It's about three and a half hours each way.
Seven hours a day. Assuming eight hours of work, that's nine hours for everything else, including sleep? Yeah, lunatic.
clean all the gunk out of my various sprockets
Excuse me, ma'am, we need to ask you a few questions.
Yeah, lunatic.
But such a fit lunatic!
What's your view on Double Daylight Saving, which they're threatening us with (actually moving to EST, which is +1 hour all year round).
I used to work with a guy who did the Oxford to Harwell/Synchrotron run daily on his bike. 15 miles or so, each way. He was fit and riding a road bike, so I'd imagine it was probably an hour each way, maybe a tad more. Still, no fun when the weather was bad.
WTF btw is it with this thing about state senators having to flee to another state?
Yeah, but they can be compelled to attend? Really?
Although, thinking about it, if there are quora rules, you can't just let people not turn up. Still, seems dramatic.
An hour each way is within the bounds of reason. Plenty of people sit in traffic jams drive an hour each way. Mrs y used to take the train to Leeds, which is about an hour, factoring in the walk at the other end.
But to leave work at 5.00 and get home at 8.30. To leave the house (showered? caffeined?) at 5.30 to get in by 9.00. Can't get my head round it.
re: 9
Yeah, my daily commute is an hour each way, give or take a few minutes. But 3 hours or more each way is crazy.
WTF btw is it with this thing about state senators having to flee to another state?
As a native Illinoisan, I've always assumed everyone in Wisconsin would rather be in the Land of Lincoln.
if there are quora rules, you can't just let people not turn up. Still, seems dramatic.
Don't see why you can't let people not turn up. If I don't go to work I won't get paid and eventually I might get fired, but I won't be arrested. There's a quorum in the House of Commons, 40 I believe. If everybody except the Nats and the Norn Irish went to Skeggie for the day they could be confident that no business could be transacted while they were on the beach.
The dude only does that commute a couple of days a week, never when he has to be in before noon, and never both ways in one day.
From what I understand of the Wisconsin constitution, the state actually is *barred* from arresting legislators while the Assembly is in session, except for felonies. However, it states that each house (note: *not* the governor) can "compel" attendance by whatever rules it decides. Since arrest is off the table and kidnapping remains illegal, I assume this would mean fines. But I think it's mostly guesswork on everybody's part until a situation like this goes to court.
re: 13
Ah, so it's more a half-leisure/half-commute sort of thing.
re: 12
Heh. I expect the Republicans would abuse it, though.
Didn't the Dems in Texas try something like this a few years ago? What transpired?
"After a month-long stand off, Senator John Whitmire returned to the Senate and the redistricting legislature was passed at a third special legislative session."
17: Tom DeLay! Maybe going to jail eventually!
I've always assumed everyone in Wisconsin would rather be in the Land of Lincoln
This will not stand, you FIB!
16: Yes, Democrats in Texas fled the state (and were portrayed in the news as loopy yokels, which the legislators in Wisconsin weren't. Typical media bullshit about the south.)
I guess I have no excuse not to unfold my bike soon and ride it home. It really doesn't take much longer than the subway even though I am in lousy shape. Wasn't there a whole thing about "megacommuters" or some such term a few years ago? This being people whose commute was over an hour maybe?
Lindsay Vonn's Wafer
Minnesotans stick up for Wisconsin *and* misspell their own names? Land of 10,000 flakes, I guess.
Did the Texas legislators have tens of thousands of demonstrators supporting them, enabling a non-loopy narrative to stick? That's an honest question, not horn-tooting about Wisconsin.
Now the vote has gone down, what next?
The vote happened in the Wisconsin version of the House. Still has to pass the State Senate, which is the chamber missing the quorum.
I have a lousy memory for this kind of thing, but I think maybe the Texas thing was about Texas republicans doing more insane gerrymandering. But no, it wasn't as compelling as this.
I don't like that quorum stuff. Vegetarian food is fine, but some of the fake meat things make me long for a potato.
My personal favorite part of the bicycle article (bicycle bicycle bicycle bicycle, can I tell you about my bicycle?) was this:
Of course, if calling cyclists "vulnerable" makes it seem like they're never to blame, that's not true, either. It's not just those hipsters on fixies sealed off from the world by earbuds who give bikers an image problem. Plenty of well-meaning bike commuters aren't aware of the laws, or fail to use bright flashing lights at night, or turn without giving hand signals. Statistically, some studies show cyclists running more red lights than drivers--for a number of complicated reasons, whether to conserve momentum, to get ahead of traffic and be more visible, or, more profoundly, perhaps because their out-group status leads them to act that way.
But the red lights may be a red herring. The way cyclists get hurt seems to have less to do with their own culpability and more to do with getting hit by cars--either from behind or when a car turns right, the way Simonetti was struck. Echoing research in the UK, a recent three-year study by Australia's Monash University found that in 54 recorded crashes among a sampling of cyclists, drivers were at fault nearly nine out of ten times.
Regardless of fault, there's another twist here. As various studies have found, the more cyclists and cycling infrastructure a town has, the safer it becomes statistically, not just for cyclists but for drivers and pedestrians alike. When New York City put a protected bike lane on Ninth Avenue, some protested it as unsafe for people on foot. But since the lane's opening, pedestrian injuries on Ninth have dropped by 29 percent. Last year, as miles of bike lanes were added, New York had its best pedestrian-safety record ever.
25: It was about redistricting in the middle of the decade, rather than just after a census, which was when it had traditionally been done.
Wasn't there a whole thing about "megacommuters" or some such term a few years ago?
Fig.17. Correlation between life satisfaction and commuting time.
I sort of wish my commute was longer so I could get more of a ride in.
31: The length of a commute really does not have an upper bound, unless maybe you need to be able to manage it twice in 24 hours for it to be a commute and not some kind of travel.
32: it is not a fervent enough wish that I would actually go out of my way to make it longer, although I have considered it. Maybe if I ride my nicer bikes in the summer.
Further to 23: It's encouraging that four House Republicans voted against, and that the majority had to pull yet more insane procedural shit to get the vote through at all.
Daylight Saving Time. No "s" at the end. (Although maybe Jane Austen spelled it that way.)
Isn't there a story that Lincoln and other members of his party once tried to flee the legislature just before a vote to prevent a quorum, but someone was grabbed trying to go through a window and the vote went on?
36: http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/20/lincoln-fled-state-wisconsin
31: I have this wish too. I'm considering taking a detour on my way home so I can get more exercise.
Do the bikers here ignore stop lights? I try to obey all the laws but there are two lights on my commute that are way too long and there is no opposing traffic. So I'll stop for about 30 seconds and then go if there is no traffic. Does this mean I'm contributing to the deep resentment of bikers by violating the laws?
36, 37: A slightly different version of the story.
I'm moderately more resentful of bikers this week compared to last week. Somebody gave me a sarcastic "Thanks" because I didn't give him an ice-free path. If I can't hear you, it isn't my problem that you have to stop to avoid crashing into my back. Get a bell.
