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#1
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
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 |
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#2
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I
figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway ( http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg ) which makes it much easier to get around. |
#3
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
Yes, I go to the market on the bike all the time. Actually, there are
several different markets I bike to. Not all marketing routes have bike paths, but most are either not all that busy, or have shoulders, so I'm fine with that. |
#4
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
"William" wrote in message ups.com... I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway ( http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg ) which makes it much easier to get around. 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. I believe Minneapolis to have one of the finer bike path systems in the country. Not to use them would mean that you are an idiot, yet there are some who would advise that since they believe that a bike path will slow you down. Hey, better to slow down and live than hurry to your death on those mean streets. Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota aka Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota |
#5
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
On Jul 22, 6:21 pm, donquijote1954
wrote: Well, I thought I'd never live long enough to do such a thing in America. It can be pleasant, eh? I use a mix of bucket panniers, a backpack-on- a-rack, or the backpack and a cardboard box from the store on the rack. We live in one of those Toronto neighborhoods that's like a village, so a lot is possible. This weekend, I rode a couple kms to Kensington Market. One in the market proper (Baldwin and Augusta), travel by anything but bike or foot would have been impossible. I went to the butcher, the greengrocer, the cheese shop, and the nuts and spice and tea store. All shops were active, but I never had to stand in line long enough to even *look* for an Enquirer. Zoom zoom. |
#6
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
On Jul 22, 7:21 pm, donquijote1954
wrote: 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 JUNGLEhttp://webspawner.com/users/donquijote BIKE FOR PEACEhttp://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace I'm car-free, and I can haul a LOT of groceries with my cargo trike: http://drumbent.com/trike.html Also, since it's big and takes up a whole lane I don't get hassled at all in terms of asserting my right to be on the road (having lights and turn signals helps). And not only can I get groceries with it, I just moved house with it too: http://drumbent.blogspot.com/2007/07...ng-photos.html Mark |
#7
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
donquijote1954 wrote:
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. Why do you think that bike lanes are safer than the carriageway? And why do you think the carriageway isn't safe? |
#8
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
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. |
#9
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
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. My weekly shop at Lidls is via my 'shopping bike' front rack, rear rack, panniers, plastic box on rear rack, big solid mountain back carrying all. Though I say it myself I have it down to a fine art now - much to the amusement of my 4 x 4 'Chelsea tractor' owning neighbours. |
#10
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Can you make it to the market on a bike?
On Jul 22, 10:35 pm, William wrote:
I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg) which makes it much easier to get around. Lovely. It's coming my way too. The question is WHEN. I hope to be alive anyway. |
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