Comments on: Los Angeles at Ground Level http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/ Worst Places In The World Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:18:08 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Clever Cycles » Blog Archive » California bakfiets invasion imminent http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-263080 Clever Cycles » Blog Archive » California bakfiets invasion imminent Sat, 05 Jan 2008 01:40:14 +0000 http://www.sprol.com/?p=292#comment-263080 [...] Yes, it’s happening even in Los Angeles, a car-head dystopia I reserve the right to disdain since I grew up nearby at the confluence of the 57 and 60 freeways. Check out Bakfietsen to the Future!, about an expectant father whose acquisition of a bakfiets instead of a second car just as oil is passing the $100/barrel mark is “a way to live his life on his own terms” and avoid reverting to the “chubby, hateful, angry” driver he once was. Your daughter will love it, Josef. [...] [...] Yes, it’s happening even in Los Angeles, a car-head dystopia I reserve the right to disdain since I grew up nearby at the confluence of the 57 and 60 freeways. Check out Bakfietsen to the Future!, about an expectant father whose acquisition of a bakfiets instead of a second car just as oil is passing the $100/barrel mark is “a way to live his life on his own terms” and avoid reverting to the “chubby, hateful, angry” driver he once was. Your daughter will love it, Josef. [...]

]]> By: Cleverchimp blog » Blog Archive » More red pills http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-1610 Cleverchimp blog » Blog Archive » More red pills Thu, 27 Apr 2006 05:50:30 +0000 http://www.sprol.com/?p=292#comment-1610 [...] The per capita wattage that is critical for social well-being lies within an order of magnitude which is far above the horsepower known to four-fifths of humanity and far below the power commanded by any Volkswagen driver. … Cars … can shape a city into their image—practically ruling out locomotion on foot or by bicycle in Los Angeles. … That motor traffic curtails the right to walk, not that more people drive Chevies than Fords, constitutes radical monopoly. What cars do to people by virtue of this radical monopoly is quite distinct from and independent of what they do by burning gasoline that could be transformed into food in a crowded world. It is also distinct from automotive manslaughter. Of course cars burn gasoline that could be used to make food. Of course they are dangerous and costly. But the radical monopoly cars establish is destructive in a special way. Cars create distance. Speedy vehicles of all kinds render space scarce. They drive wedges of highways into populated areas, and then extort tolls on the bridge over the remoteness between people that was manufactured for their sake. This monopoly over land turns space into car fodder. It destroys the environment for feet and bicycles. Even if planes and buses could run as nonpolluting, nondepleting public services, their inhuman velocities would degrade man’s innate mobility and force him to spend more time for the sake of travel. [...] [...] The per capita wattage that is critical for social well-being lies within an order of magnitude which is far above the horsepower known to four-fifths of humanity and far below the power commanded by any Volkswagen driver. … Cars … can shape a city into their image—practically ruling out locomotion on foot or by bicycle in Los Angeles. … That motor traffic curtails the right to walk, not that more people drive Chevies than Fords, constitutes radical monopoly. What cars do to people by virtue of this radical monopoly is quite distinct from and independent of what they do by burning gasoline that could be transformed into food in a crowded world. It is also distinct from automotive manslaughter. Of course cars burn gasoline that could be used to make food. Of course they are dangerous and costly. But the radical monopoly cars establish is destructive in a special way. Cars create distance. Speedy vehicles of all kinds render space scarce. They drive wedges of highways into populated areas, and then extort tolls on the bridge over the remoteness between people that was manufactured for their sake. This monopoly over land turns space into car fodder. It destroys the environment for feet and bicycles. Even if planes and buses could run as nonpolluting, nondepleting public services, their inhuman velocities would degrade man’s innate mobility and force him to spend more time for the sake of travel. [...]

