I'm not a commuter because I either work out of my house or have to hop a plane to go to the office. However, I also don't drive a lot during the week. On weekends I will sometimes take long roadtrips if I'm not out on a long ride. I discovered a few years ago that being addicted to cycling and leaving my Jeep unused for weeks on end increases the cost of having the Jeep. I was constantly draining the battery and ruining it. After several battery replacements, I decided to invest in a computerised trickle charger and deep-cycle battery. That was big bucks.

How's Charlotte for biking? I'm in Knoxville and it's pretty cool to see other southerners on here.. just wondering how the other cities in surrounding states are for bikers.

Charlotte is a rather schizophrenic city regarding bikers. On the one hand, this is a driver's town, and most of the road engineering is done with automobiles in mind. But in the last few years, some inroads have been made to accomodate bicycles - racks on the buses, bike lanes are beginning to appear (not that they're worth much, since they tend to collect debris and trash). Still, I find that cages for the most part try to be nice and give space to me. When they see my brake lights and turn signals working, they are even more patient and congenial.

As for the topology of the place, it's got some rolling hills that are a bit of a challenge when commuting. Winston-Salem has even bigger hills, and if i can learn to conquer them, I'm gonna be in *great* shape!

So true, it costs me 4.00 per day to go to school, for gas, 15 miles each way with gas around 2.50 per gallon. People ask how I could commute 30 miles a day to school and I say, well I want to afford to eat lunch today...

I get honked at all the time and get yelled at with the stupidest comments, get a job (I am working), get a car (I do not WANT a car), etc.

[thread jacking] A few weeks back some kids were jumping their BMX bikes all over campus and running away from the security officers in cars. We have some really nice big stairs and hills the BMXers like to play on around campus. I told the officers, I am on a bike I can get them and off I was. Well I caught all four of them by flying down stairs after them and chasing them almost 3 miles...

See who needs a car... And this same thing happens ALL the time... [/thread jacking]

I ride my bike because I like too... I have two cars and I ride them when I want... other times I ride...

Have a problem with that?! I did not think so... bye cars

in urban enviroinments, cycle cops are jsut as important as vehicle cops. More police depts need to realize this, and security needs to be quick to call for cycle cops while they try to corral the offenders.

Gas here is only 1.89 a gallon, but it's still way too expensive in my opinion. Knoxville is incredibly hilly, so bad in fact that there are absolutely NO flat areas at all that I can think of right off hand. Nearly every road is either uphill or downhill (or a constant mix of the two). About the only flat roads are the interstate and part of Kingston Pike (our main "strip" if you will). Most of our major roads have large shoulders and/or sidewalks so overall, Knoxville isn't a horrible city for commuters. Most people who use bikes around here are college students as everything is more or less within riding distance of campus except for Wal-Mart and Kroger. Our buses have bike racks on them, so that makes it even easier to go without a car here.

I get the "why dont you buy a car" question all the time, and not always in a nice way, I just tell them that I saved a thousand dollars last year on gas alone, and that it keeps me in great shape. They usually get this quilty look on their face and drive off as fast as they can when the light changes to green.

That's why you carry a Glock 19 or 23 on you at all times. That way if anyone gets any crazy ideas you can defend yourself. By the time he got his hunting rifle out loaded, etc you'd be gone a bit

Pfft glock. A real man uses an RPG.

Glocks are incredibly easy to use, no mechanical safeties or anything, 1/2 as many moving parts, durable as hell. Only other gun I can recommend is the Springfield XD.

Did you mention a heap-of-dung car? I can sell you one...

By the way, everyone say hello to Jack. Hi, Jack!

what i don't understand is how people perceive biking as a chore. every person i know rode a bike recreationally when they were kids, but somehow growing up, getting a job and a car makes them forget that biking is fun. I think there's some kind of schism in people's minds between work activities and leisure activities. if you are going to work, then biking to work is just more work. funny how people are so beaten down by their commutes that they can't conceive of your commute being the best part of your day. nobody thinks its odd at all if i go for a 20k ride on the weekend, but they do not understand at all why i would bike the 2.5k to and from work everyday.

Yep. I've said it before. The one big trick that I think cycling advocacy has yet to address well is that of keeping the people those who already are on bicycles riding into the future. These are mainly the kids. When I was a kid, the bike was the primary form of transportation and fetching rides was the alternative form of transportation.

I think it's like washing dishes. Kids love dashing dishes becuaes they think they are playingin the water. They'll wash dishes all day long. But once puberty happens a light bulb goes off and they realize that washing dishes in now work. Therefore, they hate it.

However, I agree that cycling is the most fun part of my day but the reason I don't as much as I can is because riding for me is painful. That's why I getting a bent to make things more comfortable!

And that's a good thing? I hope you don't go around with one loaded. "Bump! Kaboom! 'Oh crap, I put a hole through my leg!' "

Man i LOVE to hear that. I have had my XD 9mm for a couple years now and I couldn't be happier! You shoot an XD?

Cerewa:

I am not sure on the glocks but no mechanical safeties does not necessarily mean no safeties. There are 3 separate passive safeties on the XD (for example) that make it all but impossible to shoot accidentally for an adult or a child... One in the web of the hand, one on a pre-trigger, and a firing pin block.

Guns. Second coolest machines in the world.

CL

Actually the Glock Safe-Action system was pretty good at preventing premature discharge (always wanted to work that into a post). A positive actuation of the trigger is required to fire the weapon. And if you want more safety, the Saf-T-Blok trigger block is generally regarded as one of the best blocking systems out there.

