Can you make it to the market on a bike?

I also bought a scooter (moped) as a toy, but I take it for errands as often
as possible. I do ride it to work, and do not end up sweaty. My wife and I
still ride our recumbents for entertainment and exercise (especially
cardiac), but the moped is good for other things. I get close to 150mpg, so
I feel pretty good buying one gallon of gas at a time.

A word about traffic. I take side streets on both the bicycle and moped.
Sometimes that is impossible, but generally there will be streets with very
little traffic yet getting where you need to be.

Happy trails!




"donquijote1954" wrote in message
ps.com...
Well, I thought I'd never live long enough to do such a thing in
America. It keeps me fit, and hungry enough to enjoy all that great
(and not so great) food, as well as keeps me away from the crowd that
uses an SUV to go and get a gallon of milk --or worse, cigarettes.
Luckily in my new place I can do such a thing, if not by design by
chance. I can ride leisurely my cruiser with huge baskets to the
supermaket through some quiet, safe streets, about 0.7 mile. I bet
most American are not so lucky, and I don't think the share of bicycle
use for shopping and similar real life errands is any higher than the
percentage that commutes by bike, about 1% or so, right?

Regrettably, my happiness ends at this point as going any further
places me right on major roads, where the major predators rule. And
that's a jungle that makes me nervous. Great places are within biking
distance, up to 15 miles, along parks, beaches and scenic places, but
NO BIKE LANES are provided, and I just play it safe. As a matter of
fact the need to enjoy all this made me found another way to get out
there in the open air without being at the very bottom of the food
chain. So I just got a scooter that allows me to drive with traffic,
if not strictly pollution free, at least rewarding me with a good
80MPG.

So this is my modest effort to fight Global Warming, and I hope I live
long enough in these Darwinian roads to tell my offspring. And now off
I go with my bike (buying nothing in particular, just going to the
market for the hell of it)...

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote

BIKE FOR PEACE
http://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace

On Jul 23, 3:58 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:

The word "idiots" explains everything. Thanks!

One of my very favorite words that I use all the time in referring to my
contemporaries, but not necessarily to their faces. After all, a broken nose
is no fun.

By the way, I love your user name and I thought at one time of using it
myself as I am sort of a Don Quixote character who is always tilting at
windmills (to no avail).

Maybe we can attack the stupid windmills on two fronts and...

Speaking of stupid people out there. My girlfriend just reports to me
via telephone that a man who was cut off by a car threw the bike and
started pounding the hood of the car. Didn't see the end of it.
Probably the cyclist went to jail.

On Jul 23, 5:15 pm, "Michael Plog" wrote:
I also bought a scooter (moped) as a toy, but I take it for errands as often
as possible. I do ride it to work, and do not end up sweaty. My wife and I
still ride our recumbents for entertainment and exercise (especially
cardiac), but the moped is good for other things. I get close to 150mpg, so
I feel pretty good buying one gallon of gas at a time.

Wow, that mileage sure sounds high. Are you sure?


A word about traffic. I take side streets on both the bicycle and moped.
Sometimes that is impossible, but generally there will be streets with very
little traffic yet getting where you need to be.

You are being smart. The big predators are out there...

SUV vs. Scooter

"Dedicated to all those injured, mutilated or killed by the Hen and
her SUV."


I've always wondered what would happen in an accident between SUV an
Scooter. It's not so simple. The SUV being so high could totally miss
the scooter.

Well, I guess this SUV wasn't high enough...


Preventing Motorcycle, Scooter Accidents a Matter of Awareness
By Ryan Taylor - 17 Jul 2007

In March a BYU student, driving a scooter died of injuries suffered in
an accident with an SUV.

Adam Cox was riding in the outside lane of University Parkway just
behind a car that was driving in the inside lane when an SUV going the
opposite direction, turned left and hit Cox, said Capt. Michael
Harroun, of the BYU Police Department.

Just like Cox's case, most motorcyclists are not at fault when
accidents happened, Harroun said.

"But they will get the worst of it," he said.

Even though Cox was wearing a helmet, he suffered severe head trauma
and died after being taken to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/64865


And remember, you SUV drivers, your distraction can spoil someone's
life. Well, I don't mean to offend you, just try not to talk so much
on the phone, and if you do, do like the Hen...

http://www.thehenshouse.com/index.html

DON QUIXOTES OF THE ENVIRONMENT
http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote6

Edward Dolan wrote:
"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:
Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant
than using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized
vehicles.
Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer that
way.

