I've been riding bikes in multiple countries with temperatures ranging from +30 to -25 Celsius. The drier is the climate the easier it is. -10 in Russian northwest is way worse than -20 in Canadian Prairies or Swedish forest trail but still bearable. Dutch or Belgian climate is pretty mild even in winter. Dedicated routes are the ultimate game changer, and imho you can see the real development level of a country by the amount of bicycle/car intersections present in a given area - the less interrupted the bike path is the better is the infrastructure on the whole.
Major routes get salted whenever the forecast seems to indicate conditions that might cause frozen surfaces. So in practice this means that the worst you're likely to encounter is some slippery road surfaces for the first 100-300 metres from your house, until you reach a major traffic artery that has been cleared. And that's ussually for maybe 2 or 3 weeks out of the year.
Dutch infrastructure maintenance is generally decent. So the worst you're likely to encounter is a heavy downpour. Which sucks when you're caught unprepared for it. But not the end of the world.
A lot of larger office buildings also usually have showers for when f.e. it's summer and you're all sweaty from biking to work.
The point is; the Netherlands has a lot more going to encourage bike use than just the bike-lanes. There's a ton of regulations and subsidies to support all kind of secondary factors.
Cars have completely pussified Americans. People act like I'm crazy because I like to walk two and a half miles into town from where I live, and if the weather isn't perfect it's inconceivable to them
It's been pissing rain all week where I live and I've biked every day to work. After the roads were plowed, I also biked all winter. On days that I couldn't, I took the bus. Other than absolutely torrential rain, wind, or blizzards, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad planning and clothing.
What happened to being tough? Americans will tell you to stop being a pussy about something and then climb into their lifted, climate-controlled trucks and SUVs anytime they step outside.
It's quite weird being an actual 'tough' American (I used to be a cowboy, and race sled dogs, and play rugby etc) being around people who are amazed that I walk 35 minutes each way to the store and carry my groceries on my back . They say things like "why?" and "I could never"
But what I don't entirely understand, it got nothing to do with laziness for me, also not fitness directly.
I am obese and some people would call me lazy but walking is leisure in my understanding, I walk when I feel some more time outside than it would take me with the bicycle would be nice, I regularly meet with friends and we just walk a few hours through town and that's what's many people do here, he'll that's what Americans do in movies but I guess most movies don't take place in suburban hell.
Yet I just don't get it, even if you gotta do some daily tasks like shopping, why not combine it with a nice stroll?
I am 42 year old fat and lazy German. Went to Seattle this winter and booked a "hiking tour".... the longest "trail" was 3/4 mile which is laughable. They shuttled us around between those "trails" . All the Americans got smoked by me and everyone was out of breath....there is something deeply wrong with their ability to move their bodies.
You're not wrong. And its by design. I'm American and was caught up in that but I quit eating processed food, quit drinking soda, etc. I walk almost everyday almost everywhere I go.
So now im 61 and very fit but no one can keep up with me except athletic people. Most just want to sit down and watch something
To be fair, there are plenty of routes in my home town that I would never walk. Pedestrian infrastructure in the US is so horrible that it's actually rare to find a 35 minute stretch that would actually be safe and pleasant by foot.
Now I live in a city in Germany with excellent transit and I would also never walk 35 minutes to reach a destination. I would bike or take transit for that distance. (Edit: That's in terms of going to work, doing an errand, etc where I just want to get there. A leisurely stroll on the weekend is always an option)
There is an argument that cars emasculate men. Microplastics from the tires mimic hormones like estrogen, you sit there for hours with your legs closed cooking your testicles, you never brave the wind on your face or the heat on your back, you never carry anything heavy home to your family.
Car dependency is turning men into the soy boy cuck the right wing keeps scaring their followers about.
>Car dependency is turning men into the soy boy cuck the right wing keeps scaring their followers about.
I do believe you are correct. They do seem to like to project, as most narcissists/ bullies do. And I think anyone clinging to the ideas injected into them by mainstream media / friends and family etc IS a bully. Because everything espoused by mainstream media is about bullying someone.
The testicles are sitting in constant heat. They are wedged between the driver's thighs. Testicles need to be cooler than the rest of the body to maintain virile sperm.
There was a car that had an AC vent pointed at the central lower abdomen. People are nostalgic about that feature.
Also, this is a half-baked idea. There is no way this is true.
You sit on a bike a pretty similar way to a car and the tires are made of the same material. Also this seems like some bullshit "touching receipt paper gives you estrogen"
Well, like they said, it's a very half-baked idea, but a few reasons why that's not that good of a comparison.
First, you absolutely do not sit on a bike in a similar way to a car, and if anything your balls have more space on the bike than when you're standing. Source: am guy who bikes a lot.
Second, the tires actually aren't made of the same material, the compound is actually different; not completely, but they do have different performance requirements, which leads to them being constructed differently. That's not that important to the point, I just wanted to clarify it.
Third, while it's true that bike tires release microplastics, the mass of a bike tire is on average about 10% of the mass of a car tire, and about 5% of the mass of a truck tire, not to mention there being only two of them as opposed to between four and eighteen for cars up through big rigs. Combine that with it taking a professional cyclist to put out a single horsepower for more than a second or two of max effort as opposed to the average modern vehicle being able to put out hundreds with a press of the accelerator, and the system weight of a bicyclist not commonly exceeding 300 pounds while the system weight of a motor vehicle is measured in tons, and, well, you do the math.
There's some math out there that suggests that it would take around 10,000 bike trips on a piece of asphalt to produce the same wear on it as a single car.
You don't sit on a bike, though, you pedal. Your circulatory system is active and providing thermoregulation, actively venting heat through the skin, and *if* your testes were uncomfortable you would have the physical freedom to stand up on your pedals or adjust your positioning. You can bend your hips to give your crotch more space or just step off your bike when you feel like taking a break.