38.2: well, that's a good question. I by-and-large stop at lights, but often I will 1. watch the opposing light and traffic (if there's a delay) get a jump on the green so I'm not in the way of turning traffic and so I'm more visible or 2. run a light if it looks like it's on one of those buried sensors which don't detect bikes. So, in fact, I run lights all the time. I certainly try not to piss off drivers -- I signal, I make room for people to go right on red if they have the right, I try to leave plenty of room to pass me if it's at all safe -- and pedestrians -- I don't ride on the sidewalk, I stop for pedestrians in (and occasionally out of) crosswalks, but it's entirely possible that I'm still pissing people off (by my very existence, and also because I don't get stuck in traffic like they do, and because they do occasionally have to stop for me).
|| Holy shit. Someone I know through a friend of a friend posted some nice pictures of a work-related trip to Spain, saying he'd like to visit more often, and one of his friends comments: SOOO BEAUTIFUL, BUT UNFORTUNATLY YOU LOSE "ALL" YOUR FREEDOM THAT YOU HAVE HERE IN "HOME=AMERICA" =) GOD BLESS. These people really exist. |>
Do the bikers here ignore stop lights?
Shit no. If it's red, I stop and look both ways for cars, pedestrians, other cyclists, cops on horses, robots, etc. If it's green, I still slow down and stand up on the pedals. Someone's likely to do something stupid not to notice lonely ol' me, this being an intersection of enough consequence to have necessitated a traffic light.
I probably didn't answer your question.
London pedestrians are getting increasingly lemming-like.
I was halted at a red light the other day and a man walked across the road and into my bike. At which point he looked very surprised and apologised. But I think he literally was completely unaware that there was a full-sized, fluorescent-clad adult human being standing still right in front of him, until he actually walked into me.
I do run stop lights. I kind of do it like pedestrian jaywalking -- if I can get across the street without making anyone even think about having to slow down for me, I'll do it. This really means that I'm less likely to run a red light than I am to jaywalk, because I at least treat them like stop signs and come to a stop first, and I'm not as agile starting from a stop on my bike as I am walking.
OTOH, my one close call with a car was my fault, and I was running a light -- the bike path has a number of lights where cars from the highway can turn into parking lots or something on the other side. And there's not a lot of traffic on most of those, so I tend to look for turning cars and then go: one time, I missed a car about to turn, and was going full speed through the light (huh. Come to think, I didn't treat that one like a stop sign) when I realized I was about to t-bone this guy; I slammed on the brakes and almost fell, he slammed on the brakes (better he should have hit the gas a little and gotten past me, but it's hard to react like that in the moment).
Other traffic laws, I obey, except for going one block the wrong way on a one way street going home. It's the very last block of my commute, there's almost no traffic, and after thirteen miles finishing with a steep hill, I just can't face going around the block.
a full-sized, fluorescent-clad adult human being
Have you tried wearing dignified clothes?
41 amended: there are also lights -- T intersections where I'm riding on the opposite side of the top of the T from where the base of the T joins, and where there are large shoulders or bike lanes -- that I blow through at close to full speed, because there's no way anybody could hit me unless they were on a bicycle, in which case I would see them and slow down. There's also an intersection I regularly traverse that has a four-way red all-walk-signals mode where I will gingerly pick my way through at a walking pace. Oh, and I basically universally stop past the line, for visibility. So I guess according to the technical definition of the law I fail to properly stop for all lights. Which is part of why having the same laws for bikes and cars is stupid. On the other hand, if there's another cyclist waiting at the light, I'll line up behind them. Down with anarchy!
46: I have immense amounts of inherent dignity. Even wearing a fluorescent jacket, I make Iron Eyes Cody look like Yahoo Serious.
I generally stop at lights, but the sensor thing can drive me batty.
I slow down but generally don't do a full stop at stop signs on residential streets if there's no traffic crossing my path. A lot of the major bike routes in central Austin are on residential streets (30 mph limit with traffic-calming and lots of stop signs). It would just make my commute really cumbersome to do a full stop at them.
I generally find motorists are more resentful of me following the law and taking the middle of the lane on narrow streets than they are of me rolling through stop signs or red lights in a way that doesn't inconvenience them.
47: You need to write a Cyclist Style Guide with all of the nuanced details. Then in the future when technology changes (bikes or streets or whatever) people can argue on the internet about what is proper and correct.
45: oh man, yeah, that kind of light I would slow down, look, and just go.
Interestingly, it's legal in Massachusetts to ride on the sidewalk if you're going at a walking pace (basically, you're treated as a pedestrian). It's also legal to jaywalk in Massachusetts. I have this little script in my head where I pull up to a light in vehicle mode, switch into pedestrian mode and jaywalk against the walk sign, and then switch back into vehicle mode as soon as I'm through. This is no doubt a fairly ridiculous concept, but given that if I ever had to discuss the matter with a cop there's at best a 50/50 chance they'd be mad at me for a violation of a law that actually applies to me (the remaining 50% being split between them being mad at me for violation of a law that doesn't apply to me or being mad at me for FAILING to violate a law that DOES apply to me (and this is in a relatively enlightened, bike friendly city)) my superego lets it slide.
re: 44
My favourite in London is the aggressive pedestrian. The person who looks, sees me coming [in my car], makes eye contact, and then steps out in front of the car. They tend to be at that age [peak testosterone poisoning]. Man versus car does not make you look tough.
FWIW, I always stop for red lights when cycling.
I generally find motorists are more resentful of me following the law and taking the middle of the lane on narrow streets than they are of me rolling through stop signs or red lights in a way that doesn't inconvenience them.
Yup.
I ran a light just yesterday (my light-running philosophy is pretty much exactly the same as Tweety's), and in the middle of doing so, realized that the first car waiting at the light in the other lane was a policeman. Hi, officer! I don't think he even noticed me.
The thing about cycling that has most been upsetting me in recent months is the realization of how much more shit I get yelled at me on the street than Tweety does. Most recent incident, yelled at me from a car last week: "Nice job, sweetheart! You're going to die!"
55.2: Everyone wants to yell at Tweety, but we've all agreed to keep it off the streets to avoid terrorizing the dogs and cats.
I guess I have no excuse not to unfold my bike soon and ride it home. It really doesn't take much longer than the subway even though I am in lousy shape.
Do it! Do it! The great thing about being in lousy shape, is that even commuting at a pathetically lacksidaisical pace the way I do, I finished out last November in probably the best shape of my life (n.b.: this is not a terribly high bar to clear), aerobic conditioning-wise. Even an hour or two of slack, lazy biking most days of the week will do great things for you.
People do yell at me, but not as much I don't think, and also I'm half deaf and ride pretty fast, so I suspect I often don't hear them. Some guy yelled at me from his car that was stopped in opposite direction traffic the other day, and I rode back to see if he'd yell it again so I could hear what he said, but he just rolled up the window and stared straight ahead.
Most terrifying incident: last fall a cabbie got angry at me for moving into the lane in preparation for a left turn (he was quite far behind me when I merged), and rolled down his window and started screaming at me. I made a left turn on red (no traffic) to get away from the guy, and he proceeded to follow me - also making the left turn on red, from behind another car at the light - to continue yelling.
I don't remember getting yelled at by anyone but that parrot, but I'm mostly on a bike path.
59: Yow. That's really scary, and would have had me dialing my phone for help, or ditching onto the sidewalk or something.
