10 ms·

"My Bike Is Everything to Me"

175 points by robenkleene 2y ago

metadat 2y ago
[deleted by admin]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- JDEW 2y ago
  > I don't think it costs 15kcals to carry 1KG of mass 1km on a bicycle. Not to be pedantic, but you’re off by a factor of 100 :)
- happytoexplain 2y ago
  0.15 per gram would be 150 per kg, not 15. And presumably they mean cal, not kcal.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    So a 75kg person can ride a kilometer only expending 11.25kcal? That doesn't sound right either. 75kg * 1000g/kg * 0.15cal/g * 0.001cal/kcal = 11.25kcal Right? I would expect an order of magnitude higher. But if that is correct... damn. Bicycles are incredible.
    - Jtsummers 2y ago
      Let's say it is an order of magnitude more (~100kcal/km), I ride about 30km per day average right now that'd mean I burn 3kcal/day extra just from this training. I am eating nowhere near 5kcal/day (assuming ~2kcal maintenance just for living plus other movement during the day) so I'd be losing weight very quickly if that estimate were correct. The .15cal/g is much closer to what I'm probably burning. According to my Garmin it was 540 calories which is 18kcal/km, and I weigh ~86kg which puts me at about .20cal/g, not much higher than Walton's number. And I was definitely not taking a casual pace, there was no coasting on that ride.
      - kelnos 2y ago
        Wow, okay. Bicycles are just incredible machines after all. An interesting result of this is that if you're trying to lose weight, cycling isn't the most time-efficient way to burn calories!
        jseutter 2y ago
        Yes, this is very true. In my case, I think my weight loss from mountain biking comes from riding hills I wouldn't normally (and often pushing up hills), eating better (I'm not sitting at my desk and therefore spend less time snacking), and building leg muscle. Running is a much quicker way to burn calories. I hate running. :)
        pastage 2y ago
        Commuting by bicycle is time efficient though, since you will do exercise instead. It also makes other training more efficient since your base fitness goes up.
        elric 2y ago
        You can't outrun a bad diet, and you certainly can't outcycle it. But it keeps you fit, keeps your legs toned, and (depending on where you are) gets you from A to B for nearly free.
        watwut 2y ago
        I hate this meme. Adding mild sport to the lifestyle consistently improves peoples health results. It improves how they feel on emotional level too. And in my experience, hunger/satiety regulation works better when I do mild sport. So, if the loosing weight thing is about more then just an aesthetics, if there is a hint of "I actually care about health too" motivation, then cycling or running or whatever sport one likes adds a lot of benefit. Certainly going to work by bike is better for weight itself then going by car.
        elric 2y ago
        > Certainly going to work by bike is better for weight itself then going by car. "Certainly"? Not really. Depends entirely on your habits. If you get to work after your bike ride and eat a Snickers because it made you peckish, and you didn't do that when going by car, you've effectively done nothing for your weight. It's true that exercise is good for you regardless. But it is orders of magnitude easier to ingest calories through food than it is to burn them through exercises.
725686 2y ago
"Basketball was good for Walton but it also ruined his body" How so?
- bigiain 2y ago
  From this: "I have not been able to walk for enjoyment or pleasure or exercise in 41 years" - I'd guess the usual way basketball ruins bodies - it's probably fucked up his hips and knees. Edit: From one of the links: “I have had 38 orthopedic operations,” Walton told Bicycling. “Both my ankles are fused. I have an artificial knee. I have a new spine. I have broken countless bones. Every bone in both hands. Every bone in both feet; both legs. I have broken my back. I’ve had countless facial and cranial fractures. I spent my life falling down, getting hacked and fouled and getting in fights.”
  - fbdab103 2y ago
    At some point, you would think maybe he would quit the sport of his own accord? Were I to break a single digit number of bones in a foot or hand, I am done.
    - bigiain 2y ago
      If you enjoy something enough, you keep doing it in spite of some setbacks or pain. Over 25 years I've cracked ribs a few times and dislocated a shoulder once from not being a good enough motorcycle rider. I am still riding motorcycles. If you enjoy something enough _and_ are making a shitload of money doing it, I'd guess some people's injury list would get quite horrifying before they chose to be "done".
- jjjjoe 2y ago
  He was prone to broken bones starting in high school, but kept playing basketball because he was quite good at it despite all the recovery downtime. ESPN did a writeup: https://web.archive.org/web/20240528203417/https://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/Walton_Bill.html https://web.archive.org/web/20240528203417/https://www.espn....
corpMaverick 2y ago
I feel the same.I am more of a casual rider, but when I ride my bike in me feel so good. It is a source of health and happiness. I hope to be able to do it for many years. I wish cities in this side of the Atlantic had more biking infrastructure.
- the_snooze 2y ago
  Bikes are such wonderful machines: they're immensely practical, scrutable, cheap and easy to maintain, and just a joy to operate. There's something really liberating about having the option to bike for short-distance trips (the majority trips in the US are within 5 miles of home [1]) and avoiding the stress of traffic, parking, and gas prices. [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021 https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-marc...
  - atoav 2y ago
    Many people don't know that the bicycle is one of the most efficient means of transporting a humans in terms of energy needed to move a mile. It is more efficient than walking and way more efficient than using a car. https://annex.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html https://annex.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html
    - vancroft 2y ago