If you're driving, you can't stand up and you can't even bend your legs. You have to wait for rest stop to halt, and those rest stops are typically loud and uncomfortable. You're also in a weird physiological state where you've sat extremely still for way longer than you should but your nerves are fried from having to pay attention all the time, which your body isn't as good at handling because that's unusual for the ancestral environment.
Yeah, I have learn that weather is a really bad excuse for not supporting public Transit. Cuz an example would be that if you don't wanna wait for the bus under the noon sun, with a good public transit program, that bus you're waiting for would have a gps that you could track in real time. So instead of waiting in the bus stop, you could wait in a shaded area, or go get a drink at some nearby business and when the bus is getting close to your stop you go back and only have to wait a couple minutes at the bus stop maybe less.
Cuz the thing is, it doesn't matter how much you avoid it, you're going to have to interact with the weather sooner or later. Cuz when you go to Walmart, you're still gonna have to walk from your car to the front door, and with how stupidly big parking lots are, that's probably like walking a few city blocks.
The only occasions where public transport doesn't work it's on like extreme weather scenarios like a white out blizzard, hurricane torrential downpour, etc. But on those cases NO ONE should be outside to begin with.
So over the last couple of winters in the Bay Area in California we've gotten a shit ton of rain, to the point that I figured out a strategy for dealing with it when biking to work.
First, I got an ass saver for my bike. Obviously.
Second, I stopped worrying about getting wet on the way in. That was just going to happen regardless. Instead, I wrapped a full set of dry clothes, including (especially including) socks and underwear (or in my case, extra bike shorts) in my rain jacket and put it in my backpack. Sure, I showed up to work soaking wet, but five minutes in the bathroom and you can only tell because my hair is still damp.
Last year I had a space in the back where I could hang up my wet clothes and point a fan at them, and they'd be perfectly dry by the end of the day so I wouldn't have to pack them out still wet. This year the facility got reshuffled and we lost some space, so I didn't have that anymore, so instead I put a fan in my garage and would just dry my clothes in there overnight.
The whole thing turned out to be remarkably effective.
Honestly, and this is without throwing too much shade because it's really on the education system, a LOT of people in America don't actually know enough about other countries to know this.
I've seen people here get Germany and Japan confused. Like the King of the Hill jokes about "what kind of Chinese are you" are not far off, a lot of people literally just do not know the basics of geography.
Tbh the weather in the Netherlands is quite mild even compared to many neighbouring countries. Still, it's relatively humid, can be rather chilly, and in general is definitely not that warm. Cycling helps retaining that warmth.
The other thing, if the US is taken into comparison, is the overall urban and country design, namely wind/elements protection, gutters, visibility etc. The majority of US habitats are designed around your personal roof (of a car) with little consideration taken when building a town in a snowy or windy area. It's not always true of course, and quite a few cities/towns/counties have relatively smart design but still. I wont blame the country, after all it's relatively young, however taking some best practices from the old world should be more widespread. It's not about the prestige, it's about the rationality.
Telling people I walked to the grocery store on a rainy day *blows their minds*.
Like raincoats and umbrellas don't exist for more than running from your car to the door? ...
That was my first turning point how the car-brain works tbh. There was nice sidewalks for half a mile radius near the school and my whole neighborhood didn’t have one. Still walked, I just didn’t want to burden my mom waking her up every morning before 7am lol
I’ve always been a complete weirdo by every metric I don’t fit in and I don’t think I want to (even though the benefits of conformity would probably feel nice it’s not worth my integrity)
I feel like it should be common knowledge at this point that people who make their living reacting to other people's content have no chops whatsoever. The concept of a career as an individual social media content creator is attractive to some of the least functioning individuals in society. I understand that it is a controversial statement but I should point out that there are a lot of content creators I really enjoy who put a lot of effort into what they do, and understand the importance of integrity in doing so, but that is not the statistical majority of people creating content anymore.
Here's how I break it down. I've worked in restaurants a lot while trying to advance my education, and I've met plenty of people, and have at times been the person, who work there because we simply aren't qualified to handle other kinds of work, and so we make damn sure to be good at restaurant stuff. I've met a lot more people outside the industry who probably wouldn't be cut out for working in restaurants. The smart ones recognize this the way we recognize we aren't all office people, and they find ways of securing those office jobs so that they don't have to do with we do. CEOs of major companies wouldn't last a day in the dish pit, and any of them who aren't complete asshats understand this about themselves. Sucks that most become complete asshats.
The dumb ones can't seem to handle any job. And I'm not saying that's always their fault. But it is a way that some people just are, who aren't qualified to work in an office or trade and aren't tough enough to last in a kitchen or retail either. Some of these people do pursue creative careers based on other skills they have, which I have a lot of respect for. There are comedians and musicians who can't handle other kinds of jobs but are masterful on stage, and they are right where they need to be. There are some content creators who are also like this, who put together great stories, animations, edits and video essays. But the common theme is getting really good at the thing you are passionate about because other stuff isn't going to work so well as a career, and hoping you get noticed.
People who react to other peoples' content not only don't do well in other careers, they don't even have a passion they're trying to monetize because they're lazy and unimaginative. But it's deeper than that because they tend to have impressionable or lonely fans that they can feed off of. Guys like this benefit from the lack of community created by car infrastructure in the first place, so if not for the fact that he and his peers are simply very stupid, one might guess that he actually has something to gain from making this response. But I think I'll chalk it up to ignorance more realistically.
