5 ms·

For a year now i drive my bike to and from work in Berlin, about 11km daily. I got a pretty cheap but decent quality single speed bike. It's light (aluminium) a

by kayoone 11y ago

For a year now i drive my bike to and from work in Berlin, about 11km daily. I got a pretty cheap but decent quality single speed bike. It's light (aluminium) and fast, perfect daily driver. It's beautiful because of it's simplicity and efficiency. I am faster than either car or tram over the same route and on top of that it's healthy and fun. When i can't do it for a couple of days or even a week because of really bad weather, i start to feel really guilty and bad :)

adrianN 11y ago
As they say, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing (and bad tyres...)
- stinos 11y ago
  They should go out and ride in heavy wind then. Wonder what kind of clothing is going to protect you from heavy sideways thrusts :P But yeah, in this season clothing is all-important.
  - legulere 11y ago
    A large part of the Netherlands rides in terrible wind. Something people further in the land and with hills or mountains don't know.
    - jdietrich 11y ago
      In cycle racing, they call the vicious coastal winds "Dutch mountains". Riders from the Netherlands, Belgium and Normandy are renowned for their skill and strength in windy conditions.
- Htsthbjig 11y ago
  That is what I used to say when I was living in Madrid, with the lower temperatures in winter being 2-3 degrees under 0(celsius), but sun most of the year. But living in Germany was a completely different story in winter going under 30 degrees under 0, 3-4 hours less daylight than in Spain or Portugal, and cloudy all day. It is extremely disgusting to breath fast, like you need when in the bike when the air is so cold. Somebody should invent something for it. On the other hand, in most of Spain you can't go around in summer with your bike, but it is great in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
  - lorenzhs 11y ago
    -30°C is an exaggeration. If you don't live in the mountains there are usually a couple of weeks with sub-zero temperatures here; I use a ski mask when it gets really cold. That helps a lot with the cold head winds. I absolutely always ride my bike to work (5km each way) in southern Germany, and I kinda agree with the GP ;)
  - holri 11y ago
    >It is extremely disgusting to breath fast, like you >need when in the bike when the air is so cold. Somebody >should invent something for it. Already invented, it is called shawl.
  - kayoone 11y ago
    I did 20km at -10 this winter here in Berlin and that was already pushing of what i am comfortable with to the extreme. But -30 is very very rare, like once in 10 years and i would not ride the bike in that case.
- Kiro 11y ago
  That saying is so much better in Swedish where it actually rhymes.
  - Symbiote 11y ago
    Could you translate? (Maybe something linking "to wear" and "weather" could work in English…)
    - Kiro 11y ago
      Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder. It literally means what adrianN said.
      - Symbiote 11y ago
        Tak! I'm slowly learning Danish, so I envy Swedish for the nice pronunciation.
ZeroGravitas 11y ago
This is basically my old commute too, the only thing I miss now I work from home. I used to leave the office stressed about a bad meeting or whatever and arrive home serene.
- kayoone 11y ago
  Exactly, it a great way to vent stress from work and results in some nice quads haha.
henriquemaia 11y ago
I ride 30km per day back and forth from home to college. I'm 43, I ride an old steel bike (ca. 20kg). I do this out of necessity, since it's the cheapest and most convenient way to travel around the city I live [1]; but I also do it out of love for the joy it provides me. Granted that the city's overall elevation helps a lot (it's almost plain here, but many people still think I'm crazy for this choice of transportation). As others have pointed out, weather is only a bummer when you're not properly clothed (I'm over-generalizing here, but you get the picture). It also helps to live on a place where the average temperature never goes down below 24ºC [2]. On the down side, it rains a lot here. When I say a lot, a do mean a lot. Bicycles are fun. I couldn't imagine myself living without one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife [2] http://en.climate-data.org/location/5069/ http://en.climate-data.org/location/5069/

by kayoone 11y ago

adrianN 11y ago

As they say, there is no bad weather, only bad clothing (and bad tyres...)

stinos 11y ago
They should go out and ride in heavy wind then. Wonder what kind of clothing is going to protect you from heavy sideways thrusts :P But yeah, in this season clothing is all-important.
- legulere 11y ago
  A large part of the Netherlands rides in terrible wind. Something people further in the land and with hills or mountains don't know.
  - jdietrich 11y ago
    In cycle racing, they call the vicious coastal winds "Dutch mountains". Riders from the Netherlands, Belgium and Normandy are renowned for their skill and strength in windy conditions.
Htsthbjig 11y ago
That is what I used to say when I was living in Madrid, with the lower temperatures in winter being 2-3 degrees under 0(celsius), but sun most of the year. But living in Germany was a completely different story in winter going under 30 degrees under 0, 3-4 hours less daylight than in Spain or Portugal, and cloudy all day. It is extremely disgusting to breath fast, like you need when in the bike when the air is so cold. Somebody should invent something for it. On the other hand, in most of Spain you can't go around in summer with your bike, but it is great in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
- lorenzhs 11y ago
  -30°C is an exaggeration. If you don't live in the mountains there are usually a couple of weeks with sub-zero temperatures here; I use a ski mask when it gets really cold. That helps a lot with the cold head winds. I absolutely always ride my bike to work (5km each way) in southern Germany, and I kinda agree with the GP ;)
- holri 11y ago
  >It is extremely disgusting to breath fast, like you >need when in the bike when the air is so cold. Somebody >should invent something for it. Already invented, it is called shawl.
- kayoone 11y ago
  I did 20km at -10 this winter here in Berlin and that was already pushing of what i am comfortable with to the extreme. But -30 is very very rare, like once in 10 years and i would not ride the bike in that case.
Kiro 11y ago
That saying is so much better in Swedish where it actually rhymes.
- Symbiote 11y ago
  Could you translate? (Maybe something linking "to wear" and "weather" could work in English…)
  - Kiro 11y ago
    Det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder. It literally means what adrianN said.
    - Symbiote 11y ago
      Tak! I'm slowly learning Danish, so I envy Swedish for the nice pronunciation.

ZeroGravitas 11y ago

This is basically my old commute too, the only thing I miss now I work from home. I used to leave the office stressed about a bad meeting or whatever and arrive home serene.

kayoone 11y ago
Exactly, it a great way to vent stress from work and results in some nice quads haha.

henriquemaia 11y ago

I ride 30km per day back and forth from home to college. I'm 43, I ride an old steel bike (ca. 20kg). I do this out of necessity, since it's the cheapest and most convenient way to travel around the city I live [1]; but I also do it out of love for the joy it provides me. Granted that the city's overall elevation helps a lot (it's almost plain here, but many people still think I'm crazy for this choice of transportation). As others have pointed out, weather is only a bummer when you're not properly clothed (I'm over-generalizing here, but you get the picture). It also helps to live on a place where the average temperature never goes down below 24ºC [2]. On the down side, it rains a lot here. When I say a lot, a do mean a lot. Bicycles are fun. I couldn't imagine myself living without one. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recife [2] http://en.climate-data.org/location/5069/ http://en.climate-data.org/location/5069/