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four wheels bad
I just had to make a trip to the supermarket in the car. What a frustrating experience it was. Normally I'd go on two wheels - bicycle for a light shop and motorbike for a bigger one. This time I had a lot to get so I fired up the family Ford and used four wheels.
I do understand why car drivers get frustrated. Driving in London is unpleasant. So why do so many people still do it?
Two wheels are quicker and are able to do the job most of the time.
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13 comments
Two wheels good.
I have to agree with you on that, my only problem being that i don't like shopping, so when i do hit the grocery store, im leaving with 3-5 bags of groceries - not exactly ideal for biking hehe
I'm trying to move, so I can miss out the train journey to work, and the supermarket will no longer be easily walkable. I'm properly thinking of a bicycle trailer, now I'm probably going for a shockinly expensive one, but there are some bargains out there.
I was impressed at the cost, if not left wondering of the quality, of those on offer at Manomano.
Weak excuse, that's just a problem of having the wrong bike - I've had 9 bags on my Tern GSD. For reference, the boot of my VW Polo would only hold 6 without folding the rear seat. Or get a quality trailer, like an Andersen Shopper.
Personally I don't cycle to the supermarket because I'm terrified that my nice bike will be nicked/vandalised/have something nicked from it.
If you think that cyclists are bottom of the pile when it comes to road traffic laws, we're treated like princes in comparison to where we figure when we become victims of acquisiive crime
I purchased a BOB Yak second hand. they're not cheap but they keep their value. Have used it for shopping - it's rated at 35 kg, but 30 is really the limit in terms of handling, on my current bike anyway
Also ended up doing some bike packing with my daughter which was fun
It's the stop start, stop start at traffic lights that's so annoying, even more frustrating as I know I could be filtering to the front on two wheels. It just takes so long to get anywhere in a car in town.
I pity them in the way they are insulated from the world, that it all about getting to the destination (often as seemingly fast but not, as possible) rather than the journey, and at the moment the lack of birdsong and the smell of spring.
Driving a car in London just isn't fast at all. It's burdensome. Two wheels are far more pleasant. I don't hear the birdsong on my motorbike but I am out in the open air. There's a bit in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig in which he describes the difference between being in a car and being on a motorbike. He explains how when you're driving through a landscape in a car, you're looking through glass and that it's like watching TV, so you're reduced to the role of an observer. Being on a motorbike you're actually experiencing that landscape. And the same is true for a cyclist in terms of experience, more so in fact.
I still remember the amazing feeling of touring in N Spain the first time on my MTB. On a bicycle, you really experience everyting around you.
Not just London - any urban area, IMO.
(And Zen and the Art... is one of my favourite books, that I read about one per year - great reference!)
It is a great book. When I read it I kept trying to work out what kind of motorbike it was and I was sure it was a Honda twin. Later on I found out that I was correct.
Before I read it one of my elder brother's pretentious friends explained at great length how it wasn't about motorcycle maintenance. Luckily that didn't put me off.
If you haven't read Pirsig's later book, LIla, I wouldn't bother. It's nowhere near as good. In fact, given today's sensitivities, a book about an older guy on a sailing boat with a much younger female, I think a lot of people might have some serious questions about it.
I loved the book. Unfortunately, he seems to have suffered from some serious mental health issues, and what happened to his son afterwards is just tragic.
I didn't know that about his son until I saw your comment, so I looked it up. Very sad.
This may have been part of why I used to love motorcycling, and why I now drive a convertible for when I do occasionally need to drive.
It made driving in Chicago a bit more bearable, but Chicago's traffic is nowhere near as bad as London's most of the time.