LittleBigMan

I am still the only person in the entire government department where I work (downtown central offices) that bikes to work.

But...

People are more positive now, though. And people always comment by saying, "Still riding your bike in?" "Your weight loss really shows, especially around the face!" "I am inspired by what you do, and I am doing this, or that, or the other exercise to get in shape and/or lose weight." "Been watching the TDF? I figure you'd be following that pretty closely." Etc.

Then again...

I am still the only person in the entire government deparment where I work that bikes to work.

Is it my breath?

nebill

But, you are getting thier attention, hence all the questions! Sooner or later some of them might come around! Keep the Faith!

RonH

It's not your breath or BO.
People are just like that. They get in a rut and just don't realize it. And they don't think about or don't care that they have gotten fatter or lazier.

Pete, I'm in a similar situation where I work. The first day I rode to work no one noticed. A few people just looked at this strange-looking dude wearing the funny tight shorts coming in the door.
Who is that masked man??
Now I have a small "welcoming committee" that greets me at the door. They can't believe I ride all that way. One of the women (younger than me and quite a bit heavier) lives near my neighborhood and says she wouldn't dare ride that far.

My manager keeps talking about cycling to work. He talks about the "good old days" when he rode a lot. But now that he is older (37) he just can't break out of his rut! Too bad for him. It's his loss. But I keep encouraging him and he keeps asking me about my bikes and where I ride on the weekends.

Ron

LittleBigMan

So much of what people post on this forum echo so deeply in my memory to provoke past experiences that it's hard to pick what to respond to in their posts...

Anyway, when people say "they wouldn't dare ride that far," several things come to my mind:

--Why not?

--You drive that far, why not have some fun at the same time?

--Anyone who has the guts to get on I-285, I-75, I-85, I-20 or 400
has enough guts to dare anything, like bungie jumping from an airplane.

--It's true that you wouldn't dare ride that far, because you do not ride at all.

--Your excuses are transparent. Just get on the bike (and lose that excess.)

JonR

People have so little faith in their own abilities--largely because commercial advertising does a good job of keeping them subservient to goods such as cars, dishwashers, TV's, and I could go on and on... Things which do what the people are not supposed to be capable of doing any longer: entertain. Wash. Transport.

Cyclists use a much simpler machine than a car, one which can generally be hefted in one hand and even parked behind an easy chair or in a corner of an office. One which can be maintained by its owner, most of the time. One which invites human involvement by using human power to make it work, instead of fossil fuel burned in a mysterious chamber 99% of drivers don't even understand the function of.

So cyclists in the use of their chosen transport are operating closer to the center of their human-ness, right there.

And, lo and behold, having found out that they are capable of getting from the fabled point A to the equally renowned point B by their own exertion, with the help of their rather simple machines (or even, sometimes, just by walking!)--cyclists find a whole new world opening up. If I can do that, and enjoy it, there may be other things I can do. Maybe I can read a book instead of watching TV loaded with ads telling me I can't do anything! Maybe I can explore religion, or history, or science...

There's a lot more to cycling than just a bicycle and a man, woman, girl, or boy. The same "opening up" could occur in many other ways, but cycling is a pretty neat way for it to happen.

JonR

I believe this is a good example of a man that's in denial, to use the AA phrase.

I broke out of one rut at age 42 when I got rid of my car for good (it wouldn't work anymore anyway). Rode the bus for ten years and then started cycling at age 52 and before I retired I'd put in 13,000 commuting miles on my bikes. (A drop in the bucket compared to the mileage of many here on the Forums, but still more than the average TV-addicted, car-obsessed American usually has cycled.)

After a couple of layoffs due to discouragement of one kind or another, and some mighty major surgery that took a little over a year to heal, I'm back to cycling and I hope I will stick to it this time, though it's still pretty discouraging to be doing it all on my own.

If your boss is in average health there's no doubt whatever that he can return to cycling and be back in shape within less than four months. It would help if he could find a buddy to cycle with at least on weekends, too.

Otherwise, sorry, "I can't" really means "I won't." And it would be better to be honest with oneself.

And also to ask, "Why won't I?"

Chris L

Personally I think people in modern society are just satisfied with mediocrity. I'm always getting comments like "you must be fit" or "are you training for something?" when I mention that I rode to work. They don't seem to understand the concept of the actual trip to work being enjoyable.

In truth, my rides to university or work are both much shorter than the weekend rides that I do anyway, so I don't regard them as a big deal, but the way some people carry on, you'd think my commute went to the moon!

Chris

technogirl

Chris, I had the same comments before, too. Someone had asked me if I was training for something. I mean, a few years ago, I was training for marathons, but they didn't know enough about me to ask me about the training question. I think I wouldn't have asked you the question when I wasn't riding. I just think that's odd that anyone would have to think of that. I think it comes from people who think that in order to run or ride, that there's some end all goal that we're pursuing.

Pete, don't worry about those people. We're talking potential converts here. Wow, that sounded kinda cultish, huh?

One of the people I used to work with/for is now a cyclist. I remember that I would ride in a couple of times a week, and she had remarked how neat that was to ride in. She bought a used bike a few weeks back, and now spends her time riding around town. She runs her errands now on her bike, and she remarked how cool it was to come home and realize that there was still gas in her car after a week. I thought that was totally cool. We spent some time at my friends party talking about her bike and the Lycra Weenies out there.

Hey, and don't forget those around you that see you as an example of how fit and healthy you are...my hubby shares my enthusiasm for riding, and we have another hobby, besides tech stuff, that we love to talk about. But of course, now we argue who's putting on what correctly on the bike...

Chris L

I got the "training" question on a tour a couple of years ago. The scary part is that I was eating a hamburger at the time (not something I'd normally do, something I regretted later in the day, and something I will never do again). I still don't see how they made that particular connection.

Chris