Originally Posted by wolfchild

Nothing wrong with visiting archeological sites and tourist attractions. I have visited few ancient Native American archeological sites, I have also visited former Nazi Concentraction camps which have been made into tourist attractions when I was in Europe...I just fail to see why some posters are using quotes from civil rights movement on a cycling forum. I just fail to see any connection between LCF and social activism. Car-free movement and civil rights movement have absolutely nothing in common with one another.

Originally Posted by Roody

I also enjoy riding my bike to visit historic landmarks in my area.

I rode my bike to see the places where Malcolm X lived while he was a young child here in Lansing and Mason. MI. It was quite interesting and inspirational. I also toured many other locations where African-Americans settled and lived both before and after the Great Migration. Alot of this was done on foot since the locations are quite close to the house I'm living in now.

I've also visited a number of sites that were important in the early development of the automobile industry. One of the first auto assembly plants in the world were built here by Ransom Olds, and the plant is still used today to build Cadillacs and Camaros. I also found the location of the old proving grounds where Oldsmobile tested cars for many years.

Olds's mansion was torn down in the 1960s (to make way for an expressway! that was then named after him!). But I've hunted down many other beautiful buildings designed by that architect in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I've been searching for local evidence of the streetcars and interurban trains but so far haven't found any.

I'm not saying that I couldn't have done some of this by car. But touring as a cyclist or pedestrian brings me closer in spirit to past events and people and allows me to make better observations.

Originally Posted by cooker

The mention of Stone Mountain inspired him to quote a famous poetic passage about Stone Mountain - nothing more.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Very poetic but the speech only mentioned Stone Mtn once as a reference point in a civil rights speech that was not about Stone Mtn and was a canned phrase sometimes used in MLK's speeches. I heard him speak the almost identical passage when he was a speaker at Penn State University, Recreation Hall- January 21, 1965. The speech was most noticed when delivered during the 1963 March on Washington.

Stone Mtn of course does have a not so poetic history as the birthplace of the KKK and as the site of a monument to the Confederacy, I imagine it gets lots of visitors.

Originally Posted by Walter S

Indeed. That's a good reason why King mentioned this place repeatedly. It stood out as a prominent landmark where the KKK was openly endorsed and given perpetual right to meet there. Today it has historical significance and offers an opportunity to reflect on the past and where we're evolving as a culture. We've come a long way in fifty years.

In reality though I go there at least every few weeks and rarely think about any of this. It's a pretty place with great views and good hiking. I rarely see the Confederate memorial carvings because that side of the mountain is a bit steep for hiking

Originally Posted by Walter S

One of the things I enjoy about being car free is that I've lost the need for an exercise regimen. Exercise is a side effect of living. If I do virtually all of life's transport challenges with my bicycle it keeps me fit without being exercise with no other benefit. It takes less discipline to do physically challenging things that happen to just be errands in my life.

It's like my commute to work. I can't motivate myself to ride 40 miles every day for the hell of it. But hey, if there's a paycheck involved the ride suddenly has a purpose that drives it. I just hauled a 60 pound load of birdseed home from Walmart with my cargo trailer. The Walmart is only three miles round trip but there's a deep valley between us - a thrill to go down but a bear of a climb. Last weekend I brought a case of wine home from Trader Joes - 16 mile round trip. I took all afternoon, and stopped and had lunch enroute. Also this week, I hauled five gallons of diesel fuel for my tractor.

I used to get lazy between spurts of motivation to get really fit. That can lead to more sore muscles or injury over exerting. What works for me is to live my life on the bicycle and avoid dramatic compromises because of it. Instead rise to the challenge and feel strong and energized because of it.

Living car free I stay in tip top shape. It's a nice feeling baseline for launching all my adventures. To go on a bicycle tour, there's no "training". The tour starts and ends at my front door. Again, it's a miraculous feeling that all I need to do to enable riding all day and repeat that the next, is just keep living on the bicycle. And weekend camping is always an adventure. I can enjoy the days ride more if the riding is something I can take for granted.

Originally Posted by scroungetech

What are some things you find awesome about LCF?

Originally Posted by JoeyBike

I never, ever have to sit in traffic.

Originally Posted by Walter S

+1. I remember feeling so trapped sometimes. Feeling that my life was being wasted every day sitting in gridlock on the interstate

I'm glad that's no longer my reality

Originally Posted by JoeyBike

I worked with another car-free guy for about 5 years and about half the time we would ride together for about 3 miles before he turned off to go home. We passed literally 500 cars stuck in traffic - mostly lane splitting. So every time (it actually became "a daily thing" for us) we broke free of the gridlock just before his turnoff he would look at me and say "How do they do that every day??" I would just shake my head and shrug.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Do you also laff and shake your head and shrug at all the car free people waiting for the bus?

