NY Tiimes article on biking

gds wrote:

wrote:

I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?

Most Europeans and North Americans have differing ideas about hygiene.
I won't argue who is correct but behavior is definitely different. Kind
of like looking at soap or perfume as the first line solution.

I think Americans have been over-sold on hygiene, to the point
that companies can actually make up socially stigmatizing
conditions that really aren't a reason to buy a product to
counter-act; e.g. dandruff or "the heart-break of psoriasis".

Also, there's a lot of variability in the olfactory effects
of sweating. Some people can sweat waterfalls with barely
a change in scent, while others can be rather rank without
any need of physical effort.

It's also just what societies accept. I guess the Japanese
represent the ultimate at "good" personal hygiene.


SMH

swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor.

My heart breaks as I read this line.

Why?

Hopefully, because it's based on the false assumption that cycling is
dangerous.

dangerous to bachelorhood?

--
mac the naïf

Stephen Harding wrote:
gds wrote:

wrote:

I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?


Most Europeans and North Americans have differing ideas about hygiene.
I won't argue who is correct but behavior is definitely different. Kind
of like looking at soap or perfume as the first line solution.


I think Americans have been over-sold on hygiene, to the point
that companies can actually make up socially stigmatizing
conditions that really aren't a reason to buy a product to
counter-act; e.g. dandruff or "the heart-break of psoriasis".

Also, there's a lot of variability in the olfactory effects
of sweating. Some people can sweat waterfalls with barely
a change in scent, while others can be rather rank without
any need of physical effort.

Honestly: It takes me about 4 days to get stinky enough for my now
ex-girlfriend ((((( to notice. And that's biking around town
everyday (2 miles to school + about 3-4 miles for misc. stuff + about
one 10+ ride during that period.

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
..:change the words to numbers
if you want to reply to me:.

Paul Hobson wrote:
Honestly: It takes me about 4 days to get stinky enough for my now
ex-girlfriend ((((( to notice.

In hot humid Atlanta!?!?!?!?!?!?!? That is being olifactorily
challenged.
It may explain the ex ;-)

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have wondered about all the businessmen and others who where suits
and commute to work in Holland. Don't they smell the rest of the day?

I don't mean to paint with too broad a brush, but I once toured New England
with two Dutch musicians. To me, they smelled bad. To them, apparently, I
smelled "perfumed."

My need for daily showers puzzled and amused them.

We did not learn to coexist. It was an unbridgeable gap that led me finally
to rent my own car and pay for my own motel rooms.

RichC

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
Bill wrote:

From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS


"If I want to die, that should be my choice," said Mr. de Jong, 40, a
swashbuckling vegetarian who intends to remain a lifelong bachelor.


My heart breaks as I read this line.

Do not despair, Elisa...I am sure there is a swashbuckling eccentric
vegetarian millionaire out there for you somewhere.

Paul Hobson wrote:

Honestly: It takes me about 4 days to get stinky enough for my now
ex-girlfriend ((((( to notice.

Mystery solved; off you go.

Bill "running water" S.

. I
have to agree with the man, cycling to and from the airport is definitely
the most enjoyable way I've found to start and end a plane journey.

That has to be the case since once you get to the airport check in and
the air travel itself is now about as much fun as a colonoscopy.

Has security started looking THERE too???

"Bill" wrote in newsW1cf.126807$K91.123241
@twister.nyroc.rr.com:

From the NY Times of Nov 8, 2005
----------------------------------------
Proselytizer for Pedaling Acts on His Words
By ANDREW JACOBS
Michael de Jong wants you to take your bike to the plane.

I've done these trips many times, only I have a bag instead of the case.
I've also included most of this material in letters to the times, but they
publish about the Dutch guy. Go figure.

LaGuardia has actual streets and sidewalks leading up to it so it's no
problem. Kennedy is a bitch. It's very easy to get to the airtrain at
Howard beach by bike, but it's $5.00 to cross the line into the JFK parking
lot. Just over the line, the airtrain is free.

I'd like to see Mr. Wooden Shoes try getting to Newark.

--ag

"mark" wrote in message
nk.net...
I have to agree with the man, cycling to and from the airport is
definitely the most enjoyable way I've found to start and end a plane
journey.


I'm flying to Wenatchee tomorrow, and I don't have a return ticket. There
was a big rock slide up at Snoqualmie Pass, and all the flights out of
Wenatchee are full.

I don't know if other people's brains work this way, but when I found out
that I didn't have a plane ticket back, I thought about riding my bike back.
Like, if I'd only gotten the s-and-s couplers on my bike, I could have taken
the bike on to the plane...and then reality sets in. OK, think, we've had
unusually unseasonably early snow and ice up at the pass -- that's why we
have had a couple of rock slides this year. And to get home from Wenatchee,
I'd either be going over two passes, over Blewett, and then somehow getting
over Snoqualmie; or, I'd be going over the higher Stevens' Pass. So, below
freezing weather, snow -- would I really be taking my touring bike through
all of that? And would I really take my mountain bike on to the plane? The
whole thing is a ridiculous fantasy.

So, then, later, I'm figuring out how I'm getting to the airport. I plan to
drive to the South Bellevue transit center, and catch an express to the
airport. And even as I was typing this, I started to type, "I plan to ride
to the..." No, I'm *not* planning to ride. I'm planning to drive. I
entertained this idea that I was going to bicycle to the transit center for
a while. Like probably most of you, the default is to ride the bike. So
sure, ride the bike...and then, once more, reality set in. I'd have to take
another set of clothes. How and where would I clean up before I got to the
hotel to make the presentation? Would I leave my bike at the transit center,
potentially over night? Or would I load it on the bus and then leave it at
the airport, potentially over night? What is the likelihood the bike be
stolen or vandalized in either location? And how would I carry the 150
presentation folders and all the brochures, all the other crap associated
associated with speaking at a conference? Load up a couple of panniers with
that stuff? And then, if I do get a ride back from Wenatchee, after sitting
through horrible traffic over two mountain passes, being exhausted, being
dropped off at the transit center possibly late at night -- then I'm going
to ride home from there? Wouldn't I just rather dump my tired self into a
car and drive 15 minutes rather than ride for 40? It's stupid to ride to the
transit center. Another ridiculous fantasy. I'm driving (repeat to self:
driving, driving, driving).

Yeah, it's possible that the ride to/from the airport could be the best part
of the trip. Just not this particular trip.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky