Comment by lugu

Comment by lugu 19 hours ago

I live in place known for its rainy weather, 15 km from work (because of the housing crisis). Being overweight, biking to work never crossed my mind for two years. Once I tried to commute during weekend, as a challenge. I realized a few things: - same duration as the train - it give me the exercise I needed - it relaxes me - it is free since I already have a bike

Yes, it still take me 50 min to commute, but now I enjoy it and even volunteerly go to the office more often. It have been 6 months.

My point is: those who complain about biking being terrible or impractical should give it a real try. It may fit you.

AstralStorm 17 hours ago

And if you need help and can afford it, ebikes exist. Some of them really cheap. Hopefully not skimping on safeties though.

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TulliusCicero 7 hours ago

Ebikes are really great and I often ride one to work. They do help with speed, range, motivation, and of course, hills.
They don't do anything about unsafe infrastructure though, which is by far the US' biggest problem for biking. To say that American bike infrastructure is garbage tier is an insult to garbage, that's how bad it typically is. It's extremely unsafe, and people can feel it, they can tell, hence why hardly anyone actually bikes to work.

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TulliusCicero 7 hours ago

I've biked around in a bunch places in the US, and the reality is that it really is terrible. Bike infrastructure is F-tier almost everywhere, rising to D-Tier in supposedly bike friendly cities like Portland.

Bike infrastructure generally

* Is designed to be unsafe. Door zones are common, actual physical protection or segregation is rare, ESPECIALLY for intersections.

* Stops and starts randomly. Just look at Google maps for a city, you'll be able to see that the bike network is completely fragmented, with many bike lane suddenly disappearing on a road for no apparent reason.

* Randomly changes style/design principles even within the same city, so both you and drivers are constantly confused unless you're already used to a route.

* Is poorly enforced, with drivers routinely driving or parking in bike lanes with punishment being a rarity.

Now, some spots have good bike trails that work for their commute, and that's a great option when it's available. But I'm a bit tired of the "biking is actually okay in the US!" gaslighting.

Some people still manage, I do sometimes, but after getting hit by cars a couple times I tired of making excuses for it. There's a reason hardly anyone bikes for their commute in the states: overall, biking in the US is simply awful, and that's the truth.

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