So True! To the average person, at least how I see it, it is almost as if they are embarrased to ride a bike. They think people are going to look down on them. Soooo stupid! Granted, I have stopped commuting to work for the year, since it is now dark when I leave work, but I will be back at it next year.

It's almost as though people are spoiled by machinery that reduces the amount of physical work that we have to do to accomplish a task. So the idea of riding a bike and thereby putting forth actual physical effort when an "easier" alternative is available doesn't appeal to them. They figure "why ride a bike and do all that pedalling when I could just sit in a car and drive?" If you think about it, nearly every new invention over the past 30-40 years has been for the sole purpose of making us more "efficient", thus reducing the amount of physical labor we have to put into accomplishing everyday tasks.

i think most of us that commute get this once in a while. in the winter i get it even more, as i'm still out when the weather has turned to cr@p.

i've got a car. nothing fancy, but it's paid for, and my insurance is cheap. 30-36mpg, so it's fairly good in that respect. an older 1994 mazda protege dx. transports big stuff, and takes me on road trips.

my coworkers and neighbors think i'm nuts, becuase i still bike to work, and do the majority of errands and shopping by bike. you've got the car, why not drive it......

worse, i get comments when i'm IN the car as to why i don't buy a new one. WTF? why would i want to? it gets great mileage, is paid for, has cheap insurance, and so long as i maintain it well should last me quite a long time. why would i want to go and have a car payment and higher premiums again? oh, yeha, that's right. so i can be driving a "new" car to keep up with the jones family.......

and as for buying a car, buying brand new is just stupid, IMO. sooooo much more car for your money going used vs. new.

Mr. DNA hit the nail right on the head. I had never thought about it how people just can't see how biking to get around is so much fun since they hate doing errands and commuting by car so much.

I think the main problem this country has is a population that is so completely lazy. We have harnessed the easiest to obtain and consume energy source emaginable: fossil fules. If you look at history you will see that we have always wanted work that was not our own, because those who could drain work from another source better than the next guy would prosper. Look at slave labor, it is harnessing other human's work for your own prosperity, same with animal labor.

It is an interesting concept that is covered in the book "Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrialized Society" which is a good read if anyone is interested.

People (most) do things because they are easier, plain and simple. It is the driven ones who don't do things because they are easier that have changed the world. It is the people who want the easiest route who are the followers, because doing something hard is usually doing something different. Doing something just for the fact it is a challange makes someone more of a leader in this respect IMO. Peace.

yeah i think that's a big part of it, but i also think that people try to live too much in categories. i posted this on another thread somewhere, but what really staggers me is how many people drive to work and work out at night on a treadmill. nothing against treadmills or anything, but if you can bring yourself to run on the spot for 20 virtual kilometers in your spare time, doesn't commuting seem like a great, timesaving idea? instead of paying $40 a month to work out on a treadmill, and another $40 a month on gas commuting (at least $40), why not leave the car at home now and then? it's not like people don't like getting excercising, but they somehow want excercise to be its own thing in its own place and they don't want it mixed in with the other parts of their day.

Heh, I live out in wonderful suburbia bordering on country, and I can't for the life of me figure out why the heck people pay to jog in place on a treadmill indoors, even when the weather is beautiful.

I think that's partly due to consumerism (otherwise known as "buy-more-crapism"). There are lots of messages that tell you going to the gym (and paying for it of course) will make you slim and sexy. These messages get to people, and off to the gym they go. One comfort about the gym is that you have the membership and so feel good about yourself and have that membership contribute to your self-identity, and yet still not actually go and exercise. With commuting, it's more a matter of either you do it or you don't.

Also, there aren't so many messages telling us that biking and commuting will make us slim and sexy. For one thing, this kind of message might not jive with the message to buy ever bigger cars. Why would I want to bike somewhere, when what I really need to go to 7-eleven is a vehicle big enough to hold 12 people and the dog and able to drive through a 'gator infested swamp? Check out the car commercials and see how little they talk about the car, and how much they try to sell an "image", or a purchasable boost to your self-esteem.

Jeeze, we only live once. Why the heck would anyone want to swallow hook line and sinker everything the prevailing culture suggests? I think it's invigorating to dare to challenge convention; it helps you dig through the crap in life to see what really has value for you. Try something different!

People are too overly concerned with what is socially acceptable. It's socially acceptable to buy a brand new car every 4 years and be continuously up to your ears in debt, pay ridiculously insurance premiums, spend $200 a month on gas and drive a much bigger vehicle than you'll ever possibly need (e.g. an SUV). However, saving tons of money by commuting via bicycle and getting your exercise in one fell swoop is NOT as socially acceptable because I guess you're not pouring money back into the economy for things you don't even need. By bicycle commuting, not only are you saving automobile related expenses, you're saving on doctor bills, diet expenses, health club memberships, home exercise equipment costs and other stupid stuff that we're convinced that we need because we're such a lazy and obese population in general. Oh, I left one more thing out.. tanning salons. We're "supposed" to be trim, muscular, and tan so instead of actually getting out and riding, corporate america wants us to spend our money on exercise equipment, health club memberships, weight watchers, and tanning salon visits while still using our cars for everything and spending even more money. Cycling accomplishes all those with considerably less money.

So, I am having a hard time not spending a lot of money on a bike. Why not spend an extra few thousand to get what I really want? After all, it is easy to spend 10 times that much more on a car that doesn't really do anything more than provide more status.

Afterall, if I have a bike I really love to ride, I am much more likely to ride it and stay healthy. Right? Gee, I might be able to work more years and pay for the extra cost of the bike many times over.

Am I right, or am I just justifying spending more than is prudent?