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Comment by flyingfences | Hacker News Reader

Bikes and scooters are great (provided there are safe riding lanes and trails) until there's any weather. If I have to show up at work looking presentable then biking through a downpour simply isn't an option. If there's any sort of snow or ice on the ground then biking simply isn't an option.

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Yes. You also need to factor in things like having young kids. Before I had them taking an ebike to a train would make perfect sense. Now though, without a car it would be incredibly difficult to get them to daycare and make it to work on time without waking up before Dawn.

You can't put the kids on the ebike to daycare? Seems like that would be faster and easier than dealing with a car.

Just wait until you start in on the total mess that is school drop-off when every parent decides they have to drive their kid to school. Much faster to breeze past the stopped traffic on a bicycle, unstrap the kids and send them on their way, and bike to the train.

Not every one has only two kids. It's going to get awfully tough for those with four or five without a minivan.

So when you get to that edge edge case they drive a mini-van. No one is saying ban cars, just use them less.

https://bikeportland.org/2012/06/28/with-six-kids-and-no-car...

This seems like one of the consequences of the decision to have so many children.

Only three kids, but it was never a problem not to own a car, here in a city with good transportation and where riding with a kid front and back of bicycle is normal.

It's not hard to wear rain gear or budget some time to clean up once you arrive at your destination. Any sort of plan to encourage active commutes should also include facilities in workplaces for this sort of thing.

Snow and ice: not as big a problem as you think. Cities and towns can plow and salt bike paths even easier than they do streets. You can also put studded tires on bicycles if you're in a particularly snowy area. See Oulu, Finland or Winnipeg, Canada for cities with plenty of winter cyclists: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/feb/12/ice-cycles-no...

I think when he says "show up looking presentable", it may be that he needs to be in suits or business casual, preferably unwrinkled. Also, I am exceptionally disinclined to bike through below-zero weather, snow tires or no (referring to the hypothetical canadian). Let alone Texas summers, which regularly hit 105 this time of year. I don't care if there are showers or not, it's just darn unpleasant to be outside this time of year.

Sub-zero weather isn't too bad down to maybe -10C. After that, it's pretty brutal.

I do try not to take superfluous trips on my e-bike above maybe 95 though.

Since he's talking in F (e.g. 105), when he says sub-zero, he means -18C or lower. Or did you mean -10F?

Ah okay fair enough. I'm from the US, but lately I've been playing a game with temperature set in C, and am used to working in C from talking with a bunch of international people in programming chats.

Yeah sub -18C is extremely cold. Definitely not cycling out there. I don't think I've ever seen below 0 Fahrenheit where I live.

Not wanting to is a really reasonable position, as it is with 100+ degrees. Lots of parts of America get that cold for a solid chunk of the year, so if people can't take a bicycle, how would you build a system to accommodate that kind of a load spike?

I cycled to work for years in the Netherlands (down to -5C in winter) and Australia (frequenctly 35C+ in summer). The secret in both cases is:

(i) keep appropriate clothes at the office;

(ii) wear suitable cycling gear (as the Dutch say, there's no such thing as unsuitable weather, only unsuitable clothing);

(iii) find a way to shower at work;

(iv) be good humored when weather or other mishaps occur...

A German guy told me that was a German expression.

Which one of you is right?

Sounds like Dutch humour and phrasing to me, but I've heard Germans use "There's no such thing as poor weather, only poor preparation"

I was actually joking. I wouldn't be surprised that the expression is used in many places that experience inclement weather.

I claim this as the Norwegian "Det finnes ikke dårlig vær, bare dårlig klær."

Seeing as my version is a rhyme, it's obviously the superior one.

-5C isn't particularly cold. Would you have been out in -20C with gusty winds and drifting snow? How do I get those appropriate clothes to the office, and where do I store them? Can't be all wrinkled -- and these days you may not even have an assigned desk. And I can be good humored, but will my boss be?

Really, though, if we consider bikes safe enough for transportation, why can't we have ultralight enclosed EVs?

(i) nope, I'm not crazy; (ii) in your Ortlieb bike pannier or backpack; (iii) commandeer a cupboard in a quiet corner; (iv) if your boss isn't good humored, it's time to change jobs, or change the boss; (v) because they blow away in a strong wind.

(i) There are plenty of places where it gets down to "only" -5C or -10C where it would still be practicable; you're giving worse case scenarios but those don't apply everywhere. We can do what we can where we can. (ii) Bring it in your pannier or backpack (buying wrinkle-free helps as well).

* https://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/how-to-carry-a-suit-on-your-...

Where do you store your car?

Assuming your car takes up 12sqm * 2m I assume you'd find plenty of space to store some panties replacing your wet ones ;)

If we managed to get 80% of the people living in places where the weather is mild and the topography mostly flat to switch from car commutes to bike commutes we would already have changed large parts of the world.

95 and 105 degrees are suprisingly different, especially with sun. 95 you can stay in the sun and will burn, but won't get heatstroke (probably). 105 you will get heatstroke unless you hydrate about 1/4 gallon/hr of water and get to shade in a reasonable amount of time.

And speaking of burns, I burn really easily. I've tried the super-oily disgusting stuff and every thing; more than 30mins of direct noon-day sun and I usually burn. I am not getting skin cancer, thank you very much.

(i) This part is very defensible, depending on company culture.

(ii) I don't know what this would be for cold, but I assume you can layer. Heat, you can only remove so much.

(iii) "Find a way" is not a great defense.

(iv) Easier said than done, and similar to iii in that they both boil down to an over-all sentiment of "deal with it".

Cycle in with your lycra and then change into your work clothes. I've pedalled in -10C and 35C in Toronto.

Showering at work isn't necessary either: sweat is odourless, and the stickiness comes from bacteria. So you can actually shower before cycling to get things clean and you'll be fine the whole day.

In some ways we're actually ourselves too much:

* https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/550291/beyond-soap-...

Based on my experience dancing, the trick of showering before exercise only works for about 4 hours if you're wearing cotton or wool. Lycra gives you about two. When you're dancing for more than four hours everybody is stinky and exhausted and nobody cares. At the office? Make sure to schedule your meetings in the morning, and definitely avoid supper meetings.

1. Cycle in, perhaps working up a sweat.

2. After cooling down a little, change out of potentially stinky commuting clothes into your work clothes.

This seems to work for me, and given the characters I work with, they'd let me know if there was a problem without any qualms.

The Dutch don't seem to have a problem:

* https://www.iamexpat.nl/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/biking-safe...

* https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/cycling-in-the...

In Toronto I cycle from April to December, rain or shine. I know folks that also do it January to March, but I can't be bothered to buy the extra insulation layers so I take transit.

I have two panniers: one for my lunch and the other for my rain gear:

* https://www.rei.com/c/cycling-jackets/f/f-waterproof

Do you think people don't cycle in the rain? Just get a waterproof and waterproof trousers.

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