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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   28970 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 7, 2023

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Assuming you live in an urban centre, when factoring in traffic, cycling will often end up being faster than driving or taking public transport.

Big assumption. My commute is from an outlying town to a city center, a journey that takes 30 minutes by car, along mainly 60mph speed limit roads. I travel along maybe one mile of roads slower than that the entire way there, since the city's main A-road cuts directly through the center.

As I said, you can do this if you attach a trailer to your bike.

At the expense of looking like an utter tool, or a child towing their mobile lemonade stand to the next location. And having to worry about cornering too sharply and tipping the whole thing over.

Obviously there are circumstances in which cars are preferable to bikes, but seriously - how often do you go to IKEA? I can't imagine it's more than once a month.

Whenever I need something, and it's not the only store out there I'd need it for. Carrying a framed painting from an art store back on a bike would be an exercise in frustration and anxiety. Trying to carry a very heavy ornate mirror or light shade from an antiques store would be worse.

It isn't remotely difficult to cycle a bike with one hand and operate your phone with the other. I do it all the time.

And have to shout over the rushing air? It's bad enough when walking near a busy road let alone being in the middle of one.

I must say, it seems very strange for a person so aggressively averse to apparently all forms of physical exercise to be so hyper image-conscious.

Is it so completely out of the realm of possibility that a person can be slim and attractive without boring themselves half to death by doing braindead and repetitive busywork tasks constantly? My experience in the school system left me with less than zero patience for such things.

I'm not trying to normalise it. It IS normal where I live, as in most Western nations. Only in America, seemingly, is cycling seen as this weird thing that only losers do.

I'm in the UK, and among my peers it's considered a niche thing that is mainly the domain of children, eco loons or retirees. Everyone else on the road despises cyclists because they're super slow and utterly entitled.

Is it so completely out of the realm of possibility that a person can be slim and attractive without boring themselves half to death by doing braindead and repetitive busywork tasks constantly?

In my experience, yes. Although cycling via commuting is a good example of a form of exercise which does not fall under "busywork".

Whereas in my experience, 90% of weight loss happens in the kitchen.

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