I genuinely wish I could ride a bike where I live :( I’m not in good enough shape to ride for 10 miles, but even if I were, there are no safe ways to ride a bike around here. There’s no shoulders, blind hills and curves, no sidewalks, not shit. The road I live off of is the main way other than the interstate that connects two towns, and at least once or twice a month some homeless person walking or riding their bike on that road gets hit by a car. A guy died a few months ago. If I lived somewhere where I could ride a bike, I absolutely would. Healthier for me personally, better for the environment. I used to love riding my bike when I lived in a bikable city, but shitty semi rural Appalachia gives no shits about pedestrian or cyclist safety
Comment on The priorities of life
anti_antidote@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
4 minute drive to the grocery store is probably a 4 minute bike ride to the grocery store, just sayin
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 5 days ago
anti_antidote@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
That’s rough buddy. Wishing you either better road planning in the future or a move to a nicer town, biking should be accessible to everyone (even if you’re not in shape, with modern ebikes it’s easier than ever to get out and move for relatively cheap)
dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 5 days ago
Ive been considering trying to save up for an ebike to use for the purposes of getting into shape. I’m too damn fat anymore to pedal myself up a hill (and it’s nothing but hills here), but if I could get a bike to take to some of the bike paths in a nearby city, maybe I could slowly work up to it and use the motor when I just can’t. That, or a stationary bike until I can make it to the point of being able to do it outside. Lol.
Iunno, I just know I loved riding back in the day, and I’d like to not keel over
anti_antidote@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
I recommend something like this: lectricebikes.com/collections/ebikes/…/xp-black
More than enough range for a day’s riding around the city, on the cheap end but still reliable, and most importantly folds up to fit in your car alongside anything you might pick up along the way. Maybe look for used ones too, they’re fairly common and you might get a good deal vs. new.
2ugly2live@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Same. Even just taking walks around my area can be scary (though I also don’t know how to ride lol). I could go to the store, but only that one store. My actual grocery store + most things are in a strip mall with no sidewalks to be seen, not even a curb to slow down cars thay come too close.
PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I can in theory but the hills are brutal where I live.
AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Yeah but I’m not carrying 6 bags of groceries back to my place tho
anti_antidote@lemmy.zip 4 days ago
Why not? With panniers and baskets there’s no limit to what you can do on a bike, and that’s not even mentioning bakfietsen.
over_clox@lemmy.world 4 days ago
My former boss once challenged me to ride my bike across our main local highway to go get us some pizza. He said if I could accomplish that and get back in less than 4 minutes, he’d pay for it.
Then he told the other coworkers to watch as I did exactly that. 3 minutes 53 seconds later, and I was back with a fresh hot pizza.
For comparison, it would probably take like 15 minutes in a car, having to stop at red lights and waiting at the drive through and all that good fun traffic shit.
Disclaimer: When I ride my bike, I don’t obey any traffic signs, I’ll ride straight through the median if that’s the shortest/safest path. Whichever way is quicker, safer, easier, IDGAF.
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Good thing they won’t need to bring back a bunch of groceries.
anti_antidote@lemmy.zip 5 days ago
Good thing they live 4 minutes away from a grocery store. You can fit quite a lot on a bike very easily, and living that far away you don’t need to make big infrequent trips anyway.
Elgenzay@lemmy.ml 5 days ago
Good thing i live in South Florida where if you stay outside for 4 minutes you die from heat exhaustion
MadhuGururajan@programming.dev 5 days ago
that’s not a good thing buddy
puppy@lemmy.world 5 days ago
Good thing that bikes can carry groceries for at least a week.
MadhuGururajan@programming.dev 5 days ago
Americans are the only creatures who don’t understand the concept of a grocery basket outside of a car
chiliedogg@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Most Americans buy a lot of groceries at once because most Americans don’t have quick access to grocery stores, and buying smaller portions of groceries costs a fortune.
I can buy a week’s worth of groceries for a family of 4 for about the price of 10 days of groceries for one person. But it requires being able to haul a lot more than can fit on a bike. And for many of us, the store is also a long way away with no public transit and in a place where the temperature may be lethally hot for months at a time.
MadhuGururajan@programming.dev 4 days ago
sounds like hell
GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml 5 days ago
With a pannier rack and baskets to hang on the rack, I can carry all the groceries we need for 1-2 weeks if I so wish on my bike, no problems whatsoever.