Why You Should Never Ride a Bike to Work

[PotomacCyclist]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-leonard/biking-to-work_b_4426504.html

[Tweeted on the BikeArlington acct]

Topic

[PotomacCyclist]

“4. You can’t be wearing a bike helmet and messing up your hair before work.

Fact: Hair products are not portable, and are not designed for use outside of your home bathroom or a hair salon. And let’s face it: Your hairstyle is a work of carefully crafted art, not something that can be rushed in 5, 10 or even 30 minutes in some modern office restroom. You spend a long time on your hair, just like Tony Manero. You can’t just throw it all away on a bike ride.”

[Amalitza]

eh, to me he just sounds like a jerk. That’s not advocacy, that’s just in-jokes sneering at the out-group. Maybe half of the things on his list are legitimate concerns for people– and even when they aren’t, or are surmountable, making fun of people for being so stupid as to be concerned about it is not the way to win them over.

That kind of snark is fine among friends, where everyone understands it’s just good-natured razzing (and, importantly, when it’s intended as such, which I’m not sure if this article is or not), but applied to a broad audience it just comes across as dismissive and mean.

[dkel]

@acl 72065 wrote:

eh, to me he just sounds like a jerk. That’s not advocacy, that’s just in-jokes sneering at the out-group. Maybe half of the things on his list are legitimate concerns for people– and even when they aren’t, or are surmountable, making fun of people for being so stupid as to be concerned about it is not the way to win them over.

I see the jerk angle, but I was recently the person who spent more time entertaining fears about committing to a full-on bike commute than I did trying it out, regardless of how blissfully happy I felt when out riding on the weekends with my family. Commuting seemed hard! I do look back and feel pretty silly about all he things I viewed as deal-breakers for commuting (BTW, hair wasn’t one of them: I don’t even own a comb!), and now that I’m a few months into really doing it, I wonder if the author’s reverse psychology angle would have gotten me out there sooner (it was my wife’s encouragement that did get me out there). Ultimately, if the article attracts anyone to commuting by bike, I’d call it a success, and I’d like to think that it wouldn’t turn anyone off who was already considering trying it. Maybe I’m wrong.

I did give the original post a “like,” because I related to it.

[dasgeh]

I doubt it would hurt, and it might help. And it’s funny.

I only wish he had pointed out that biking every once in a while is not a commitment to biking all the time in every weather.*

*Well, it is, but only because biking is so awesome that you WANT to bike all the time in every weather, and you don’t have to tell new people that.

[Author]

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