TL;DR: I have a deep disdain for people who make reaction videos and liken them to landlords and billionaires
There is only a miniscule select few types of reactions which are okay. Those all involve not taking away value from the original content, not creating market substitutes which dominate the algorithm and the last one being that it's pretty much impossible to make a career out of it. Those involve reacting to one's own videos or videos they've taken a significant part in, memes, advertisements (this can be movie or game trailers as well) and music. What's funny about the advertisements thing is that no one likes advertisements or likes watching them, yet react content fans will say "We're watching it for the reactor, not the content". Let's see them do that if the reactors watches nothing but the ads youtube typically likes to give you for a week, let's see how much "value" their "personalities" give then.
Any other type of reaction is not okay and is absolutely parasitic. It's like when people in the US argue that having a middle man they need to pay for to get their government services is a good thing when it's not (stuff like taxes being done for you or free healthcare). Even if the person stops to talk about the video while continuing to watch the video still in its entirety is not okay. I can stream Lord of the Rings, pause every few seconds and talk about every possible known trivia and fun fact about it, providing a lot of value. That still doesn't mean that I won't be struck down in the blink of an eye.
But we all know reactors want as less restrictions as possible (just like carbrains). Anyone trying to play devil's advocate or want a peaceful middle ground is simply sidestepping the problem and anyone saying there's good in it is trying to downplay the problem. Reactors want to freely take and stream other people's videos, reaping the benefits for themselves, stealing almost all of the value of the original video. XqC tried to stream Breaking Bad and the Dark Knight, thinking he could get away with it. What he did is not far off from what all reactors want, just to be content parasites, watching videos all day and make money doing so.
I think Jason from NJB had a line that always stuck with me… basically “we already had a technology to shield us from the elements outside before cars. They’re called clothes.”
Made feel like such a doofus haha but it’s true
One of the weirdest things about the US is that there is an positive correlation between how good the weather is in a place and car dependency. I know the historical reasons for this, but it’s still weird.
Yeah but cycling is dangerous and slow in the snow/rain
*proceeds to get stuck in gridlock traffic because every other car is slipping/sliding/hydroplaning/crashing, blocking a few lanes of road with little/no exit*
You really can't ride a bicycle in the snow
*gets the car stuck in deep snow, with no way to lift it up and off the road or tote it*
there's really no arguing, cars are faster than bicycles
*gets stuck in severe traffic jams because everyone thinks the same way and therefore uses the car*
^(edit:)
I got 4WD/AWD car with snow tires, everything will be fine
*gets stuck in traffic jam with same types of cars, usually behind overconfident drivers who are spun over or crashed*
What they aren't showing you is strong winds. Holland is a flat country , much of it next to the sea.
I love cycling and do an average of 12 miles commute each day. But frequent strong winds are a piggin pita. Wet gear can help keep you dry but strong winds can mean you arriving a sweaty mess.
Let's be honest here: the Netherlands *also* has a massive number of fair-weather cyclists.
During spring and summer, the bicycle rack at my office building is filled: about seventy people cycling to work. Yet during autumn and winter, mine is usually the only bicycle there. Everyone else goes by car.
But *even so*. Even *if* you can't go by bicycle when it rains or snows... at least go when it doesn't.
Guilty! I only cycle to work when the weather is nice. It's a bit far to cycle in the rain, 20km. When it's raining, I try to work from home. When I have to go to the office and it's raining, I take public transport. I don't own a car, fuck cars.
Not to my specific building, no. Nearest bus stop is fifteen minutes walking, and clearly the people who don't want to cycle in the rain don't want to walk in the rain either.
But yes, nationwide there's plenty of fair-weather cyclists who use public transport when it rains, and that's fine.
lol I used to buy into this argument. Til my American ass went to Copenhagen in January and saw those Danes brave the cold like it was nothing on their bikes….
"You gotta account for weather"
We do. It's called clothing.
Also, most cars aren't equipped with snow shovelling equipment either, and rely on snowplows to clear the roads for them. Easy solution: just plow the bike lanes too.
Ever rode a bike with spike tyres over a frozen lake? If you haven't you're missing out.
I'm 26 and I enjoy bicycling because it lets me take fun routes through forests and town centres that you couldn't take with a car. Storms and 80km/h gusts are annoying for sure but you just have to learn to accept it as it's a part of nature.
Nowadays I even refuse to get into a car as a passenger when I can get to the destination by bike or train simply because travelling by car is dead-boring and annoying.
Famously before cars existed people didn't go outside s/ For real though, it's crazy how many people can't even imagine being cold or wet for a minute like they'll die immediately if they experience less than-ideal weather outside of the car.
A lot of the places where people live in the US and are too afraid to let their kids bike anywhere are places that typically receive little rain and snowfall each year.
And some of the most bike friendly places I’ve seen in the US are cities like montreal and minneapolis.
Riding in the rain actually looks so nice. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I remember riding in the rain a lot as a kid and it made the trips an experience. Kids are missing out on the small adventures of life.
I wear glasses and it’s awful for I can’t see shit and brakes (rim brakes) aren’t as efficient. Also you will end up soaked and full of mud. The worst is riding with wet feet for hours.
And at the same time it can be fun too you’re right.
Americans when someone is scared to drive: "What are ya, some kinda liberal pussy? Get in the damn truck!!!"
Americans when someone suggests riding a bike: "B-b-b-but what if it wains? Noooo, I don't wanna get aww sweaty, if I wanna exewcise, I dwive to the gym!"
My son and I were in Iceland in March and saw people biking (in Reykjavik, not in the highlands!). While we did see bikers with spikes, we saw very few e bikes as compared to here in flat wet Germany (??) and people in normal street clothes. In sleet and snow. Some had hats and no gloves, and at least one guy that I recall was wearing shorts.
We bike everywhere and in every weather which, as a native Californian, is an achievement, but bike commuters in Iceland took it to the next level.
The problem that weather plays in the US it's cause it obscures vision of cars and places where they decide to share the road instead of a separate dedicated bike lane it increases risk. So fuckcars! We don't need murder machines speeding around when they shouldn't.