I almost started a fight with a guy who didn't let me walk across the street when I had the light. He turned and went in front of me so I gave him the finger and yelled. He stopped (still in the travel lane of a busy street at morning rush hour) and started yelling back at me. I count it as a win for me because a) he was supposed to stop to let me cross and b) he was about my age and maybe a bit bigger but he didn't get out of his car.
I rode back to see if he'd yell it again so I could hear what he said, but he just rolled up the window and stared straight ahead.
Heheheh.
I've slapped cars for that sort of thing, but only as a pedestrian -- someone comes tearing through the crosswalk too close, and I'll smack the fender (I've probably done this less than five times in my life.) Mostly, I'm thinking that they're driving unsafely, and they probably won't even notice that they did something dangerous unless I make the incident memorable. I've never had anyone react frighteningly, although usually I get some kind of snarl.
I noticed here recently that when the weather turned unseasonably warm and pleasant really suddenly, half the drivers went insane. Veering over the center line, making left turns that forced oncoming traffic to slam on their brakes, nearly running down pedestrians. Lots of craziness. I wonder if there's any research on this sort of thing. Probably the weather would have been the first pleasant day to ride a bike around here in a while, but it was scary enough driving that day.
I've had a couple of similar incidents. Someone once kicked my bike when I mounted the pavement [a car turning left into me and I had no choice], I've chased someone who rode through a pedestrian crossing once but he was moving too fast to catch. With the car thing I remember yelling at some guy who cut me up when I was cycle commuting as a teenager, and then shitting myself when he stopped as I realised I'd bitten off more than I could chew.
As I commute 120 miles or so a day by car I couldn't even begin to count the number of minor road-ragey incidents. I'm fairly chilled out when driving, but at least a couple of times a week there'll be someone up your arse in an Audi with their lights on full beam flashing because you are doing 90, and they want to be able to do 100 without changing lanes.
or ditching onto the sidewalk or something
That's exactly what I ended up doing! Dude was insane, and clearly had issues far beyond hatred of cyclists.
64: I've considered slapping a car in settings like those or, if I'm feeling especially belligerent, spitting on it. Never done either, though.
64: Once or twice I have approached the driver's side of a taxi to point out that a traffic light was, in fact, red, indicating that motor vehicles, not excluding taxis, must stop. A three-way urban intersection is no place to try to save 90 seconds with a last-second kick at the accelerator.
but he just rolled up the window and stared straight ahead
While driving my car, I once had a woman yell something and give me the finger after her stupid driving mistake nearly caused a wreck. So I followed her and blocked her in once she parked her car at the grocery store because I felt like being an intimidating asshole in order to talk with her about what had happened. Same thing: wouldn't unlock the door or look at me, but got out her phone and (I assume) called the police. I stood outside her car door for five minutes or so, knocking on the window every so often, then got back in my car and drove off figuring I'd gotten my point across.
I think of biking as driving/walking hybrid - i.e. I pause at stop signs to make sure nobody with right-of-way is coming (and if they are, I come to a full stop); and I do pretty much the same at red lights (as I would when I'm walking - make sure nobody who has the green light is coming, then cross.) This being New Orleans, I would expire of surprise if a cop pulled me over for even the most flagrant/idiotic contravention of bicycling rules, but I do try to mindful of other people on the road and do whatever makes my presence less stressful to them. I get the occasional 'Get on the sidewalk!', but I also had an individual get out of his car and bellow imprecations at me for not running a yellow light when I was driving the other day, so I think angry drivers are prepared to be angry at anyone, not just bicyclists.
69: A three-way urban intersection is no place to try to save 90 seconds with a last-second kick at the accelerator.
And yet.
I smack cars sometimes. Probably not a good idea, but sometimes they make me so mad.
I'm used to driving behind bikes, but I can't help but get annoyed when the biker I can't pass treats the red light like a stop sign. Of course this pattern is objectively faster and better than the biker sitting at the light until it turns red. It's simply the maddening feeling of "Oh boy, once again I get to speed up to 25 mph for five seconds, and then catch up with him again."
Kind of like the one person out of ten thousand protestors who starts breaking windows, I think it's a tiny minority of bikers that give resentful/envious people the excuse they need to be resentful/envious. I did once see a biker go down a major incline at about 35 mph, and then not even slow down at the red light while crossing three lanes of not-entirely-nonexistent traffic into the contraflow bus lane, and there's the occasional "wrong way down the middle of a one-way, one-lane street" incident, but they are almost always fine citizens.
Once when riding as a teenager I kicked a car's bumper (not very hard) when they almost hit me pulling out of an alley on to a main street. They chased me for two miles trying to run me off the road until I was finally able to lose them. I think that's the last time I did that.
There was a story here recently where a cyclist and a driver got in an argument (over, given what happened later, what one must assume was a dick move by the driver) that culminated in the unfortunate escalation of the cyclist whacking the guy's side-view mirror with his bike lock, breaking it. The driver's response was to chase the cyclist, trying to hit him, for several miles, along bicycle and pedestrian paths (and grass) in a park. That the guy failed to mow down any strollers is faintly miraculous.
Haven't encountered much yelling. Just a lot of aggressive revving by trucks when I'm getting passed at close distance (by law, they have to give 3 feet clearance here, but I don't think motorists know about this law or care).
Since this is a bike thread: panniere recommendations? I want something pretty waterproof. Big enough to carry a change of clothes, several textbooks and binders, and a laptop (or a good weekly grocery run for one person). Also, recommendations for how to secure them to a rack while the bike's parked (the pannieres thelmseves, not the contents).
I've got a Planet Bike Eco Rack and ride a Redline 925 of this vintage.
and then not even slow down at the red light while crossing three lanes of not-entirely-nonexistent traffic into the contraflow bus lane
Stupid contraflow bus lane is too easy to forget about.
That should be "crossing three lanes of not-entirely-nonexistent traffic while turning left into the contraflow bus lane".
But really, I've been very happy with NY drivers in my couple of blocks each way getting to the bike path. I think it helps that the downtown bit is all short blocks and construction and weirdness, so drivers don't expect to be unimpeded, but no one in a car has gotten mad at me yet.
(by law, they have to give 3 feet clearance here, but I don't think motorists know about this law or care).
Is it three feet from the edge of the car or three feet from the edge of the driver?
"Oh boy, once again I get to speed up to 25 mph for five seconds, and then catch up with him again."
If you're only going to hit the red at the next light, you could drive more slowly. But no, driving is stressful already; having somebody impeding your progress who is not only traveling more slowly than you potentially could (at least for the moment), but who also seems to be enjoying themselves and who doesn't have to obey the same seemingly arbitrary set of restrictions that you do could definitely add to the baseline rage of having to drive in traffic. There is any easy solution, of course.
64: I've slapped cars for that sort of thing, but only as a pedestrian -- someone comes tearing through the crosswalk too close, and I'll smack the fender (I've probably done this less than five times in my life.)
What, you mean you don't regularly do the full-on, Ratso Rizzo "Hey! I'm WALKIN here!" deal? And you, a native New Yorker! Tsk.
