On 2018-07-13 12:49, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 9:29:23 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-07-11 13:47, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 7/10/2018 5:04 PM, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-07-09 12:48, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 7/9/2018 12:12 AM, Tim McNamara wrote:

European cities have some tendency to be more compact with
shorter rides (1-2 km) for work and errands. American
urban areas tend to be spread out so that we can all have
our half acre of lawn or more.

Where I live, a 2 km ride will get me to and from the
library, our dentist, the post office, the pharmacy and one
convenience/beer store. Hardware, groceries, restaurants,
credit union or anything else is further. I'm fine with that,
but most Americans (probably like most Europeans) will never
ride 10 miles to get to and from their credit union.


The Dutch and Belgians used to be different. 10mi, 20mi, big
deal. But can't say about today as this was 30 years ago.

Sorry, but if you mean that most Dutch and Belgians used to ride
something like 20 miles per day, I don't believe you.


Note that I didn't say "most of the population". Most of my
friends, yes. Or rather, nearly all of them. Most of the population
I can't say, of course.

Very popular was the "kroegen tocht" (pub run) by road bike,
especially among Belgians which is why I preferred to ride with
them. 30-40mi with here and there a beer. Dutch road bikers were
often too competitive and only concentrated on the sports aspects,
many wouldn't ever consider visiting a pub because that cost
"valuable minutes".


Those Dutch guys should be stopping every five miles for a beer. What
are they thinking?


Well, Belgian beer is better. As long as it comes from an abbey.


And when we're talking about "the Dutch and Belgians," the assumption
is that we're talking about a country average and not your cohort of
pub-crawlers. I could say Oregonians ride hundreds of miles a week
because that's what my friends do, but it hardly describes the state
average.


It was a large number of people. Since cycling was just a mode of
transportation for me during my university days I didn't have "cycling
friends" like I do now. They were other students or just people who
lived in town and I met in the local pubs. They generally had no
problems heading over to this other pub in Heerlen, Maastricht or where
ever, all two-digit miles. Many of them on their heavy Batavus bikes
because that was the only kind they got.

Where I live now I have a hard time convincing anyone to go. "30 miles?
You must be crazy, it's 95F out there!". Meantime I found a rider in
Folsom who is very different, he never turns down a ride.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/