Cycling Copenhagen through American eyes

On Aug 19, 12:27 pm, Day Brown wrote:
On 08/11/2010 09:22 AM, His Highness the TibetanMonkey, Creator of the

We have to our best and hope it is good enough. We have to denounce
"the jungle" for what it is, and expose the "lions" (liars). We have
to approach the problem as an intricate web of problems which must be
tackled together. I talk thus of a "Dutch package"...

Actually, I propose a "Dutch Package," where issues normal to the
Dutch --gay rights, bike facilities, prostitution and marijuana-- are
discussed in less open societies.

'U.S. leads world in substance abuse, WHO finds'

"Countries with looser drug laws have lower rates of abuse"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080701/hl_nm/drugs_who_dc

One more proposal: The $15 billion the US wastes on the "war on
drugs," could be smartly used to build BIKE FACILITIES.

Bikes are fine in New Orleans, which is just as flat as Amsterdam. But
I've also used one to go 4 miles to work in MPLS, and keeping it up and
going on snow is a real challenge. Never mind that you are freezing your
****ing ass off.

America is a much more spread out place than Europe. From Bavarian snows
to the beach on the Riviera is only 400 miles, but the trip to Florida
is usually 3-4 times that. The USA cant use the European model.

What would work would be a high speed rail system that carried you, -in
your electric car- to the urban hub where you drove the last mile or so
to work, and then at the other end, the last mile or so to your home.

It'd havta be wide track with flatbed cars to drive on that're twice as
wide to have the room for a golf cart or electric car. The railway
itself could also be electric, powered by its own nuke, and setup to
recharge the cars both coming and going. That way, there'd be no need to
expand the carrying capacity of the grid.

We shouldn't be tempted to make sweeping statements such as the fast
train is the solution and bicycle is not. You don't travel from Miami
to Orlando everyday.

Most trips in America are done to the market and possibly under a
radius of 5 miles, or could be done if we drop Walmart in favor of the
local store.

The solution is a combination of the above, and take into
consideration that we could be riding faster bikes to cover our sprawl
instead of the heavy European bike.

On Aug 20, 12:49 am, Day Brown wrote:
On 08/19/2010 10:58 PM, His Highness the TibetanMonkey, Creator of the

We shouldn't be tempted to make sweeping statements such as the fast
train is the solution and bicycle is not. You don't travel from Miami
to Orlando everyday.

Most trips in America are done to the market and possibly under a
radius of 5 miles, or could be done if we drop Walmart in favor of the
local store.

I find that a sweeping statement. You are not going to carry a week's
worth of groceries and supplies home on a bike.

That's what I can carry with any of my bikes. But you always have an
excuse to ride more often to the market if not as well prepared.


The solution is a combination of the above, and take into
consideration that we could be riding faster bikes to cover our sprawl
instead of the heavy European bike.

Americans are also a buncha fat slobs who wont ride a bike, much less do
so if its raining. They will ride a golf cart or electric car to the
corner store or local mall to bring home whatever, and would use it to
commute if it also rode the train so they can drive off the train and go
to work.

Yes, they have been bred that way by careful manipulation. That could
change though as they try riding a bike and shedding pounds.


It'd be much better for them to ride bikes more, but that's not upta us.
I'm outlining a project the fat *******s would actually get behind. The
vehicle carrier rail could get to the urban hub ten minutes or more
sooner, and to the lazy *******s that makes all the diff.

I've used my golfcart to haul firewood out of the woods; but properly
equipped for urban streets, it'd easy go 4-5 miles and back on flat
pavement at 25 mph.

Some of them are street legal here in Florida (Bombardier type), but
not advisable under conditions where the big fish eats the little
fish.