Comment by david-gpu
3 days ago
There is something about riding a bike that lifts people's mood like nothing else. It's the closest thing to flying like a bird that most of us will ever see. It lets you experience your neighborhood in a different light.
Riding a bike lifts my mood certainly but it doesn't let me experience my neighborhood. I zoom past the neighborhood and at 15mph you can hardly experience it. You might have some vague ideas about architectural styles in the neighborhood but that's it. If the neighborhood has shops, you can't easily visit them without first parking the bike. You need to walk to really experience a neighborhood.
Nothing is forcing you to ride at 15mph. Walking doesn't let you go very far in a reasonable amount of time, either, and I'm one of those 10K steps a day sort of people.
> Walking doesn't let you go very far in a reasonable amount of time, either
Earlier today, I walked across several neighborhoods and through an entire large park to get to the city center for some shopping, all in the span of 40 minutes. If you feel like walking is ineffective at getting you places, you may want to consider advocating for walkable cities.
1 reply →
Experience it "in a different light."
I don’t think it’s unique to bikes - lots of people have the same/similar feelings from other forms of exercise. There’s a runners high too. I used to row in university, and there was no better feeling (to me) than being in the middle of a lake in a tiny boat and clocking in 16/20k on a crisp winters morning.