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Personally I just cycle everywhere. It's the fastest way to get around the city where I live (if you are willing to bend the traffic rules a bit). I am aware th

by collyw 8y ago

Personally I just cycle everywhere. It's the fastest way to get around the city where I live (if you are willing to bend the traffic rules a bit). I am aware that it won't work for everyone, but I am surprised at how few people cycle. There is a bit of a motivational hump to get over, but once you are over it (forcing yourself to cycle half an hour for as week maybe?) then it doesn't seem like a problem at all.

Insanity 8y ago
Could be a regional thing. Where I live, cycling is for many people the standard way to go around. But then, most people are students around this city. There are quite a few cities in Belgium and the Netherlands that promote cycling though. :)
- przmk 8y ago
  Only the northern part of Belgium though (Flanders). The rest of the country has quite poor infrastructure for cycling, especially when compared to the Netherlands. I would love to cycle to work in Brussels but I do not feel comfortable doing so.
  - a_imho 8y ago
    I don't know about Brussels specifically, but if you are worried about the volume of the traffic you can probably try cycling in off hours, mainly at night, and/or using the pavements liberally to build up the routine.
    - Insanity 8y ago
      I'd not like to cycle in Brussels either. Mostly cause of the (car) traffic there. Neither would I feel that comfortable at night in certain parts of Brussels :D
saiya-jin 8y ago
I have rather unpopular opinion about biking in most cities (it doesn't cover bike friendly places like Netherlands/Belgium/Denmark, but your usual place where bikers share roads and sidewalks with rest of us) - bikers often behave like assholes, especially but not only to pedestrians. Aggressive, arrogant, utterly ignoring red lights, zooming fast through crowds walking on pedestrian crossings. I had few near-hits myself when biker went maybe 10cm from me, doing 30+kmh, not even slowing down although he saw me. Also have seen couple of incidents of biker hitting pedestrian hard only because biker was a total idiot and tried to get somewhere 5 seconds sooner. Fast bike hitting some old granny doesn't end well for her in any possible case. Fiancee who is a doctor had recently a case where biker hit pedestrian in same way, ignoring red light. Guy in his 40s was cca OK when brought to emergency room, but went into coma quickly due to internal bleeding in the brain. Dead within a week. Maybe its this idiotic childish 'french' culture that I am exposed to here in Geneva (when you see them drive in France you know what I mean), but it really seems biking in the city brings out the worst out of people. Biking elsewhere, in the nature, forests, unpaved roads, fields etc is something completely different, that I enjoy very much.

by collyw 8y ago

Insanity 8y ago

Could be a regional thing. Where I live, cycling is for many people the standard way to go around. But then, most people are students around this city. There are quite a few cities in Belgium and the Netherlands that promote cycling though. :)

przmk 8y ago
Only the northern part of Belgium though (Flanders). The rest of the country has quite poor infrastructure for cycling, especially when compared to the Netherlands. I would love to cycle to work in Brussels but I do not feel comfortable doing so.
- a_imho 8y ago
  I don't know about Brussels specifically, but if you are worried about the volume of the traffic you can probably try cycling in off hours, mainly at night, and/or using the pavements liberally to build up the routine.
  - Insanity 8y ago
    I'd not like to cycle in Brussels either. Mostly cause of the (car) traffic there. Neither would I feel that comfortable at night in certain parts of Brussels :D

saiya-jin 8y ago

I have rather unpopular opinion about biking in most cities (it doesn't cover bike friendly places like Netherlands/Belgium/Denmark, but your usual place where bikers share roads and sidewalks with rest of us) - bikers often behave like assholes, especially but not only to pedestrians. Aggressive, arrogant, utterly ignoring red lights, zooming fast through crowds walking on pedestrian crossings. I had few near-hits myself when biker went maybe 10cm from me, doing 30+kmh, not even slowing down although he saw me. Also have seen couple of incidents of biker hitting pedestrian hard only because biker was a total idiot and tried to get somewhere 5 seconds sooner. Fast bike hitting some old granny doesn't end well for her in any possible case. Fiancee who is a doctor had recently a case where biker hit pedestrian in same way, ignoring red light. Guy in his 40s was cca OK when brought to emergency room, but went into coma quickly due to internal bleeding in the brain. Dead within a week. Maybe its this idiotic childish 'french' culture that I am exposed to here in Geneva (when you see them drive in France you know what I mean), but it really seems biking in the city brings out the worst out of people. Biking elsewhere, in the nature, forests, unpaved roads, fields etc is something completely different, that I enjoy very much.