Ever Ride in City Traffic?

[Paul Hobson]

wafflycat wrote:
>
> "Paul Hobson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>
>>
>> Paris was easily the scariest. Also, it was my first time riding on
>> the streets of a major city ever, so let's throw that one out.
>>
>
> Yet I loved cycling in Paris - the Parisian rush hour was so easy! Yes,
> it was busy, but the motorists had such an excellent attitude to
> cyclists, giving me loads of room. As well as me cycling, my husband and
> our then 14 year-old son cycled said Parisian rush hour, and we all
> thought the same. At the hotel where we were staying was an American
> (Texan, but no, not that one) who was also cycling and he too thought
> cycling in Paris was fun. Are we talking the same Paris? ;-)
>
> Cheers, helen s
>
>

I'm sure I'd love Paris now. But riding from wherever the hell I was to
Le Louvre was scary as hell for a 17 yr-old kid who had never ridden a
road bike before and had zero experience riding on streets (my hometown
has a series of golfcart/bike/ped. paths that connect the whole town).

Looking back on it...I'd eat all up now

--
Paul M. Hobson
Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.underthecouch.org
..:you may want to fix my email
address before you send anything:.

 

[Edward Dolan]

"Jeff Grippe" <jeff@door7> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "NYC XYZ" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> NYC, that is! On a weekday in mid-town Manhattan?
>
> I've lived in and around NYC all my life. When I was riding into Manhattan
> on a regular basis it was always on an upright. I would be willing to do
> the occasional ride or even commute but I wouldn't want to spend my days
> zipping through midtown traffic on a 'bent. For bent riding I'd limit
> myself to the extreme west side, extreme east side, and Central Park.

I am not sure about either the extreme west side or east side either.
Perhaps at some times of the day, but not at other times of the day. Central
Park would work, but how to get you and your bike to the Park would be the
problem.
[...]

> There have recently been a lot of Pedicabs in NYC and they are almost all
> upright. I think you want the kind of power and control afforded by an
> upright when you are trying to get through traffic. Bikes are not well
> respected by either pedestrians or drivers in NYC.

The very best way to get around New York City is via the subway and then to
walk. New York is a walker's paradise. I used to walk from one end of
Manhattan to the other end on weekends many times and I never got bored. I
truly do not think there is another city in the US that is as interesting or
as exciting to walk about as is New York.

When I lived in Brooklyn Heights, I use to take the subway for about 10
cents (this was back in the 1960's) and travel to a jumping off point in the
City. From my jumping off point I would walk and walk until total exhaustion
set in. It never even occurred to me at the time to get a bicycle. In fact,
I don't even remember ever seeing any bikes, but maybe that was because I
wasn't looking.

Now that I am coming to the end of my life I am getting back to walking
again. Unfortunately, I now have to do it in my small town here in the Upper
Midwest. It is not New York of course, but still, walking is walking and you
always feel better after having done it.

We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking. If I still lived in
New York, I would want to walk and would not even consider a bike.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

 

[[email protected]]

Edward Dolan wrote:
>
> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.

Oh, I doubt that! If we were designed for walking, we'd have run
out of ingenuity after we invented shoes!

In any case, I sure feel like _I_ was designed for biking.

And as an aside, I've absolutely proven I was _not_ designed for
running, swimming or (heaven forbid) golf!

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Bill Sornson]

Edward Dolan wrote:

> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.

You related to V@ndem@n?!?

 

[Edward Dolan]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> Edward Dolan wrote:
>>
>> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.
>
> Oh, I doubt that! If we were designed for walking, we'd have run
> out of ingenuity after we invented shoes!
>
> In any case, I sure feel like _I_ was designed for biking.
>
> And as an aside, I've absolutely proven I was _not_ designed for
> running, swimming or (heaven forbid) golf!
>
> - Frank Krygowski

Sorry Frank, but if you belong to the same species as I do then you were
designed for walking too. New York is just chock full of institutions of
higher education. Find one and take a course in anthropology about how we
humans evolved. Such a course is generally labeled Physical Anthropology
101.

Walking is the human means of locomotion par excellence. It is only in the
past few thousand years that humans have been able to invent other ways of
getting around. However, our anatomy and physiology is the same as it has
always been. It was and is designed for walking, not biking.

Ed Dolan - Minnesota

 

[[email protected]]

Edward Dolan wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> >
> > Edward Dolan wrote:
> >>
> >> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.
> >
> > Oh, I doubt that! If we were designed for walking, we'd have run
> > out of ingenuity after we invented shoes!
> >
> > In any case, I sure feel like _I_ was designed for biking.
> >
> > And as an aside, I've absolutely proven I was _not_ designed for
> > running, swimming or (heaven forbid) golf!
> >
> > - Frank Krygowski
>
> Sorry Frank, but if you belong to the same species as I do then you were
> designed for walking too. New York is just chock full of institutions of
> higher education. Find one and take a course in anthropology about how we
> humans evolved. Such a course is generally labeled Physical Anthropology
> 101.
>
> Walking is the human means of locomotion par excellence. It is only in the
> past few thousand years that humans have been able to invent other ways of
> getting around. However, our anatomy and physiology is the same as it has
> always been. It was and is designed for walking, not biking.
>
> Ed Dolan - Minnesota

Gee, I see _some_ humans were designed without a sense of humor!