]]> By: Cleverchimp blog » Blog Archive » Victorians from space, urban animal husbandry, drive-in beach cleanups, etc. http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-1439 Cleverchimp blog » Blog Archive » Victorians from space, urban animal husbandry, drive-in beach cleanups, etc. Mon, 17 Apr 2006 03:06:09 +0000 http://www.sprol.com/?p=292#comment-1439 [...] In response to my report about the construction explosion in Beijing, a friend noted tangentially that he had been browsing real estate listings in Colorado Springs, near where he lived most of his life. He found a “Victorian” listed for under $200,000. Check it out while the ad stays online. The house was built in 2005, it seems, on a “zero scaped fenced and irrigated lot” (rocks with sprinklers). I guess it’s Victorian because it’s yellow with black and white trim. Next follow the Google Maps link to reveal the tell-tale street pattern of what, as Kunstler puts it, has left American cities “encysted in a surrounding fabric of necrotic suburbia.” The best comes last: switch to “satellite” view and zoom in. Now that’s Victorian. (Sprol.com is a site devoted almost entirely to such godlike views of mortal folly. My favorite entry in a while concerns bicycling in Los Angeles.) [...] [...] In response to my report about the construction explosion in Beijing, a friend noted tangentially that he had been browsing real estate listings in Colorado Springs, near where he lived most of his life. He found a “Victorian” listed for under $200,000. Check it out while the ad stays online. The house was built in 2005, it seems, on a “zero scaped fenced and irrigated lot” (rocks with sprinklers). I guess it’s Victorian because it’s yellow with black and white trim. Next follow the Google Maps link to reveal the tell-tale street pattern of what, as Kunstler puts it, has left American cities “encysted in a surrounding fabric of necrotic suburbia.” The best comes last: switch to “satellite” view and zoom in. Now that’s Victorian. (Sprol.com is a site devoted almost entirely to such godlike views of mortal folly. My favorite entry in a while concerns bicycling in Los Angeles.) [...]

]]> By: L http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-898 L Thu, 05 Jan 2006 12:38:07 +0000 http://www.sprol.com/?p=292#comment-898 I live in the Adirondack Mtns and I commute to work on a bicycle. During the three "riding" seasons, I will usually see another bicyclists during my ride to or from work. However, during the winter, I am the only bike rider in the area. Even though I only have to travel 2 miles each way to work, at -20 degrees fahrenheit, that is a pretty difficult task! I used to ride occasionally to work during snowstorms, but since turning 50 years old, I resort to driving in on those days. Although I get comments from drivers, when I compare my health to theirs I just laugh! I live in the Adirondack Mtns and I commute to work on a bicycle. During the three “riding” seasons, I will usually see another bicyclists during my ride to or from work. However, during the winter, I am the only bike rider in the area. Even though I only have to travel 2 miles each way to work, at -20 degrees fahrenheit, that is a pretty difficult task! I used to ride occasionally to work during snowstorms, but since turning 50 years old, I resort to driving in on those days. Although I get comments from drivers, when I compare my health to theirs I just laugh!

]]> By: Jeff Paulson http://www.sprol.com/2005/12/biking-los-angeles/comment-page-1/#comment-897 Jeff Paulson Wed, 04 Jan 2006 22:06:26 +0000 http://www.sprol.com/?p=292#comment-897 I rode from Monrovia to JPL to Cal State LA to home 5 days a week for 8 years (30 mi. daily round trip). I never had any problems like described above. I found that you were usually going at least as fast as trafic. Only had 1 accident - got car door'd on Colorado Blvd. I used to lead a ride every weekend from Monrovia to Long Beach to Seal Beach & back (80 mi.) every weekend also. The beach ride was a breeze - literally. It was down hill to the ocean & about noon when we started back, we always had a tail wind. I now live in Iowa where there's no people - REALLY!!! Now I know what I was missing all those years - LA is a drag to ride bike compared here. The Mayor used to sponsor rides & the turnout was always good - what happens to those people between the rides? you never see them on their bikes?!?! I rode from Monrovia to JPL to Cal State LA to home 5 days a week for 8 years (30 mi. daily round trip). I never had any problems like described above. I found that you were usually going at least as fast as trafic. Only had 1 accident – got car door’d on Colorado Blvd.

I used to lead a ride every weekend from Monrovia to Long Beach to Seal Beach & back (80 mi.) every weekend also. The beach ride was a breeze – literally. It was down hill to the ocean & about noon when we started back, we always had a tail wind.

I now live in Iowa where there’s no people – REALLY!!! Now I know what I was missing all those years – LA is a drag to ride bike compared here. The Mayor used to sponsor rides & the turnout was always good – what happens to those people between the rides? you never see them on their bikes?!?!

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