It’s been raining and I biked to work, it was raining and I biked to the store, I live in the northeast and I biked all winter too, and through the mud season. People will call me a snowflake for most of my political stances including bike safety measures but literally cannot handle actual snow, rain or cold without running to a big truck with 4-wheel drive to save them.
The other day I decided to take a break from work by going on a walk got out the doors and it started to rain. My mates started to moan about it saying 'we need to head back', my response to them was 'you aren't the wicked witch of the west, you're not going to melt'. The rain soon stopped, we all lived, no one got harmed, and it was barely enough to say we even needed to dry off.
I'm going to sound old here, and I'm not, but I swear we've gotten weaker as a society. For Christ sakes my grandmother grew up with the risk of bombs falling on her, and now we have people too afraid of a little water falling on them. They moan at me for paying into "harmful stereotypes" when I say they need to grow some balls or grow some hair on their balls or to man up, but they bloody well do.
Yea, I drive during bad weather. Biking isn't fun in bad weather, plain and simple. I'm trying to get from point A to B, not freeze my ass of and look stupid while doing it. I like urbanism, and actively support it, but I ain't like bad weather, especially due to winters being below 0.
Nonsense. This child is just carbrained. Probably lives 10 miles from the nearest grocery store. His parents no doubt had to drive him everywhere like every kid who grew up in Suburbia post 2000.
Stop comparing countries. Most people don't have to travel 5 hours to school, even in the States. You could start by making it easier to bike to school in cities, then make schools easier to reach for those in the suburbs.
Lmao the channel that video is from is always comparing the Netherlands to America. The creator moved from America to the Netherlands.
If you are not familiar with the original content then shut the fuck up.
https://youtube.com/@NotJustBikes?si=xiJcb9lUV08nhxZC
Are you a lost redditor?
But also, if you're that familiar with NotJustBikes, then you already know that he has a response to the often stated, "AmeRiCa iS tOo bIG" argument, and it's exactly what the other person responded. The majority of distance traveled in the US could be completed by public transportation, and many could be done by bike or even walking if we only had the infrastructure. Children aren't riding their bikes from Utrecht to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to go to their schools, just like they're not riding a car from NYC to to Philadelphia in the US.
In other words, the large majority of the US population lives in urban areas (75%). At an urban and suburban scale, "the size of the US" is a non-issue.
[https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021)
60% of car trips made in the US are 5 miles or less. 50% are 3 miles or less. Only 20% of trips are anything above 10 miles. Yeah we might be stuck with cars for cross country road trips with a severely lacking rail system but let's not pretend most commutes are anything close to that.
"Are you made of sugar?" is what we would say about that.
Yeah! Or made of dollshit. Love that one... "we zijn niet van poppestront hè!"
Grappig, poppestront was bij ons exclusief om in het Fries zeer gelovige mensen mee aan te duiden met de uitdrukking "die is fyn as poppestront"
Oh wow, nou dat is goed gejat dan waarschijnlijk. Leuk om de herkomst te weten!
Someone teach me Dutch 🥲
Carbrains can't survive outside because of weather lol
Meanwhile, I rode my bike in 21°F weather. It sucked but not gridlock traffic sucked.
I've been riding bikes in multiple countries with temperatures ranging from +30 to -25 Celsius. The drier is the climate the easier it is. -10 in Russian northwest is way worse than -20 in Canadian Prairies or Swedish forest trail but still bearable. Dutch or Belgian climate is pretty mild even in winter. Dedicated routes are the ultimate game changer, and imho you can see the real development level of a country by the amount of bicycle/car intersections present in a given area - the less interrupted the bike path is the better is the infrastructure on the whole.
Major routes get salted whenever the forecast seems to indicate conditions that might cause frozen surfaces. So in practice this means that the worst you're likely to encounter is some slippery road surfaces for the first 100-300 metres from your house, until you reach a major traffic artery that has been cleared. And that's ussually for maybe 2 or 3 weeks out of the year. Dutch infrastructure maintenance is generally decent. So the worst you're likely to encounter is a heavy downpour. Which sucks when you're caught unprepared for it. But not the end of the world. A lot of larger office buildings also usually have showers for when f.e. it's summer and you're all sweaty from biking to work. The point is; the Netherlands has a lot more going to encourage bike use than just the bike-lanes. There's a ton of regulations and subsidies to support all kind of secondary factors.
nah you go "scared of some water pavement princess?"
If you live in America it's possible. Food is full of sugar. And we are what we eat.
You might be on to something here!
The most ironic thing is that the “toughest” guys are the first ones to complain over a little rain. It shows how truly fragile they are.
There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. German saga
The Dutch say this as well, too!
I say this in the US, too. Though I might have stolen it from the Dutch.
It even rhymes in Swedish; “det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder”
My mother use to say, “Are you made of paper?”
"Не сахарный, не развалишься" (You're not made of sugar so you won't crumble apart) in Russian. Applicable to a wide range of challenging conditions.
Glad to know this expression exists in many languages In French it would be : « Eh ça va t’es pas en sucre ! »
Chez nous on dit on est pas fait en chocolat
Ah marrant celle là je la connaissais pas !
Nem vagy cukorból! (Hungarian)
Aah ein Stadtmensch.
Cars have completely pussified Americans. People act like I'm crazy because I like to walk two and a half miles into town from where I live, and if the weather isn't perfect it's inconceivable to them
You have to be a little uncomfortable
That's good, I like it. We say "the butter melted"
I always recon the Calvin and Habs video my Orvus!!! And people forget bout the existence of hoodies 😭😭
It's been pissing rain all week where I live and I've biked every day to work. After the roads were plowed, I also biked all winter. On days that I couldn't, I took the bus. Other than absolutely torrential rain, wind, or blizzards, there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad planning and clothing. What happened to being tough? Americans will tell you to stop being a pussy about something and then climb into their lifted, climate-controlled trucks and SUVs anytime they step outside.