Since I only pedester, currently, I don't have any good bike-vs-car anecdotes of my own. Always hearing them from people I know though. A friend got "doored" twice within one month recently. Recently in the downtown Mpls. weekly, they interviewed bike messengers and bike delivery people, who agreed that this winter's unusual blend of heavy snow and deep cold has actually improved biking safety by cutting many streets down by 3/4 of a lane, such that there's a little 1/4 lane strip that the cars don't even try to drive in, and is thus safer for bicyclists than trying to share a lane with cars.
80: yeah, as per Ned's lovely, conciliatory paragraph, the vast majority of drivers are perfectly polite and respectful, even when I'm (mildly) inconveniencing them or enjoying traffic-evading privileges denied them.
84.last seems nice. Here, unfortunately, the roads are mostly not multi-lane, so roads that had one traffic lane in each direction (plus parking, plus a shoulder for bikes) have been cut down to about 3/4 of a lane in each direction, plus parking, plus no shoulder.
77: people seem to love Ortlieb. Plus: awesome name.
The patch of downtown Brooklyn I had to traverse in my rare bike commutes back when I lived there was chock-full of sociopathic drivers. Also, NYC livery cab drivers are all sociopaths. And many of the city's delivery truck drivers, and probably 3/4 of drivers with Jersey plates. Besides that, I didn't have many problems.
My Dad's ex-partner* once chased a sports-car-driver who'd run him off the road on his motorbike for, iirc, forty or fifty miles around central Scotland. The car driver seemed to be under the mistaken impression he could get away from a guy driving a 750cc racing bike. The chase ended when the driver parked outside and ran into a police station, and J' followed him in. Naughty bikers I knew as a teenager used to carry a rolled up bike chain in their pocket, for exacting vengeance on drivers. Exploding windscreens have a habit of getting one's message home.**
That said, as per threads past, living/working in a city like Oxford with a very high density of cyclists, I also have a lot of cyclists-behaving-like-pricks stories.
* ambulance partner, although my Dad used to love the ambiguity of the phrase
** I don't endorse this behaviour
Naughty bikers
This just sounds like hipster porn.
As a pedestrian I've stopped in front of cars making overly aggressive turns into the crossing lane when they don't have the right of way. It is difficult to express the right measure of insouciance when one's brain is preparing to jump like a startled armadillo.
The most road-ragey thing I've done was after being stopped at a malfunctioning signal (displaying both green and red). The guy behind me, not being content to merely lay on his horn, pulled up next to me and screamed incomprehensibly, so I pulled behind him and tailgated him for a bit, over some fast accelerations and his anticipated sudden braking. When he veered off the road into a rarely used sidestreet I declared victory and continued home.
We need CharleyCarp back for balance on this thread.
But no, driving is stressful already; having somebody impeding your progress who is not only traveling more slowly than you potentially could (at least for the moment), but who also seems to be enjoying themselves and who doesn't have to obey the same seemingly arbitrary set of restrictions that you do could definitely add to the baseline rage of having to drive in traffic. There is any easy solution, of course.
Easy? I don't have nearly the thrill-seeking personality of all the people I know who ride bikes in traffic. The idea brings shivers.
I get the occasional 'Get on the sidewalk!', but I also had an individual get out of his car and bellow imprecations at me for not running a yellow light when I was driving the other day, so I think angry drivers are prepared to be angry at anyone, not just bicyclists.
Exactly -- the angry asshole normally is powerless to yell at the object of his anger, but not if that object is on a bike!
The car driver seemed to be under the mistaken impression he could get away from a guy driving a 750cc racing bike.
You know, I don't think I've ever seen someone riding a motorcycle on city streets in my entire decade in the city.
77: A former cow orker of mine swears by the Pacific Outdoor Equipment "CoOp" model. They look a little unwieldy, but apparently they're super durable and they seem reasonably priced (~$35 online).
I can't answer the securing question.
I don't think I've ever seen someone riding a motorcycle on city streets in my entire decade in the city.
Really? What do the pizza guys ride?
I don't have nearly the thrill-seeking personality of all the people I know who ride bikes in traffic. The idea brings shivers.
I am a complete coward -- you may need to be a thrillseeker to try biking in traffic, but once you actually do it for a bit, it's really not that bad. Now, I don't bike on streets for all that long, but at this point I would if I had a reason to.
95: Bicycles, mostly, in NY. The occasional scooter. Never what I'd call a motorcycle.
You know, I don't think I've ever seen someone riding a motorcycle on city streets in my entire decade in the city.
Really? Pretty common most places I'd have thought? This particular incident was semi-rural, and the guy was driving into the Trossachs at speed trying to lose him. He failed.
I don't have nearly the thrill-seeking personality of all the people I know who ride bikes in traffic. The idea brings shivers.
I would second LB on this. Once you get just a little used to it - and that doesn't take as long as you might think - you feel pretty in control when you're on the bike.
95: If Ned is talking about Pittsburgh, they ride mostly old Toyota and Honda things. You do see some motorcycles, but not many. I think people like to ride them out in the country or at least somewhere with fewer potholes.
Easy? I don't have nearly the thrill-seeking personality of all the people I know who ride bikes in traffic. The idea brings shivers.
This is where this thread I think does the cause of getting people to try bike commuting a disservice; it's actually really fun, and easy, and not a crazy wild-west thrill-seeking death-defying adventure. The scary things that happen tend to stick in your mind more than they do when you're in a car ("wow, that dude sure did honk at me") because you feel more exposed, but the truth is it's a largely safe, extremely enjoyable way to get around the city. You never get to hear the "well, I rode to work today and it was lovely and I felt refreshed and it didn't take very long" stories because they're boring.
94: securing panniers to your bike; you just need a short chain or cable and a padlock. Lock them on to the rack and there you go. Of course this won't stop a thief with a spanner simply removing the rack and the panniers with it. And it won't stop someone taking stuff out of the panniers.
Naughty bikers I knew as a teenager used to carry a rolled up bike chain in their pocket, for exacting vengeance on drivers. Exploding windscreens have a habit of getting one's message home.**
I've also heard of cyclists fitting those spacer arms - plastic things with a reflector that stick out to one side and are supposed to keep drivers clear - with an old gramophone stylus. Someone comes too close to you and the stylus goes SCREEEEEEEEE all the way down their paintwork.
Virtually all of my friends growing up had motorbikes. Not entirely typical since I hung out on that kind of scene, but still, motorbikes are everywhere. City or no.
101 is entirely right. I feel much more stressed after a public-transport commute (it's also slower). I'd feel worse still if I'd driven.
I live very close to one of the largest biker hangouts in the city, so I can't hardly walk down the street without seeing a bunch of motorcycles, especially in the summer of course. But pizza delivery guys around here tend to drive maroon 1988 Buick LeSabres that are about 60% bondo.
I think I've mention that fear of death is what kept me buying a bike. I think part of it might be because the condition of the roads around here and the geology of the area. Especially for those of us who were raised in flat areas. There are road that scare me in a car.
59: That is completely terrifying. I've had people yell at me to bike on the sidewalk when I was biking in the space where cars can park. But now that I take streets with a bike lane no one has yelled anything. The yelling has actually been the most dramatic thing to happen my whole time in SLC. Thanks calm people of Utah!
