Is It Hard To Bike Rather Than Drive?
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OK - first off, please go and read this first rate article by Andy in Germany - Car Free Struggles. When you’re done, and have left a suitable comment, come back here and read the rest of this post.
You’re back? Good. Here’s my question for you:
Really, how hard is it to ride your bike for most journeys?
I have struggled in the last week - crappy weather making the roads all icy (or, as my inner child would describe it, “fun: wheeee!”); Wife away living it up in That London with decadent friends (you know who you are), so I’ve had to get any away-from-the-office business done between 09:30 and 15:00 including traveling time; and a couple of meetings with new clients / people I wanted to really impress that demanded the full-on I’m-wearing-a-very-nice-suit-and-yes-I-am-the-smartest-guy-you’ll-meet-today effort.
But I wonder if those are just excuses, so I’m back at it tomorrow, with a ride to a client on the Team Valley, where I’ll be giving a presentation on ISO9001. Of course, it helps that Wife’s home now, so I can set off at early o’clock and providing I’m home by early-ish evening, I’ll be OK.
What about those regular “but we need to drive to go to the supermarket” excuses though?
True, in the last year, we’ve managed to drop that from a couple of times a week to roughly every ten days. Maybe I need some sort of Workbike. So after reading what Andy had to say, I’ve resurrected my project to build a cargo module for our tandem. Basically, this will be a frame to drop over the rear saddle, that will then securely hold four 35-litre plastic tubs I got from Sweden. Well, Ikea, actually. But you get the point.
The total capacity will be 140 litres, which is as big as the boot (trunk) on a small car. Plus I’ll have a flat top to it, that can be used to strap larger items to. I could have got an Xtracycle . . . but that’d mean another long bike for me to store somewhere, and most of my budget for a replacement Sturdy Commuting Bike too.
So. What do you reckon - is it really so hard to bike rather than drive? And if it is, what would make it easier for you?
Filed under: Bike Culture, Bike Rack, Bike to Work, Everyday People, Gateshead, Netherlands, Newcastle, Photographs, Whitley Bay, tandem
I like the idea of a frame for the tandem, but trailers can also be quite practical. Potentially they can fold more or less flat when not in use, so are easier to accommodate than another bike.
There are very few times I’d rather drive than be on a bike.
If you’ve not got the room for a long tail, or other cargo bike, a trailer can be a good bet - check out the bike trailer blog. C+ did a “car free” round up of various cargo bikes (chap goes without car for a month) in one of their back issues too.
Cargo bikes fascinate me - I’ve been trying to persuade the CFO that we need one, but she’s not weakened as yet. Quite a bit of our heavy lifting trips are done in a 5 mile or so radius, which seems perfect for cargo biking instead of driving.
For me one of the big issues is parking. A car can sit securely outside my house, ready for use at a moment’s notice. A bike, on the other hand, can’t live in the street and so has to be awkwardly removed from the shed and manoeuvred to the street, which is quite a hassle. This is one reason I use a Brompton so much: I can keep it handy in the hallway.
i read this yesterday and pondered over it. I read Andy’s amusing, “Car Free Struggles” and pondered over that. I love the idea of getting people to use modes of transportation other than a personal car. Karl (and Andy if you’re reading) I applaud and admire your dedication to going car free. Myself, I don’t have the dedication to devise my own transport device for packages nor do I see myself riding somewhere in a driving rain. Call me weak, accuse me of hating the planet, but the facts are what they are.
I wonder if we’re not better off promoting, instead of totally car-free, car reductions. I don’t suggest this as a sell out, but rather as breaking our habit and dependency on the auto in small, achievable chunks. I think about this in terms of any large task before me. If i think about the entirety of the task I can become overwhelmed. If I break the task into manageable chunks before long it’s done. This works both with tasks (i.e., cleaning the garage) as well as life changes (i.e.,losing weight). This is exactly how I approached changing my lifestyle and going from a 232 lb. couch potato to a 175 lb. future marathoner (I’ve done the half, this year I’m going for the full).
Instead of touting the benefits of riding to work in a driving rain, should we be suggesting that there are many smaller trips where a car can be replaced. As people see that, my goodness, I won’t die if I bike 3 miles to the store (Karl, keep them away from your posts about loony motorists!) or walk a mile to school, they will start to see that maybe one commute to work a week can be replaced.
We need to start with, what will replacing 1 trip in a car with a “human powered’ (bike, foot, scooter, skateboard, etc.) trip do? How will it improve my life? How will it help the planet.
If we get 50% of the people doing that every week, we’ll have made a difference. It won’t be enough, but it will be a start.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.