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
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)
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.
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.
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 close you don't need to make big infrequent trips anyway.
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.
Was thinking the same thing. I grew up in a European city and didn't own a car until my mid-30s, when I moved to a rural area. When visiting the US for business, north of Chicago, I wanted to just walk to the next mall, as it was just 2km according to maps. But there was simply no way of doing that safely. No sidewalk at all, busy road. We are often quick to judge people for taking a car for even short distances. But often there really is no other safe way.
Totally feel you. I'm also from central Europe and currently making a vacation in Thailand and it's crazy how there almost no sidewalks. It feels like the government forces you to rent a scooter or in your case to buy a car to get around safely.
This is why I keep mix CDs in my cars. Turn it on and it's already playing the CD I was last spinning. And you know what? I think I've got pretty good music taste so I'm gonna let that shit play lol.
I just burned the Chappell Roan album and left it in my wife's car lol We've been bonding over that one. One day, I think I'm gonna get us tickets to see her live.
I've just got a USB of like a thousand songs on random. Every now and again I'll take it out and add new songs and sometimes remove some old ones that haven't stuck
Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight by Rick Wakeman on “The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table” is probably gonna do it.