      Side note, never heard of the band mentioned in the article but it sounds interesting: Bicycle is "a band that rolls across the country on bicycles and rocks in towns and cities along the way. ... 'Heavy metal folk rap' is how the New York Times coined the band's sound." Unfortunately the link to the band's page appears to be gone, and there's nothing on google about them. Rare to find something these days that has almost 0 web presence!
- wozniacki 2y ago
  Whether we like it or not some facts: a) Biking as exists in the U.S. / Canada is a leisure-class demographic activity and not a "bread-and-butter" earning activity. If you did a survey of bicyclists you'd find they are of a certain tax bracket nowhere remotely close to low-income. Study after study shows they skew high income earners / well educated. b) The average non-wealthy American wants thinks his tax money is going to keeping the road infrastructure in good repair. c) Outside of well-heeled zip codes we are not going to see bike lane infrastructure be given priority over such more pressing concerns. d) We could all have great things if we were not warring all the time to get small things passed, much less a luxury ( in the scheme of things ) like bike lane infrastructure. I'm not even talking about the opposition from businesses here.[1] [1] S.F. Several businesses along Valencia Street have posted signs in their windows that read, “This Bike Lane Is Killing Small Businesses and Our Vibrant Community,” with a QR code for the San Francisco Small Business Coalition. | https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/inlined03_20231204_valenciabikelane.jpg https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/in... San Francisco Valencia Street Bike Lanes Bad for Business? https://sfstandard.com/2023/12/08/san-francisco-small-business-protests-valencia-street-bike-lane/ https://sfstandard.com/2023/12/08/san-francisco-small-busine... Cambridge, Mass ‘It's a Disaster': Cambridge Store Owners Say Bike Lanes Are Bad for Business https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/its-a-disaster-cambridge-store-owners-say-bike-lanes-are-bad-for-business/30753/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/its-a-disaster-cambridg...
abound 2y ago
In the realm of "NBA players who turned to cycling after their careers", there's also Reggie Miller. I did a ride a few years ago that he was a part of: https://moots.com/blog/reggie-miller-rides-2022-moots-ranch-rally/ https://moots.com/blog/reggie-miller-rides-2022-moots-ranch-...
- tconbeer 2y ago
  Reggie is on the board of USA Cycling: https://gravelnats.usacycling.org/article/feature-reggie-miller https://gravelnats.usacycling.org/article/feature-reggie-mil...
- rckclmbr 2y ago
  Mark Eaton too, unfortunately got hit and killed on his bike
  - __mharrison__ 2y ago
    Shawn Bradley was paralyzed as well from a biking accident...
    - Gud 2y ago
      From Wikipedia: "On January 20, 2021, Bradley was struck from behind by a motorist while riding his bicycle near his home in St. George, Utah, which resulted in a traumatic spinal cord injury in his neck that left him paralyzed.[39] A driver attempted to pass Bradley on the left in the same travel lane while Bradley himself was in the process of passing another car parked on the shoulder of the road." So not really a bicycle accident, but a motorist accident? In case they would both have been riding bicycles, I doubt Mr Shawn Bradley would have been so unfortunate. Might sound like nitpicking, but in places actually designed for multi-modal traffic and not just for cars these accidents are very rare.
  - keiferski 2y ago
    The Wikipedia article claims that there was no vehicle involved. It reads more like a heart attack to me. The sheriff said that there were no witnesses to the incident nor any indication that a vehicle was involved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eaton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eaton
xmonkee 2y ago
As a fellow bike lover, this was very emotional to read. I am a shit rider, but I think about my bike all the time lol. It really is everything to me.
- bitwize 2y ago
  Quoth a bike shop owner to me many years ago: "Just... fuckin' ride, man." Nobody cares how shit or good you are as long as you love doing it.
honkycat 2y ago
Imagine a world where instead of giant SUVs clogging up billion-dollar road projects, we had park-and-rides and biking infrastructure. No more obesity epidemic. Cleaner cities. Cheaper cities! Less micro-particles from tires filling our waterways. Less traffic, things that actually need to be transported by cars can get where they are going faster. But then how do the road construction firms and automobile manufacturers make their bread?
- komali2 2y ago
  Forget the park and ride, a metro system with bike parking! Living in Taipei has been a dream. Take the metro somewhere, grab a ubike to complete your journey. Feeling fat after a massive hot pot dinner? Grab a ubike and bike home. Now we just need to pressure the city to build actually bike infrastructure on the road...
- poochkoishi728 2y ago
  Obesity comes from being lazy and eating lots, the impact of bikes on obesity would be equivalent to the rolling friction of a fat person rolling down a hill
  - riehwvfbk 2y ago
    Overweight - sure. Obesity - mostly due to psychological issues, not laziness.
  - honkycat 2y ago
    It's due to inactivity, look it up. Or as WHO puts it: "Overweight and obesity result from an imbalance of energy intake (diet) and energy expenditure (physical activity)."
  - fire_lake 2y ago
    But what you eat and what you do are massively influenced by your environment. Rare person who can resist the bombardment of ads from the junk food industry.
  - watwut 2y ago
nowandlater 2y ago
"Equipped with this tool, a person outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well" M-F morning this cheeky little chihuahua gives me a run for my money tho
sponaugle 2y ago
This was interesting: "By contrast, a person on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than a pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. " That sounds about right for a bike on a paved road, but I would assume over uneven ground the ratio of efficiency is less? Is a hiker on a trail that much less efficient than a mountain bike on the same trail? I would think that at higher slopes the efficency ratio goes down even more due to the mass of the bike?