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Do you also laff and shake your head and shrug at all the car free people waiting for the bus?

Originally Posted by JoeyBike

Once. It was a Sunday morning when bus schedules are particularly sketchy. I caught a puncture on my bicycle and landed very near a bus stop loaded with folks waiting. I removed the wheel, replace the tube, replaced the wheel, pumped up the tire with a tiny pump, and was on my way while the bus "riders" were still standing there waiting. Yes, I freely admit to wondering "why" and considered letting loose with a devilish laugh.

Originally Posted by denis123

Well, if it was in New Orleans, they wouldn't have to wait if they had planned their trip because the time of the next bus is available in real-time and you can see it on a phone application. We are in 21st century. It has been years since I waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

Originally Posted by denis123

Well, if it was in New Orleans, they wouldn't have to wait if they had planned their trip because the time of the next bus is available in real-time and you can see it on a phone application. We are in 21st century. It has been years since I waited more than 10 minutes for a bus.

Originally Posted by JoeyBike

HaHa!! First of all, my story was from before cellphones were everywhere, much less smart phones. But no matter. NOLA is still a 3rd world city. You may be in the 21st century. Read it and weep.

Owen Courreges: What happened to online tracking for New Orleans public transit? ? Uptown Messenger

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

Makes sense if a person plans his/her life around available bus schedules and routes, and never travels at any inconvenient (for bus travel) or "unplanned" time, or to any place not on the route or locations requiring multiple transfers. Might be convenient for someone who never has to be somewhere at specific times (or leaves a destination at unplanned times) when the bus isn't conveniently running every few minutes (or running at all) , or needs transportation to places not on the handy/dandy route, or requires multiple transfers. But that's OK I guess if that person can spend their time staring at their smartphone when not learning when the next bus might arrive.

Originally Posted by denis123

This is very much exagerated. First, it assumes that if someone takes the bus, then he never has no other means of transportation.

Originally Posted by wolfchild

No need to assume anything, because it's the truth that majority of public transit users don't have an alternative form of transportation to get to work or anywhere else, a lot of them don't even have a DL, that's why they are using public transit...Nobody would voluntarily leave their car at home and take a bus instead... If I decide to leave my car at home then I use my bike, taking a pubic transit is my last choice.

Originally Posted by denis123

This is very much exagerated. First, it assumes that if someone takes the bus, then he never has no other means of transportation. Then, it makes it look as a problem to consult a smart phone to get the bus time.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike

The problem is seldom getting "bus time", it is getting the bus and getting to and from destinations in a timely manner. The smartest smartphone being read by the smartest person will not make a bus appear if it isn't there and no where close, isn't running at the right time or at all, doesn't run a in timely manner etc, etc.

You missed the entire point, we have a previous poster bragging about mocking those people who don't ride a bicycle like himself who he passes by while weaving in and out of traffic, mocking which presumably also applies to those who have to wait for the bus, wait on the bus while it stops and starts in traffic, and waits for transfers from feeder line to another line or are delayed traveling to and fro, which of course applies to so many people dependent on public transportation.

And of course a smartphone doesn't produce public transit vehicles whenever and wherever the user reads the "bus time". Buses run on routes and schedules that are not altered by the existence of a smartphone app.

Originally Posted by JoeyBike

Once. It was a Sunday morning when bus schedules are particularly sketchy. I caught a puncture on my bicycle and landed very near a bus stop loaded with folks waiting. I removed the wheel, replace the tube, replaced the wheel, pumped up the tire with a tiny pump, and was on my way while the bus "riders" were still standing there waiting. Yes, I freely admit to wondering "why" and considered letting loose with a devilish laugh.

I tried the bus thing. It has it's appeal, but it is more tedious than driving a car in that invariably, the bus not only has to wait in traffic but often stops to load and unload at a GREEN light, thereby forced to stop even more often than motorists. And in my town, people are SO lazy that they get on a bus, ride one or two blocks, and get off. To this, I shake my head. Other places downtown I can easily outpace a bus or trolley on foot.

Originally Posted by wolfchild

No need to assume anything, because it's the truth that majority of public transit users don't have an alternative form of transportation to get to work or anywhere else, a lot of them don't even have a DL, that's why they are using public transit...Nobody would voluntarily leave their car at home and take a bus instead... If I decide to leave my car at home then I use my bike, taking a pubic transit is my last choice.