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Edward Dolan]

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
>
> Edward Dolan wrote:
>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>> >
>> >
>> > Edward Dolan wrote:
>> >>
>> >> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.
>> >
>> > Oh, I doubt that! If we were designed for walking, we'd have run
>> > out of ingenuity after we invented shoes!
>> >
>> > In any case, I sure feel like _I_ was designed for biking.
>> >
>> > And as an aside, I've absolutely proven I was _not_ designed for
>> > running, swimming or (heaven forbid) golf!
>> >
>> > - Frank Krygowski
>>
>> Sorry Frank, but if you belong to the same species as I do then you were
>> designed for walking too. New York is just chock full of institutions of
>> higher education. Find one and take a course in anthropology about how we
>> humans evolved. Such a course is generally labeled Physical Anthropology
>> 101.
>>
>> Walking is the human means of locomotion par excellence. It is only in
>> the
>> past few thousand years that humans have been able to invent other ways
>> of
>> getting around. However, our anatomy and physiology is the same as it has
>> always been. It was and is designed for walking, not biking.
>>
>> Ed Dolan - Minnesota
>
> Gee, I see _some_ humans were designed without a sense of humor!
>
> - Frank Krygowski

Actually, my reply was replete with loads of humor. But it takes
intelligence as well as a sense of humor to discover it. I am just not as
obvious as you are. Indirection and subtlety is the essence of humor for
intelligent types like myself.

But mainly, I like to win my arguments regardless of humor. I always see to
that first and foremost.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

PS. Since I am not getting any input from New Yorkers, I have deleted the
other newsgroups.

 

[Just zis Guy, you know?]

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 03:21:49 -0500, "Edward Dolan" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.

You are Mike Vandeman and I claim my five pounds.

(ps - actually we were designed for swinging from trees or loping
along the ground using feet and knuckles - check the anatomy of the
spine some time)


Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"Let’s have a moment of silence for all those Americans who are stuck
in traffic on their way to the gym to ride the stationary bicycle."
- Earl Blumenauer

 

[Buck]

On 07/20/2005 10:52:02 "Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 03:21:49 -0500, "Edward Dolan" <[email protected]> wrote:

>> We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.

> You are Mike Vandeman and I claim my five pounds.

> (ps - actually we were designed for swinging from trees or loping along
> the ground using feet and knuckles - check the anatomy of the spine some
> time)

I understand that we were designed for sweating and that is why we are the
dominate species.

--

Buck

I would rather be out on my Catrike

http://www.catrike.co.uk

 

[Edward Dolan]

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]...
> On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 03:21:49 -0500, "Edward Dolan" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>>We humans are actually designed for walking, not biking.
>
> You are Mike Vandeman and I claim my five pounds.
>
> (ps - actually we were designed for swinging from trees or loping
> along the ground using feet and knuckles - check the anatomy of the
> spine some time)

Nope! You have got **** sapiens confused with the great apes. We are
designed by nature for walking upright. However, evolution is not perfect
and we do have an inordinate number of back problems due to our upright
posture.

Who is Mike Vandeman? Is he also Great like me?

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota

 

[NYC XYZ]

Slugger wrote:
>
>
> There is a documentary called "Pedal" about the messengers in NYC. An
> odd group of people to be sure. (crackheads, one legged riders, jesus
> preachers) I recommend it to anyone that rides a bike. One fellow in
> the movie rides a BikeE for his messenger work.
> Some ride track bikes. Which to me seems completely crazy because these
> track bikes typically don't have brakes. So if you think riding a bent
> in NYC is crazy, there are far crazier bikers on the road than a bent
> rider.


Exactly! I love the world of bicycling 'cause it's such a colorful
cast of characters. I couldn't believe it when I saw the one-legged
rider (you mean there are more??)! Women messengers, too...and sexy,
the couple I saw!! Not the skinny-types, but real meat and potatoes
kind of ladies....

Yeah, so I was like, I've only seen one guy ride a 'bent in NYC
traffic, that I can recall...didn't seem to hard, how he was doing it
-- though he was going down the MIDDLE of 125th Street (Harlem)! This
was during afternoon rush hour...maybe he was an out-of-towner...fat
middle-aged white guy with beard....

Thanks for the ref. Real cool people on bikes. I love this crowd!
You know how motorists get into fisticuffs after an accident?
Bicyclists seem to check each other out, make sure the other fellow's
all right!

 

[NYC XYZ]

Hey, cool!! Thanks, I'll drop him a line...after I make a trip over to
The Bicycle Man in Alfred, New York!