- stevenwoo 2y ago
  There's a small loss possible due to tires slipping a bit, also higher rolling resistance due to usually wider and less smooth tires. The grade needs to get steeper than 10% on pavement or off for the weight penalty of a bicycle to count against the rider versus the efficiency, depending upon the weight of the bicycle+rider. If you look at the times of guys in the Tour de France for climbs up mountains the fastest can do a four minute mile on the uphill parts, here's last years winner on a 10 mile climb https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a44465449/tour-de-france-2023-col-du-tourmalet-pogacars-strava/ https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a44465449/tour-de-f... For reference if a marathon runner could go that fast I believe they would run a 1:45 marathon - up a mountain. The top end cross country mountain bikes weigh about 6-10 pounds more than the bikes the road professionals are using.
- speedgoose 2y ago
  I haven’t done scientific experiments but I think a MTB is still quite efficient on average. But a lot less than a road bike without suspension nor grip on a flat road. When going uphill on difficult terrain with my mountain bike, I sometimes get passed by trail runners. If we continue on the same path, I pass them back on flat and downhill sections so it may be worth it. I can also bike quite a bit longer than I can trail run. Sometimes I have to push or carry the bike and the efficiency isn’t great for sure but a mountain bike isn’t that heavy and you can use it as support too. But it’s slower than a hiker going uphill.
- pastage 2y ago
  Good walking paths are always faster by bicycle. There is a 1000 km path through the woods of Stockholm it is not ment for cycling but I can still go at least 3x times the distance with no extra energy. This is with a normal bike.
allturtles 2y ago
The quote starting "By contrast, a person on a bicycle..." is sourced to a blog post, but that blog post is plagiarizing Ivan Illich [0]. [0]: https://archive.org/details/towardhistoryofn00illi/page/134/mode/2up?q=transducer https://archive.org/details/towardhistoryofn00illi/page/134/...
gnicholas 2y ago
When I was a young man, I was riding my bike through a wealthy exurb in Silicon Valley. An older man motored by in a luxury vehicle and I thought how nice it must be to have so much wealth. Then I realized that perhaps the thought crossing his mind was "how nice it must be to be young and vigorous enough to go out cycling".
- justinator 2y ago
  He probably was thinking "why are you in my way with that toy you've obviously have outgrown".
goda90 2y ago
> and my wheelchair. I experienced this this week. Started having lateral foot pain while walking and standing over the weekend. But no pain while pedaling. I walk considerably less when biking to work than driving to work because I keep my bike in my office instead of walking from the parking garage. What a relief it was to move without pain.
jjtheblunt 2y ago
stupid language question: what does "low-key" mean here? seems an adverb. > Walton knew: the bicycle is low-key one of humankind’s greatest inventions
- spidersenses 2y ago
  I think it means something like "secretly". It's millenial slang.
  - ajb 2y ago
    I think it's more like "unobtrusively"
- fragmede 2y ago
  Something that's not drawing much attention.
- justinator 2y ago
  I would say that "low-key" is a strange phrase to use, as it's essentially jazz slang (like a low, bass note), while also somewhat outdated. "Low-key" would be how you would ask for drugs at a party or a show. You want to buy drugs, but you don't necessarily want everyone to know you want to buy drugs, so you ask the right person who knows the guy that knows the guy - perhaps you whispered your request all, "low-key" like. I would sort of agree that it's a strange place to put it in this sentence. It kinda needs an em-dash or something: "Walton knew: the bicycle is -- low-key -- one of humankind’s greatest inventions" But I would edit that all out as it's not needed and disturbs the flow of the sentence. I think what the author is trying to say is more, "underappreciated". Walton knew: the bicycle is one of humankind’s most underappreciated, yet greatest inventions. Perhaps in the vein of indoor plumbing, tho many people go without riding bikes, while none of us who have indoor plumbing would give it up. Or maybe even "under the radar". You know the best place to eat in town, but it's just some hole in the wall managed by a single guy, but god-damn do those mashed potatoes slap. Bicycle love isn't something advertised, like a car is. You get on a bike and you fall in love with it. Attraction over promotion.
- 2y ago
fulafel 2y ago
Another thing to think about from the high energy efficiency is how bad energy-wise current electric cars are, and of coruse this translates to resource use in battery materials as well when transporting the median nr of passengers. See eg here: https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/e-bikes-are-radically-more-efficient-than-electric-cars/ https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/e-bikes-are-radically-m...
- DeRock 2y ago
  Do you know what's about 5 times worse energy wise than electric cars? Gas cars.
  - fulafel 2y ago
    It's closer to 2x (see eg https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/ https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribu...). But yes, a gas car is a worse thing still than a electric car, neither are sustainable. We need to cut car use rapidly to mitigate the climate disaster.
Deprogrammer9 2y ago
I would ride more if the city I lived in made it safer to do so. Chicago was a bike paradise when I lived in that city I never owned a car while living in Chicago.
dvh 2y ago
Are those 700C?
keiferski 2y ago
I once had a very expensive leather backpack stolen. Inside were my passport, a DSLR, laptop, and some other things. Total value was in the thousands, easily. It bothered me (and was a financial burden) when that stuff was stolen. But when my $400 hybrid bike was stolen a few years later, it bothered me twice as much, if not more. I think because a bike is a durable, daily thing that you come to depend on, while expensive gadgets are just gadgets.
