Making that mental leap.

[Globalti]

A thread elsewhere on CC about fear of main roads has got me thinking:

When I lived in Paris I used to drive the 3 kms to work every day along flat leafy boulevards, which took 20-30 frustrating minutes and parking was a nightmare. Cycling would have taken 5 pleasant healthy minutes but it never occurred to me to buy a bike (or even walk!)

When I re-started cycling 25 years ago I used to stick my bike on the car roof like a trophy where it could get soaked in salt spray, stolen or hit by car park barriers. It never occurred to me to remove the wheels and put it safely inside my completely empty hatchback.

When I stared road riding 5 years ago I would ride to my nearest town along the crazy busy A road with traffic thundering past. It never occurred to me to take the quieter parallel B road.

Anybody else got any admissions like this?

Doesn't it make you wonder how much we could improve our lives if we were able to think more laterally?

 

[Markymark]

Yep, took the threat of Olympic gridlock to get me commuting by bike as I spent ages working out how to get in.

Never properly crossed my mind to cycle-commute before then but I've never looked back.

 

[Archie_tect]

It would only take a couple of minutes to get up a bit earlier and walk across the park to the local bakers each morning to get fresh baked croissants for breakfast but nearly every day I just have a boring Weetabix.... right, tomorrow....

 

[ayceejay]

I think jobs can be like that. You do a job you hate for years but never consider making a move, relationships too and then one day you make the change. When you look back you wonder what you were thinking, the only reason I can come up with is " the devil you know" or apathy.

 

[ColinJ]

When I stared road riding 5 years ago I would ride to my nearest town along the crazy busy A road with traffic thundering past. It never occurred to me to take the quieter parallel B road.

Anybody else got any admissions like this?

Doesn't it make you wonder how much we could improve our lives if we were able to think more laterally?

I often wonder where my life went wrong! I can't blame anybody else; as a young man I was big and strong, I was bright, I had my chances, so there must be something not quite right about the way that I think ...

It never occurred to me that I could really be happy, so I didn't even consider making the changes that might have resulted in happiness!

Well, at least I have my health! Oh, er, hang on a minute ...

 

[ComedyPilot]

I live 2.5 miles from work and usually ride straight there in the morning, but do a longer commute home, anything from 10-20 miles.

Having been subjected to some abysmal driving on that 2.5 mile stretch of road in the past 2 days, I am now looking at detouring my morning commute to avoid the cretins in their tin boxes.

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

I live 5 mins by bike from work. It never occurred to me to live 50+ miles away and spend half my life commuting

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

It took a car dealer to point out to me that I'd be better off cycling the 3 miles to work rather than driving it.

 

[theclaud]

It would only take a couple of minutes to get up a bit earlier and walk across the park to the local bakers each morning to get fresh baked croissants for breakfast but nearly every day I just have a boring Weetabix.... right, tomorrow....

Ah, Archie! If only you had come to Normandy with The Fridays! Grizzled audaxers still go weak at the knees at the memory of Madame and her pain chasseur! Famously grumpy morningpeeps ride four hilly miles in the rain for a glimpse of her brioche!

 

[Primal Scream]

Who and what are these "Fridays" ?

 

[Archie_tect]

Mange-mange-mange!!

 

[ColinJ]

Mange-mange-mange!!

Would that be the French for eating, or the problem of a mite-ridden dog?

 

[Archie_tect]

Oui!

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Who and what are these "Fridays" ?

I've been on a few of their rides but I can't give you a reasoned answer.

 

[Primal Scream]

I've been on a few of their rides but I can't give you a reasoned answer.

Fair enough, I was just being nosy