Hello Guys,

This morning I went into the nearest city by bike, and it came to my mind that doing sport in cities is kinda not a wise thing.

Indeed, examples about fumes and jogging:
http://www.abc.net.au/health/thepuls...23/1396804.htm

Remember that about 50 years ago, we probably lived in an healthier environment...? well, actually, not so much. Today, environment is still menaced, this hasn't been chancing much in the last 50 years. What to do? Nothing, just wait and pray that it won't collapse one day, right?

Why not living actively and better? I would recommend to suppress all cars and live of neutral energy (green), and to suppress all automotive vehicles. No business as we do today. Do you really need to have a tablet, iphone, smart watch, polar devices,...? Might you make your bread yourself, make honey, butter,... have a little home farm? You live in your farm and do business on your city market, as little shots here show. Take your bike ride to your village, where no cars, industry,...

In the past, they did probably eat healthier food than all the junk you may eat and buy in stores today.

So, would you return to a greener living, dropping cars and take your bike for living?

Enjoy doing Sport, Keep Active Living!! (but not in cities )

Good Link:
Fitness is good for you: http://www.extratv.com/2014/01/22/vi...-gym-employee/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_living

Junk link:
http://www.trutv.com/conspiracy/in-t...llery.all.html



--
Looking for a faster Desktop - Running on your SSH Terminal?
Maybe just try: http://ncursespim.scienceontheweb.net/nframe-os.htm

Attached Thumbnails

     

Your poll is not really representative of reality, not to mention it should probably be in General and not in Debian.

Your 2 options are quite biased in their wording

Bike Gold Age? (past, with fridge and solar). what does that mean? Solar power wasn't really all that big in the past. Most people in Sydney travelled by car in the 70s and 80s (when I lived there).

Automotive Gold Age? (today, with fridge and nuclear, coal energy). Again what does that mean? Today's cars are cleaner than they were in the past. Using bio fuel (E85 or Biodiesel) or even E10 and LPG is much cleaner than fuel (leaded) use to be. Cars don't use nuclear within the machine itself. In Australia, I'm assuming you're in Australia cause you link to the Australian Broadcasting Company, everyone has the option of using "green energy" for their homes. You have the option of owning a car that can run on E85 or LPG, and in the case of some such as some Mazdas they store energy created by parts of the car in its normal usage (such as braking to slow down) to help it accelerate later on.

I grew up in the inner west of Sydney and can tell you the past wasn't a Bike gold age instead it was a pollution nightmare age with cars not even being required until 1976 to have EGRs or basic pollution controls. Diesels were filthy things (they have cat converters now but didn't back then) and fuel was full of lead or sulfer just being pumped into the environment and very few people rode bikes in Sydney in the 70s and 80s. It wasn't until 1st January 1986 that fuel was required to be cleaner.

In other words it would be helpful if you could clarify what you mean by your options because from my understanding you have it all back to front.

I agree with k3lt01's post.

@patrick295767: Which part of the world are you from?

Where I life, the Netherlands, using a bike as a means of transportation is and has been very popular:
- 59% of all trips in cities are done on a bike (27% nation wide)
- 75% of secondary school students cycle to school, rising to 84% for those living within 5 km (3 mi) of school.

And even though we have a bike-friendly infrastructure and public policies, planning and laws are bike-friendly I don't consider the Netherlands to be in a Bike Golden Age.....

I've lived in the US for almost 2 years and was utterly shocked how cyclist are treated and the lack of infrastructure for cyclists.

In Netherlands, which I know pretty well, it is probably one of the best place in EU to do biking.

Forget going anywhere with your bike in Germany, France, Spain,... Lot of bikers are killed on the road, since there are no single infrastructures. So, everyone take the car, unfortunately.

In US, it is the same, the cars rule, and you haven't much infrastructures.


Amsterdam is a good example, indeed. Nice nice ...