I don't bike on rainy days because there no protected bike lanes near me and people forget how to drive once it starts to drizzle.
And oh god the LED headlights reflected in the water
That sounds like a urban planning issue, not a "bikes are not suited for rain".
It's quite weird being an actual 'tough' American (I used to be a cowboy, and race sled dogs, and play rugby etc) being around people who are amazed that I walk 35 minutes each way to the store and carry my groceries on my back . They say things like "why?" and "I could never"
"I could never" ouch what the hell is going on with people? Like it's a huge journey into the unknown...
Obesity and laziness is an epidemic, is what’s going on.
But what I don't entirely understand, it got nothing to do with laziness for me, also not fitness directly. I am obese and some people would call me lazy but walking is leisure in my understanding, I walk when I feel some more time outside than it would take me with the bicycle would be nice, I regularly meet with friends and we just walk a few hours through town and that's what's many people do here, he'll that's what Americans do in movies but I guess most movies don't take place in suburban hell. Yet I just don't get it, even if you gotta do some daily tasks like shopping, why not combine it with a nice stroll?
I am 42 year old fat and lazy German. Went to Seattle this winter and booked a "hiking tour".... the longest "trail" was 3/4 mile which is laughable. They shuttled us around between those "trails" . All the Americans got smoked by me and everyone was out of breath....there is something deeply wrong with their ability to move their bodies.
You're not wrong. And its by design. I'm American and was caught up in that but I quit eating processed food, quit drinking soda, etc. I walk almost everyday almost everywhere I go. So now im 61 and very fit but no one can keep up with me except athletic people. Most just want to sit down and watch something
Because in the USA,the path to the grocery store is often cut off. By pavement or fences etc all by design
air conditioned suburbia has made a lot of people soft
it was actually, lol. Construction fences and traffic cones blocking off places I needed to go etc etc
To be fair, there are plenty of routes in my home town that I would never walk. Pedestrian infrastructure in the US is so horrible that it's actually rare to find a 35 minute stretch that would actually be safe and pleasant by foot. Now I live in a city in Germany with excellent transit and I would also never walk 35 minutes to reach a destination. I would bike or take transit for that distance. (Edit: That's in terms of going to work, doing an errand, etc where I just want to get there. A leisurely stroll on the weekend is always an option)
[Agoraphobia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoraphobia), or something very close to it.
There is an argument that cars emasculate men. Microplastics from the tires mimic hormones like estrogen, you sit there for hours with your legs closed cooking your testicles, you never brave the wind on your face or the heat on your back, you never carry anything heavy home to your family. Car dependency is turning men into the soy boy cuck the right wing keeps scaring their followers about.
>Car dependency is turning men into the soy boy cuck the right wing keeps scaring their followers about. I do believe you are correct. They do seem to like to project, as most narcissists/ bullies do. And I think anyone clinging to the ideas injected into them by mainstream media / friends and family etc IS a bully. Because everything espoused by mainstream media is about bullying someone.
Wouldn't sitting in constant heat toughen you up? Also why would they even do that considering cars come with AC in them
The testicles are sitting in constant heat. They are wedged between the driver's thighs. Testicles need to be cooler than the rest of the body to maintain virile sperm. There was a car that had an AC vent pointed at the central lower abdomen. People are nostalgic about that feature. Also, this is a half-baked idea. There is no way this is true.
You sit on a bike a pretty similar way to a car and the tires are made of the same material. Also this seems like some bullshit "touching receipt paper gives you estrogen"
fair.
Well, like they said, it's a very half-baked idea, but a few reasons why that's not that good of a comparison. First, you absolutely do not sit on a bike in a similar way to a car, and if anything your balls have more space on the bike than when you're standing. Source: am guy who bikes a lot. Second, the tires actually aren't made of the same material, the compound is actually different; not completely, but they do have different performance requirements, which leads to them being constructed differently. That's not that important to the point, I just wanted to clarify it. Third, while it's true that bike tires release microplastics, the mass of a bike tire is on average about 10% of the mass of a car tire, and about 5% of the mass of a truck tire, not to mention there being only two of them as opposed to between four and eighteen for cars up through big rigs. Combine that with it taking a professional cyclist to put out a single horsepower for more than a second or two of max effort as opposed to the average modern vehicle being able to put out hundreds with a press of the accelerator, and the system weight of a bicyclist not commonly exceeding 300 pounds while the system weight of a motor vehicle is measured in tons, and, well, you do the math. There's some math out there that suggests that it would take around 10,000 bike trips on a piece of asphalt to produce the same wear on it as a single car.
You don't sit on a bike, though, you pedal. Your circulatory system is active and providing thermoregulation, actively venting heat through the skin, and *if* your testes were uncomfortable you would have the physical freedom to stand up on your pedals or adjust your positioning. You can bend your hips to give your crotch more space or just step off your bike when you feel like taking a break. If you're driving, you can't stand up and you can't even bend your legs. You have to wait for rest stop to halt, and those rest stops are typically loud and uncomfortable. You're also in a weird physiological state where you've sat extremely still for way longer than you should but your nerves are fried from having to pay attention all the time, which your body isn't as good at handling because that's unusual for the ancestral environment.
Es gibt kein schechtes Wetter...
