How the other 90% lives

I don't think its the other 90%. Cars aren't innately evil and there
are lots of places where traffic isn't so bad. I drive to my office- 10
miles, 25 minutes each way.( I need a car all day as I travel to
multiple clients throughout the metro area.) On a really bad day it
takes 30 minutes. I'm never in gridlock and no one around here honks at
other motorists (and rarely at cyclists either)

My own view is that your ride through traffic was most unpleasant and
probably dangerous. But there are plenty of places where cars and bike
coexist pretty well and they each have their place and purpose.

"Claire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got a sense of how the other 90% lives yesterday.

First, in the morning, I drove my car to where our bicycle club has its
offices.

Sorry Claire ... you lost me right there. Your bicycle club has offices?
Really?

--
Bob C.

"Of course it hurts. The trick is not minding that it hurts."
T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

In article <[email hidden]>,

Claire said:

Then I rode through the Eastlake neighborhood. Soon, I came upon
another huge blockage of idling cars. The cyclist in front of me hopped
up on the sidewalk, and, after a bit of hesitation, I did the same. We
rode along for maybe a quarter of a mile on the broad, empty sidewalk.

So, you were basically forced off the road (and your
right to use it) by Car Critical Mass.

Jym Dyer submitted this link some time ago, but in light
of your experience I think it deserves a reprise:

http://www.roadkillbill.com/r125.html

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

19 Jan 2005 13:39:45 -0800,
<[email hidden]>,

Claire said:

Maybe a few have jobs where they must have a car, and maybe a few live
very far out and "need" to drive. But what about the rest of them? I
don't get it!

Standing at the bike rack in a heavy downpour, another cyclist and I
both agreed Sugoi makes good rain gear and that despite the weather,
cycling sure beats driving.

Today felt like spring. The rain was warm.
--
zk

Zoot Katz said:

19 Jan 2005 13:39:45 -0800,
<[email hidden]>,

Claire said:

Maybe a few have jobs where they must have a car, and maybe a few live
very far out and "need" to drive. But what about the rest of them? I
don't get it!

Standing at the bike rack in a heavy downpour, another cyclist and I
both agreed Sugoi makes good rain gear and that despite the weather,
cycling sure beats driving.

Today felt like spring. The rain was warm.

You guys are lucky, even if citiefied. Rain at near freezing is one
thing I don't enjoy much. Where I live in 'sunny (yeah, right)
California the low was 44 degrees F yesterday and so was the high. The
mist that kept fogging my vision on my eye protectors keep getting to
where I had to wipe it off but no rainfall showed upon the weather
report at 5 PM.

Claire said:

How do people stand it? I realize I live such a sheltered life of
commuting, where I just either ride the bike or take the bus. I never
have to idle in traffic. If I want to go faster, I pedal harder. If I
am stuck in a motor vehicle in traffic, it's usually in a bus, and I
can snooze or do the crossword and someone else has to cope with the
mess.

I have a pet theory that drivers are so easily and constantly enraged
by other traffic, including cyclists, because they bought the
central lie of car marketing - that they provide freedom - whereas most
of them sit in traffic jams or at lights most of the time.

--
bpo gallery at http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/mvw1/bpo

According to Claire <[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

After waiting in gridlock through two light cycles at 3rd and Stewart,
I officially decided I had had it. I hopped on the side walk and rode
around the obstruction (a bent articulated bus taking up several
lanes). Then, I ended up filtering between endless stalled cars for
eight or ten blocks. They were stuck, hoping for an eventual place on
the freeway. I find filtering scary, spent the entire time yelling
warnings that I was coming through, and by the time I reached the end
of it, I could feel my heart racing. But at least I got through it. How
long would it take the average automobile in that mess to go those few
blocks?

IIRC you live in California. Lane-splitting is legal here.
There is no need to wait through two light cycles and then
compromise your own safety by retreating to the sidewalk.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/10/30/MN87097.DTL

----
Lars Lehtonen

Michael Warner said:

Claire said:

How do people stand it? I realize I live such a sheltered life of
commuting, where I just either ride the bike or take the bus. I never
have to idle in traffic. If I want to go faster, I pedal harder. If I
am stuck in a motor vehicle in traffic, it's usually in a bus, and I
can snooze or do the crossword and someone else has to cope with the
mess.

I have a pet theory that drivers are so easily and constantly enraged
by other traffic, including cyclists, because they bought the
central lie of car marketing - that they provide freedom - whereas most
of them sit in traffic jams or at lights most of the time.