I lost my temper once when someone nearly killed me by pulling out from a parking space right in front of me. I yelled at him from my bike for a couple of blocks until he turned into a parking lot. I'm not sure he even noticed, though, but I was so incredibly angry that I almost died due to his carelessness.
105: I knew a guy who made the oil pan out of bondo and chicken wire.
106: Pittsburgh really is steep, despite the complete lack of hills.
Some guy was talking about his electric-assist bike for the hills, which might be something. I'd really like to be able to commute by golf cart. I don't have to go very far.
Pittsburgh really is steep, despite the complete lack of hills.
Is the entire city built on an incline, with no local maxima?
111: Pittsburgh is a plateau that got rained on a bunch.
111: it's built on a level plain that has unfortunately worn away in some spots.
"Lack of hills" being because JP Stormcow is around to remind us that it is actually an eroded floodplain or something.
In Pittsburgh the resentment of cyclists is compounded by the hills. By riding a bike from one neighborhood to another you are saying "Ha ha, you suckers, I am in fantastic shape."
111-114: Alright already! Jeez, way to beat a dead horse you guys!
Incised plateau, but even I'm bored of talking about it.
The Allegheny Plateau is a dissected plateau than runs from the boring rusted-out parts of New York State down to Kentucky.
"Ha ha, you suckers, I am in fantastic shape." (falls over)
I like my version better. I was picturing the low end littered with the abandoned bicycles and strollers of those to weak to make the ascent.
probably 3/4 of drivers with Jersey plates
3/4 of all drivers with Jersey plates, or of the ones who drive in NYC? Just trying to gauge my likelihood of (latent?) sociopathy.
119: eventually Pittsburgers would be sorted by body mass index, like pebbles on a beach.
Yay for your commute to come back, and yay for Daylight Saving Time. I can't wait.
I'm about ready for a new bike, I think. I hadn't thought about it until recently, but my bike is from 1996 and has a lot of miles on it. (Two years at 7 miles per work day. A year at 15 miles per work day. Five years at 2 miles per week day. Errands on top of all that. It adds up.)
I'm ready for a single speed that was built to be a single speed, in pretty colors. Now that the gas I'm not buying is getting even more expensive, I have more money to spend on a new bike. Maybe an Electra Ticino? I'm relieved that BSNYC liked it.
Yeah, I don't really have a thrill-seeking personality. Like a lot of commuter cyclists, I was quite scared of traffic initially and did things that were objectively more dangerous to avoid it (like ride in the door path of parked cars). Of course, I was pretty scared of traffic when I first started to drive too.
These days, I would seriously question living somewhere or taking a job where it wasn't feasible to cycle. I like it and hate the aggravation of driving that much (plus, you know, global warming and stuff).
121: or put them in a big tube and shake them and the big ones will rise to the top like the nuts in a cereal box.
Bikes are pretty much indestructible; if you want to keep your current bike (as long as the frame isn't bent) there's no reason not to (you should certainly get it overhauled (or overhaul it yourself) though). Up until recently, my newest bike was from 1986, and that bike still works perfectly. (Now my newest bike is from 2003, and you just knew I was going to manage to get a link to it into this thread somehow, didn't you?)
117: Ha, yeah! "Dissected" much more the common term than "incised". My work here is done.
118: Years ago I lived right at the bottom of the first of the dozen hills in that race (before the race existed, however). It was rendered much less fearsome when they asphalted over the old brick paving. Still steep, however. And I have had occasion to use 4 of the 12 hills with some regularity (driving though).
On a related note, while intoxicated I seem to have committed myself to something called "Warrior Dash".
re: 118
Heh, Glasgow has some streets like that. I used to live off this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/argee4/4611225963/
A bit hairy when it was icy. Don't know if it's quite 1 in 3 but it's close. There are other steeper streets, but they tend to be shorter. For example, the famous Art School building is on a very steep road:
http://www.design1900online.com/page2/files/collage_lb_image_page2_1_1.png
I realize the thread has moved on, but it's too good to let pass that instead of 70,000 people supporting the flown Texas legislators in rallies, they had Willie Nelson sending them a case of whiskey.
Eh. I know bikes have indefinite lives. And I live with a bike mechanic who owes me for dog care. We did go to the Bike Kitchen and put new wheels and cables on my bike (under his instruction). But he was the one who scared me, by noticing that the wheels were substantially cracked and forbidding me to ride my bike even as far as the bike store to buy new wheels. After that I've been thinking she feels wobbly.
Also, maybe I want a prettier bike.
Most recent incident, yelled at me from a car last week: "Nice job, sweetheart! You're going to die!"
Pauly Shore in real life!
I'm about ready for a new bike. My last one was stolen and I moved to a place where I can't walk everywhere I need to go. (Yes, the last place was also in LA.) Part of the reason I've hesitated to buy a new bike is that the last one was a loaner from a friend. I haven't told him about the theft (he hasn't asked about his bike) and some part of me is afraid that if I get a nice new bike he will claim it by rights.
128: Edinburgh also has steep streets, but much nicer buildings.
122: Megan, here's a SS commuter with a belt drive:
http://spotbrand.com/bikes/product-page/highline/
I saw one hanging in my LBS that just looked like a work of art.
I've mentioned it previously, but as long as we're all riding our hobby horses today: I was a regular cyclist before I was a regular runner. The cycling certainly prepared me for the total blindness of drivers, but it's even worse with pedestrians—especially pedestrians moving at faster clip.
Ever since I ended up on the hood of a car back in January, I've been reluctant to run across the path of cars turning right on red. Most drivers simply don't look to the right. I'm often guilty of neglecting to do so, too. I do wonder if tapping on the window is more effective than my current tactic of simply waiting and giving the driver the stinkeye.
I endeavor not to get shot, is the thing.
You're right, Megan. Your bike is a hazard. You should start bike shopping pretty soon. You rode your old bike for ages, but now you deserve something as beautiful as your own soul.
re: 134
Yeah, I used to admire the similar Trek that used to hang in my local bike shop window.
http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/uploads/trek_district_vintagegray.jpg
Also, maybe I want a prettier bike.
That's a perfectly good reason to get a new bike, but why not have two bikes?
You're right, Megan. Your bike is a hazard. You should start bike shopping pretty soon.
Am I not getting some sort of joke/irony in this? I agree that Megan should get a new bike if she wants one, but I don't understand how her old one is a hazard if she replaced the broken wheels.
136: No, but to do so would reveal my cowardice and laziness.
Right now I have three bikes and am babysitting a fourth. But one is lent out and I'll not get it back. The beater needs repair. The fourth is too tall for me. I want to replace the one I ride.
My housemate only has two bikes here.
I was joking because apparently I am too Puritan to admit that I would stop using something functional. But also, she does feel wobbly in a new way and now that I know that the metal (in her wheels) can have a striking structural failure that I didn't detect at all, I'm less confident about her.
But one is lent out and I'll not get it back.
That no good k-sky.
141: Maybe you can persuade yourself that it will reveal your prudence and sanity.
145: That ship has sailed, I'm afraid.
