Unlucky with bicycles and accidents.

I am against having specific bicycling lanes, not because I am against cycling, but because I am for it. Separating bicycles from regular traffic hinders bicycle awareness and acceptance and the normalization of having bicycles as a legitimate transportation alternative. The more bicycles are out there in city traffic mixing it up with automobiles, the more quickly that will be seen as being a fact of everyday life. Neither cyclists nor the drivers of automobiles should be combative to each other, they can learn to work together. Ultimately if public transportation was seen as a human right and implemented, maybe neither automobiles or bicycles would be needed to get around. In real countries with real public transportation it is easy for citizens to take a low-cost or free train, trolley or bus to a destination then walk to where they need to go. In a fake country that preys on it's citizens, the citizen is forced to participate in spending their income on transportation and whatever else profits those who run it, not on what benefits the citizens.
Ben, this model can work in tiny little countries with huge populations (Europe, for example). However, in countries like Australia, Canada, etc, which are very large, with small population densities, it makes a lot more sense to use aircraft.

But proper public transport is essential in our huge major cities.
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane have larger areas than some smaller European countries ...
 
I am against having specific bicycling lanes, not because I am against cycling, but because I am for it. Separating bicycles from regular traffic hinders bicycle awareness and acceptance and the normalization of having bicycles as a legitimate transportation alternative. The more bicycles are out there in city traffic mixing it up with automobiles, the more quickly that will be seen as being a fact of everyday life. Neither cyclists nor the drivers of automobiles should be combative to each other, they can learn to work together. Ultimately if public transportation was seen as a human right and implemented, maybe neither automobiles or bicycles would be needed to get around. In real countries with real public transportation it is easy for citizens to take a low-cost or free train, trolley or bus to a destination then walk to where they need to go. In a fake country that preys on it's citizens, the citizen is forced to participate in spending their income on transportation and whatever else profits those who run it, not on what benefits the citizens.
If cities and roads are designed for automobilies instead of bikes, then people are going to use automobiles instead of bikes. Cities with the highest rates of driving to work have the lowest rates of cycling to work. Cars also take up more space both on the road and off the road, which lowers urban density, which in turn increases travel distances, which in turn makes public transit, cycling, and walking all less practical.

Public transit serves longer trips than the bicycle. For traveling short distances within their own neighbourhood, public transit is not a cost-effective option. Bicycle would be both cheaper and faster. This also means that promoting cycling makes more sense than promoting transit in very small cities.

High public transit ridership goes hand in hand with high rates of cycling. For a given population, cities with the most transit users tend to have the most cyclists, which means as these places continue to invest in public transit, they will also have to invest in more dedicated infrastructure for cyclists.

Public transit is already a fact of life in Canada. It has transit ridership on par with European countries, nothing like the US where huge swathes of urban areas have zero public transit service. And having more people riding transit, Canada also has more people riding bikes.

There is no "real public transportation" system that is free. Free public transportation kills transit ridership because it cuts off funding to the transit agency and limits the amount of service that they can provide. Less transit service means less transit riders. Free transit also gives the impression that transit is only for poor people. Free transit has been implemented in some cities in the US, most notably Kansas City, and Kansas City has one of the lowest rates of transit use in all of North America.

Annual passenger boardings, 2023

RideKC: 12.0 million ($0.00)
SORTA (Cincinatti): 13.1 million ($2.00)
VIA Metro (San Antonio): 25.1 million ($1.30)
Capital Metro (Austin): 25.2 million ($1.25)
Pittsburgh Regional Transit: 39.7 million ($2.75)
RTC Southern Nevada: 52.2 million ($2.00)
TriMet (Portland): 62.1 million ($2.80)
Calgary Transit: 144.4 million ($3.75 CAD)
Translink (Vancouver): 391.0 million ($3.15 CAD)

Number of people cycling to work, 2021/2022

Kansas City: 1,176
Cincinatti: 962
San Antonio-New Braunfels: 2.825
Austin-Round Rock: 3,916
Pittsburgh: 2,176
Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise: 2,992
Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro: 15,366
Calgary: 4,210
Vancouver: 18,225
 
Back when I raced bicycles in the 80's, I had some kids in a car try to run me off the road out on a training ride alone. After a few tries they dropped back behind me. I looked back at them and seen another car behind them with red and blue lights on top. Kids came up to the side of me again and started trying to force me into the ditch. I took my frame bike pump (old Zefal aluminum one) and smashed it agains their windshield. They sped up and blocked the road in front of me only to find themselves in the crosshairs of a very irate sheriff deputy with his lights on. He was watching them for a few min and both got cuffed and stuffed in the squad. Aggrevated assault with a deadly weapon for the driver. Dont recall what the pass got.

City here is putting bike lanes in on a bunch of streets. Problem is, NO ONE USES THEM. The city is building a mtbike area (lets see how long that lasts). Here most bicyclists (pre ebike craze) pretty much behaved. Few idiots running lights and signs. But since the city lifted the motorized bicycle ban here, ebikes and lawnmower powered ones popped up all over and most just ride like complete morons. Been a bunch of motorcized bike accidents. Not to mention e-scooters. They are worse.

I give them room. I know what it was like havings some cager pass you way too close. But its a two way street. Car drivers need to give some room to cyclists and cyclists need to start following the laws (stopping at lights and signs mainly) and quit hogging the road when traffic is behind them (I've seen groups riding 4-5 abreast on a 2 lane road and refuse to go single file so cars can just get by them safely). Ive seen a pack of Lance Armstrong wannabes intentionally take the whole road up so a group of motorcycle club members couldnt pass. Turned out to be a bad idea on their part. Club they tried to block was one of the police based motorcycle clubs. Funny how bad ass the spandex warriors acted at the stop sign against guys on HD's with leather vest with rockers. Their bravado stopped when a few of the bikers pulled out their PD ID's. Even funnier when a couple police cars rolled up and took over. Pretty sure every bicyclist got a ticket. 3-4 miles stuck behind them sucked, but the entertainment at the end was worth it. I so wish I had a dash cam in my truck back then.
 
The traffic lights showed the green light for this cyclist when he was 25years old and got run over by a 19year old car driver not heeding the red light.
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So much for taking care and I have to use this pedestrian crossing myself twice a day.
I have witnessed a first car approaching the red light and coming to a halt when the following car overtook it and I had started to cross the road - sadly that asphalt-kamikaze did not hear me swearing after him.
 
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Haven't ridden my ATB all week on account of the rear wheel going out-of-true after one of the spokes snapped.
It was bad enough that the wheel was starting to slap the brake pads.
Unfortunately, I can't replace the spoke myself as I need a tool to remove the gear cluster that's in the way of the hub.
Took the whole wheel off and dropped it off at the repairman. Should have it back by the weekend.

It did give me the opportunity to clean the dirt off of most of the derailleur and chain and reapply some much-needed clean grease.
 
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And it's borked again. Possibly the same spoke snapped and the wheel has gone out of true, hitting the brake pads as it goes round.

At least I have two other bicycles to fall back on, though both are not as nice as the ATB.
I'm resigned to riding this "grandpa bicycle" for now. Until I either have the ATB wheel fixed or replaced completely.

Seriously interested in getting an American "Steady Classic" cruiser bicycle. But importing one seems to be nearly impossible.
 
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