Do you ever feel sorry for those who will never get the experience?
 

This post could probably go under Envy but I wanted to share my experience from my ride last night and turn the question around. We know that some envy us and that shows in their negative attitude towards us. But my question is, do you feel pity for those people?

I don't really dwell too much about the negative attitude some people have towards us, I actually pity them because they don't get to experience the sights and sounds that we do.

Yesterday afternoon I went for a mt. bike ride in a Redwood Forest Park near my house. I went through a section of the park that I hadn't been in before I saw the most majestic Redwood tree. Right next to the Sequoi (damn, no spell checker) was a sign giving a few details about the tree.

The tree was estimated to be 1800 years old, had a diameter of 14 feet at the base and stood 235 feet tall. As I stood there in awe, I actually felt sorry for those people who would make fun of me because I rather be out on my bike instead of laying on the couch in front of the TV. They will never get to experience this wonder of nature.

Wow! I'm starting to envy you. I don't experience redwoods. I don't experience mountains. I don't experience oceans. I am in Wisconsin. I experience cows. I hate cows.

Only two more weeks and then I'm free. I just have to keep telling myself that. Two weeks. No more cows...

Nah, I don't feel sorry for them. If that's all they want out of life it's probably all they deserve.

Chris

We have a variation of that on our rides. It's called Hey Cow! We take turns screaming "Hey Cow!" whenever we pass a farm, and when a cow looks at you, you get a point. It's innane and stupid, but it helps you not think about that funny cow smell.

Not a day goes by that I don't pity--not from a cycling point of view, but a general one--kids I see in the city, who obviously will never experience what I have enjoyed:

--Caring parents
--Excellent schools with excellent teachers
--Travel to many parts of the U. S., and to France and Belgium
--Not being hit up by drug dealers
--Not getting shot by their peers

One good thing about cycling, for me, is that for the duration of the ride it partly blots out the sadness.

What a world we have made....

The ones I feel sorry for, are the ones who can't enjoy the experience, because of some type of disability.

Being able to enjoy our activity certainly makes you grateful for your health.

Sorry, Carlos! Wrong!

People who lay in front of the t.v. experience far more than we cyclists without ever having to get outside. The whole world is on display in their living room. In fact, with computer aided special effects, they can experience things that go beyond reality.
All this while burning only enough calories to power their heavy eyelids.

It's sad, but I can't agree with you on this one. Television allows us to experience World War II, ride with Captain Kirk on the starship "Enterprise," go to wild Hollywood parties, and see what's up in the President's private life. What could top all that?

Unless of course you believe that real experiences are better than imaginary ones...

its A choice, if you want to enjoy and live your life like a cyclist that is your personal choice, some people choose to just seat infront of their television sets, that's their choice, as for us cyclist we choose to live and expirience the outside world, ,cheers for every cyclist :beer:

I second that.

Ya, riderx, me too.

Yet, though I am not even close to this league, one day on my bike I saw a guy on his handcycle. Wo.

How about the one legged mountain biker Brett Wolf or the one legged NYC messanger Dexter Benjamin?

Inspiration.

And to answer the original question of the thread - Yes, I do feel sorry for them. I try to get as many people cycling as possible though because I love it and I'm an addict. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

A moo-cow frisbee, of course! :D

Works for me! You up for a game?

Where i live it`s usual to get a car on your 18th birthday, if not; your a weirdo :D
So, thats me living in a village with about 3 bike people around, i`m feeling like an alien.
People asking me always "why don`t you own a car? ,because i don`t need it" and then i try to explane the bike "feeling" ,but it`s very difficult to convince those carminded fanatics why you ride!

Well, there goes another of my cherished illusions. I always thought people in the Netherlands were keen on bikes. :(

Thats true Mr.Jon, Amsterdam is overwhelmed with bikes, but in some little villages (the one i live) it`s a "cool" thing to own a car!

Where is it not cool to own a car? :)

This is so true. Unless that person has actually ridden, it's very difficult to explain the "feeling" you get while riding. I can tell people about the things I see, or even take pictures, but that just doesn't do justice to the "Real" experience.

Servus!

Wanted to give my red penny on this one...

You see, Badger, that here in most of Europe, one is not allowed to drive until the age of eighteen. Even better, here in Germany you are requred to attend a driving school (many weeks of intense driving instruction, written and practical) which costs about $1500 (a cheap school)and then take a driving test which is also intensly expensive and involves knowing the laws and being able to drive safely´in the presence of a city official. Most teenagers have been walking and taking the bus all of their lives and to own your own car is an important sign that you have completed a rite of passage.

I personally know many people who have lived their lives without the "benefit" of having a drivers' license. This is not unusual. But getting your own car is still considered something special - unlike kids in the U.S. who expect it and are seriously disappointed when Mom & Dad didn't shuck out $35,000 for a new Mustang before they are legal adults.

I read several years ago--before the USSR was dissolved--that in the Soviet Union, to get a driver's license you had to know the basics of disassembling and reassembling a car engine, and the reflexes in the soles of your feet had to be tested--among other very stringent requirements. I don't know how it is today.

I went for a ride today and pedaled past a quick-oil-change place, with open bays where people were standing, dwarfed by their vehicles, as though worshiping them or at least paying respectful homage.

My bicycle, on the other hand, weighs much less than I do, and I stand well above it--usually....

But the amount of petrochemical consumed by bikes even if they were tuned up, cleaned, and made much of after every ride, would be almost incalculably smaller than what cars consume with normal running and maintenance.

On quick calculation, approx. 0.00000672%.

Hey, I've gone back to using olive oil for chain lube--try putting that in your car engine! :D

Very true Badger. I had my learners permit for a year before I got my license. I had driven in Atlanta, Charleston, Columbia,Myrtle Beach, Jackson(MS) and Baten Rouge with my parents supervising before I was allowed to drive to the gas station by myself.

The olive oil work well?

In terms of pedaling, olive oil as chain lube works just as well as Finish Line whatever-it-is formula that's for rain, which is what I usually have used.

I think olive oil would wash off pretty easily in rain, though. And I have no idea if it protects the metal in addition to making it glide easily. I can pretty well guess what the lube manufacturers would say! ;)

I guess if I went out in the rain I might put a little Finish Line on top of the olive oil.

The idea to try olive oil came from some publication of Bridgestone Bikes, before they went under. My friend Greg at work bought a Bridgestone in 1990 (I think) and brought this magazine or something to work. I don't remember if Grant Peterson actually wrote the article or somebody else. The essence of the article was that olive oil was still in the testing stage, but seemed to work pretty well....