Can you make it to the market on a bike?

Well, I thought I'd never live long enough to do such a thing in
America. It keeps me fit, and hungry enough to enjoy all that great
(and not so great) food, as well as keeps me away from the crowd that
uses an SUV to go and get a gallon of milk --or worse, cigarettes.
Luckily in my new place I can do such a thing, if not by design by
chance. I can ride leisurely my cruiser with huge baskets to the
supermaket through some quiet, safe streets, about 0.7 mile. I bet
most American are not so lucky, and I don't think the share of bicycle
use for shopping and similar real life errands is any higher than the
percentage that commutes by bike, about 1% or so, right?

Regrettably, my happiness ends at this point as going any further
places me right on major roads, where the major predators rule. And
that's a jungle that makes me nervous. Great places are within biking
distance, up to 15 miles, along parks, beaches and scenic places, but
NO BIKE LANES are provided, and I just play it safe. As a matter of
fact the need to enjoy all this made me found another way to get out
there in the open air without being at the very bottom of the food
chain. So I just got a scooter that allows me to drive with traffic,
if not strictly pollution free, at least rewarding me with a good
80MPG.

So this is my modest effort to fight Global Warming, and I hope I live
long enough in these Darwinian roads to tell my offspring. And now off
I go with my bike (buying nothing in particular, just going to the
market for the hell of it)...

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
http://webspawner.com/users/donquijote

BIKE FOR PEACE
http://webspawner.com/users/bikeforpeace

I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I
figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my
biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but
there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have
experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a
lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway (
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg ) which makes it
much easier to get around.

"William" wrote in message
ups.com...
I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I
figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my
biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but
there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have
experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a
lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway (
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg ) which makes it
much easier to get around.

Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant than
using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized vehicles.

I believe Minneapolis to have one of the finer bike path systems in the
country. Not to use them would mean that you are an idiot, yet there are
some who would advise that since they believe that a bike path will slow you
down. Hey, better to slow down and live than hurry to your death on those
mean streets.

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:

Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant than
using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized vehicles.

Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer
that way.

On Jul 23, 3:07 am, Jens Müller wrote:
Edward Dolan wrote:

Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant than
using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized vehicles.

Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer
that way.

Facing the mean streets is much safer. Just raise a white flag and
play dead!

"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:

Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant
than using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized
vehicles.

Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer that
way.

Admittedly a bike path that gets too crowded can be somewhat dangerous, yet
you are not going to get killed on it unless you do something really stupid.
On the other hand, it is easy to get killed on the street when you mixing
with motor vehicles. They are all going fast and you are going slow, a
recipe for disaster.

Regards,

Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota

Edward Dolan wrote:
"Jens Müller" wrote in message
...
Edward Dolan wrote:
Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant
than using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized
vehicles.
Always avoid bike paths when it is legally possible. It is much safer that
way.

Admittedly a bike path that gets too crowded can be somewhat dangerous, yet
you are not going to get killed on it unless you do something really stupid.
On the other hand, it is easy to get killed on the street when you mixing
with motor vehicles. They are all going fast and you are going slow, a
recipe for disaster.


How can they go fast when they are on the same lane as me?

They can overtake, but then they are on another lane.

How many people get killed with bikes on the carriageway each year? Here
in Germany, you can count them on one hand. But there are dozens getting
killed by turning cars whose drivers don't look at the bike path.

Do you have statistical data that would support your last sentence?

On Jul 22, 10:51 pm, "Edward Dolan" wrote:
"William" wrote in message

ups.com...

I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I
figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my
biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but
there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have
experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a
lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway (
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg) which makes it
much easier to get around.

Always use the bike paths whenever you can. They are much more pleasant than
using the mean streets where you have to compete with motorized vehicles.

I believe Minneapolis to have one of the finer bike path systems in the
country. Not to use them would mean that you are an idiot, yet there are
some who would advise that since they believe that a bike path will slow you
down. Hey, better to slow down and live than hurry to your death on those
mean streets.


Nice advice. Regrettably, there are still too many idiots out there --
and they have a loud voice.

On Jul 22, 10:35 pm, William wrote:
I recently purchased a brand new Road Bike that is really nice. I
figured I didn't need anything more rugged since I do most of my
biking in the city. I can bike theoreticly anywhere in the city, but
there are a few neighborhoods I like to avoid, but not many and I have
experience biking through them anyways. In Minneapolis, there are a
lot of designated bike paths, such as the Greenway (http://www.dot.state.mn.us/bike/images/greenway.jpg) which makes it
much easier to get around.

Lovely. It's coming my way too. The question is WHEN. I hope to be
alive anyway.

Yes, I go to the market on the bike all the time. Actually, there are
several different markets I bike to. Not all marketing routes have bike
paths, but most are either not all that busy, or have shoulders, so I'm fine
with that.