If you have ever driven in Silicon Valley (San Jose, Santa Clara) where
all the money, million dollar shacks, and people are you know what it is
like to sit in traffic and watch your $2.00+ a gallon gas go out the
tail pipe. But it keeps you air conditioner and stereo going without a
worry in the world about what you are breathing or doing to the
environment. I don't think anybody down there over 1% really gives a
damn since they are just taking their pollution machines out of town to
pollute somewhere else.
That's why I make less money to enjoy clear 'relatively' air and very
little in traffic jams. 4 cars at a light, that's a jam for me.

"Claire" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got a sense of how the other 90% lives yesterday.

First, in the morning, I drove my car to where our bicycle club has its
offices. I drove out there because I wanted to drive when the meeting
was over to a second meeting I had that night, and then drive back
(very late), home.

Wait a minute....you're bike club has Offices?

That's great...must be a very big club.

jb

Quoted message said:

Your bicycle club has offices?

Yup. 5500+ members, the largest recreational cycling club in the
nation.

Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky ([email hidden])
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/

I'm doing the Big Climb for my friend Dena! See:
http://www.active.com/donations/campaign_public.cfm?key=cpetersky

Claire said:

Quoted message said:

Your bicycle club has offices?

Yup. 5500+ members, the largest recreational cycling club in the
nation.

Cascade Bicycle Club is roughly 100 times as large as Dead Baby Bikes,
but less than 1% as cool. (That's stil relatively cool, though.)
http://deadbabybikes.org

Chalo Colina

On 20 Jan 2005 18:11:54 -0800, "Chalo" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Claire said:

Quoted message said:

Your bicycle club has offices?

Yup. 5500+ members, the largest recreational cycling club in the
nation.

Cascade Bicycle Club is roughly 100 times as large as Dead Baby Bikes,
but less than 1% as cool. (That's stil relatively cool, though.)
http://deadbabybikes.org

Chalo Colina

Nice site.

CBC is not cool; I pity the staff members who have to deal with the
egos of the board and long-time volunteers of the club. However,
because of its sheer size, it is able to do a few cool things now and
again.

Chalo, deadbabybikes is ineffably cool -- I think you got the coolness
amounts and ratio between DBB and CBC just about right.

Michael Warner wrote:
I have a pet theory that drivers are so easily and constantly enraged

Quoted message said:

by other traffic, including cyclists, because they bought the
central lie of car marketing - that they provide freedom - whereas

most

Quoted message said:

of them sit in traffic jams or at lights most of the time.

--
bpo gallery at http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/mvw1/bpo

I think having the word FIDO on your dashboard works...when
enraged..."Forget it Drive on".....yet some think it stands for "Find
it drive over it". I have to be in NYC tomorrow after a snowstorm. The
latter FIDO will probably be my attitude.
Maggie

Quoted message said:

I think having the word FIDO on your dashboard works...when
enraged..."Forget it Drive on".....yet some think it stands for "Find
it drive over it". I have to be in NYC tomorrow after a snowstorm. The
latter FIDO will probably be my attitude.

Chill out, get a latte, ride a bicycle. I was in Baltimore the other day
for a
meeting, I took the train. No problemo, everyone was nice.

In fact I have never had a bad experience in Baltimore.

:-)

Eric S. Sande wrote:>

Quoted message said:

Chill out, get a latte, ride a bicycle. I was in Baltimore the other

day

Quoted message said:

for a meeting, I took the train. No problemo, everyone was nice.

In fact I have never had a bad experience in Baltimore.

:-)

I think the key word here is "train". You took the train. I usually
take a car service into NYC. (On the boss's dime) I am pretty sure I
will do that tomorrow.

If I do get a latte, I am certainly not riding a bicycle through NYC in
the freezing cold. I'll chill out with my latte in the back of a black
Lincoln sedan. Call me spoiled but that's me. ;-)

I can't wait until we have some decent weather in Jersey to find out
how well I do with my bicycle. I am doing well at the gym on a
stationary bike. I close my eyes, pedal and listen to Rod Stewart. I
wonder how I will carry that over to real life riding outdoors.
Maggie
Maggie

Quoted message said:

I close my eyes, pedal and listen to Rod Stewart. I wonder how I will carry
that over to >real life riding outdoors.

Probably well. It's 19 degrees here and I'll be on the street at my usual
time.

It's actually not a big deal, well fed, clothed and equipped you can handle
anything.

My sig would go here if I could figure out OE.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Eric S. Sande said:

In fact I have never had a bad experience in Baltimore.

:-)

I wasn't there for the '79 World Series either.

Credit where it's due -- the Pirates did have a
good roster, as did the Orioles. But it was pretty
cruel for the Pirates to keep shoving that 'We Are
Family' disco [censored] in everybody's faces.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

You must see their excellent downtown.

A showplace, with Camden Yards a beautiful baseball park.

They have done a good job there.

If I knew how to run this, I would have a sig file.