jefnvk

Yep, see them all over the streets of Detroit. Ran over one on the bridge to Belle Isle, that got lodged into an expansion joint oddly, and went for a ride. There is absolutely no reason to either stick them in your jersey or put them back where they were stored.

Nah, they're from cyclists. I don't doubt those also get discarded in a littering fashion, but where they are used and where I ride do not coincide.

Depends on where I am. Country road with lots of rural wood or farm land? Sure. On the edge of the asphalt on a busy MUP? There is no environmental impact, but it does make a mess and make the place look like crap.

I.e., like you I get it somewhere someone isn't going to see it.

If I happened to be stopped and can easily grab it, I generally will. Other than that, it is not really my job to clean up after others, and I don't have enough pockets to pick up that many cartridges some days.

52telecaster

the whole cartridge thing seems so expensive and wasteful to me. a good frame pump isnt that expensive. my park rocks!

MoAlpha

Suprised no one has mentioned the tradition of tossing beat sew-ups onto tree branches after puncturing them. People I rode with back in the 70s and 80s certainly did it. Yes, patently antisocial.

Marcus_Ti

You can get CO2 in bulk for $1/cart....so a lifetime supply for less than a good frame pump.

Sure beats pending 10 minutes huffing working a handpump or framepump in a rainstorm only to rupture the tube at the valve disconnecting the pump when you're flustered and in a hurry.

52telecaster

i paid 25.00 for the park and i know i've had at least 25 flats over my lifetime. i havnt fixed that many with the park though. i do huff and puff on the bike however so a little huffing off it is ok.

GoMtnBiking

If a banana falls off a tree without being eaten and tossed in a landfill, is it littering? Or an apple or core? I agree with you. It is nature and by definition biodegradable.

And I would say for that little bit of earth where the banana peel lands it is probably helpful for the tiny life forms to have that little bit more of organic material.

Sy Reene

and whatever CO2 canisters are made from, also comes out of the ground. That's nature, right?

Flip Flop Rider

a bag from McDonald's will probably decompose faster than banana peel. paper decomposes, is it OK to dump it?

littering use to be not a big deal. Late 60's, 70's, people threw a lot of trash out of their cars. the highways looked pretty bad

we, as a society, decided that was no longer OK to do. we cleaned up the roadsides and even made laws that severely punish litterers

would hate to think that we are going back to thinking it's OK again

littering is basically a disregard for other people, and a borderline personality flaw

maybe put some signs up to remind them not to litter

GoMtnBiking

I am not saying whether I throw banana peels or not, especially if a trash container is right there. I do not. But it does not make sense that a banana peel, pulled straight off a tree, is trash. It is not comparable to manmade mixtures and products.

Is a blueberry litter? A rotting pumpkin in a patch? Those and bananas cannot really be equated as litter.

The natural course for a banana and peel is to fall on the ground, similar to all fruits. Fruit falling on the ground is not trash and cannot be equated to manmade metals and products.

Flip Flop Rider

I do throw banana peels, so am not judging. To me any actual food is ok to dump, just not the wrapper

jefnvk

I haven't been cycling long, but I've certainly had enough flats that CO2 would quickly surpass the cost of my $25 frame pumps. Especially considering you need a $20ish inflator to use said CO2 cartridges.

robert schlatte

I have been in unhappy situations (rarely, thankfully) where I have a flat but for the life of me I can not find the object in the tire that caused it. I fix the flat go down the road only to flat again. If I only had a limited supply of CO2 cartridges, I wouldn't be able to inflate my tire when I had exhausted my supply. I always have a frame pump for those unhappy times where I constantly need to inflate my tire to limp back home.

On the issue of banana peels and apple cores, they will return to nature, chuck them in the woods and be done with it.

deephate 

I agree. I am sometimes overwhelmed and cannot pack out all I come across on our multi-purpose trail between the town I live in and the town I work in. My touring club cleans the trail I use but only once a year. One summer I made a mental note to bring a full size trash bag on my next run to take care of what looked like a parade aftermath.

northtexasbiker

What if you are cycling in an area where bananas aren't indigenous? Are they really returning to nature then?

Sy Reene

I'd throw out a banana peel. I also pick up my dog's poop, even though I know nobody's doing for the squirrels, bunny rabbits and pigeons.

jefnvk

Yeah, but the bunnies poo all over a vast area, not within 6' of a heavily used trail or sidewalk. If they all pooed where dogs poo, I'd be willing to bet people would be calling for it to be cleaned.

JohnDThompson 

Rabbits are also vegetarian, which makes for less noxious stool than dogs.

Korina

Wow, you guys throw your banana peels into the grass? Wish they'd do that here; my commute is along a highway shoulder and there are banana peels all over it. I don't understand why the cyclists can't throw them a few feet instead of just dropping them. Hard to compost anything on asphalt.

There are also CO2 and NO2 cartridges everywhere along the streets as well as on the highway shoulder. Last week someone deposited an entire case of empty NO2 cartridges in the parking lot across the street. I never see dead tubes, so I assume it's people getting high. Especially with the number of drug users up here, it's a pretty safe assumption.

Slightspeed

I was riding on Rinaldi east of Wilbur yesterday, (Granada Hills, CA) and found 5 or 6 bright red Co2s in the bike lane. I stopped and went back to check them out thinking maybe somebody dropped some live ones out of a seat bag. They were all used and empty, but that many in one place. Must have been a really big tire! C'mon guys.

jefnvk

Or just a particularly nasty hazard six people all hit!

When I do the mass ride that is Tour de Troit, its not uncommon to see multiple people hit something in succession and clump up fixing (or more accurately, waiting for someone else to fix) their tire

John00

I stopped to pick up a inner tube someone had discarded on the side of the road. Found a very nice Crank Brothers multi tool he dropped. I've been carrying it in my saddle bag for a few years now.

UniChris

Grr!

I'm fortunate to only be able to imagine how much changing a tire in today's rain must have ******, and that construction arcade must have been a nicely sheltered place to do it, but seriously, you can't carry it forty feet to the next trash can (or a few hundred if you were salmoning?)

Snapped the photo on the walk out, did the right thing on the walk back from the grocery store, too narrow to patch for use on anything I own.

Also seen while walking to said trashcan: offside wrong foot on one pedal uphill e-zooming. That's a new one. But can't blame those folks for this road-tire debris.

Wasn't I supposed to get a free multi-tool?

krecik

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krecik

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seamuis

Your generation is no stupider than any previous generation when they were your age.