The Art of Taking It Slow
Contemporary cycling is all about spandex and personal bests. The bicycle designer Grant Petersen has amassed an ardent following by urging people to get comfortable bikes, and go easy.
On real bicycles
- Thread starter johnbryanpeters
- Start date
That's a lot of words, but I'm assuming its saying that bikes should be fun. That's why I love MTB, but I enjoy some type 1 fun too, road or MTB.
You should read the article. Pretty classic rivendell stuff. I definitely slant in this direction, particularly the last 15 or so years after stopped racing. I think his view is quite america-centric though. The characterization of bikes being for lycra-clad and/or adrenaline junkies is just not the case here. Maybe for some enthusiasts, but for the majority, it’s simply the best way to get from a to b. And there is the infrastructure to support that.
The Art of Taking It Slow
Contemporary cycling is all about spandex and personal bests. The bicycle designer Grant Petersen has amassed an ardent following by urging people to get comfortable bikes, and go easy.www.newyorker.com
He is as bad as the hard-core racer bros, just at the other end.
Can we not just meet in the middle and go for a ride?
more and more parents out here in Denver with e-cargo bikes laden with kids, thanks to the Denver rebate program. that's what pushed me to get mine.
In his defense - that Rivendell dude has been a bit loco for decades now...
I hate people telling me how to enjoy myself. Now I'm going to buy a velodrome bike just to spite them.
I haven't really had a strong opinion about e-bikes but effing hell, living in a mountain town with walkable greenways is giving me one.
The number of assholes here who are hauling ass at 20-30mph on their fucking pannier-laden e-bikes around blind corners on greenways shared with pedestrians and dogs and human powered bikes is maddening.
Nothing I like better than being out for a leisurely walk and needing to jump into the bushes multiple times, to make way for entitled dickheads who would normally have to be launched out of a trebuchet to get going that fast, but now they have a motorized assist.
Don't worry. They general public will be discerning in their attempts to curtail such behavior and will only ban access to the motorized bikes.
What I see is because THAT is now tolerated, people are getting out on sidewalks and paths on motorcycles now. Electric AND gas, just not giving a fuck.
And I like to ride my bike fast, but some people on the trail just need to slow the f*ck down, the ones that are justifying their ebike by "I only have 52.7 minutes, 3 kids, 5 cats, a goat and a job, so I need to go 28mph so I can get 34 miles in!". Just enjoy the damn miles rather than worrying about whether you spend more time uphill or pedaling. This is first and foremost with any of my rides.
You mean a place where throttle powered vehicles can go?
If only we had something like this...
We got a bike path nearby and it is suggested that if you want to go fast you ride outside the bike path, I think that's a good idea because bike riders on every type of bike behave like dickheads on bike paths.
But they made the divider like a cheese grater, so if a car hits you you get proper fucked.
I swear they installed the dividers backwards.
That does seem quite the odd choice.
I assume it's so you can see people using it which makes it seem like a worthwhile investment.
But, even if a car hits it, the slats at ~45deg are going to cause the car to pull in to the divider harder and possibly spray the people on the path with plastic shrapnel.
Even at the start of the new section of track they planted a tree that drops pointy, rock hard 6" long seed pods, they are also planting them in parking areas which will cause some solid car and human damage in the future.
I feel like even I could become a planner for the local Council.
Well done. Gonna save this one for future use.
Funny enough, there are plenty of bike lanes and wide shouldered roads around here. A number of segments of the greenway that I walk on also have very good, accessible roads for bikes. Maybe not, like, Netherlands-nice, but very serviceable.
I think the worst part for me is that I see all the potential good that comes with the e-bikes. Less noise, less parking, less dangerous traffic downtown areas, better health... I've spoken with a number of older riders who were previously unable to ride a bike because they a) didn't have quite enough strength to make pedaling long distances practical, and b) didn't want to get stranded if they got tired further away from the house. They're now riding, and the adjustable assist means they can build up leg strength and turn it down or up as they need it.
These things are all great. It's just pretty clear that, "use your e-bike however you would use a normal bike" isn't gonna fly because people can't be trusted to make decisions.
as an older rider Fast for me is not fast for the younger set. The biggest issue I have is that we have nice wide bike lanes on both sides of the street and there are these dick heads that ride on the wrong side of the street forcing you into traffic to not get into a head on with them. I usually take a swing at their face and scream wrong side(if its an adult). Yeah I now it's nasty but fuck em, I'm a grumpy senior citizen.
The issue is nobody has claimed the E-bike segment, it's not quite a moto, so no DMV and law enforcement consider it a moped, the cycling community won't claim it because they think it is a moto and nuisance, and most municipalities cant figure out where to let them run while getting complaints from footpath traffic and from drivers as well.
Its probably going to take a while for ebikes to find a place where they are welcomed but more importantly encouraged. but as of now they seem to the red headed step child of the era.
Its probably going to take a while for ebikes to find a place where they are welcomed but more importantly encouraged. but as of now they seem to the red headed step child of the era.
Washington has classified allowable uses for each class of E-bike that is wholesale ignored and unenforced.
Today, perfect example, out doing the only thing I can do right now, walk/hike, and this guy comes on full-throttle e-bike, no assist, it goes up hills without pedaling at all. Just blowing by everyone as fast as it can go:
But wait, there's moar. On the way home, these guys on some kind of high power unicycles. They were using the bike path here, but later they just cut in front of cars, blowing the stopsigns at intersections, etc.