- mshroyer 2y ago
  Additionally, when you use a bike long enough you'll often end up making a number of tiny adjustments to it over time. The monetary value of these adjustments may be minimal—add a saddle and rack and bags that fit just right, adjust the handlebars, swap on either more supple or puncture-resistant tires depending on your needs, maybe tweak the gear ratios—but they add up to make the bike work perfectly for you. When a bike is stolen, the difficulty of replicating this "perfect setup" can be wildly disproportionate to the cost of the bike.
  - Doxin 2y ago
    Even if you keep your bike in it's factory configuration, you've gotten used to it. A new bike will always feel wrong for a while.
mstaoru 2y ago
I couldn't ride a bike until, ugh, maybe 21? Once I discovered the joy of it, I never let it go and still biking every day for almost 20 years. When I lived in China, it was very easy to bike. China's infrastructure is new and it has dedicated lanes. It can be very stressful though because it's so dense, and since there's general lack of any culture or manners, people on scooters can be very rude and pushy. Also nobody would help you if you fall, they just keep passing by (source: fell 4-5 times in my 12 years in China). Now I'm living in Bangkok which looks like cyclist's hell: horrible pavement, narrow roads, motorcycles, and constant traffic jams. However, I find it easier to bike since everybody are generally courteous to each other, and I fell once and had like 10 people rush to help me. Very heartwarming. The point is, you can build a great biking infrastructure, but culture is very important as well.
incomingpain 2y ago
Ive been cycling since forever. I couldn't tell you how many times I went over my handlebars before I was a teen. Last year I bought an ebike. I love it. Cycling is different with a ebike. Hills don't particularly matter, you choose the speed you want to go, and all leg energy simply moves you faster then that speed. You put in the same amount of workout, as much as you please, and when you get tired, the bike takes you home. You also reach much further distances then you normally would without, so you get to see more. But my bike means nothing to me. I will replace it in an instant if the right opportunity knocks.
Gualdrapo 2y ago
My bikes (and my dogs) saved me not only during the lockdowns, but in a time when my life was way darker than that, between october 2015 and march 2018 (couldn't get a job for much I tried to, completely heartbroken, several of my dogs died, bullied by my own sister, parents' illness...) so I definitely can relate to this. Trully one of the noblest inventions humanity has made.
tracerbulletx 2y ago
When I got covid I had a few months where I had really bad brain fog and bad lung capacity and couldn't do much. Every evening I'd do a low effort loop on my bike around the neighborhood to get out of the house. Since then I've bought a nicer road bike and am putting up 100km a week and doing some real climbs and it's been my favorite hobby.
moribvndvs 2y ago
I grew up on a bike. It was the only way to get around the neighborhood with friends, as if something was more than a couple hundred feet, you did it on bike. We biked to the city nearby to see movies or hang out at the mall. We biked into the woods to get away from everyone. We biked across town because it was something to do. Bikes were freedom. My father was big into cycling. Diagnosed with diabetes as a juvenile, he believed if he stopped cycling he would die (unfortunately, the disease ultimately won, as it always does… but the last thing he was doing before going to the hospital for a 5 month ordeal after which he died was riding his bike). He participated in endurance races and tours, he rode his bike 20-30 miles each way to work and back almost every day of the week, the Tour de France was his Super Bowl and local or other international races were his college bowls. He spent a lot of time reading biographies of renowned cyclists. Some of my most cherished memories are our several TOSRV tours together on a heavy steel Japanese tandem, even the days of icy rain, baking sun, or when Dad had a reaction and I had to pedal us both… uphill with a headwind. My riding dropped almost completely off, with spikes of interest here and there. I rode my bike multiple times a week to visit him in the hospital before he died, a 40 mile round trip. Those moments alone (other than the terrible traffic) were moments of respite and quiet in my fear and anxiety over my dad’s descent, my recent and failing marriage, my trouble with alcohol, my trouble with my career. He died and left me his bike, a Masi Gran Criterium that he bought around the time I was born, rode every day, painstakingly overhauled and sunk ungodly amounts of time and money into over the years he had it. I rode it on and off. I’ve done a few smaller tours in the 2010s until I had a health concern. I rode it during the pandemic with my mom until I started getting bad saddle and wrist pains. I started becoming afraid something would happen to the Masi and I would lose a deep connection to my father. But I’ll be god damned if I don’t feel he’s right there beside me when I ride it, and all the world goes quiet except the soft clicking of the bike and the woosh of air blowing by. Yet, I keep making excuses for not riding. I’m gonna get that god damned bike off the wall and go for a ride.
michtzik 2y ago
Carla's comment on this post: > I worked on both the retail and manufacturing side of bikes for a couple of decades, seeing it from the early days of MTB to its current form. I really love riding, but the moral high ground of the bicycle purist has also sheltered a commodity-driven, economically-rarified (in the US), and not very diverse industry from some necessary critique and change. Celebratory statements about bikes are often made by people who have the civic or trail infrastructure and economic freedom to experience just the positive sides of cycling. There are many places where the engineering advantages aren't enough, for reasons that include geography, climate, gender, and labor rights. There are also huge issues around the increases in traffic in formerly remote areas, due in part to the ease we can access those areas on our comfortable and fast bikes.

