Hell yeah! Get it, fam. And yeah, try not to be annoying about it, but don't be shy about it, either: the more people know someone personally who bikes to places, the more every cyclist on the road gets humanized in the mind of the average driver. It makes all of us safer to talk about bike commuting.
Here in Portland we have the bike bus. It recently got enough attention that the state legislature passed a bill allowing schools to use transportation funding to promote/organize their own.
That's awesome!
You should mention what part of the world you live in. Western/northern Europe is paradise for cyclists compared to USA, for example
I live in the United States
Hard not to talk about it when it is 100% the best way to start your day.
Just got my bike back from shop for a hefty maintenance. A lot had to be done and couple of parts had to be changed. At the end it costed me just 50€. If this was a car with a similar maintenance, it would have been at least couple of hundred, if not even close to a 1k€. Bikes are awesome.
Bike gutters are still safer than sidewalks for cyclists.
Is there statistical evidence of that? Mainly curious so I can arm myself next time someone argues about it.
I too would like to see it
There’s a study I posted below that says that bike lanes are just about always safer, didn’t really talk about sidewalk riding though. Where I live (not Florida) there’s a lot of blind driveways, so riding on the sidewalk can be dangerous for cars coming out of their driveway. (Second link describes that). Happy riding!
https://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/NITC-RR-583_ProtectedLanes_FinalReportb.pdf
https://floridacyclinglaw.com/blog/bicycle-lanes-vs-sidewalks
Thanks for this, I'm not sure if I'm ready to switch though.
IDK what the culture is like at your school, but if you're feeling motivated consider offering to organize a group ride to school to encourage others to join in. It could just start out as a one-time or once a month thing and increase from there if there's enough interest.
How would I do that? That doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would happen.
It would be a similar process to organizing a club, though the exact steps would differ between schools. Ideally you'd meet up at a common central location for everyone and then continue onward to school, picking up other students along the way at other checkpoints.
You just need biking buddies to talk about it with. Maybe you can start riding with some of your school mates.
What is the 'cycling stereotype'?
I find it's similar to the XYZ stereotype, where people get annoyed because you're excited and interested in topic XYZ. Then they use that as an excuse to not like XYZ.
This is a joke but also not. People as a group are the worst.
Good on you, buddy. When you say they don't talk about it, do you mean among each other or with others? If the former, maybe you could use questions about bike maintenance as a way to start the conversation?
There aren't many others who also bike. It also feels weird to start a convo just from that.
You could just ask something like, what's the best lubricant for your chain, something like that. You'll know from that if they're the type to nerd out about bikes. Good luck!
Idk, there are only so many people, that seems like a weird way to start, and it can be easily looked up. I haven't had a bike for very long, so I've never lubricated my chains. Different times, thanks for the advice anyways.
Oh I see. I guess it's a different culture where you are.
(you should have lubricated your chains already btw. Give them a clean with degreaser or washing up liquid, let them dry, then add lubricant. Every month or so, more in wet weather. Regular maintenance will save you a lot in repair costs)
Thanks
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