Black Friday Deals on Bicycle Lights

On 2016-12-08 11:25, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 10:28:47 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-12-08 08:20, Frank Krygowski wrote:


[...]

"Adults should get at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise each
day. Our campaign has tripled the percentage of adults that do
this, all the way to 1%. It's been a huge, fantastic success!"


Sure it is. Less people showing up at the ER in an ambulance.

The only times I've been to an ER in an ambulance were because of
accidents -- bike and ski. I'm not sure of the net benefit, but I
doubt that getting people on bikes is a guaranty that they won't go
to the ER.


Naturally there can be accidents but that's not happening a lot. Despite
me riding offroad in often rather zippy style since before MTB came to
market I never saw a hospital or even a doctor for anything
bicycle-ralated. In decades. Same for most of my riding buddies.

What I meant is that an avid cyclists is much less likely to show up in
an ambulance with a hopelessly clogged coronary artery system. Yeah,
they can often save those guys with quadruple bypasses or similar but
afterwards they usually become constant drain to the health care system.
The other major factor is diabetes. The number of active cyclists I know
with age-developed diabetes is zero.


I live down the street from a guy who works basically three blocks
from my building. I ride. He drives. He is in excellent shape, very
active and rides some on the weekend. He thinks of himself as a
cyclist. Getting him to ride to work is not going to change his
health picture at all, and no amount of infrastructure is going to
change his commuting practices.


If he works out otherwise he'll be fine. But we all know how it goes
with most people. They may even have a membership in a fancy gym. "When
did you go last time?" ... "Ahem, well, uhm, let's see ...."


Then there are all the bowling-ball women on my elevator (I'm
starting to sound like TK). Enclosed, weather protected elevated
tubes for bicycles only would not get these women on bikes. Again,
no amount of infrastructure is going to get them to ride.


Sure. Many of those will be morbidly obese at old age and life will be
miserable for them and costly to the health care system.


I work with a woman who is very fit, a little younger than me who
lives pretty close to work. She will not ride because she is afraid
of other cyclists -- there are droves coming in from her side of
town. I've tried to talk her out of her fear without success.


If you had something like our American River Bike Trail she most likely
wouldn't be. Everyone stays on their side and commuters are doing around
15mph.


Also on my block are very serious cyclists who only commute sometimes
because of distances, weather, darkness, etc., etc. My across the
street neighbor is a super-fit 62 year old woman -- a retired nurse
-- who did ten double centuries the year she turned 50. She still
rides most every day (nice Serrota). She will not commute during
winter or ride at night. At the end of the street is my best
bicycling buddy -- an A cyclocross racer, USAC racer, etc., etc. He
drives to work most days, although he will take his bike for the noon
race/rides.


It's ok not to commute. Fact is, they ride and thus counts as bicycle
traffic. We don't all have to be utility riders even though you and I
are during some of our miles. Instead of in front of a TV or behind a
steering wheel to ride to some touristy place they are in the saddle.
That's great.


The word is out in Portland, and I'm not clear on who is waiting for
facilities before he or she will ride -- or what facilities are going
to be "enough" for those who are waiting. Not saying we shouldn't
try, but budgets can't support pipe dreams ...


Folsom got that done nicely and the people on bicycles came. Same for
many other cities.

This is an older article

http://www.bestworkplaces.org/pdf/f5..._9-29-04_5.pdf

and by now it sure has taken off. Last time I was at the Folsom campus
and cycled a "counting round" it was close to 200 bicycles. Most were
MTB and they looked well-worn. For a site with 6000 employees with a lot
of them hoofing it that is a respectable number. At least in the US.

Almost every time I ride down there I see construction crews and several
months later there is yet another link in the bike path system.


... -- until The Donald turns things around and revenues explode!


I don't think Donald has much interest in riding. Unless there was a
humongous enclosed recumbent with TRUMP painted on the sides :-)

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Per Frank Krygowski:
How do you tell who's really good? Any opinions?