175 points by robenkleene 2y ago

metadat 2y ago

[deleted by admin]

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
JDEW 2y ago
> I don't think it costs 15kcals to carry 1KG of mass 1km on a bicycle. Not to be pedantic, but you’re off by a factor of 100 :)
happytoexplain 2y ago
0.15 per gram would be 150 per kg, not 15. And presumably they mean cal, not kcal.
- kelnos 2y ago
  So a 75kg person can ride a kilometer only expending 11.25kcal? That doesn't sound right either. 75kg * 1000g/kg * 0.15cal/g * 0.001cal/kcal = 11.25kcal Right? I would expect an order of magnitude higher. But if that is correct... damn. Bicycles are incredible.
  - Jtsummers 2y ago
    Let's say it is an order of magnitude more (~100kcal/km), I ride about 30km per day average right now that'd mean I burn 3kcal/day extra just from this training. I am eating nowhere near 5kcal/day (assuming ~2kcal maintenance just for living plus other movement during the day) so I'd be losing weight very quickly if that estimate were correct. The .15cal/g is much closer to what I'm probably burning. According to my Garmin it was 540 calories which is 18kcal/km, and I weigh ~86kg which puts me at about .20cal/g, not much higher than Walton's number. And I was definitely not taking a casual pace, there was no coasting on that ride.
    - kelnos 2y ago
      Wow, okay. Bicycles are just incredible machines after all. An interesting result of this is that if you're trying to lose weight, cycling isn't the most time-efficient way to burn calories!
      - jseutter 2y ago
        Yes, this is very true. In my case, I think my weight loss from mountain biking comes from riding hills I wouldn't normally (and often pushing up hills), eating better (I'm not sitting at my desk and therefore spend less time snacking), and building leg muscle. Running is a much quicker way to burn calories. I hate running. :)
      - pastage 2y ago
        Commuting by bicycle is time efficient though, since you will do exercise instead. It also makes other training more efficient since your base fitness goes up.
      - elric 2y ago
        You can't outrun a bad diet, and you certainly can't outcycle it. But it keeps you fit, keeps your legs toned, and (depending on where you are) gets you from A to B for nearly free.
        watwut 2y ago
        I hate this meme. Adding mild sport to the lifestyle consistently improves peoples health results. It improves how they feel on emotional level too. And in my experience, hunger/satiety regulation works better when I do mild sport. So, if the loosing weight thing is about more then just an aesthetics, if there is a hint of "I actually care about health too" motivation, then cycling or running or whatever sport one likes adds a lot of benefit. Certainly going to work by bike is better for weight itself then going by car.
        elric 2y ago
        > Certainly going to work by bike is better for weight itself then going by car. "Certainly"? Not really. Depends entirely on your habits. If you get to work after your bike ride and eat a Snickers because it made you peckish, and you didn't do that when going by car, you've effectively done nothing for your weight. It's true that exercise is good for you regardless. But it is orders of magnitude easier to ingest calories through food than it is to burn them through exercises.

725686 2y ago

"Basketball was good for Walton but it also ruined his body" How so?

bigiain 2y ago
From this: "I have not been able to walk for enjoyment or pleasure or exercise in 41 years" - I'd guess the usual way basketball ruins bodies - it's probably fucked up his hips and knees. Edit: From one of the links: “I have had 38 orthopedic operations,” Walton told Bicycling. “Both my ankles are fused. I have an artificial knee. I have a new spine. I have broken countless bones. Every bone in both hands. Every bone in both feet; both legs. I have broken my back. I’ve had countless facial and cranial fractures. I spent my life falling down, getting hacked and fouled and getting in fights.”
- fbdab103 2y ago
  At some point, you would think maybe he would quit the sport of his own accord? Were I to break a single digit number of bones in a foot or hand, I am done.
  - bigiain 2y ago
    If you enjoy something enough, you keep doing it in spite of some setbacks or pain. Over 25 years I've cracked ribs a few times and dislocated a shoulder once from not being a good enough motorcycle rider. I am still riding motorcycles. If you enjoy something enough _and_ are making a shitload of money doing it, I'd guess some people's injury list would get quite horrifying before they chose to be "done".
jjjjoe 2y ago
He was prone to broken bones starting in high school, but kept playing basketball because he was quite good at it despite all the recovery downtime. ESPN did a writeup: https://web.archive.org/web/20240528203417/https://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/Walton_Bill.html https://web.archive.org/web/20240528203417/https://www.espn....

corpMaverick 2y ago

I feel the same.I am more of a casual rider, but when I ride my bike in me feel so good. It is a source of health and happiness. I hope to be able to do it for many years. I wish cities in this side of the Atlantic had more biking infrastructure.