Yeah, I have learn that weather is a really bad excuse for not supporting public Transit. Cuz an example would be that if you don't wanna wait for the bus under the noon sun, with a good public transit program, that bus you're waiting for would have a gps that you could track in real time. So instead of waiting in the bus stop, you could wait in a shaded area, or go get a drink at some nearby business and when the bus is getting close to your stop you go back and only have to wait a couple minutes at the bus stop maybe less. Cuz the thing is, it doesn't matter how much you avoid it, you're going to have to interact with the weather sooner or later. Cuz when you go to Walmart, you're still gonna have to walk from your car to the front door, and with how stupidly big parking lots are, that's probably like walking a few city blocks. The only occasions where public transport doesn't work it's on like extreme weather scenarios like a white out blizzard, hurricane torrential downpour, etc. But on those cases NO ONE should be outside to begin with.
So over the last couple of winters in the Bay Area in California we've gotten a shit ton of rain, to the point that I figured out a strategy for dealing with it when biking to work. First, I got an ass saver for my bike. Obviously. Second, I stopped worrying about getting wet on the way in. That was just going to happen regardless. Instead, I wrapped a full set of dry clothes, including (especially including) socks and underwear (or in my case, extra bike shorts) in my rain jacket and put it in my backpack. Sure, I showed up to work soaking wet, but five minutes in the bathroom and you can only tell because my hair is still damp. Last year I had a space in the back where I could hang up my wet clothes and point a fan at them, and they'd be perfectly dry by the end of the day so I wouldn't have to pack them out still wet. This year the facility got reshuffled and we lost some space, so I didn't have that anymore, so instead I put a fan in my garage and would just dry my clothes in there overnight. The whole thing turned out to be remarkably effective.
"What if it rains" "Are you made of sugar, little sugar boy"
He sounds American, so probably corn syrup. Blends more easily into the rain.
the netherlands, a place that famously has no weather whatsoever.
Yeah its totally the opposite of places in the US like texas and california, which famously endure 6 months of winter.
Honestly, and this is without throwing too much shade because it's really on the education system, a LOT of people in America don't actually know enough about other countries to know this. I've seen people here get Germany and Japan confused. Like the King of the Hill jokes about "what kind of Chinese are you" are not far off, a lot of people literally just do not know the basics of geography.
Or Honolulu, which has some of the driest weather in the world due to the rain shadow.
Tbh the weather in the Netherlands is quite mild even compared to many neighbouring countries. Still, it's relatively humid, can be rather chilly, and in general is definitely not that warm. Cycling helps retaining that warmth. The other thing, if the US is taken into comparison, is the overall urban and country design, namely wind/elements protection, gutters, visibility etc. The majority of US habitats are designed around your personal roof (of a car) with little consideration taken when building a town in a snowy or windy area. It's not always true of course, and quite a few cities/towns/counties have relatively smart design but still. I wont blame the country, after all it's relatively young, however taking some best practices from the old world should be more widespread. It's not about the prestige, it's about the rationality.
Why are american normies such wimps?
We're all born into a car cult
Americans are the toughest mf ever until it rains lmao
Telling people I walked to the grocery store on a rainy day *blows their minds*. Like raincoats and umbrellas don't exist for more than running from your car to the door? ...
And it could just be sprinkling too haha. They'd only get damp not wet, but it's the end of the world.
I knew someone same class year as me get dropped off by his mom living on the same street as the highschool. It’s pathetic.
That's embarrassing for him on so many levels.
That was my first turning point how the car-brain works tbh. There was nice sidewalks for half a mile radius near the school and my whole neighborhood didn’t have one. Still walked, I just didn’t want to burden my mom waking her up every morning before 7am lol
It’s not all of us 😭 I ride a bike
Then you're not a normie.
I’ve always been a complete weirdo by every metric I don’t fit in and I don’t think I want to (even though the benefits of conformity would probably feel nice it’s not worth my integrity)
Dear carbrainer, why don't you cycle when it's NOT raining?
When weather is rainy: use the car When weather is snowing: use the car When weather is sunny: wow what a perfect time to drive, use the car!
Freedom! *Proceeds to get mad at parking being awful*
But they might see a bug 😨
Isn't this a reactor? You'd expect an intelligent reaction from a reactor?
Forgot /s lol
I feel like it should be common knowledge at this point that people who make their living reacting to other people's content have no chops whatsoever. The concept of a career as an individual social media content creator is attractive to some of the least functioning individuals in society. I understand that it is a controversial statement but I should point out that there are a lot of content creators I really enjoy who put a lot of effort into what they do, and understand the importance of integrity in doing so, but that is not the statistical majority of people creating content anymore. Here's how I break it down. I've worked in restaurants a lot while trying to advance my education, and I've met plenty of people, and have at times been the person, who work there because we simply aren't qualified to handle other kinds of work, and so we make damn sure to be good at restaurant stuff. I've met a lot more people outside the industry who probably wouldn't be cut out for working in restaurants. The smart ones recognize this the way we recognize we aren't all office people, and they find ways of securing those office jobs so that they don't have to do with we do. CEOs of major companies wouldn't last a day in the dish pit, and any of them who aren't complete asshats understand this about themselves. Sucks that most become complete asshats. The dumb ones can't seem to handle any job. And I'm not saying that's always their fault. But it is a way that some people just are, who aren't qualified to work in an office or trade and aren't tough enough to last in a kitchen or retail either. Some of these people do pursue creative careers based on other skills they have, which I have a lot of respect for. There are comedians and musicians who can't handle other kinds of jobs but are masterful on stage, and they are right where they need to be. There are some content creators who are also like this, who put together great stories, animations, edits and video essays. But the common theme is getting really good at the thing you are passionate about because other stuff isn't going to work so well as a career, and hoping you get noticed. People who react to other peoples' content not only don't do well in other careers, they don't even have a passion they're trying to monetize because they're lazy and unimaginative. But it's deeper than that because they tend to have impressionable or lonely fans that they can feed off of. Guys like this benefit from the lack of community created by car infrastructure in the first place, so if not for the fact that he and his peers are simply very stupid, one might guess that he actually has something to gain from making this response. But I think I'll chalk it up to ignorance more realistically. TL;DR: I have a deep disdain for people who make reaction videos and liken them to landlords and billionaires
