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Comment by SirLJ | Hacker News Reader

I hope they install a lot of showers...

Cycling doesn't need to be any more strenuous than walking. It keeps you much cooler than walking, because the higher speed creates a windchill effect if you're lightly dressed. People from non-cycling cultures tend to think that cycling is inherently hot and sweaty, but that's completely inaccurate. It's perfectly comfortable if you ride at your own pace rather than busting a gut in an effort to keep up with traffic.

Maybe if you're a good cyclist, but I can't cycle uphill as slowly as I can walk and still maintain good balance.

It's partly fitness, partly technique and partly equipment. If you're totally sedentary, you're probably going to sweat until you develop a base level of fitness. If your bike is badly over-geared, you're going to have to push hard just to keep the bike moving uphill. If you haven't learned to hold your gaze on a distant point, you overcorrect your steering inputs and your pedalling technique is extremely choppy, you're going to struggle with balance at low speed. If the going gets really steep, there's nothing wrong with just getting off and walking.

None of this is rocket science, it just takes a bit of experience. Half the battle is developing a culture in which cycling is treated as an ordinary mode of transport rather than a sport. In places with a very strong cycling culture like Amsterdam or Copenhagen, you see all sections of society on bicycles - ordinary people in ordinary clothes riding ordinary bicycles at an ordinary pace.

I am a fairly avid cyclist and I agree with you, especially the second part. Unfortunately I think well over half of the population in my country, the United States- regardless of political leaning- truly dislikes cyclists.

My personal opinion is that the car culture in the United States creates an environment where everyone is enforcing their own arbitrary set of rules on the road, and in most cases, cycling is very much against these rules(regardless of any legal or logical basis).

Reading any comments, as a cyclist, on almost any social media platform regarding cycling becomes disheartening to downright scary. It's as if there's not even a discussion to be had.

Stinking is actually a consequence of a sedentary lifestyle. With the right kind of cycling infrastructure, riding a bike in flat terrain is a low intensity exercise to which the body soon adapts. It can become quite relaxing and meditative. Exemplary video of cycling in the netherlands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb0QjASuuqI

Plus cars stink.

> Stinking is actually a consequence of a sedentary lifestyle.

any source for this extraordinary claim?

I believe your parent is alluding to the fact that if you are regularly active & get exercise, biking at an easy pace on flat land in good weather won't even cause you to break a sweat, whereas if you sit on the couch all day it will. (Hopefully don't need a source for this)

I would certainly like a source. As far as I can see, the only way to sweat less over time would be to lose weight. A more-conditioned cyclist still does the same amount of work and thus produces the same amount of heat.

Source: from the Washington Post, "athletes tend to sweat sooner and more." https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/sweat-its-...

I've been bike commuting in Seattle for ten years and I don't sweat during my commute, except on my way home during the summer.

I'm not a sports scientist but from what I read about and my experience with doing exercise, it modifies your metabolism so that the intensity of exercise that causes sweating goes up.

A more-conditioned cyclist can perform the same amount of work with a lower heart rate & respiration rate. I don't have a source handy, but personally observe that my perspiration rate is directly related to my heart rate, and as I train & improve I can keep my jacket on performing the same work, where I needed to strip layers before.

Also somewhat a consequence of diet. I find I generally smell much better when I'm eating well.

I don't know where you live, but most of the cities in northern Europe have less extreme climate (on both ends, hot and cold) than a large swath of the US. I live in the US and am extremely lucky that I don't sweat a lot for some reason, and am able to ride my bike to work without stinking up the joint. And I adjust my schedule a bit, so I get to work before it starts getting hot.

But our summers are certainly hotter than Copenhagen and Amsterdam. I didn't look up Berlin.

Seville in Spain is rated as one of the 20 most cycling-friendly cities in the world. Their climate is roughly comparable with much of the southern United States.

http://copenhagenize.eu/index/14_seville.html

I started biking to work last summer and after a few weeks my sweat levels went way down to the point where I'd just change shirts and put on a bit more deodorant when I got to work and it was fine.

If you wear shirts that breathe a bit and use a pannier instead of a messenger bag it's not so bad. I use REI hiking shirts and leave the top two buttons undone to keep the air moving.

Coming home can be a bit worse because it could be >90 degrees but in the cool morning it's fine.

Fortunately we do have showers though. Some of my coworkers have 20+ mile bike rides into work and they really need them. Mine's only 3.5 miles.

Normally temperatures in south Germany (Stuttgart, Munich) are between +10 and +25 Celsius in summer and between 0 and +10 in winter. The climate is mild and humid without strong winds. There are much fewer sunny days in comparison with US, so we certainly do not sweat while cycling :)

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