I once bought a beaten up old road bike that I intended to fix, but after 'truing' the wheels, cleaning and lubricating I discovered it'd had a bit of a bad life and the frame geometry was off. No doubt fixable by someone more knowledgeable than me, but not worth it for a £20 bike.
That felt odd to ride, it sort of squirmed.
Why are you giving the too-tall bike houseroom? Shouldn't you sell it/give it away/set it on fire and toss it off a roof?
OT: This guy is probably not somebody I'd want to get stuck next to on a bus, but I don't see how this isn't a clear case of first amendement protected crankery. Not that I'm a lawyer.
cars turning right on red. Most drivers simply don't look to the right
Isn't that weird? Lots of people really do drive along without even kind of looking where they're going. I used to do it myself, and although I never hit anyone it took several remonstrations from my wife before it sunk in out dangerous that is.
141: would reveal my cowardice and laziness.
It looks like participating will provide the opportunity to do that as well.
148: If she's anything like I was at her age, she's still hoping to grow into it.
150: I've a nasty habit of doing this that I'm trying to unlearn. When turning right, oncoming traffic attracts much more attention than a semi-visible pedestrian. I haven't hit anyone, but a couple of aborted starts towards pedestrians convinced me that I needed to change.
In the UK you can't turn on a red signal. I'm always a bit surprised you can in the US.
137: This is a terrific comment. You said exactly what I was thinking but phrased it much more elegantly and graciously than I ever could. Thank you so much for writing it!
135
Yes, running really opens your eyes about people not looking. Especially in places (ahem, SoCal) where drivers are not accustomed to seeing any pedestrians, much less fast ones.
I have learned not to move in front of any car, moving or not, unless I can make eye contact with the driver. Success in doing so is running about 50/50 for drivers waiting to pull out or turn right. Beating on the hood of the car is a good way to secure eye contact. I find that drivers are far more likely to be sheepish about nearly obliterating a runner than they are a biker.
154: Yeah, I mean, you need to look left *too*, certainly. But it's not even like the pedestrian has to be semi-visible for my old habits to be hazardous--I'd pull up to a stop sign with my head already turning to the left, and it wouldn't come back around to the right until I'd completed the turn.
155: You can't do it in NYC either. I'm always waiting at reds when I leave the city, and then realizing with a start that I'm allowed to turn. Usually, I remember before anyone honks at me.
151: On the contrary, I plan on looking very brave while I sink into the mud clutching my side stitch.
160: Have you planned out your last words?
The thread linked at 156 made my head hurt from trying to figure it out.
Why are you giving the too-tall bike houseroom? Shouldn't you sell it/give it away/set it on fire and toss it off a roof?
Because it belongs to Ali and SHE IS TOO COMING BACK. Also, nice to have for tall guests (like my baby siblings if they stay with me this summer like I hope).
I endeavor not to get shot, is the thing.
A worthy goal. I was once out running at night when one of my group banged on a car that passed us very closely. The woman in the car turned around and drove up into a yard chasing us to run us down. Freaks behind the wheel are everywhere.
I yelled at him from my bike for a couple of blocks until he turned into a parking lot.
You can do this to someone just by yelling at them?
I fitted a small, cheap, nerdy bike computer this week, mainly out of boredom with the stock features of my bike (wheels, pedals, those sort of things). Apparently my maximum speed on the level, highest gear, cadence of around 120 (I reckon), is 23.7 mph. Christ, how pathetic. I was hoping for 30. Maybe it was windy. Perhaps I am insufficiently aero.
149: Are you kidding? He'd be wonderful to sit next to. Totally passionate about his kooky but entirely germane little corner of the world -- and yeah, kind of a bigot, but geeze, everyday I have to deal with plenty of bigots who don't have any such redeeming activism going on.
He's obviously getting harassed because he's obnoxious, and his pet issue undercuts the legitimacy that the courts and prosecutors like to feel they function under. But being obnoxious is not illegal. Good on the NYCLU.
Everyday s/b every day. I would bow my head in shame, but I glimpsed neb using an emoticon the other day.
164: Another largish rugby friend and I did a mud run years ago at Camp Pendleton (they now seem to have a bunch of them plus "World Famous" plus many more obstacles). They had some kind of heavyweight/clydesdale* division that we thought we might have a shot at doing well in. But you know, SoCal and really fit people plus ex-Marines (I think the actual Marines were in whole different division and not heavy enough to be in ours anyway). Was not too bad and we actually did pretty well.
*I believe right around that time Larry Bird won the "Clydesdale" division at some 5 or 10K in Boston.
Oh my god, I want to punch the AP writer responsible for this nonsense right in the junk:
With the Senate immobilized, Assembly Republicans decided to act and convened the chamber Tuesday morning.
Democrats launched a filibuster, throwing out dozens of amendments and delivering rambling speeches. Each time Republicans tried to speed up the proceedings, Democrats rose from their seats and wailed that the GOP was stifling them.
Wailed? WAILED? Seriously? Fuck you.
Apparently my maximum speed on the level, highest gear, cadence of around 120 (I reckon), is 23.7 mph. Christ, how pathetic.
I'll be flying to London to slash your tires now.
166: Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I forced him into the parking lot. He probably needed groceries.
167.1: I feel the same way. I seek out passionate weirdos because they are often quite fascinating to talk to. The only ones I have real difficulty with are the religious ones.
162: Yes, that one got pretty convoluted.
172: To expand on that, when I managed to average almost fourteen mph for a full hour, I was so excited that I posted about it.
167.1, 174: Maybe you guys have nicer buses than we do.
LB, don't you have an odd bike with little tiny wheels? That's going to make it hard to go fast.
5: In Texas (the current situations probably differ somewhat in details), the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate is enforces the rules of the Senate with force if necessary. So if the Senate needs a quorum he can force you into the chamber. Furthermore, the Sergeant-at-Arms is allowed to deputize state police to help him enforce Senate rules. So a state policemen can go find a senator, and bring them in. The senator hasn't broken a law, just a Senate rule. I'm not sure if what the policemen is doing is technically "arresting" or not.
Anyway, if you run to another state because you've broken a law then the state will send an extradition request and you have to eventually send the suspect back (with some caveats). But even though the state police in Texas can enforce the Senate rules, it's not a crime and it's not something which you can be extradited for.
This explains in the case of Texas why going to another state was important (first Oklahoma and then New Mexico).
I was hoping for 30.
Since I just spent a few minutes catching up with this thread, somebody has probably already noted that riding alone, even on a race bike, going 30 mph for any length of time at all is quite difficult on flats.
Further to 180: flat terrain, that is, not flat tires. Though that would be even more difficult, I suppose.
Megan, of course you should get a new bike. New bikes are fun.
I got a new (used) bike last summer and it was fantastic. I just found out last week (as I was starting to get ready for riding again) that the rear hub was starting to crack, so I had to get the rear wheel re-built, but even with that I'm still so glad that I got it.
Probably not a cadence of 120, now that I think about it. That would be turning the pedals very fast indeed. 14 mph average is quite handy though. Especially if you're stopping at lights, etc. I think you should get drops for the Brompton: see what that does to your wind resistance.
Stupidly, I signed up for a mini triathlon in July. It's a relay. I'm doing the bike leg. For the company team.
