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Stop driving. Bike everywhere. That’s all you need to know.

• Lukas_Skywalker 5y ago
  Case in point: children in Finland bike to school [1] even at -17C/2F. Studded tires work really well, even if it‘s a bit icy. [1] https://www.boredpanda.com/students-bicycle-school-winter-snow-oulu-finland https://www.boredpanda.com/students-bicycle-school-winter-sn...
  • Someone 5y ago
    Temperature isn’t the best indicator of bikeability. That photo, to me, looks like a cloudless sky, so chances are it’s dry, little or no wind, and low humidity. Even at -17C, that’s easy to dress for and way better than what you get around freezing with wind and rain, when the cloud cover prevents temperatures from dropping very deep (e.g. your typical British/Belgian/Dutch autumn weather) Even that is quite doable, though, at shortish distances (say less than 5km), certainly with some wind cover, as there typically is in cities.
• jimhefferon 5y ago
  At my house it is currently 6F. There is six inches of snow and freezing rain on everything, so roads are icy. Biking would be stupid.
  • pcmoney 5y ago
    Studded tires work great. People use them at ski resorts and mountain towns from Colorado to Alaska.
• wussboy 5y ago
  Unfortunately this advice is irrelevant (or suicidal) in many climates. Canada’s prairie provinces are completely unridable for 3-6 months out of the year.
  • phonypc 5y ago
    Shameless opportunity to share one of my favourite youtube videos from the last few years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhx-26GfCBU TL;DW Oulu, Finland is as cold and snowy as any population center in Canada. Plenty of people bike there year round. The issue is municipal infrastructure, not climate.
  • pomian 5y ago
    To help clarify. There are many different northern climates. Close to the oceans,which is Coastal, is very different than continental. I think there is misconception for those who don't understand, because how can they(?) If they have not experienced a Canadian or Siberian prairie winter. 30 to 40 degrees below zero ( °f=°c), wind blowing, constantly 30 to 50 km/hr(20-30mph), so wind chill maybe - 60 or more. (exposed skin frozen ~dead immediately.) Roads not only snowy and icy, but blowing snow, so poor visibility. Equipment breaks from the cold, for example if you go through a pot hole - and can't avoid that because there are no sidewalks or shoulders because snow. This weather can last for 2,3,4 months. We do play outside when we can, with preparation, but commuting, and shopping for essentials, is not playing.
    • hydrok9 5y ago
      I'm a lifelong central canada resident and I can confirm both the truth of this AND the fact that people do bike all winter round. It really is a case of acclimatization and preparedness (fitness being included in this).
    • wussboy 5y ago
      And then add kids in to the mix. Is just not possible (despite the baffling downvotes).
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
• pengaru 5y ago
  Why bike? Man up and run everywhere.
  • agumonkey 5y ago
    I can bike as fast as Usain Bolt runs. Also biking is a bit easier on your back and legs. It may harm shoulders and testicles though.
    • notacoward 5y ago
      > I can bike as fast as Usain Bolt runs. ...which means absolutely nothing in terms of either ability or fitness. Sure, if you're time constrained, biking might be feasible where running is not. Otherwise it's just Easy Mode.
      • agumonkey 5y ago
        1) It was half a joke (implying I will never reach 35km/h with my legs) 2) OP was trying to go back into physical exercise, doing everything by bike is a great way to jump back. Running is amazing but your options are greatly reduced. I can use my bike to commute which means I don't have to allocate time for physical exercise. Aren't we all time constrained ? have a good day
    • pengaru 5y ago
      > biking is a bit easier on your back and legs. It may harm shoulders and testicles though. Not when you actually consider the probabilities of getting injured in a crash/fall. I can't tell you the number of times I've been injured on two wheels. Once I was run over by an inattentive driver hitting my BMX, knocking me to the ground, driving over my leg. On other occasions I've broken my wrists, broken collarbone, countless instances of road rash and other wounds. Other people here are arguing you can cycle in snow and ice, lololol, been there, done that, have the scars to prove it. There's just no comparison in the context of "easier on your body". You can run/walk on sidewalks and trails with all the other pedestrians, away from cars. Cycling near massive vehicles driven by people addicted to taking selfies is so hazardous to your body it tends to kill it to death. If fitness is the goal, running is way more effective in the same unit of time than cycling. I've done both trail running and mountain biking on similar trails. Every time I get really into the trail running mode enough to have the necessary fitness to really execute, returning to my mountain bike feels like easy mode with heaps of unnecessary mechanical wankery thrown in mostly because it entertains my inner gearhead and gives me more things to play consumer whore shopping for and buying.
• agumonkey 5y ago
  How long have you been doing this ? I managed to implement this since july this year. Very good benefits (muscle mass, cardiovascular health) but winter early night makes it a lot less joyful and I'm feeling less motivated. Also I see my thighs are getting thick and stiff .. but maybe I can fix that (jogging session and stretch ?)
