ro-monster

I have never found the experience here to be a particularly negative one for women. Maybe there are women who feel left out because they don't get special consideration, but honestly, I would find that irritating. As I see it, we are all human, and we all share the same human nature.

Roody

Bikeforums.net has had the reputation of being male dominated, even sexist. I'm glad to hear this doesn't apply to the LCF sub forum. I have always wished that more women posted here.

eofelis 

I'm a gal. I'm not car free but I am car light. I put 2500 miles on my car in the past 12 months. I know that's a heap of a lot of car miles for this crowd but I thought I was doing pretty well. I bike or walk around town most days.

I wander into this forum regularly to browse around but only post occasionally. I like the Living Simply threads.

I-Like-To-Bike

It is obvious you are new here, otherwise you would use the derisive term "troll" for boat rockers or for any post contrary to the group think so prevalent among those here seeking a support group.

wahoonc

Still better than I did... My personal vehicle got 4500 miles put on it last year, but some of those were by my MIL.

Aaron

gerv 

Good point. Also feel free to use semi-colons around the word 'troll' for a more visual effect.

There are quite a few contrarians and curmudgeons who regularly post here, so feel free to develop a thick hide if you post.

Roody

In the past, contrarians and curmudgeons were the foot soldiers of the carfree movement. I really hope to hear from more of the young people we've been reading about who are choosing not to buy cars or even get drivers licenses.

PS. This would be picturesque also: >>troll<<. I'm surprised ILTB hasn't worn out the quote mark key on his typewriter already!

PPS. I don't think ILTB is a >>troll<<. At least no more than I am. But he does like to use quotation marks!

no motor?

I'm car lite and come by occasionally to see what's new (and to check out the reading list), this is a good forum for the car lite even if car free is part of the name.

I-Like-To-Bike

That's because I quote what people actually wrote, instead of using imagination to rephrase, reformulate, and/or fabricate words to provide hidden meanings and/or intent to what others' posted.

plustax

If you use your imagination more you may be less grumpy!

dynodonn 

Why do I get the feeling that this statement is going to go in one ear and out the other, or in the case of the BF forum, in two eyes and failing to make it to the brain.

I-Like-To-Bike

Because you let your imagination determine your reality?

Roody

Do you always type imagination in italics, or am I just imagining this?

I-Like-To-Bike

No.

alhedges

I was car free for 10 years (18-28), and am car-lite for about half the year now.

I'm interested in people's experiences of LCF and in comparing them to mine. And when LCF does have substantive discussions, they can be pretty interesting and pretty focused. The smallish number of participants means that you don't have a lot of short garbage threads, too. It can also be a good place to have policy-type discussions without them being too political, and where people who disagree with you may have a better chance of listening to you than in other forums, where people have been defending particular viewpoints for their entire life. (Advocacy and Safety, for example).

I do think that some commenters have unrealistic - or overly idealistic - views of being carfree. I generally liked it, and am very happy that I had the experience...but I also remember times when it was very inconvenient, and times when I got so sick of riding that I would walk or take the bus places just to avoid the bike. I sometimes think that's glossed over.

But one thing that I really like about the forum is that it's *not* about what to buy. It is less about what to buy than any other forum on BF, I think. I mean, BF is a good place to get information about equipment and gear, and that's important...but I don't actually bike in order to buy bikes, so it's nice to have a place that discusses biking *without* going into a lot of specific equipment detail. (Which is the reason I stopped following the utility bike forum - even though I do some utility biking, it seems like 90% of the posts were about which bike to buy. Or panniers. Or trailer. Or longtail conversion kit.)

LCF mostly avoids that, and it's nice to have a quiet place to catch my breath before going back to my usual folder forum lair and dispensing advice on which ergon grips to buy, which mirror works best with the Brompton, which suitcase to use with a Bike Friday, and which rain cape to carry.

I-Like-To-Bike

I agree 100% with your "like." The other BF lists of interest to me are far too bloated with should I buy this or that, what is the ultimate this or that or OCD N+1 threads.

Of course there is one product that a few posters harp on not to buy since it allegedly is a product from the Devil's workshop.

wolfchild

Hmm, I wonder what that product is ? Let me guess ??...a computer ?, a smartphone ?, an air conditioner ?, a microwave ?, a flushing toilet ?, a nice brand name clothing made in some asian sweatshop ?, way too many products today are made in the Devil's workshop, in fact any product that's made from crude oil is of the Devil.

I-Like-To-Bike

A motor vehicle, you silly.

There are the occasional posts on LCF that imply that the poster believes everything was hunky dory for personal mobility/living standards in the U.S,, say about 1906, and anything that evolved since then is a step backward from those glory/gravy days for the U.S. population, as well as the rest of the world.

tandempower

The most gender-neutral term to use is "you *******," since that can refer to people of either gender but since it has offensive connotations, it's preferable to say "you cats." As long as you don't say "daddy-o" as well, you shouldn't get labelled a beatnik.

Please forgive this post in advance as I can't resist the humor of posting it:

edit: wow, I didn't know the forum would automatically censor that word. I suppose you can guess what it is from context if you've been exposed to that sort of harsh language at some point.

dynodonn 

In 1906, other than possibly getting one's new shoes dirty or inadvertently stepping on a steaming pile, crossing the street wasn't anything akin to being an Olympic sprinter.

tandempower

I don't think it's sexist to note that gender-performance culture has a biasing effect for women against biking for transportation. All I mean is that when you're male, you can get away with short hair that can be easily fixed after a bike ride, you don't have make-up to worry about messing up (probably), and you probably have to worry less about getting treated as if you need help because you're riding a bike (although this happens to me from time to time as well).

This isn't to say I don't see plenty of females riding a bike and some that seem like they are going somewhere as opposed to riding for exercise. I'm always hoping more confident women will get around by bike to establish respect for any woman to do whatever she needs to do to ride comfortably for transportation (pony-tail, make-up free, etc. idk really b/c I don't have to deal with these issues).

Also, I wonder how biking in a skirt/dress would be. It seems like it would be cooler on a hot day but maybe more difficult or awkward. Women also get to wear sleeveless and wide-necklines so that could be a potential cooling factor. Workplace dress codes need to open up to shorts for men regardless of professional status, imo, not to mention short-sleeves, tie-free, etc. which are also deterrents to biking to work.

Roody

And the real issue to me is not what 1906 was like, but, what will 2106 look like? There might be a few holdout cars in museums and rural areas, but most of the world will have finally gotten past them. However, there is much to be learned from looking at the past for ideas and inspiration, but not to copy the past or try to go back to it.

I-Like-To-Bike

There was a good possibility that many, if not most citizens had few reasons or opportunities to cross what would pass for a street today, let alone a paved one, in 1906. Not everybody lived the high life in Manhattan

Roody

You have a really screwed up impression of what life was like. I guess you're just not a student of history like I am. Every age had it's advantages and disadvantages. People have always traveled a lot, from the days of the first of several "out of Africa" migrations almost two million years ago. Like carfree people today, they could travel as far, only a little slower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_human_migrations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin...ion_technology

dynodonn 

Looking at photographs of our city circa 1906, I only counted three cars in several pictures, but many lines and piles of horse pucky on the side and down the middle of the streets. People got around alright, unlike today, it was generally at a speed no faster than a horse could gallop.