He probably needed groceries
Flatbreads? Tortillas?
182: That experiment was proposed.
For that kind of ride stylish heels are, counterintuitively, much more sensible options.
going 30 mph for any length of time at all is quite difficult on flats
Still easier than in heels, though.
Nicely done. And extra credit for it being your first comment on the thread.
188: It's these damn stiletto heels slowing me down.
190: You should start blowing through all the red lights.
190: You still have time to make some kind of heel/hill joke though.
The Allegheny Plateau is a dissected plateau than runs from the boring rusted-out parts of New York State down to Kentucky.
This explains a lot if boredom flows downhill.
191: Apo stops at all the red light districts.
193: Not where it counts. Laydeeee.
My daughters are now riding to school (with me) and taking years off my life in the process. They're riding in the street for the first time on their new bikes (which are a wee bit oversized) and they tend to drift. But they're helping their school retain the Golden Bike trophy for the greatest number of bike commuters, so suck it, rival schools!
My mom bought me a bike! It has wheels!
It's nice to see them run bicycle races in impoverished, rustbelt cities like Pittsburgh. Still, I would rather ride in flats than in steel ghetto hills.
I am not a better man.
197: which are a wee bit oversized ... the greatest number of bike commuters
Halcyon Days of Yore Comment #133 (collect them all): When I started riding my bike to school it was way too big and I needed something like a high curb, decorative rock (a lot of people seemed to have those along their driveways or road fronts) or arm of a fire hydrant to get on. The really alien thing from today's perspective was that we came in at a back entrance to the very large school grounds where several hundred bikes were then left unlocked and unattended, barely visible from the school building itself.
For about $10,000, you can apparently get a new street legal electric golf cart with a 20 mile range and a top speed of 22 mph. That would be so much better than a bike for me, if it really is street legal here and if nobody would kill me on purpose for riding one down the street. I rarely get about 20 mph on my commute anyway.
I've also heard of cyclists fitting those spacer arms - plastic things with a reflector that stick out to one side and are supposed to keep drivers clear - with an old gramophone stylus.
LIKE.
I am not a better man.
Can't find the butter man!
200: We never locked a bike either. Some kid took my sister's bike and she was upset for weeks and insisted on getting a lock. The bike was only missing for as long as it took the kid's parents to notice the extra bike.
I am not a better man.
You could aspire.
I don't ride a bike to work because I hate arriving all soaked with aspiration.
as long as it took the kid's parents to notice the extra bike
In high school, a classmate who had a crush on my sister offered to steal a car for her. It was a touching declaration (and I'm sure he would have followed through), but I always wondered. Did he think my parents wouldn't notice the spontaneous appearance of a new car in our driveway? That would be a lot to overlook.
OT: Need a "congratulations on shacking up" housewarming gift idea. Something to girlify the palce, possibly?
208: Jane Austen novels and a toilet with a self-lowering seat?
Something to girlify the palce, possibly?
God no. He's about to get way more of that than he ever wanted.
When I started riding my bike to school it was way too big and I needed something like a high curb, decorative rock (a lot of people seemed to have those along their driveways or road fronts) or arm of a fire hydrant to get on.
Those penny-farthings were dangerous, old man.
210: Something to solidify the manliness of the place, then? (As you are, without any doubt, quite right.)
Two grownups moving in together don't need stuff -- they've got two households' worth. Wine or liquor if they drink, some kind of spiffy but nonperishable food if they don't.
212: Steve Austin novelizations and a dirty toilet seat.
Something to girlify the palce, possibly?
There is an answer in the archives.
200 - the first bike my brother had when he was 4 or 5 was rather too big for him, and he couldn't really reach the ground. It was a step-through bike that some colleague of my dad's had given him. So instead of braking, he would just leap off, letting the bike land wherever.
Those bikes you got your girls look very nice Jesus. I'm going to buy my youngest this one in a month or so. (In blue. Has to be blue, she says.)
On residential streets with minimal traffic I pretty much never come to a full stop at stop signs or lights unless there is a car coming or I can't see around the corner. I've never had much of a problem with cars deliberately being assholish in NYC when I'm on my bike, but I have on foot and have occasionally slapped the car and screamed at them. So far I haven't been beaten up. I also occasionally do a mild version of the annoying jaywalking pedestrian thing that ttaM refers to - that is if there is an oncoming car in the distance I'll walk across while staring at the car.
And a propos silly question: that cemetery for pedestrians who had the right of way in London that my mom kept warning me about as a little kid, it doesn't really exist, right?
Something about these threads always makes me want to pretend to be aggressive driver/cyclist hating guy, but biking is actually totally awesome and I would totally bike commute if it made more logisitical sense. (I do like my driving commute just fine -- who wouldn't like 25 minutes of looking at different ethnic neighborhoods, with seat heat and good music?).
The "Warrior Race" sounds like the "Spartan Death Race" that some friends did recently; they said it was actually pretty easy and fun.
Also, Stormcrow, did you ever try the kayak commute? If not, get on that.
Hey, Yglesias has some bold new ideas:
The optimal economic growth policy isn't to slash Social Security or Medicare benefits, it's to euthanize 70 year-olds and harvest their organs for auction.
221: Probably make biking safer also.
Also, cavemen didn't have electric ass warmers.
221: He's so silly and ignorant. Who would want 70-year old organs?
The seat heat is provided by the smouldering carcasses of my enemies, Moby.
225: Isn't a 50 degree day "cold" where you are?
219.2: It probably is fairly easy. My concerns are largely that I agreed to do this with someone who is in considerably better shape than me (I rarely exert myself for more than five minutes at a time without breaks), and I don't know what costume I should wear.
225: Finally, the mystery of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance is solved.
I've long thought that a "Ninja Warrior" style course set up in a warehouse somewhere would be a great business. This is one of the many reasons it's best that have no money.
Who would want 70-year old organs?
Crystal Harris?
231: I had to google that name to get it, but now I acknowledge you do have a point.
232 I would have had to google it except The New Yorker just did one of their Talk of the Town pieces of the kind I like least, the ones where they're 80% openly mocking the subject but with the most superficial veneer of "why, this is just a society item!"
233: Well, here I am showing off how classy I am because I didn't know the name of the future Mrs Hefner, and Smearcase comes along and outdoes me by only knowing about her from the New Yorker. Also, revealing to everyone that I haven't read the New Yorker! Thanks a lot, Smearcase!
You can still maintain that you're so classy you don't read the New Yorker.
That's alright; Smearcase doesn't get Achewood.
Yeah, well, maybe. It's worth a shot.
I can top Smearcase, I think: I read that piece in the New Yorker, but I also didn't get 231, because I had forgotten the woman's name.
But now that he mentions it, that was a pretty mean spirited article.
200: When I rode my bike to high school, it was safe without a lock because a large group of kids were always staring at the bike rack. It was next to the smoking area.
239.1: Blume wins!
238: I guess you're right. I have nothing left to lose.
M/tch, Viagra's commercials warn that it can cause Achewood.
