7 ms·
There's this weird thing that happens in northern climates where all the bikers and scooter riders magically disappear sometime around October and don't reappea
by jbob2000 8y ago
There's this weird thing that happens in northern climates where all the bikers and scooter riders magically disappear sometime around October and don't reappear until sometime in April. I can't figure out why this happens, we should really aim to understand that before we push bikes and scooters on half the human population. I don't think it's the car lobby that causes this disappearance.
- xapata 8y agoNot all. I just put on my balaklava and some knobby tires. It's not that bad with the right clothes. I wouldn't walk around in Boston winter without my face masks either.
- csixty4 8y agoI'm genuinely curious: do you wear glasses? How do you keep them from getting fogged up/iced over when riding in the winter?
- village-idiot 8y agoGotta get a face mask with vent holes for your nose/mouth. That lets the moist air escape away from your eyes, reducing fog.
- xapata 8y agoContacts are essential. Even without my balaklava, my hat bothers my glasses, making them press into my ears. Also, my Asian nose doesn't hold glasses very well. Once while biking in the summer (with sweat dripping) they fell off in traffic. I was basically blind. It was terrifying. Thus, contacts.
- jbob2000 8y ago> I'm genuinely curious: do you wear glasses? How do you keep them from getting fogged up/iced over when riding in the winter? Don't waste your time. Pro-cyclists are the most biased and privileged people I've ever met. Just get on your bike, it's so easy! forgets that some people have bad knees. All you need is some goggles when it rains! forgets that people wear glasses. Just wait for the snow to be cleared! forgets that some cities don't clear snow. Just buy knobby tires! forgets that smaller people will struggle with the extra weight. Just wear a face mask! forgets that some cities ban face coverings and certain demographics get looked at strangely if they wear balaklavas
- village-idiot 8y agoI laugh at the idea that cyclists are privileged people when your entire argument is "I want to sit in my $30k steel box, not have to prepare for changes in weather, not interact with other people, and not work". The idea that someone on a $400 bike who read a weather report and works to commute is "privileged" is ludicrous.
- oftenwrong 8y agoDon't forget the massive infrastructure investments required to support life built on the private car. Maintained roads and gasoline come at an enormous cost to society. The cost of everything is multiplied by driving-based distances.
- village-idiot 8y agoAlso, drivers aren’t even paying their way for roads. The percentage of roads paid for by gas taxes is at 50% and falling. Those of us who commute sans car are chipping in thousands of dollars per year to subsidize road commuters.
- jbob2000 8y agoThe privilege is around ability, not cost. No less than half of my coworkers are constantly complaining about how broken their bodies are, you expect these people to just hop on a bike and go?
- village-idiot 8y agoWell, if they had done that earlier their bodies probably wouldn’t be so broken. Sitting still is bad for you. I just find your hatred for cyclists utterly bizarre. Did a cyclist murder a family member and you need revenge, or what?
- jbob2000 8y agoI absolutely do not hate cyclists, I am one myself. When I lived in the city, I commuted in to work on a bike. I have lived that life and know what it’s about. What I disagree with is the idea that we can build a society around cycling. I was lucky to be able to live close enough to work and be abled enough to do the ride 5 days a week. And I was lucky that, on days with bad weather, I could work from home because of my job as a software developer. As I started to look outside of my own life, I saw that not so many people were lucky. Actually, most people weren’t this lucky. How would I ride to work as a construction worker, with all my equipment and rotating job locations? How could I do this as a nurse, where I would be on my feet all day working odd hours? The more and more I considered all the ways people participate in society, the more I realized that the very narrow constraints of cycling just don’t work for most people. So sure, build the cycling lanes and bike racks, I’m not asking you to rip those up. There are many people who can cycle and we should accommodate them. But that’s it - Just accommodate them. Don’t try to uproot the core structure of our way of life. You’ll want the roadways when you get old and injured can’t ride any more.
- adrianN 8y agoIn the Netherlands the fraction of cyclists that keep riding in Winter is much larger than in cities with similar climate. Cycling in winter is not that hard, it's not worse that going on foot. What's important is that snow is removed.
- jbob2000 8y agoThere are sooo many things that you need to do to make cycling in winter possible; snow must be cleared, you need special tires, you need extra warm weather gear, you need to wait for the blizzard to end, etc. etc. Or I could just get in my car with a light jacket and blast the heat. Rain, shine, snow, blizzard, whatever. I'm good.
- adrianN 8y agoExcept for the warm clothes the same is true for cars. Snow must be cleared, you need special tires, you shouldn't drive during a blizzard. It's just that you've normalized those things when it comes to cars. When the snow is cleared you are generally fine with normal tires on bikes btw, because you can just go a little slower.
- skh 8y agoI live in Minnesota which is a cold weather state. We get lots of snow and winters last a long time. I’m not from Minnesota but have lived here for 18 years. I have never changed tires on my car. I will never bike in the winter time. Too many chances to slip in winter while biking. Pockets of ice, areas that aren’t cleared well, etc.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoStudded tires make riding on slippery roads a non issue. The risk is from drivers sliding into you.
- village-idiot 8y ago
- aqme28 8y agoHow far northern are we talking? There are still a lot of bikers in NYC in my observation, and Amsterdam is pretty far north.
- cr1895 8y agoAmsterdam May be at a high latitude but it’s very mild.
- imgabe 8y agoThere's also these things called "clothes" humans have been using to protect themselves from the elements for quite a while. Humans walked across Siberia with little more than animal skins. I think most can handle a 30 minute bike ride when it's a bit chilly.
- c0nsumer 8y agoIt's often not the cold, but the riding surface. Ice, snow, and water really change the dynamics of riding a bike.
- imgabe 8y agoThe same is true for cars, yet nobody uses that as a reason not to drive a car.
- village-idiot 8y agoI’m always shocked how few people swap out for winter tires in appropriate climates. Also distressing was the number of people convinced that all wheel drive made their car safer in the snow.
- adrianmonk 8y agoIsn't it safer, though? I'm not very experienced with this stuff, but one of the issues is having sufficient traction to make it up hills, and all-wheel drive is superior at that. If you have to roll back down a hill and try again with a running start, that may be doable, but that makes things more chaotic and unpredictable on the roads (compared to making it up the first time). In an ideal world, other drivers would be attentive enough to handle it, but in reality not so much. Also, more generally, because static friction is greater than dynamic friction, any time your tires lose grip, you have less control over your car at that moment. All-wheel drive means tires are less likely to lose grip when accelerating / applying thrust.
- 8y ago
- ant6n 8y agoI've commuted on bike in Montreal down to about -10C. No special clothing, no special tires.