  • schrijver 5y ago
    Not the parent poster, but have done this all my live. In The Netherlands people generally stop biking for sport in the winter, yet continue biking to work, which shows that your observation that it looses its fun is largely shared. It’s just that the benefits keep outweighing the drawbacks: it’s cheap, fast (at least in congested cities), sustainable, and good for your health. Then again, it’s much easier to keep doing something when everybody else is doing it, so if you’re in an area where cyclists are a minority I imagine it’s more of a challenge to convince yourself. The advantages do still apply so I’m sending virtual encouragement!
    • agumonkey 5y ago
      > Then again, it’s much easier to keep doing something when everybody else is doing it, so if you’re in an area where cyclists are a minority I imagine it’s more of a challenge to convince yourself. The advantages do still apply so I’m sending virtual encouragement! Very much, and also netherlands bike lane system is a real luxury. I'm lucky to have a long bike lane to bike freely, if most of my area was like this I'd be biking twice more.
  • jl2718 5y ago
    About 15 years, although rarely since lockdown. When I started working, I noticed that the only healthy old people were the bike commuters. Other people had fitness routines by convenience, and they didn't last to old age. Bike commuting was closer to a religion. You start out just trying to get some exercise, but you find freedom and self-mastery. It's a constant set of new and deeper challenges, as you push through the breaking points of each part of both body and equipment, not because you want to, but because you have to. Fitness is no longer a goal, but a means to a higher goal - simply surviving on this planet by your own god/evolution-given power. Thick and stiff sounds great to me. Regardless, I don't recommend jogging; I do recommend short runs building to max stride directly after completing a ride. I also like glute-ham raises and the reverse sit-ups to balance things out.
• notacoward 5y ago
  That's great when you already have that ability, and when circumstances permit. There's a bit more to it for people who do not have that ability, might never have that ability due to disability, or live in places/situations where it's not feasible. "That's all" is an expression of privilege, not real advice.
  • schrijver 5y ago
    “That’s all you need to know” is not the best way to put it… “It’s one of the best hacks out there” would be better. It’s kind of “take the stairs instead of the elevator” on steroids… you’re modifying something you have to do anyway, creating a new habit that will work in your favour… and in this case it also has environmental benefits and is likely cheaper then other forms of transport. But like any hack, there are scenarios where it won’t work, that’s clear.
  • jl2718 5y ago
    Recumbents are great for all body types.
    • notacoward 5y ago
      What about the type that has bad knees, or metabolic issues, or low vision, or seizures, or about a hundred other things? Somehow I think a hard-to-see-in-traffic recumbent bicycle isn't going to be a solution for them. Advocacy is a wonderful thing, but when it turns into ableism it's disgusting.
      • jl2718 5y ago
        I hear you. My uncle is disabled in the legs and I’ve admittedly had a hard time finding a recumbent arm bike that he felt comfortable enough to actually do his commuting on.
• dehrmann 5y ago
  That's great for cardio, but the main muscles it works are the quads. Hamstrings aren't emphasized, and upper body is lacking.
  • namdnay 5y ago
    Does upper body strength have a big impact on longevity? I would have imagined that daily biking covers 99% of the health gains
    • schrijver 5y ago
      I would think so too. The advantage is that since it’s part of daily life, you create this baseline of exercise that is always there, also when you lack motivation or time to do other sports.
• mpalczewski 5y ago
  Depending on where you live this advise my shorten your life expectancy and health expectancy. I’ve seen those on bikes get hit by cars plenty of times.
  • arisAlexis 5y ago
    Also cycling next to exhaust fumes is controversial at least
  • jl2718 5y ago
    This is correct. Daily street commuters can expect to get hit. I took some observational statistics at the place where I started commuting, and there were about 20 people that biked to work every day, and one got killed on average every 2 years, mostly on a single 400m stretch of busy road running to the building entrance. The main feature that increases safety seems to be overt bike lane and shoulder markings. So push for those if you have any involvement with local government. Our problem was the snow plows grinding down the paint, so some drivers would do things like try to pass on the right as if it was a multi-lane road. They will not notice a cyclist at all when doing something like that. I've also been hit by red light racers. They are only looking at the light, zero awareness of anything else. The best thing you can do is probably to just run the brightest flashers you can at all times, front, back, and sides. And this sounds silly, but, think about what you are going to do if something goes wrong. My worst hit was greatly mitigated by just remaining calm and reacting as I had rehearsed in my head, rolling up onto the windshield and tucking into a ball as I flipped through the air. One thing I wasn't quite ready for what what it feels like to get hit by a wall of steel at that speed, nothing like what happens at normal human speeds like playing football.
• foobiekr 5y ago
  Biking doesn’t do much for bone mass retention or upper body strength. Bike all you want, but also lift.