S. Delaire "Rotatorrecumbent" wrote:
> I'll go out on a limb here and volunteer the name of a very nice gentleman
> who runs a messenger service in downtown Manhattan that you could talk to
> and possible test ride one of his several recumbents.
> Shelly Mossy [email protected]
> I borrowed his EZ1 last August for the day
> Any *head first* style vehicle is out of the question for this person no
> matter what the reason.
> LWB oss works well in the tight confines of NYC, SF, Seattle, L.A., Indy
> and Portland
> the only big cities I have had the chance to ride.
> Speedy
>
> NYC XYZ wrote:
>
> > NYC, that is! On a weekday in mid-town Manhattan? I did bike
> > messenging for almost two months one summer -- only job where I wish I
> > had more time in the day for (second hardest after Army infantry, no
> > joke!) -- and now that I'm curious about recumbents, I'm trying to
> > picture myself in all kinds of situations.
> >
> > How do you lock up a 'bent, anyway?
> >
> > Is it good for weaving in and out of traffic?
> >
> > Does it brake just like an upright?
> >
> > Is it harder to go real slow?
> >
> > Ever run red lights with them?
> >
> > How would they fare on the sidewalk? How well do they go over curbs
> > and speed bumps?
> >
> > Ever get mugged on one? (Serious! Twice I had to jet away from some
> > miscreants in broad daylight in the parks.)
> >
> > And apparently they make lots of squeaky noises??
> >
> > And they're actually worse for certain kinds of back problems???
>
>
> ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
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[Dave Larrington]

NYC XYZ wrote:

> Exactly! I love the world of bicycling 'cause it's such a colorful
> cast of characters. I couldn't believe it when I saw the one-legged
> rider (you mean there are more??)!

There was me last Tuesday, but that was only coz my left crank fell off...

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
I'm just a primitive creature of the heath, so pardon my savage
ignorance.

 

[zman]

I have ridden extensively in Chicago. Fantastic city for cyclists.
Daley, for all his shortcomings, is a good friend to cyclists imo.
Aside from the numerous bike lanes that can get you anywhere in the
city N,S,E,W, you have the lakefront and a particular curiousity of the
"take back the streets" which occurs in 'the loop' (chicago's downtown)
the last friday of every month. cyclists gather at city hall and ride
thru the city, from centerline to curb, for good times and a subcurrent
of bicycle promotion. talk about safety in numbers!

 

[Bill Patterson]

We rode a century several years ago. A tandem team was a guy without a
right leg and a gal without a left leg. Quite a sight.

NYC XYZ wrote:
>
> Exactly! I love the world of bicycling 'cause it's such a colorful
> cast of characters. I couldn't believe it when I saw the one-legged
> rider (you mean there are more??)! Women messengers, too...and sexy,


--
Order Lords of the Chainring
http://www.calpoly.edu/~wpatters/lords.html

Or use pay pal


Reply to [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

 

[Dane Jackson]

Buck <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> I understand that we were designed for sweating and that is why we are the
> dominate species.

I thought it was weaseling that separated us from the other animals.
Well, except the weasels.

--
Dane Jackson - z u v e m b i @ u n i x b i g o t s . o r g
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it
were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
-- H. L. Mencken

 

[S. Delaire \Rotatorrecumbent\]

A small plug for my products:
I build titanium framed recumbents and have done a several with large diameter wheels
(ti frames for other brands also)
My preferred set up is dual 20" as the start up acceleration is noticeable
Can't argue with the ride quality of the large wheels though
Dual 20" with 54 speeds is 21 pounds
Dual 700 with 27 speeds is in the 25 - 26 pound range
Speedy

NYC XYZ wrote:

> Hey, cool!! Thanks, I'll drop him a line...after I make a trip over to
> The Bicycle Man in Alfred, New York!
>
> S. Delaire "Rotatorrecumbent" wrote:
> > I'll go out on a limb here and volunteer the name of a very nice gentleman
> > who runs a messenger service in downtown Manhattan that you could talk to
> > and possible test ride one of his several recumbents.
> > Shelly Mossy [email protected]
> > I borrowed his EZ1 last August for the day
> > Any *head first* style vehicle is out of the question for this person no
> > matter what the reason.
> > LWB oss works well in the tight confines of NYC, SF, Seattle, L.A., Indy
> > and Portland
> > the only big cities I have had the chance to ride.
> > Speedy
> >
> > NYC XYZ wrote:
> >
> > > NYC, that is! On a weekday in mid-town Manhattan? I did bike
> > > messenging for almost two months one summer -- only job where I wish I
> > > had more time in the day for (second hardest after Army infantry, no
> > > joke!) -- and now that I'm curious about recumbents, I'm trying to
> > > picture myself in all kinds of situations.
> > >
> > > How do you lock up a 'bent, anyway?
> > >
> > > Is it good for weaving in and out of traffic?
> > >
> > > Does it brake just like an upright?
> > >
> > > Is it harder to go real slow?
> > >
> > > Ever run red lights with them?
> > >
> > > How would they fare on the sidewalk? How well do they go over curbs
> > > and speed bumps?
> > >
> > > Ever get mugged on one? (Serious! Twice I had to jet away from some
> > > miscreants in broad daylight in the parks.)
> > >
> > > And apparently they make lots of squeaky noises??
> > >
> > > And they're actually worse for certain kinds of back problems???
> >
> >
> > ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==----
> > http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 120,000+ Newsgroups
> > ----= East and West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =----


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