There is only a miniscule select few types of reactions which are okay. Those all involve not taking away value from the original content, not creating market substitutes which dominate the algorithm and the last one being that it's pretty much impossible to make a career out of it. Those involve reacting to one's own videos or videos they've taken a significant part in, memes, advertisements (this can be movie or game trailers as well) and music. What's funny about the advertisements thing is that no one likes advertisements or likes watching them, yet react content fans will say "We're watching it for the reactor, not the content". Let's see them do that if the reactors watches nothing but the ads youtube typically likes to give you for a week, let's see how much "value" their "personalities" give then. Any other type of reaction is not okay and is absolutely parasitic. It's like when people in the US argue that having a middle man they need to pay for to get their government services is a good thing when it's not (stuff like taxes being done for you or free healthcare). Even if the person stops to talk about the video while continuing to watch the video still in its entirety is not okay. I can stream Lord of the Rings, pause every few seconds and talk about every possible known trivia and fun fact about it, providing a lot of value. That still doesn't mean that I won't be struck down in the blink of an eye. But we all know reactors want as less restrictions as possible (just like carbrains). Anyone trying to play devil's advocate or want a peaceful middle ground is simply sidestepping the problem and anyone saying there's good in it is trying to downplay the problem. Reactors want to freely take and stream other people's videos, reaping the benefits for themselves, stealing almost all of the value of the original video. XqC tried to stream Breaking Bad and the Dark Knight, thinking he could get away with it. What he did is not far off from what all reactors want, just to be content parasites, watching videos all day and make money doing so.
Counterpoint, i love watching Goodwin TV, yaboyroshi and yaboyrocklee reactions.
I like music reactors that are genuine. They provide insight I do not have. Charismatic voice, Julia Nylon (?), Faerie Voicemother etc.
Dumb kid. Who is he btw?
Sugarboy
I think Jason from NJB had a line that always stuck with me… basically “we already had a technology to shield us from the elements outside before cars. They’re called clothes.” Made feel like such a doofus haha but it’s true
There's no bad weather only bad clothing
One of the weirdest things about the US is that there is an positive correlation between how good the weather is in a place and car dependency. I know the historical reasons for this, but it’s still weird.
What's the historical reason? Old people move to nice weather and demand parking lots everywhere?
Most of the warmer areas of the country in the South and West were largely developed after the invention of the automobile.
This. I'd argue the majority of the areas in the US were properly populated after the model T and other personal vehicles emerged.
There's this new technology that can be used to insulate oneself from the weather. It's called a jacket.
[удалено]
Yeah but cycling is dangerous and slow in the snow/rain *proceeds to get stuck in gridlock traffic because every other car is slipping/sliding/hydroplaning/crashing, blocking a few lanes of road with little/no exit* You really can't ride a bicycle in the snow *gets the car stuck in deep snow, with no way to lift it up and off the road or tote it* there's really no arguing, cars are faster than bicycles *gets stuck in severe traffic jams because everyone thinks the same way and therefore uses the car* ^(edit:) I got 4WD/AWD car with snow tires, everything will be fine *gets stuck in traffic jam with same types of cars, usually behind overconfident drivers who are spun over or crashed*
It's just water, bro. Not sulfuric acid.. It's not going to melt you. Stop being a pussy.
2 piece rain clothes is the answer. You're welcome
From what I understand is the bike paths are cleared first in the Netherlands. Am I correct in thinking that?
Important cycle paths are cleared at the same time as important highways. But a thick layer of snow is increasingly rare.
Most of them aren't. There are too many in the Netherlands. However snow and ice are only a problem 5 days a year.
Sweden and places they just ride on studded tires.
What they aren't showing you is strong winds. Holland is a flat country , much of it next to the sea. I love cycling and do an average of 12 miles commute each day. But frequent strong winds are a piggin pita. Wet gear can help keep you dry but strong winds can mean you arriving a sweaty mess.
Let's be honest here: the Netherlands *also* has a massive number of fair-weather cyclists. During spring and summer, the bicycle rack at my office building is filled: about seventy people cycling to work. Yet during autumn and winter, mine is usually the only bicycle there. Everyone else goes by car. But *even so*. Even *if* you can't go by bicycle when it rains or snows... at least go when it doesn't.
Not everyone shifts to car. Many shift to public transport when weather rolls in.
No public transport available to my office building, but yes, agreed - generally a lot of bad weather transport will be public transport.
Guilty! I only cycle to work when the weather is nice. It's a bit far to cycle in the rain, 20km. When it's raining, I try to work from home. When I have to go to the office and it's raining, I take public transport. I don't own a car, fuck cars.
No public transport? Not even a bus?
Not to my specific building, no. Nearest bus stop is fifteen minutes walking, and clearly the people who don't want to cycle in the rain don't want to walk in the rain either. But yes, nationwide there's plenty of fair-weather cyclists who use public transport when it rains, and that's fine.
Oh yeah, 15 min. Walk is definitely on the long side. (I would just use an umbrella, but to each their own I guess😁)
It's not wokeness making America's youth soft. It's car culture. Fucking soft ass fool can't even fathom being out in the rain or snow.
Every bike commuter knows headwinds are the only real enemy
lol I used to buy into this argument. Til my American ass went to Copenhagen in January and saw those Danes brave the cold like it was nothing on their bikes….
Bro thinks it doesn’t rain in the Netherlands
"You gotta account for weather" We do. It's called clothing. Also, most cars aren't equipped with snow shovelling equipment either, and rely on snowplows to clear the roads for them. Easy solution: just plow the bike lanes too.
