#26 2021-09-11 16:20:15

tomwald
Moderator
From: 78722
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 290

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

No injury at all. (Though maybe I wouldn't recall a scratch or minor bruise.) His vehicle hit & broke my rear wheel and that was most of the damage.

It was bumper-to-bumper traffic with a series of traffic lights, and he was driving much too closely to me, so he hit me, but at a fairly low speed, probably under 10 mph, from what I recall.

Offline

#27 2021-09-14 16:01:39

Jack
Member
Registered: 2013-03-27
Posts: 344

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

MichaelBluejay wrote:

I don't know how anyone bikes in this country without becoming misanthropic.

-!-
Sorry to hear that. Cycling has the opposite effect on me.  It's driving that makes me hate people. 
I'm reminded of an Andy Singer cartoon which illustrates the notion that drivers are enemies and cyclists are friends.
Wish I could locate it.  https://politicalcartoons.com/cartoonist/andy_singer

Offline

#28 2021-09-14 21:57:34

MichaelBluejay
Webmaster
From: Austin, TX
Registered: 2008-05-26
Posts: 1,452
Website

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

I see the same law-breaking when I'm in my car as when I'm on my bike, but when I'm on my bike my life is more frequently threatened, so it angers me more.

I love Andy Singer.

Offline

#29 2021-09-16 20:20:42

ggw
Member
From: Austin, TX
Registered: 2008-05-27
Posts: 35
Website

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

Seeing the 1993+, 40 minute uTube offering, has prompted me to continue the you're "Giving up" thread. I had not seen that. 20+ years evidently goes by quickly!

I wondered awhile back about the observations you made about my post on continuing to enjoy my commute from HydePark to Metric @ Braker. I have been employed in that very small area off and on (more on) since 1986. It seemed confrontational, but is much more understandable given what you have said here.

Living in Hyde Park has offered me all the advantages of biking as mentioned in the uTube documentary. However, I have a couple items of advice for casual readers of this thread for consideration of reducing the threat of severe injury (death) while riding bikes. The mood for jotting these down will dissipate if I give too much attention to pros / cons. With that self apology...

1) At any time there comes something you need .. there will be more than one likely supplier .. located "around" AND there will likely be predictable car traffic flow over the time a bike ride might be used to get the needed thing. I have found that a trade off can be made to choose the supplier that I can get to with the most reasonable safety one can expect ... and I go that supplier.

2) In the same manner if a supplier is *really* the one I want to shop at, then I think "when would a bike trip to it minimize my exposure to worrying traffic?" Then comes all the weighing of this focused on information to see if I can reach an accommodation between fears (pushed to so near zero as to be able to think about the other weights .. phoning ahead for reasonable assurance that the trip even stands a chance of success) and engaging some pleasure otherwise missed .. again. We do this sort of decision making all the time, usually in matters where injury is so close to zero as makes no difference. But with experience I know that over time it rates higher and higher as a chance of getting my attention.

3) You correctly surmised that my commute to work (or anywhere else I go .. your prompt for self evaluation pointed out to me) was probably circuitous. It is! I bike just over 9 miles, but whether I take Lamar or Burnet or MoPac then the car distance is 7 miles. My advice to those getting on bikes to go somewhere is to consider the tradeoffs: You can lower the weight given to reaching a destination in the minimum amount of time and raise the weight of a path that might yield some sort of feeling of pleasure (often that will be to envision lemonade when if I sense that lemons are part of the decision information). I work full time (my embraced choice) and the remaining time in a day is reduced by about 30-40 minutes due to the difference in going and returning by car as opposed to by bike. That time is up for assessment of how to spend one's life. Such assessment fluctuates a lot, even over just a few hours, but DOES HAVE IT LIMITS (one weight -> 0 .. another -> maximum).

4) The last, for now, is keeping a vague list of things that recur. For a trivial instance I have CFMMP memorized to such an extent that in the mornings with a Pavlovian bent, once I am dressed for leaving (e.g. hard soled shoes instead of sandals) when I reach for the exit door handle ... CFMMP will come to mind and I expand it silently by voicing keywords that spark (some) thought: Coffee Food Mask Money Phone. My hand is still on the door knob and I have ticked off a list that "IS PLANNING". All in the space 3 - 5 seconds. If even 1 silent word leads to silent thought of the immediate future ... it won't stop there. It *may* cause me to drive to work so I can attend to a much more diffuse need or at least dramatically increase my options to tack on other small things I have put off for just such an occasion. That is rare enough that it hasn't become an excuse to ignore *all the reasons to NOT get behind the wheel*. The point is I have reason to keep "planning" as a common task. I can remember when our child was still at home, I didn't plan. Get in the car and THEN think "What needs doing first?"; and it hardly mattered .. time between became zero in my mind. Only a hand full of places to go to get "stuff" or attend to rearing's demands or ....
I cannot say when things moved over into the "look ahead" way.

Really, thanks for the uTube reference. I worked on Fred's  "newspaper" one summer to track down the buy/sell items that to me were out-of-date. Sometimes 2 were separated on the page with identical info! But, "proof" would really be heeded by Bob Farr when it came time for the layout. And I did get `at-ta-boy's from Fred. That uTube sure mentioned a lot of people I haven't seen in years. For Fred? Well, it is a sad explanation. I almost don't want to know. If serendipity puts me in the presence of one, great. Hmm. Maybe I wish I hadn't had my memory stirred with that video. Too late, now.

Offline

#30 2021-09-16 20:38:41

MichaelBluejay
Webmaster
From: Austin, TX
Registered: 2008-05-26
Posts: 1,452
Website

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

ggw, did you mean to post this in the other thread?

I'm sorry my earlier comment came off as confrontational.  I'm genuinely happy for you that you get pleasure rather than frustration out of cycling.  I'm afraid I just don't have the same experience.

Offline

#31 2021-09-17 11:07:49

Jack
Member
Registered: 2013-03-27
Posts: 344

Re: The Bluejays will buy a car and give up bicycling

"3) You correctly surmised that my commute to work (or anywhere else I go .. your prompt for self evaluation pointed out to me) was probably circuitous. It is! I bike just over 9 miles, but whether I take Lamar or Burnet or MoPac then the car distance is 7 miles. My advice to those getting on bikes to go somewhere is to consider the tradeoffs: You can lower the weight given to reaching a destination in the minimum amount of time and raise the weight of a path that might yield some sort of feeling of pleasure (often that will be to envision lemonade when if I sense that lemons are part of the decision information). I work full time (my embraced choice) and the remaining time in a day is reduced by about 30-40 minutes due to the difference in going and returning by car as opposed to by bike. That time is up for assessment of how to spend one's life. Such assessment fluctuates a lot, even over just a few hours, but DOES HAVE IT LIMITS (one weight -> 0 .. another -> maximum)."

My compliments on how well you put this. 

I find my commute to work (done these days far less frequently in the work-from-home era) by car annoying and frustrating--even though it is about 15-20 minutes faster each way than going by bicycle, which I find fun and mostly pleasant.  Sometimes (b/c of traffic conditions hard to avoid by car but far easier to avoid bicycling) the driving takes as long as the riding usually does.  My biking route is slightly shorter in distance than the fastest driving route and sometimes I go a different way to get in a bit more riding/a bit more exercise, something I'd never do in a car.

I suppose I could choose a drive to work/90 minutes in the gym lifestyle, but . . . yeech.

Offline

Registered users online in this topic: 0, guests: 1
[Bot] claudebot

Board footer

[ Generated in 0.023 seconds, 9 queries executed - Memory usage: 565.91 KiB (Peak: 1.15 MiB) ]