Cycling is like brushing your teeth

[Barnowl]

Wonderful article about cycling in Copenhagen.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Copenhagen's 'best city for cyclists' goal

 

[Sir_Bob]

Is it because you have to do it twice a day but dont actaully want to because i dont like brushing my teeth but i love cycling so thats wrong

thx

Bob

 

[lectureral]

Looks like a very pleasant place to bike - I hope officials in other major cities take note.

 

[Mike63]

Excellent...it's time more credence was given to cycling in the UK :

All cars should be kept out of all town centres...1 mile exclusion zone.
...and applied to everyone....no freebies just 'cos someone has a dicky knee.

Cycle lanes on every road, preferably seperate from the road, shared with pedestrians.

Double the vat on cars and knock it off bikes.

....Mike

 

[Patrick]

Cycle lanes on every road, preferably seperate from the road, shared with pedestrians.

Nah, turn the roads over to bikes and paint car lanes along the gutter. Making sure that they're too narrow to drive down and that the drivers have to stop at every turning off the road to push their car accross.

 

[Barnowl]

Is it because you have to do it twice a day but dont actaully want to because i dont like brushing my teeth but i love cycling so thats wrong

thx

Bob

No it's because I use an electric toothbrush with a rechargeable battery

PS And I bought them both from the same company.

 

[Barnowl]

Looks like a very pleasant place to bike - I hope officials in other major cities take note.

I thought so to. I'm not anti-car, which I think is a great vehicle for medium to long journeys, but we use them for far too many short journeys where a car is just overkill and is at it's worst in terms of both pollution and congestion.
I also dislike the way large vehicles are still marketted as peformance, safety and status vehicles. It's refreshing to see bikes taken seriously as a healthy alternative by the people and planners of Copenhagen. I wouldn't mind taking a break there sometime soon.

 

[flecc]

I'm not anti-car, which I think is a great vehicle for medium to long journeys, but we use them for far too many short journeys where a car is just overkill

I do use my town car for quite a few short journeys, but I have a clear conscience for two reasons. Firstly it's one of the smallest cars on the market, a Chevrolet Matiz. Secondly because my next door neighbour makes me look totally green, since he gets by on three cars, a Mercedes-Benz S class saloon, a Mercedes-AMG high performance drop-head coupe, and a BMW Alpina V.12 saloon, often using all three within the same day. He doesn't soil any of them with anything heavy though, for any goods carrying he's also got a long wheelbase Ford Transit Highline van. That lot makes even the average 4 x 4 owner look like an environmental angel.
.

 

[Barnowl]

Quite right Flecc. Not that I'm into this guilt-trip "save the planet" nonsense. I'd feel the same even if the polar caps looked good for another 1000 years. Looking on the brighter side at least we're not going to suffer the burden of tomorrows latest petrol hike as badly as some wasters. I filled my car up with 15 quids worth of petrol a couple of weeks ago and it should be good for a few more at least

I just hope I'm not in for yet another soaking tomorrow.

 

[flecc]

I filled my car up with 15 quids worth of petrol a couple of weeks ago and it should be good for a few more at least

The last time I filled my little Matiz town car was with 5.9 gallons on the 18th June and it's going to be sometime in September that I fill it again.

I do have a second car for the open road, a Nissan Qashqai, and the last time i filled that was with 9.3 gallons on 22nd April. I'll possibly be filling it again in September, but it could be October.

So that's two more reasons for my clear conscience, no Arabs get rich out of me.
.

 

[Phil the drill]

I just hope I'm not in for yet another soaking tomorrow.

I'm generally with you, but if we could only do something about the bl***y weather . I live in a very hilly area, right on the south west coast. A good day is any day with a head wind less than 15mph and not actually pouring down. I do have sympathy for my neighbours who are generally rather isolated, with virtually no public transport (many including myself don't even have pavements) and many are elderly. Much as I espouse the cycling ethic, I can't begrudge them the use of their cars, even for short trips.

Phil.

 

[Barnowl]

Flecc. Good god are you sure it won't evaporate by then.

 

[Barnowl]

I'm generally with you, but if we could only do something about the bl***y weather . I live in a very hilly area, right on the south west coast. A good day is any day with a head wind less than 15mph and not actually pouring down. I do have sympathy for my neighbours who are generally rather isolated, with virtually no public transport (many including myself don't even have pavements) and many are elderly. Much as I espouse the cycling ethic, I can't begrudge them the use of their cars, even for short trips.

Phil.

I'm completely in agreement Phil. I've commented on this in another thread believing that some subsidy should be in order for people out in the sticks with no decent alternatives. My gripe, if you can call it that, is with large towns and cities where far too many monstrously large cars are used for ridiculously short journeys (1 or 2 miles) by just one perfectly healthy person (and possibly precious offspring). It's just daft and clogs up the roads. It looks like the Dakaar rally during the school run.

PS. I'm hoping September is going to be a good month like it was last year in these parts.