never get to see without a big truck (or possibly a bike and lots of time, not really an option for the rest of the family). The truck gets close to 20mpg on the highway, so this kind of travel isn't free but totally worth it. Besides, the alternative would be a jetliner and that's neither cheap nor enviromentally friendly.
That said, I wouldn't commute in it on a regular basis, that's what the bikes are for.

ericy

Really? Does it love you in return ? Do the two of you plan to settle down and start a family at some point ?

Sorry, but you hit on one of my pet peeves. The automakers would like to have you "love" your vehicle, but that's because they are trying to manipulate people into buying the largest and most expensive vehicle that they can possibly sell you. This to me using that word in this context doesn't make any sense. You wouldn't love a car like you love a spouse or a child. Not even like you would love a dog.

Would you say that you "love your toaster"? If so, then please remember to unplug the thing before you attempt to make love to it in order to reduce the risk of electrical shock .

aley

People using standard English is a pet peeve of yours?

From Webster:
2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea>

The fact that I love my bike is unrelated to the fact that there's grease in the seat tube.

Bikepacker67

So the guy who actually hikes in, gets to be rewarded by listening to your 8-cylinders scatter all the wildlife.

Great way to see (and respect) those beautiful places

jaa1085

That's a pretty ridicilous statement.

ericy

When it is something as mundane as an appliance (which to me is all a car really is), and when the term is being used to advertisers to try and boost sales, yes it annoys me.

CliftonGK1

The dude is posting from Reykjavik, Iceland and talking about driving to the interior. I'm pretty sure that no one is hiking to the places he and his friends are driving their trucks.

AlmostTrick

I love goofy bike forums threads.

jaa1085

Why?

CliftonGK1

There are lots of hiking trails in the interior, but you drive on the maintained roadways to get to them.
I do a lot of hiking here in Washington, but I don't hike the 60 miles to get to some of the trails; I drive my Jeep because after I turn off the highway there might be 10 more miles of unmaintained forest 'road' to get to the trailhead.


Taken directly from the Nordic Adventure Travel website. (bold emphasis mine)

"The uninhabited interior of Iceland is among the very few relatively easily accessible such areas left in the world. Its border is roughly drawn along the 400 m elevation and within that frame we have about 80% of the total area of the country. It consist mainly of moraines, sanded areas, lava fields, lakes and glaciers. The green pearls or the vegetated oases are only to be found where there is sufficient water. The landscapes are very varied and beautiful. It is recommended to use 4wd vehicles because of the various and changing condition of the tracks and unbridged rivers, which have to be forded with the greatest of care. I t is also recommended that people read the special brochure on driving in the interior before heading up there and remember, that off road driving is strictly prohibited!"

gmule

Not everyone is able bodied and can hike every where. I have a friend that was injured at work and his leg had to be amputated. If he did not have his jeep he would be destined to waste away in a wheel chair.

My dad is another example. He is now too old to hike he has problems with his hip. He can drive but he is unable to hike anymore. 4 wheel drive vehicles bring the outdoors to thousands of people every year.

Whats it matter if off road vehicles use the mining roads that were opened hundreds of years ago. The wagon tracks are still there.



Just one of the many places that would be unavailable if you're not 100%

The public lands are just that public. Some for hiking some for driving.

I-Like-To-Bike

What do you spend your money on? Are you disabled and unable to earn a living? Perhaps you should be talking to your case worker about a larger grant.

vrkelley

+1 Biking too I Can bike, so I do...I feel blessed that I can.

Photosmith

This thread is like the perfect counterpart for this one which is basically 9 pages worth of absolute hatred for cyclists among car users, albeit with at least a couple cyclists on there doing their best to defend that cyclists have a right to exist and use paved roads. Still, it's funny to me. Huge long thread on bikeforums with tons of rabid, frothing at the mouth cycling activists who absolutely hate car users and aren't afraid to tell anyone about it. Head over to the car lounge board and you get a huge long thread with tons of rabid, frothing at the mouth drivers who absolutely hate cyclists and aren't afraid to tell anyone about it. Middleground, anyone? Or is this a fight to the death?

ShadowGray

Boo, I'd have to be a middleground person... I love driving, and I love biking. Personally I like biking more right now because it's more affordable to me than driving.

On another note, instead of being an aggressive motorist who hates bicyclist or an aggressive bicyclist who hates motorists, I'm an aggressive moving person who hates everyone else on the road. Win!

Haha, I posted this thread to show off the pics from the ride... amazing how quickly things can get derailled (pun!) on BF.

lil brown bat

Perhaps you should be borrowing a hydraulic jack and removing your head from your rectum.

Edit: on second thought, skip it. Your posting history pretty well establishes that you like things that way.

HardyWeinberg

teenagers' dreams crushed by gas prices:

https://www.theolympian.com/opinion/story/474579.html

I-Like-To-Bike

Uh Huh. Interests:
Biking, tennis, whitewater kayaking, alpine skiing, gardening, aikido and barbecue
Occupation:
"Everything but the code" for a small software company
But no money (or no desire for spending it) for heating your own living qtrs to a comfortable temperature.
Everybody sets their own priorities, but few are so dizzy as to whine about their lack of comfort because they place heating their own home so low on their list of priorities.

arnijr

Well, you guys feel free to hike the few hundred miles to the trailhead, I'll continue driving there, thank you very much. I don't think you quite understand the picture here. Nobody hikes the roads I'm driving. Some very brave people bike some of them, they might see a car an hour and they're probably glad someone is around. People can easily die up there from exposure in mid summer.
To put this in perspective, according to Wikipedia "The country is 103,000 km² (39,768.5 sq mi) in size, of which 62.7% is wasteland." Wikipedia entry here.
Mind you my 6 cylinder diesel is relatively quiet, if you worry about noise I suggest worrying about off-road motorcycles. As for wildlife, sure there are some birds and some rodents, but that's about it. They don't seem very disturbed by my passing.
Just to be clear, when I say I love my Montero, I don't mean I love it in the same way I love my wife and kids. I mean I love the utility I get from it, same utility I would get from a Defender or a Land Cruiser. I think that's pretty common usage, but if I'm mistaken you'll have to excuse my misuse of the English language and give me consideration for not being a native speaker.