Long-term survival would be at the top of my list.... -)
--
Pete Cresswell

On 2016-12-08 14:09, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-12-08 11:25, jbeattie wrote:
On Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 10:28:47 AM UTC-8, Joerg wrote:
On 2016-12-08 08:20, Frank Krygowski wrote:


[...]

"Adults should get at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise each
day. Our campaign has tripled the percentage of adults that do
this, all the way to 1%. It's been a huge, fantastic success!"


Sure it is. Less people showing up at the ER in an ambulance.

The only times I've been to an ER in an ambulance were because of
accidents -- bike and ski. I'm not sure of the net benefit, but I
doubt that getting people on bikes is a guaranty that they won't go
to the ER.


Naturally there can be accidents but that's not happening a lot. Despite
me riding offroad in often rather zippy style since before MTB came to
market I never saw a hospital or even a doctor for anything
bicycle-ralated. In decades. Same for most of my riding buddies.

What I meant is that an avid cyclists is much less likely to show up in
an ambulance with a hopelessly clogged coronary artery system. Yeah,
they can often save those guys with quadruple bypasses or similar but
afterwards they usually become constant drain to the health care system.
The other major factor is diabetes. The number of active cyclists I know
with age-developed diabetes is zero.


I live down the street from a guy who works basically three blocks
from my building. I ride. He drives. He is in excellent shape, very
active and rides some on the weekend. He thinks of himself as a
cyclist. Getting him to ride to work is not going to change his
health picture at all, and no amount of infrastructure is going to
change his commuting practices.


If he works out otherwise he'll be fine. But we all know how it goes
with most people. They may even have a membership in a fancy gym. "When
did you go last time?" ... "Ahem, well, uhm, let's see ...."


Then there are all the bowling-ball women on my elevator (I'm
starting to sound like TK). Enclosed, weather protected elevated
tubes for bicycles only would not get these women on bikes. Again,
no amount of infrastructure is going to get them to ride.


Sure. Many of those will be morbidly obese at old age and life will be
miserable for them and costly to the health care system.


I work with a woman who is very fit, a little younger than me who
lives pretty close to work. She will not ride because she is afraid
of other cyclists -- there are droves coming in from her side of
town. I've tried to talk her out of her fear without success.


If you had something like our American River Bike Trail she most likely
wouldn't be. Everyone stays on their side and commuters are doing around
15mph.


Also on my block are very serious cyclists who only commute sometimes
because of distances, weather, darkness, etc., etc. My across the
street neighbor is a super-fit 62 year old woman -- a retired nurse
-- who did ten double centuries the year she turned 50. She still
rides most every day (nice Serrota). She will not commute during
winter or ride at night. At the end of the street is my best
bicycling buddy -- an A cyclocross racer, USAC racer, etc., etc. He
drives to work most days, although he will take his bike for the noon
race/rides.


It's ok not to commute. Fact is, they ride and thus counts as bicycle
traffic. We don't all have to be utility riders even though you and I
are during some of our miles. Instead of in front of a TV or behind a
steering wheel to ride to some touristy place they are in the saddle.
That's great.


The word is out in Portland, and I'm not clear on who is waiting for
facilities before he or she will ride -- or what facilities are going
to be "enough" for those who are waiting. Not saying we shouldn't
try, but budgets can't support pipe dreams ...


Folsom got that done nicely and the people on bicycles came. Same for
many other cities.

This is an older article

http://www.bestworkplaces.org/pdf/f5..._9-29-04_5.pdf

and by now it sure has taken off. Last time I was at the Folsom campus
and cycled a "counting round" it was close to 200 bicycles. Most were
MTB and they looked well-worn. For a site with 6000 employees with a lot
of them hoofing it that is a respectable number. At least in the US.

Almost every time I ride down there I see construction crews and several
months later there is yet another link in the bike path system.


... -- until The Donald turns things around and revenues explode!


