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Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: April 4th, 2024

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  • Somehow I’ve managed to commute to work on a bike year round for 10 years now, and I’m in a customer-facing role.
    When it rains I wear rain clothes (jacket, rain pants and over-shoes). I also have full fenders and a chainguard on my bike.
    If necessary, I ride in cycling clothes, carry my work clothes and some deodorant in a pannier, and quickly dry off and change in the bathroom when I arrive. It takes 5 minutes.







  • pros:

    • I don’t sit in a cage in the middle of a traffic jam 2+ hours a day
    • When I get to work, I’m awake and in a good mood, when I get back home, I’ve left the work stress behind
    • I’m actually faster door to door than in a car in rush hour traffic on my 8 mile commute
    • It keeps me fit even if I don’t do any other sports
    • It’s fun
    • I can fix everything myself with a toolbox I bought for 40€
    • My bike cost 1000€, 4 years ago, and I think I spent another … 30€ on it in all that time, for lube and tubes

    cons:

    • It can’t fully replace a car. Around once a week I need public transit for longer routes. Around once a month I have to rent a car, too.
    • Bike lanes don’t exist or aren’t usable everywhere. In places without them you need some thick skin to deal with the incoherent rage of strangers who feel like your choice of vehicle threatens their entire lifestyle.
    • Biking has become a political statement for some reason

    From your con list, the only one that is actually true in my opinion is:

    • little meaningful protection against severe injury
      (which is mostly a problem due to cars on the road)

    All the other ones either simply aren’t true, or are only an issue if you’re starting out and haven’t figured out what’s important yet.