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Is the energy required to ride a bike somehow free? How do you ride a bike for hundreds of kilometers? > People that really care about the environment ride a b

Is the energy required to ride a bike somehow free? How do you ride a bike for hundreds of kilometers? > People that really care about the environment ride a bike. They don't buy an electric car and try to justify the currently unknown long term environmental consequences of their purchase as somehow being better than the known consequences of gasoline and diesel cars. This is so much false dichotomy that I'm having trouble assuming good faith.

mrob 5y ago
Humans require exercise to maintain good health. The energy required to ride a bike replaces energy that would otherwise be wasted on exercise equipment in a gym.
- StavrosK 5y ago
  So you'd only ride for an hour a day, and you'd stop where you were and take a taxi the rest of the way, or what?
  - mrob 5y ago
    If it's too far to ride then a taxi (ideally, an electric vehicle) is a reasonable option. It's even reasonable to stop where you are and switch to a taxi. I don't know if it's possible with Uber or similar, but with traditional taxi operators you can call them and arrange for them to carry the bicycle too. The front wheel will have a quick release mechanism, and you can put down some sheeting to protect the interior of the taxi from grease/oil, or they might have an exterior bicycle carrier frame. But this will only be a minority of journeys.
  - dukeyukey 5y ago
    Myself, I ride my bike to work and back (about 25 mins each way) and around the local area, otherwise I use the excellent public transport in my city (mostly electric-powered trains and occasionally electric/hybrid buses). If I need to go out-of-city, I use mostly-electric trains.
ryukafalz 5y ago
>How do you ride a bike for hundreds of kilometers? In many parts of the world, you would take a train or other forms of public transport to travel distances too far to ride by bike. Those often have last-mile problems when the train doesn't go quite where you need it to, but given sufficient density at the source/destination bikes are an effective solution to the last-mile problem. Of course, in the US, we typically have sprawl at the source/destination, unsafe infrastructure for bicycling, and often not-very-useful public transport, which does rather limit this option.

mrob 5y ago

Humans require exercise to maintain good health. The energy required to ride a bike replaces energy that would otherwise be wasted on exercise equipment in a gym.

StavrosK 5y ago
So you'd only ride for an hour a day, and you'd stop where you were and take a taxi the rest of the way, or what?
- mrob 5y ago
  If it's too far to ride then a taxi (ideally, an electric vehicle) is a reasonable option. It's even reasonable to stop where you are and switch to a taxi. I don't know if it's possible with Uber or similar, but with traditional taxi operators you can call them and arrange for them to carry the bicycle too. The front wheel will have a quick release mechanism, and you can put down some sheeting to protect the interior of the taxi from grease/oil, or they might have an exterior bicycle carrier frame. But this will only be a minority of journeys.
- dukeyukey 5y ago
  Myself, I ride my bike to work and back (about 25 mins each way) and around the local area, otherwise I use the excellent public transport in my city (mostly electric-powered trains and occasionally electric/hybrid buses). If I need to go out-of-city, I use mostly-electric trains.

ryukafalz 5y ago

>How do you ride a bike for hundreds of kilometers? In many parts of the world, you would take a train or other forms of public transport to travel distances too far to ride by bike. Those often have last-mile problems when the train doesn't go quite where you need it to, but given sufficient density at the source/destination bikes are an effective solution to the last-mile problem. Of course, in the US, we typically have sprawl at the source/destination, unsafe infrastructure for bicycling, and often not-very-useful public transport, which does rather limit this option.