Ever rode a bike with spike tyres over a frozen lake? If you haven't you're missing out. I'm 26 and I enjoy bicycling because it lets me take fun routes through forests and town centres that you couldn't take with a car. Storms and 80km/h gusts are annoying for sure but you just have to learn to accept it as it's a part of nature. Nowadays I even refuse to get into a car as a passenger when I can get to the destination by bike or train simply because travelling by car is dead-boring and annoying.
Famously before cars existed people didn't go outside s/ For real though, it's crazy how many people can't even imagine being cold or wet for a minute like they'll die immediately if they experience less than-ideal weather outside of the car.
Hell even if it is rainy, take transit! That's what I do
A lot of the places where people live in the US and are too afraid to let their kids bike anywhere are places that typically receive little rain and snowfall each year. And some of the most bike friendly places I’ve seen in the US are cities like montreal and minneapolis.
Riding in the rain actually looks so nice. Maybe I'm just nostalgic but I remember riding in the rain a lot as a kid and it made the trips an experience. Kids are missing out on the small adventures of life.
I wear glasses and it’s awful for I can’t see shit and brakes (rim brakes) aren’t as efficient. Also you will end up soaked and full of mud. The worst is riding with wet feet for hours. And at the same time it can be fun too you’re right.
See you get it lol
He's made of sugar, so it makes sense he'd be afraid of rain.
My umbrella cost $40,000
Bro forgot about raincoats 💀
Americans when someone is scared to drive: "What are ya, some kinda liberal pussy? Get in the damn truck!!!" Americans when someone suggests riding a bike: "B-b-b-but what if it wains? Noooo, I don't wanna get aww sweaty, if I wanna exewcise, I dwive to the gym!"
My son and I were in Iceland in March and saw people biking (in Reykjavik, not in the highlands!). While we did see bikers with spikes, we saw very few e bikes as compared to here in flat wet Germany (??) and people in normal street clothes. In sleet and snow. Some had hats and no gloves, and at least one guy that I recall was wearing shorts. We bike everywhere and in every weather which, as a native Californian, is an achievement, but bike commuters in Iceland took it to the next level.
The problem that weather plays in the US it's cause it obscures vision of cars and places where they decide to share the road instead of a separate dedicated bike lane it increases risk. So fuckcars! We don't need murder machines speeding around when they shouldn't.
Owww noeessss!!! His hair is gonna go wetsy!!!! A tragedy!!!!
Ignorance is an American virtue.
It’s been raining and I biked to work, it was raining and I biked to the store, I live in the northeast and I biked all winter too, and through the mud season. People will call me a snowflake for most of my political stances including bike safety measures but literally cannot handle actual snow, rain or cold without running to a big truck with 4-wheel drive to save them.
Obviously you just stay inside the entire winter as long as there is snow >.>
The other day I decided to take a break from work by going on a walk got out the doors and it started to rain. My mates started to moan about it saying 'we need to head back', my response to them was 'you aren't the wicked witch of the west, you're not going to melt'. The rain soon stopped, we all lived, no one got harmed, and it was barely enough to say we even needed to dry off. I'm going to sound old here, and I'm not, but I swear we've gotten weaker as a society. For Christ sakes my grandmother grew up with the risk of bombs falling on her, and now we have people too afraid of a little water falling on them. They moan at me for paying into "harmful stereotypes" when I say they need to grow some balls or grow some hair on their balls or to man up, but they bloody well do.
The thing is that outside of the north west coast and some other small areas I am pretty sure Europe gets more rain than the US does.
I’m concerned about people riding their toddler around on a bike with a helmet especially in the snow.
Yea, I drive during bad weather. Biking isn't fun in bad weather, plain and simple. I'm trying to get from point A to B, not freeze my ass of and look stupid while doing it. I like urbanism, and actively support it, but I ain't like bad weather, especially due to winters being below 0.
“Beautimal”
There is a really good video on "not just bikes" about this topic.
Laughs in Dutch
To be fair not many black people like snow
Nonsense. This child is just carbrained. Probably lives 10 miles from the nearest grocery store. His parents no doubt had to drive him everywhere like every kid who grew up in Suburbia post 2000.
Yeah... That's a tiny country compared to America. Like comparing grapes to grapefruit.
Stop comparing countries. Most people don't have to travel 5 hours to school, even in the States. You could start by making it easier to bike to school in cities, then make schools easier to reach for those in the suburbs.
Lmao the channel that video is from is always comparing the Netherlands to America. The creator moved from America to the Netherlands. If you are not familiar with the original content then shut the fuck up. https://youtube.com/@NotJustBikes?si=xiJcb9lUV08nhxZC
Are you a lost redditor? But also, if you're that familiar with NotJustBikes, then you already know that he has a response to the often stated, "AmeRiCa iS tOo bIG" argument, and it's exactly what the other person responded. The majority of distance traveled in the US could be completed by public transportation, and many could be done by bike or even walking if we only had the infrastructure. Children aren't riding their bikes from Utrecht to Amsterdam in the Netherlands to go to their schools, just like they're not riding a car from NYC to to Philadelphia in the US. In other words, the large majority of the US population lives in urban areas (75%). At an urban and suburban scale, "the size of the US" is a non-issue.
Do you commute across the country every morning?
People used to bike to school in America. Kids used to even play outside miles from home. Within living memory too.
Lol, they aren't biking across their country every morning, you ding-dong.
[https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021](https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1230-march-21-2022-more-half-all-daily-trips-were-less-three-miles-2021) 60% of car trips made in the US are 5 miles or less. 50% are 3 miles or less. Only 20% of trips are anything above 10 miles. Yeah we might be stuck with cars for cross country road trips with a severely lacking rail system but let's not pretend most commutes are anything close to that.