Admittedly a bike path that gets too crowded can be somewhat dangerous, yet
you are not going to get killed on it unless you do something really stupid.
On the other hand, it is easy to get killed on the street when you mixing
with motor vehicles. They are all going fast and you are going slow, a
recipe for disaster.


How can they go fast when they are on the same lane as me?

They can overtake, but then they are on another lane.

How many people get killed with bikes on the carriageway each year? Here
in Germany, you can count them on one hand. But there are dozens getting
killed by turning cars whose drivers don't look at the bike path.

Do you have statistical data that would support your last sentence?

"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:
"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:

How many people get killed with bikes on the carriageway each year? Here
in Germany, you can count them on one hand. But there are dozens getting
killed by turning cars whose drivers don't look at the bike path.

In the US bikes and pedestrians have the highest death rates of all forms of
transportation except motorcycles. I think the rate is two and times higher
than cars according to a recent news report. I have not tried to find the
statistics.

On Jul 23, 7:12 pm, Jens Müller wrote:
Edward Dolan wrote:
"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:
Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant
than using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized
vehicles.
Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer that
way.

Admittedly a bike path that gets too crowded can be somewhat dangerous, yet
you are not going to get killed on it unless you do something really stupid.
On the other hand, it is easy to get killed on the street when you mixing
with motor vehicles. They are all going fast and you are going slow, a
recipe for disaster.

How can they go fast when they are on the same lane as me?

They can overtake, but then they are on another lane.

Well, they can make a mistake when they are on the phone or something
and you get run over. And you'll be lucky if they stop. Hit-and-runs
are way too common.

How many people get killed with bikes on the carriageway each year? Here
in Germany, you can count them on one hand. But there are dozens getting
killed by turning cars whose drivers don't look at the bike path.

Not many people dare to face fast traffic. People here not just fail
to see bikers, they fail to see cars and other major obstacles when
they are distracted.

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

Why the hell would anyone except an idiot want to drive these very small
distances?

Because I will never share a road again with cars in this country. I believe
that even in Worthington, it isn't safe It may be an exceptionally low
number of people that are involved in bike/car accidents but trust me, You
don't want to be the person on the bike.

Jeff Grippe wrote:
"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

Why the hell would anyone except an idiot want to drive these very small
distances?

Because I will never share a road again with cars in this country. I believe
that even in Worthington, it isn't safe It may be an exceptionally low
number of people that are involved in bike/car accidents but trust me, You
don't want to be the person on the bike.

Look at the numbers of people who get totalled while driving or riding
in cars. That isn't safe either (especially when they get hit by
trucks...).

While your own personal misfortune will have an understandably big
impact on your risk assessments, it is the case that it's a bad way to
play the odds for any subsequent events.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Edward Dolan" wrote in message
...

"archierob" wrote in message
...
Well done!

One only has to read Bill Bryson's book 'Notes from a Big Country' to
realise just how pervasive the automobile is in America. Trying to get
anywhere other than by car is difficult - even crossing over the road
from his hotel to a diner. The one anecdote that made me howl with
laughter was when he returned to the US for a while and invited his
neighbours to dinner -they came by car! They drove down their drive,
turned left and then drove up his drive.

The thing that amazes me the most is that in small town America everyone
drives everywhere, even if it is only a few blocks. No wonder we are all
turning into fat slobs.

I will NEVER drive my car in town. I use it strictly for going to other
towns in the vicinity. You can go anywhere in this town of Worthington,
Minnesota (12,000 pop.) in 15 minutes by bicycle at the most. Why the hell
would anyone except an idiot want to drive these very small distances. And
yet, EVERYONE does!

The goal of most people is to minimize time. They do not want to make
multiple trips to bring back a small amount of food or supplies. Makes
perfect sense.

If your time is not very valuable, a bike makes sense.

Jack May wrote:

The goal of most people is to minimize time. They do not want to make
multiple trips to bring back a small amount of food or supplies. Makes
perfect sense.

Which is why I use a bigger bike. I've carried a two seater sofa on my
freight bike with no great trouble, and it easily fits a trolley load of
groceries. Doesn't take significantly longer, and any degree which it
is longer is easily repaid by me being fitter and healthier and not
spending so much on the car, so I lose less time elsewhere.

If your time is not very valuable, a bike makes sense.

There's more to time than the immediate short term trip. But even if
that is all there is to it then a bike will often be quicker. Bikes
routinely work quicker than cars in congested urban settings: if that
weren't the case, cycle couriers wouldn't exist.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/