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Comment by jonahrd | Hacker News Reader

I could probably count the number of times I've changed or showered after cycling on one hand, and cycling has been my main mode of transit for 10 years.

When your trip is like 3km you don't even have time to work up a sweat, especially if you're limited to just going at the speed of traffic. (Yes, on my own I could probably ride faster, but I'm limited by car/infrastructure speed)

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When your trip is 3km you can easily walk. Bicycle commuting is very hard in warmer climates, because you will get sweaty. But motorcycles solve that problem at least. Then you have those cold climates with awful weather, where bicycle commuting is pure misery, compared to riding a car or bus. So it is all very location dependent.

Bike commuting during winter is fine as long as you have the right clothes. I have commuted in a -55F wind chill in perfect comfort. I will concede that it takes a few weeks to calibrate clothing if you're not used to it, but it's not some huge barrier if it's something you're interested in

Snow cover can make it impossible. Frozen rain means you need somewhere to store your wet clothes, and they will not be nice to put on when going back. Somebody who isn't a huge biking freak will prefer the car.

Sure, there are always going to be anecdotal exceptions ("parking isn't an issue for me, I just park on site"), but I think fans on either side can have quite rose-tinted views when assessing the pros and cons; I was just pointing out an omission in one of the examples.

I live in the highest density cycling city in North America (Montreal) and this is not anecdotal. A huge portion of my office cycle-commutes to work, and the vast majority do not shower. This was doubly-true before I worked at my current company, where there weren't showers, and still most people used bikes to commute.

At what point do anecdotes from people who actually live this experience day to day become more useful to listen to than theories from people who don't?

I used to commute by bike myself (and would still if logistics allowed), so you should probably not presume.

The fact is, short of linking to professional analysis and reporting we are all here relating anecdotes - and that's ok.

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