the_snooze 2y ago
Bikes are such wonderful machines: they're immensely practical, scrutable, cheap and easy to maintain, and just a joy to operate. There's something really liberating about having the option to bike for short-distance trips (the majority trips in the US are within 5 miles of home [1]) and avoiding the stress of traffic, parking, and gas prices. [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021 https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-marc...
- atoav 2y ago
  Many people don't know that the bicycle is one of the most efficient means of transporting a humans in terms of energy needed to move a mile. It is more efficient than walking and way more efficient than using a car. https://annex.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html https://annex.exploratorium.edu/cycling/humanpower1.html
  - vancroft 2y ago
    Side note, never heard of the band mentioned in the article but it sounds interesting: Bicycle is "a band that rolls across the country on bicycles and rocks in towns and cities along the way. ... 'Heavy metal folk rap' is how the New York Times coined the band's sound." Unfortunately the link to the band's page appears to be gone, and there's nothing on google about them. Rare to find something these days that has almost 0 web presence!
wozniacki 2y ago
Whether we like it or not some facts: a) Biking as exists in the U.S. / Canada is a leisure-class demographic activity and not a "bread-and-butter" earning activity. If you did a survey of bicyclists you'd find they are of a certain tax bracket nowhere remotely close to low-income. Study after study shows they skew high income earners / well educated. b) The average non-wealthy American wants thinks his tax money is going to keeping the road infrastructure in good repair. c) Outside of well-heeled zip codes we are not going to see bike lane infrastructure be given priority over such more pressing concerns. d) We could all have great things if we were not warring all the time to get small things passed, much less a luxury ( in the scheme of things ) like bike lane infrastructure. I'm not even talking about the opposition from businesses here.[1] [1] S.F. Several businesses along Valencia Street have posted signs in their windows that read, “This Bike Lane Is Killing Small Businesses and Our Vibrant Community,” with a QR code for the San Francisco Small Business Coalition. | https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/inlined03_20231204_valenciabikelane.jpg https://content.sfstandard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/in... San Francisco Valencia Street Bike Lanes Bad for Business? https://sfstandard.com/2023/12/08/san-francisco-small-business-protests-valencia-street-bike-lane/ https://sfstandard.com/2023/12/08/san-francisco-small-busine... Cambridge, Mass ‘It's a Disaster': Cambridge Store Owners Say Bike Lanes Are Bad for Business https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/its-a-disaster-cambridge-store-owners-say-bike-lanes-are-bad-for-business/30753/ https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/its-a-disaster-cambridg...

abound 2y ago

In the realm of "NBA players who turned to cycling after their careers", there's also Reggie Miller. I did a ride a few years ago that he was a part of: https://moots.com/blog/reggie-miller-rides-2022-moots-ranch-rally/ https://moots.com/blog/reggie-miller-rides-2022-moots-ranch-...

tconbeer 2y ago
Reggie is on the board of USA Cycling: https://gravelnats.usacycling.org/article/feature-reggie-miller https://gravelnats.usacycling.org/article/feature-reggie-mil...
rckclmbr 2y ago
Mark Eaton too, unfortunately got hit and killed on his bike
- __mharrison__ 2y ago
  Shawn Bradley was paralyzed as well from a biking accident...
  - Gud 2y ago
    From Wikipedia: "On January 20, 2021, Bradley was struck from behind by a motorist while riding his bicycle near his home in St. George, Utah, which resulted in a traumatic spinal cord injury in his neck that left him paralyzed.[39] A driver attempted to pass Bradley on the left in the same travel lane while Bradley himself was in the process of passing another car parked on the shoulder of the road." So not really a bicycle accident, but a motorist accident? In case they would both have been riding bicycles, I doubt Mr Shawn Bradley would have been so unfortunate. Might sound like nitpicking, but in places actually designed for multi-modal traffic and not just for cars these accidents are very rare.
- keiferski 2y ago
  The Wikipedia article claims that there was no vehicle involved. It reads more like a heart attack to me. The sheriff said that there were no witnesses to the incident nor any indication that a vehicle was involved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eaton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eaton

xmonkee 2y ago

As a fellow bike lover, this was very emotional to read. I am a shit rider, but I think about my bike all the time lol. It really is everything to me.

bitwize 2y ago
Quoth a bike shop owner to me many years ago: "Just... fuckin' ride, man." Nobody cares how shit or good you are as long as you love doing it.

honkycat 2y ago

Imagine a world where instead of giant SUVs clogging up billion-dollar road projects, we had park-and-rides and biking infrastructure. No more obesity epidemic. Cleaner cities. Cheaper cities! Less micro-particles from tires filling our waterways. Less traffic, things that actually need to be transported by cars can get where they are going faster. But then how do the road construction firms and automobile manufacturers make their bread?

komali2 2y ago
Forget the park and ride, a metro system with bike parking! Living in Taipei has been a dream. Take the metro somewhere, grab a ubike to complete your journey. Feeling fat after a massive hot pot dinner? Grab a ubike and bike home. Now we just need to pressure the city to build actually bike infrastructure on the road...
poochkoishi728 2y ago
Obesity comes from being lazy and eating lots, the impact of bikes on obesity would be equivalent to the rolling friction of a fat person rolling down a hill
- riehwvfbk 2y ago
  Overweight - sure. Obesity - mostly due to psychological issues, not laziness.
- honkycat 2y ago
  It's due to inactivity, look it up. Or as WHO puts it: "Overweight and obesity result from an imbalance of energy intake (diet) and energy expenditure (physical activity)."
- fire_lake 2y ago
  But what you eat and what you do are massively influenced by your environment. Rare person who can resist the bombardment of ads from the junk food industry.
- watwut 2y ago

nowandlater 2y ago

"Equipped with this tool, a person outstrips the efficiency of not only all machines but all other animals as well" M-F morning this cheeky little chihuahua gives me a run for my money tho

sponaugle 2y ago

This was interesting: "By contrast, a person on a bicycle can go three or four times faster than a pedestrian, but uses five times less energy in the process. He carries one gram of his weight over a kilometer of flat road at an expense of only 0.15 calories. " That sounds about right for a bike on a paved road, but I would assume over uneven ground the ratio of efficiency is less? Is a hiker on a trail that much less efficient than a mountain bike on the same trail? I would think that at higher slopes the efficency ratio goes down even more due to the mass of the bike?