I don't think Donald has much interest in riding. Unless there was a
humongous enclosed recumbent with TRUMP painted on the sides :-)


OTOH, maybe not ...

http://www.cxmagazine.com/wp-content..._o-750x468.jpg

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Frank Krygowski wrote:
---------%-------snip--------

Well, sorry, but I'd like to restart the discussion.

What would people say are the hallmarks of cycling competence? In other
words, if you were observing another cyclist, what behaviors and skills
would you look for in order to tell whether that person was "a really
good cyclist"?

I'm not talking about power or speed or endurance, although I can accept
that (say) being able to accelerate quickly is helpful in some traffic
situations. And I'm not talking about Danny Macaskill balancing skills.
I'm talking about being able to handle whatever comes up on the road -
motor vehicle traffic, road conditions, carrying loads, weather and
darkness, etc - whatever it takes to use a bike as a vehicle.

How do you tell who's really good? Any opinions?


Legal, visible and predictable is what I aim for in my riding, although
these three may not be listed in strict priority order.

Either Portland people cannah smell odor or cannah body stink.

Legal, visible and predictable is what I aim for in my riding, although
these three may not be listed in strict priority order. ?

What abt wind at your back on deserted rolling roads thru elysian n fields with exotic Asian women in MB at the DQ ?

On 12/8/2016 9:46 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote:
---------%-------snip--------

Well, sorry, but I'd like to restart the discussion.

What would people say are the hallmarks of cycling competence? In other
words, if you were observing another cyclist, what behaviors and skills
would you look for in order to tell whether that person was "a really
good cyclist"?

I'm not talking about power or speed or endurance, although I can accept
that (say) being able to accelerate quickly is helpful in some traffic
situations. And I'm not talking about Danny Macaskill balancing skills.
I'm talking about being able to handle whatever comes up on the road -
motor vehicle traffic, road conditions, carrying loads, weather and
darkness, etc - whatever it takes to use a bike as a vehicle.

How do you tell who's really good? Any opinions?


Legal, visible and predictable is what I aim for in my riding, although
these three may not be listed in strict priority order.

Sounds good. How do you achieve "visible?" Just wondering.


--
- Frank Krygowski

Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 12/8/2016 9:46 PM, Ralph Barone wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote:
---------%-------snip--------

Well, sorry, but I'd like to restart the discussion.

What would people say are the hallmarks of cycling competence? In other
words, if you were observing another cyclist, what behaviors and skills
would you look for in order to tell whether that person was "a really
good cyclist"?

I'm not talking about power or speed or endurance, although I can accept
that (say) being able to accelerate quickly is helpful in some traffic
situations. And I'm not talking about Danny Macaskill balancing skills.
I'm talking about being able to handle whatever comes up on the road -
motor vehicle traffic, road conditions, carrying loads, weather and
darkness, etc - whatever it takes to use a bike as a vehicle.

How do you tell who's really good? Any opinions?


Legal, visible and predictable is what I aim for in my riding, although
these three may not be listed in strict priority order.

Sounds good. How do you achieve "visible?" Just wondering.


Lighting, reflectors and clothing mostly. Much of my riding is on streets
with bike lanes, so no, I don't take the lane much, only where the road is
too narrow.

On 12/8/2016 4:04 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:


What would people say are the hallmarks of cycling competence? In other
words, if you were observing another cyclist, what behaviors and skills
would you look for in order to tell whether that person was "a really
good cyclist"?

I'm not talking about power or speed or endurance, although I can accept
that (say) being able to accelerate quickly is helpful in some traffic
situations. And I'm not talking about Danny Macaskill balancing skills.
I'm talking about being able to handle whatever comes up on the road -
motor vehicle traffic, road conditions, carrying loads, weather and
darkness, etc - whatever it takes to use a bike as a vehicle.

How do you tell who's really good? Any opinions?

No opinions, I see. I guess that means all cyclists are above average!

--
- Frank Krygowski