Sydney has had a large increase in bike infrastructure (specific bike lanes) since the Lord Mayor Clover Moore come to the top job in the city from 2004. She has done alot for bike riders but with every action an equal and opposite reaction must occur (I must write that down somewhere!) and the opposite reaction is obviously a loss of lanes for vehicles which causes traffic congestion. Many cities because of their old design ideas don't really lend themselves to the creation of bike lanes and the removal of traffic lanes. The main street into Sydney is ok, the side streets in the CBD can be a traffic nightmare. With many people living 30-40km away from work riding a bike is not feasible so a much more realistic alternative is public transport (trains, buses, ferries, trams, etc). However solar power in built up cities such as Sydney where the natural sunlight might reach the road for an hour around midday is not a viable option for powering transport either.

Just looking at your last 2 posts I see you are advertising yourself and your wares, I think you may want to ask Jeremy if you are allowed to do this.

I actually commute by bike year-round, 12 miles a day, 5 days a week. 45 minutes up the highway from me is Portland, Oregon (now home to Linus Torvalds!), the most bike-friendly city in the US.

Been doing it since before you were born probably. But on motorcycles.
Try pedaling 150 miles round trip in 115F in the desert.

It all depends on where you live I guess. Tibet would be a bummer also
pedaling in sub zero weather.

It would be a bit of a problem for people who live in the countryside, but then I've never understood why anyone does that when they don't actually work on a farm. In London, I walk or use public transport: unlike cyclists, I don't have to wonder where to put the tube/taxi when I arrive!

My job is many miles away, and only available via interstate highway. There is no way to commute via bicycle, it's just not possible. My choices are to use an automobile or quit working. I drive. Doing away with everything using internal combustion engines is a fine ideal, but in the real world it's impossible. That genie will not go back into that bottle, without a complete collapse of civilization as we know it. It might happen, but the pain will be excruciating for most of the population of the world.

I'm seriously contemplating a move to the Salem/Portland, Oregon region.
To keep the Peace in the household, my wife the used-to-be bicycle enthusiast, is tempted by the stats I found:
318 Miles of Bike Paths and 5.4 % of the population uses bicycles to get to work.

Here in Yawnstown, Ohio. bicycling for Sport, or Transportation is a foreign idea, limited to bike lanes in selected
parks and other recreation areas. She will not ride on the surface streets here.

I told her about the rain. But she'd rather have rain than snow.
Hope to see you there next year!

John "Last Winter in Ohio" Jones.

I live in the countryside. Originally from New York City...moved here for freedom (EVERY aspect of your life is regulated in New York); economic independence (Cheap as dirt to live; can grow my own food; chop-up fallen trees on my 28 acres for heat, etc.); quietness and privacy; and a more natural lifestyle.

The less dependent you are on "the system", the less you need to travel. I go to a nearby shopping town (17 miles away) about once every two weeks; work at home; and ride a bicycle for pleasure (In two years of riding, I've NEVER encountered another cyclist on the road- and it's a shame, because these country roads are beautiful and lightly-travelled.)

Hope this gives you some insight..... I can't figure out why anybody would want to pay top dollar to live in a noisy concrete jungle......especially after having done so for the first 39 years of my life....

In Italy, biking is a good way to die
It would be fantastic if here was as in Netherlands.

Actually, what is the origin of such an infrastructure for biking in the Netherlands?

Actually, the Netherlands where "late" to the bike party: The main reason the Dutch still use bikes today in such huge numbers:Besides the history & social movements, there is no single reason as to why cycling remains so popular in the Netherlands.

Quotes are from this article: Cycling in the Netherlands. which has a lot more info if you are interested.

Funny, we just had some friends move from here to Athens, Ohio! Portland is a great city, we are thinking of moving there, ourselves. We live in the State capital, Salem (45 minutes south) right now. So close to Portland, yet so far away in terms of energy/attitude. I blame the concentration of goverment, haha.

Portland also has lots of job opportunities for the *nixer, I have noticed. And home now to Linus, and such programming greats as John McAfee.

The biking infrastructure is also truly superb, and there are tons of bike shops and related cottage industries.

http://bikeportland.org/