stevenwoo 2y ago
There's a small loss possible due to tires slipping a bit, also higher rolling resistance due to usually wider and less smooth tires. The grade needs to get steeper than 10% on pavement or off for the weight penalty of a bicycle to count against the rider versus the efficiency, depending upon the weight of the bicycle+rider. If you look at the times of guys in the Tour de France for climbs up mountains the fastest can do a four minute mile on the uphill parts, here's last years winner on a 10 mile climb https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a44465449/tour-de-france-2023-col-du-tourmalet-pogacars-strava/ https://www.bicycling.com/tour-de-france/a44465449/tour-de-f... For reference if a marathon runner could go that fast I believe they would run a 1:45 marathon - up a mountain. The top end cross country mountain bikes weigh about 6-10 pounds more than the bikes the road professionals are using.
speedgoose 2y ago
I haven’t done scientific experiments but I think a MTB is still quite efficient on average. But a lot less than a road bike without suspension nor grip on a flat road. When going uphill on difficult terrain with my mountain bike, I sometimes get passed by trail runners. If we continue on the same path, I pass them back on flat and downhill sections so it may be worth it. I can also bike quite a bit longer than I can trail run. Sometimes I have to push or carry the bike and the efficiency isn’t great for sure but a mountain bike isn’t that heavy and you can use it as support too. But it’s slower than a hiker going uphill.
pastage 2y ago
Good walking paths are always faster by bicycle. There is a 1000 km path through the woods of Stockholm it is not ment for cycling but I can still go at least 3x times the distance with no extra energy. This is with a normal bike.

allturtles 2y ago

The quote starting "By contrast, a person on a bicycle..." is sourced to a blog post, but that blog post is plagiarizing Ivan Illich [0]. [0]: https://archive.org/details/towardhistoryofn00illi/page/134/mode/2up?q=transducer https://archive.org/details/towardhistoryofn00illi/page/134/...

gnicholas 2y ago

When I was a young man, I was riding my bike through a wealthy exurb in Silicon Valley. An older man motored by in a luxury vehicle and I thought how nice it must be to have so much wealth. Then I realized that perhaps the thought crossing his mind was "how nice it must be to be young and vigorous enough to go out cycling".

justinator 2y ago
He probably was thinking "why are you in my way with that toy you've obviously have outgrown".

goda90 2y ago

> and my wheelchair. I experienced this this week. Started having lateral foot pain while walking and standing over the weekend. But no pain while pedaling. I walk considerably less when biking to work than driving to work because I keep my bike in my office instead of walking from the parking garage. What a relief it was to move without pain.

jjtheblunt 2y ago

stupid language question: what does "low-key" mean here? seems an adverb. > Walton knew: the bicycle is low-key one of humankind’s greatest inventions

spidersenses 2y ago
I think it means something like "secretly". It's millenial slang.
- ajb 2y ago
  I think it's more like "unobtrusively"
fragmede 2y ago
Something that's not drawing much attention.
justinator 2y ago
I would say that "low-key" is a strange phrase to use, as it's essentially jazz slang (like a low, bass note), while also somewhat outdated. "Low-key" would be how you would ask for drugs at a party or a show. You want to buy drugs, but you don't necessarily want everyone to know you want to buy drugs, so you ask the right person who knows the guy that knows the guy - perhaps you whispered your request all, "low-key" like. I would sort of agree that it's a strange place to put it in this sentence. It kinda needs an em-dash or something: "Walton knew: the bicycle is -- low-key -- one of humankind’s greatest inventions" But I would edit that all out as it's not needed and disturbs the flow of the sentence. I think what the author is trying to say is more, "underappreciated". Walton knew: the bicycle is one of humankind’s most underappreciated, yet greatest inventions. Perhaps in the vein of indoor plumbing, tho many people go without riding bikes, while none of us who have indoor plumbing would give it up. Or maybe even "under the radar". You know the best place to eat in town, but it's just some hole in the wall managed by a single guy, but god-damn do those mashed potatoes slap. Bicycle love isn't something advertised, like a car is. You get on a bike and you fall in love with it. Attraction over promotion.
2y ago

fulafel 2y ago

Another thing to think about from the high energy efficiency is how bad energy-wise current electric cars are, and of coruse this translates to resource use in battery materials as well when transporting the median nr of passengers. See eg here: https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/e-bikes-are-radically-more-efficient-than-electric-cars/ https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/11/e-bikes-are-radically-m...

DeRock 2y ago
Do you know what's about 5 times worse energy wise than electric cars? Gas cars.
- fulafel 2y ago
  It's closer to 2x (see eg https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribute-fewer-emissions-than-gasoline-powered-cars-over-their-lifetimes/ https://www.factcheck.org/2024/02/electric-vehicles-contribu...). But yes, a gas car is a worse thing still than a electric car, neither are sustainable. We need to cut car use rapidly to mitigate the climate disaster.

