On 2016-12-17 21:12, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/17/2016 5:22 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-12-17 14:05, Phil Lee wrote:
Joerg considered Fri, 16 Dec 2016
13:51:14 -0800 the perfect time to write:

On 2016-12-16 09:50, wrote:

[...]

... They have the luxury of getting to work
rapidly and then sitting at a desk for the rest of the day. And if
you eat some protein you can limit the muscle damage.

Where I live is different. If I get a job in the area I want I could
be commuting 50 km each way. And because of the traffic I could even
be faster counting both the stop and go traffic and the more direct
path I could take as a bicyclist.


That's over 30mi each way. A lot. Not sure if I'd do that but if not
many hills probably yes.

The furthest I've commuted was a daily trip of 21 miles each way, but
I know of one cyclist who commuted about double that for several
years, from Dunstable to central London.


We hired away a UK engineer, a very skinny guy. He had a commute
somewhere north of 30mi, also near London. This guy rode a bike every
day even in the driving rain. When he and his family arrived here in the
US he no longer rode. Considering the absence of bike facilities this
was fully understandable back then since that also caused me to stop
riding.

When did you hire this guy? Where, exactly, did he ride in Britain?


In 1998. I forgot the exact route.


I'm curious how he found a 30 mile commuting route near London that had
a significant proportion on bike facilities. What were they?


It's too long ago and we haven't remained in contact after our company
was acquired.

Bike facilities were not his main concern. However, he noticed exactly
the same effect that I noticed after moving here from Europe. American
motorists are generally more polite than European ones but unfortunately
also way less attentive to road conditions and the driving job in
general. With the advent of fancier cell phones that has become much
worse. On my ways down in the valley it doesn't matter to me as a
cyclist because the bike paths are mostly so far segregated that I don't
even hear the traffic. On the way up here, very different story.


Now that bike infrastructure is gradually being put in people start
riding bikes. Including myself. I guess for the auto industry that is
not a good thing because my yearly car mileage is down to 1200mi. 4000mi
on the bikes.

Somehow, I don't think General Motors is going to notice. See
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/data/10315

"2016 experienced the largest annual increase in VMT since tracking
began in 1971."


I meant my contribution to the auto industry. It is quite possible that
our current vehicles which are both around 20 years old might live many
more decades. Like the 1954 pickup truck my MTB buddy has.

Naturally, the vast majority of our neighbors does not live like that
and rides just about every mile inside a car. Sometimes even if it's
just a few hundred yards.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/