dewaday

Added benefit of lunch rides, volunteering to do errands by bike, picking up lunch by bike, or just riding around the neighborhood after work.

Machka 

We quite often drive somewhere to ride on weekends. I want to see more of Australia so driving to various places, staying the weekend, and cycling is a great way to do that.


About cycling to be environmentally friendly ... cycling is probably one of the least environmentally friendly things I do. Using my computer or watching TV are much more environmentally friendly activities.

Metzinger

Because you drive a van to ride?
Or because you don't equate reducing carbon with environmental friendliness?

Machka 

Because I drive a van to ride. I don't ride for a purpose ... i.e. to get somewhere ... I just ride for fun, and have no issues at all with driving here, there, and everywhere in order to ride somewhere different.

jabbahop

i've tried it and when wet it is ok (snow and nice not possible) but when it drives out is VERY loose and dangerous with the grade and two switchbacks.

cooker

okay (I assume that was meant for me).

The Weak Link

Please, without carbon dioxide our friends the flowers and trees, the ferns and conifers, the grasses, the wheat, all of it would die. Don't get rid of carbon dioxide. Plants need it to live and grow.

What a friggin' moron. Must have slept through high school biology class or something.

Daytrip

Hey moron--there's a big difference between "reduce" and "eliminate." What classes did you sleep through?

Metaluna

You could say the same thing about water. That doesn't mean it's a good idea to have 3 feet of it in your living room.

Machka 

To add to this ... I also fly to cycling events in North America, Australia, and Europe (so far, and there are more flights planned!!)

And then there's the whole business of getting bicycle stuff. Our nearest decent LBS is probably about 150 km round trip away, and we go there occasionally, but more often we order our gear from the UK or New Zealand. It's most likely flown over here.

So no, cycling has nothing to do with being "environmentally friendly". If I want to be environmentally friendly I'll fire up the computer, turn on the TV or use or refrigerator.

beeballman

I a, lucky to live within a mile of the best cycling roads of Central Florida. Out the door, down the Bike trail for a bit and I am on the best cycling roads around.

youcoming

Right out the door, unless my son is coming with me. At 12 years old we go park at a friends house in the country side so we don't have to deal with in town traffic.

Eclectus

If you are driving long distance to ride, it's absolutely good. Short drives to start/stops you could ride from home and back to, I do that too. Sometimes I put the bike on the rack. You have to calculate the group-ride distances, your personal total transit distances, the times of day, and make your own decision to ride to the event, or drive to it. Both are appropriate.

Midol_Mohawk

I ride from the door and wish I could ride more (its a crime when I rhyme...). I ride my commuter to and from one of my jobs and when I go out with my buddies midweek. I usually take the roadie out on weekends.

The only time I will drive to ride are on "official" rides. Since I live in NE Massachusetts, it is highly impractical for me to ride to the 5 boro bike tour in NYC and the same for the AEBT...but other than that why drive when I can ride?

caloso

I put the rack on the car today. I need to get some hill work in. Tomorrow morning I'm loading up the bike and pointing the car east.

Nachoman

I roll from my front door. Usually loops on Harbor Island, Shelter Island, Fiesta Island, or an out and back to Mt. Soledad.

Machka 

Most of my current local rides involve a 3 to 10 km drive for a 20+ km bicycle ride.

But if I want some variety, I'll drive further. This weekend we did a 300 km round trip drive to do a 200 km brevet.

When I lived in Canada, my father and I would drive 300 km or so, round trip, to get into the Rockies to ride beautiful roads in gorgeous scenery. Our rides were anywhere from 80 km to 160 km.

roadwarrior

I drive about five miles to ride. I live that close to the fourth largest city owned park in the US. It's large enough that if I double back over one section, one loop is a little over 15 miles. Since it's next to a resevoir, it's rolling, wooded, and little traffic with a 20mph speed limit.
The reason I drive is that the two roads I could take to get there are heavily driven, many large trucks, and zero shoulder or bailout area. And there are two major interstate exits.
When I get into the park, I can leave it, ride a lot in much less populated areas, and return to my car.
I cannot afford to get hit by a car given my business.

Nachoman

you're not a crash test dummy, are you?

CHAS

I can ride from my house directly onto a 40 mile bike path system that connects to good road rides or get on a road with wide shoulders and ride north and then up Ute pass which has 3000 feet of gain in five miles.
Because the area averages 350 inches of snow a year I drove down to the edge of the foothills west of Denver and rode there yesterday.
Today I will probably try to ride my recumbent trike on the local bike paths. It slides if I hit ice and snow. Not sure how much of the bike path is clear enough.

Scottluebke2004

I leave right from the apartment. We have some open-ish roads around here and some substantial mountain/hill areas just a couple miles from most of the towns (Heidelberg, Germany). BTW, the Continental and Schwalbe tires are pretty well priced here!

recon455

I live on a dirt road that loves to break rims and gunk up drive trains. I drive at least 2 miles to the nearest parking lot and ride. Only if I am road riding, of course.

wookv

when I started, I wasn't comfortable with traffic, so I drove 20mins one-way to a recreational parkway (no commercial vehicles) to drive.

Then I htfu'd and made a route on google maps that starts from out my door. I've since explored more areas!

Machka 

Got a quick ride in after work ... drove home, changed, drove to the end of the dirt road, and rode.

roadwarrior

No. I own a fee based consulting business. Therefore no employer makes a deposit to my checking account every two weeks. If I am in the hospital due to some dumb @$$e$ inability to operate their car properly, it gets real expensive for me real fast.