Deprogrammer9 2y ago

I would ride more if the city I lived in made it safer to do so. Chicago was a bike paradise when I lived in that city I never owned a car while living in Chicago.

dvh 2y ago

Are those 700C?

keiferski 2y ago

I once had a very expensive leather backpack stolen. Inside were my passport, a DSLR, laptop, and some other things. Total value was in the thousands, easily. It bothered me (and was a financial burden) when that stuff was stolen. But when my $400 hybrid bike was stolen a few years later, it bothered me twice as much, if not more. I think because a bike is a durable, daily thing that you come to depend on, while expensive gadgets are just gadgets.

mshroyer 2y ago
Additionally, when you use a bike long enough you'll often end up making a number of tiny adjustments to it over time. The monetary value of these adjustments may be minimal—add a saddle and rack and bags that fit just right, adjust the handlebars, swap on either more supple or puncture-resistant tires depending on your needs, maybe tweak the gear ratios—but they add up to make the bike work perfectly for you. When a bike is stolen, the difficulty of replicating this "perfect setup" can be wildly disproportionate to the cost of the bike.
- Doxin 2y ago
  Even if you keep your bike in it's factory configuration, you've gotten used to it. A new bike will always feel wrong for a while.

mstaoru 2y ago

I couldn't ride a bike until, ugh, maybe 21? Once I discovered the joy of it, I never let it go and still biking every day for almost 20 years. When I lived in China, it was very easy to bike. China's infrastructure is new and it has dedicated lanes. It can be very stressful though because it's so dense, and since there's general lack of any culture or manners, people on scooters can be very rude and pushy. Also nobody would help you if you fall, they just keep passing by (source: fell 4-5 times in my 12 years in China). Now I'm living in Bangkok which looks like cyclist's hell: horrible pavement, narrow roads, motorcycles, and constant traffic jams. However, I find it easier to bike since everybody are generally courteous to each other, and I fell once and had like 10 people rush to help me. Very heartwarming. The point is, you can build a great biking infrastructure, but culture is very important as well.

incomingpain 2y ago

Ive been cycling since forever. I couldn't tell you how many times I went over my handlebars before I was a teen. Last year I bought an ebike. I love it. Cycling is different with a ebike. Hills don't particularly matter, you choose the speed you want to go, and all leg energy simply moves you faster then that speed. You put in the same amount of workout, as much as you please, and when you get tired, the bike takes you home. You also reach much further distances then you normally would without, so you get to see more. But my bike means nothing to me. I will replace it in an instant if the right opportunity knocks.

Gualdrapo 2y ago

My bikes (and my dogs) saved me not only during the lockdowns, but in a time when my life was way darker than that, between october 2015 and march 2018 (couldn't get a job for much I tried to, completely heartbroken, several of my dogs died, bullied by my own sister, parents' illness...) so I definitely can relate to this. Trully one of the noblest inventions humanity has made.

tracerbulletx 2y ago

When I got covid I had a few months where I had really bad brain fog and bad lung capacity and couldn't do much. Every evening I'd do a low effort loop on my bike around the neighborhood to get out of the house. Since then I've bought a nicer road bike and am putting up 100km a week and doing some real climbs and it's been my favorite hobby.

moribvndvs 2y ago

I grew up on a bike. It was the only way to get around the neighborhood with friends, as if something was more than a couple hundred feet, you did it on bike. We biked to the city nearby to see movies or hang out at the mall. We biked into the woods to get away from everyone. We biked across town because it was something to do. Bikes were freedom. My father was big into cycling. Diagnosed with diabetes as a juvenile, he believed if he stopped cycling he would die (unfortunately, the disease ultimately won, as it always does… but the last thing he was doing before going to the hospital for a 5 month ordeal after which he died was riding his bike). He participated in endurance races and tours, he rode his bike 20-30 miles each way to work and back almost every day of the week, the Tour de France was his Super Bowl and local or other international races were his college bowls. He spent a lot of time reading biographies of renowned cyclists. Some of my most cherished memories are our several TOSRV tours together on a heavy steel Japanese tandem, even the days of icy rain, baking sun, or when Dad had a reaction and I had to pedal us both… uphill with a headwind. My riding dropped almost completely off, with spikes of interest here and there. I rode my bike multiple times a week to visit him in the hospital before he died, a 40 mile round trip. Those moments alone (other than the terrible traffic) were moments of respite and quiet in my fear and anxiety over my dad’s descent, my recent and failing marriage, my trouble with alcohol, my trouble with my career. He died and left me his bike, a Masi Gran Criterium that he bought around the time I was born, rode every day, painstakingly overhauled and sunk ungodly amounts of time and money into over the years he had it. I rode it on and off. I’ve done a few smaller tours in the 2010s until I had a health concern. I rode it during the pandemic with my mom until I started getting bad saddle and wrist pains. I started becoming afraid something would happen to the Masi and I would lose a deep connection to my father. But I’ll be god damned if I don’t feel he’s right there beside me when I ride it, and all the world goes quiet except the soft clicking of the bike and the woosh of air blowing by. Yet, I keep making excuses for not riding. I’m gonna get that god damned bike off the wall and go for a ride.

michtzik 2y ago

Carla's comment on this post: > I worked on both the retail and manufacturing side of bikes for a couple of decades, seeing it from the early days of MTB to its current form. I really love riding, but the moral high ground of the bicycle purist has also sheltered a commodity-driven, economically-rarified (in the US), and not very diverse industry from some necessary critique and change. Celebratory statements about bikes are often made by people who have the civic or trail infrastructure and economic freedom to experience just the positive sides of cycling. There are many places where the engineering advantages aren't enough, for reasons that include geography, climate, gender, and labor rights. There are also huge issues around the increases in traffic in formerly remote areas, due in part to the ease we can access those areas on our comfortable and fast bikes.