I will write a part two to my coast adventure (and I promise it'll be good, all emotinally charged and stuff,) but I feel too raw right now about my relationship with Doc and his addiction, etc, so I don't really wanna write more about that stuff right now. I thought I'd write a fun piece instead about bikes and why I like 'um.
1) You end up with a sexy body if you travel by bike. You'll notice a big difference in your legs, tummy, arms, shoulders and back (so basically, your whole body.) At least, I know I did. I'm so much stronger and sexier now then I was three years ago. I weight about 30 lbs less and feel like I'm made of iron! Oh yeah, and riding around in all weather makes you tan too!
2) You can eat about twice the amount of calories and still be beautiful and sleek. I probably eat 3,000 calories a day and am slim and sleek (thanks bike!)
3) You become more aware of your surroundings. I feel about twice as aware, because if you are constantly watching out for cars that could run you over, you have to be really aware of your surroundings.
4) Your coordination improves. Or again, at least mine has. I think riding bike does lots of good things for your brain, but I can't articulate all the improvements my brain has made due to my bike habit.
5) Your lungs feel better. Again, maybe this is just a personal thing I've noticed, but I'm willing to bet other cyclists have noticed this as well. (Maybe this also has to do with the fact that I no longer smoke and rarely smoke weed now.)
6) You get to LOOK at things as you ride by. I probably stop at more freeboxes then the average person in a car, and I really notice things I'm riding past, like flowers, trees, animals, kids playing and many other cool things. I feel like I would miss most of the interesting things I see if I where driving a car.
7) You aren't putting precious $$ into a gas tank. There is a bumper sticker I see around Portland on bikes that I really like that says "Live free or drive." This is a true statement. I'm too poor for a car anyway.
8) You aren't supporting death in Iraq to drive around. ('Nuff said, right?)
9) You aren't supporting environmental damage to drive around. (Can anyone say Tarsands?)
10) You aren't contributing to the asthma of small children to drive around. (Can anyone say air polluntation in NYC, San Fran, anywhere in the US really?)
11) You aren't contributing to the death of small animals to drive around. (Roadkill, animals displaced by roadbuilding, bridge building, river damming, animals dying because of pollution, etc, etc...)
12) Bikes aren't noisy the way cars and other vehicles are. (Car alarms are one of my pet peeves...)
13) Bikes are easy to repair yourself. I like being able to fix things I own myself. Again, save yourself some $$.
14) Bikes are small, lightweight and can be taken many more places then your car can go. Most hiking trails for example, are not carfriendly, but if you wanna ride a bike out into the wilderness, you usually can...
15) When you go someplace on bikes with friends and one of you is ready to leave and the rest aren't, it is much easier for that one person to go home. If you where all traveling in a car together, well, it just isn't as convienenant. Bikes make people more independent in my option...which is why bikes are for lovers...
I love my bike Strawberry...she and I go everywhere together.
Love ya,
Carrot
I love my bike as well.
And I have no problem with bikers while I'm driving my car as long as they:
I could go on...
I will.
Bike lanes. Mostly paid for, I believe, through money raised from vehicle registration and traffic tickets. Bicycles are considered vehicles and, should be, following road rules like everyone else. Not that I ever see this enforced. But I digress. Bicycles are vehicles. Bicycle riders should pay a registration fee of their own (yes. Even me). Bicyclists should pay a registration fee and be subject to traffic tickets in order to pay for bicycle lanes.
I expect people to share the road when I bike. I understand that other cyclists feel the same way. They should act like it and realize that "share the road" does not translate into "give it up entirely."
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
A corollary to #14 is: parking your car can be damn near impossible (and very expensive) in a crowded urban area but your bike can park for free at any thin vertical pole.
and Sawaboof, I'm curious how you feel about bikers who use the sidewalk to avoid traffic. I'm pretty sure it is legal, and I do it pretty often when nobody's walking nearby. I know it's more dangerous on average since people zoom out of their driveways, but where there are no driveways-lined-with-bushes, I think it is safer. I treat such driveways as stop signs.
I believe you are actually supposed to use the sidewalk if there is no bike lane and only one lane for cars. I go on the sidewalk if I need to. Sometimes even if there is a bike lane, if it's a busy street. I have no qualms with side walk bikers (unless I'm walking on the sidewalk and some cyclist is rude about it). It still doesn't make it ok to go down one-way streets, though.
"What a crazy random happenstance!"
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Read my Blog!
I know it is "a vehicle" but thats weird it would be illegal to go both ways on the sidewalk. It must be running-a-red-light instead of jaywalking too, eh? Not that that'll stop me. :P
I can't speak for other cities or states, but I know in Cleveland and Columbus, Oh, and their suburbs, you're not technically allowed to ride your bike on the sidewalks at all. Not that it's necessarily enforced.
Sorry, but I'm not going to ride my bike on a road with a speed limit of 45mph with no shoulder and no bike lane. I'm going to use a sidewalk in those cases.
I am treated as evil by people who claim that they are being oppressed because they are not allowed to force me to practice what they do. ~D. Dale Gulledge
It's more fun to ride yer bicycle naked!
my documentary...
"some folks say that a hippie won't steal,
but I caught three in my corn field"
--John Hartford
My friends and I spontaneously go for joyful naked bike rides around Portland and it is so much fun!! There are also organized naked bike rides, like the World Naked Bike Ride which usually takes place in June, but spontaneous naked bike rides are so great!
Love ya,
Carrot
ps. I'm typically into following traffic laws when it comes to biking, but in cases where I'd feel safer not doing so (like riding on the sidewalk in some parts of town where you aren't suppose to,) I'll do what feels safest. And I definitely don't think bikes should be registered the way cars are. What about all the little kids who get around by bike? Will we force them to be licensed and registered as well? Or the homeless who cart all their worldly possessions from place to place by bike? Or people like myself, who are almost always too broke to afford any sort of registration or insurance, which is why I ride a bike? Should i be denied my ability to get around (and possibly get employment,) because I can't afford the bus and now I can't afford to bike either? Biking should be free...we pay enough in extra calories burned...