When I was cycle commuting [only about 20 - 30 minutes each way if I wasn't caning it, and less if I was] I used to average about 12 - 14mph, I think. It was quite easy to hit 20mph+ on the straight flat sections -- although I wouldn't have wanted to keep it up for more than, say, 5 or 10 minutes at a time -- but the minute the road was remotely bendy, or there was traffic it dropped by a lot. 14mph on a Brompton for an hour, is bloody good.
I find 10mph or so is slow enough not get sweaty, once I'm going at 14 or 15 for any length of time I'll arrive at work a bit boggin'.
As already mentioned, 30mph is racing cyclist pace.
220: the kayak commute?
I did a trial run on a weekend last August with one of my kids and then promptly fucked up my wrist the next weekend, and then for some reason it got very cold for a few months in a row, so no. But the weatherman says it is going to start getting warmer so I'm determined to at least do it once. Given the distances, probably the workable thing at first is to drive 3 miles to a landing and do the last 3 miles* via kayak so kind of a "symbolic"/recreational commute at best. Test also revealed that wetness of body/clothes at the end is also an issue.
*Which is what we tested--45 minutes each way as a fat out-of-shape guy; I plan on doing the real thing as a 24-year old female endurance athlete**.
**Actually, I think 30 minutes is a reasonable target with a better kayak than the rental, plus a modicum of in-shapedness.
I plan on doing the real thing as a 24-year old female endurance athlete**.
Pics or it didn't happen.
If English had a future tense, I would have made that more accurate.
Ok yeah The New Yorker is one of those things where there are distinct kinds of embarrassment you are required to feel for reading or not reading it. My evil but clever ex used to preface things with "I hate to be that guy that says 'did you read the thing in The New Yorker about [whatever]' but did you read the &c.?" I just sort of decided I like the magazine enough that I'm fine being that guy.
I don't suppose there's an explanation of why Achewood is funny on Standpipe's other blog? Because I need it explained. Case in point: the one someone linked a day or two ago. "So nude." What? What? What?
Vlad is a robot who thinks he's very seductive.
He was talking to Philippe's mother.
I don't really see what needs explaining here.
Yeah, it seems I just do not get it. I wouldn't make such a fuss about it if basically everyone whose sensibilities I share or admire didn't find it the most wonderful thing ever. There is a 10% chance I don't get it because my aforementioned evil ex LOVED it and I give up one or two things in any breakup. (I also lost Benjamin Britten to him, but I was never that into him so I don't consider it a terrible loss.)
Because I need it explained.
I found there was a critical mass of looking at it, confused about what on earth the point was, after which it got funny. (I achieved that critical mass because people kept on talking about it, and I'd go look at whatever they were talking about, completely unable to see the point.) There's no particular reason to put the effort in, but if you wanted to, going back to some random point in the archives and just reading forward for a couple of months would probably settle it -- either it would get funny to you or it wouldn't.
I don't suppose there's an explanation of why Achewood is funny on Standpipe's other blog? Because I need it explained. Case in point: the one someone linked a day or two ago. "So nude." What? What? What?
Oh, don't worry about that. There is absolutely nothing funny on Achewood. It's like "Assy McGee". Don't bother looking in depth.
This is the only Achewood that I've ever found truly hillarious. Bonus cross-thread Honda Goldwing tie-in!
LB: I read the first year at work one day. Actually I think we discussed this maybe, right? I started to pick back up at that point but it was a while later and 1) I couldn't remember quite where I'd left off and 2) I had honestly forgotten which stuffed animal was which, especially the cats, so it was like going back to a Russian novel and being like "which one's Boris Ivanovich and which one's Ivan Borisevich?" I laughed once in the first year, so that's probably not a good sign.
If you've read that much, there's nothing to explain, it's just not going to strike you funny. I'm not actually sure why I'm giggling half the time, I just do.
I also lost Benjamin Britten to him, but I was never that into him so I don't consider it a terrible loss.
Smearcase used to date Peter Pears? Re-SPECT.
Sometimes Achewood cracks me up. Like with "Dogg I cannot brook the gossamer bloatee." And sometimes it's just like "eh, that was weird?".
But, you know, at least it's never bad in the way xkcd is bad.
It's important to remember that Achewood hasn't been funny for years.
It's hardly been updated for months.
Hee. Peter Pears. Also: yekh. One of the ugliest voices since the advent of the recording horn.
261: it seems more likely from what Smearcase said that he used to date Benjamin Britten.
I'm in the process of rereading all of Achewood from the start. There are entire plotlines I'd forgotten. I'm just about done with The Great Outdoor Fight, which is pretty much the pinnacle.
258, 269, 271: At least there's a consensus about the best strips.
149, 167: unsurprisingly, I find it outrageous that they're actually trying to throw the guy in jail for telling people that they don't have to blindly go along with the system. Unfortunate that he seems to hate muslims, but even assholes have rights and all that.
I take my philosophical anarchism to the streets, as it were, when I ride my bike; red lights &c. are suggestions and warnings rather than authoritative imperatives. An old german guy gave me crap for this awhile ago--not a motorist, but a fellow biker who'd waited at the light (as the germans are wont to do) while I biked ahead; when the next red light was reinforced by heavy traffic, he caught up to me and lectured me for a good 40 seconds. (He wasn't quite old enough for me to have made any sharp inquiries about what rules he'd been following 70 years ago; and boy, would that have been embarassing if he'd been some noble civil-disobedient guy, or a camp survivor, or something; plus, just way too confrontational for me. So I made vague noncommittal noises, half-nods, and avoided eye contact.)
But I'm almost germanic myself in my approach to rule-following when compared to the moroccans, at least if Marrakech is representative. Not only is everyone totally insane, but you've also got donkeys in addition to cars, trucks, bikes, and a massive population of motorbikes/scooters. (And nobody wears helmets. AND they often ride two-to-a-bike. Insane!)
So I made vague noncommittal noises, half-nods, and avoided eye contact.
Like dating while sober.
There is only one acceptable favorite Achewood: "Dogg I cannot brook the gossamer bloatee."
I am a little surprised that no one in this thread has referenced Drive Angry (filmed in 3D!).
I'm beginning to suspect there are actually only three Achewood comic strips, despite all appearances to the contrary.
278: The Great Outdoor Fight wasn't bad, exactly.
Nosflow has indeed picked the best Achewood.
245- It ain't so.
I can go 3.6 miles through Cambridge in 15 minutes in the morning- slight downhill, total change in elevation is only ~30 feet. Coming back it's more like 20 minutes but it's 3.9 miles with winding through Harvard Square.
Achewood-wise, I'm a Philippe guy. My two favorites, from the very beginning.
The first one of those is fantastic.
I don't get Achewood either. I don't fell so alone anymore. I used to have a subscription to the New Yorker that my sister-in-law bought me, under the presumption that I was the kind of person who read the New Yorker. She was close, in that I'm the kind of person who's too cool to read the New Yorker, which has got to be the narcissism of small differences.
I don't fell so alone anymore
Congrats on finding partners in your lumberjacking trade.
I'm the kind of person who's too cool to read the New Yorker
I want to understand this, and yet I don't. The last person I knew who subscribed to the New Yorker barely read it -- the issues were clearly piling up, half an article read at best -- and I confess that I did ask why he then continued to subscribe.
