BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

naw, I prefer biking in winter for similar reasons: don't have to "clear off the bike" or scrape ice, don't have to watch for parking outside puddles, being wet is not miserable when one is a human radiator, biking keeps me warm, I can hear the snow fall, I can feel more sunshine, and I suck less exhaust (I think maybe I just smell it more in winter, but I swear my diesel is stinkier in the snow).

Walking is slow, once I started moving on any wheels (bus, driving, now biking), I pretty much see walking more as a social activity than as a viable transportation method (for me personally, others use it and I respect that, it's just not my favorite unless I've got company).

I used to walk as my only transport, but today, I went for that 25 minute walk, and wished I had my bike. It made me remember why I used to hate winter.

See, it's not so much that you dislike walking, it's that biking is so much more fun.

Half Full!!

few things in life sound as wonderful as the crunch of fresh snow under my bike on a nice quite winter night ride. i want it to be winter forever.

i want it to be winter forever.

Wait? What? I'm through with winter already. And it's not even winter yet.

As for the original topic--I don't particularly like walking or taking the bus when I know I can just ride.

I know the feeling - why am I dissipating all of my kinetic energy with every. Trodding. Step.

But I also love walking, when I'm specifically in the mood for it. Just like you can see beautiful things on a bike you wouldn't have noticed in a car, you can see more on a walk. And this morning, it was snowy and sunny at the same time and it made me decide to put my bike back and walk to work, and I was really glad I did.

edit: Walking also makes a fine way to get to and from bars.

I like walking. It straightens out my spine and makes everything align right.

I like walking. But doing so without either a dog pulling me or dragging behind, or a kid in my arm or holding my hand or sitting in a wagon that I am dragging, feels just plain weird anymore.

I met up with the flockers on light-up night downtown. They parked and said "we're going to walk around." I said "I don't walk". They thought I was joking.

I totally dislike walking. sometimes if I get to work before everyone or leave late I will ride my bike down the hallway to the elevator instead of walking to it. unfortunately for me, the dog likes walking a lot so we do quite a bit of it. We bike too, but he prefers the walking pace and stopping to pee on everything.

+1 Tabby

At Geneseo, I would sometimes hop on the unicycle in my dorm room, unk to the elevator, down to the lobby, out the doors, across campus (close to a half mile), in the one academic building with a wheelchair entrance, ride to the elevator, up to the third floor, and into my Calculus classroom, where I'd stash it behind the door. I never failed to get a smile out of (nearly) everyone, and not once hit anyone.

Ah, memories.

I've actually been trying to spend more time on my feet (running if I can, at least walking, maybe some jumping jacks, anything to create some shock and bear some weight). I've always got somewhere in the back of my mind the studies where they find that people who spend their lives with cycling as their main/only physical activity, they end up with levels of osteoporosis comparable to people who are completely sedentary. Road riding is the worst, but mtn bikers aren't immune.

Bones increase their density when you put some weight on them, subject them to some shock. Without that, density decreases.

I love riding. I want to be doing it when I'm 80. I think my chances of that are better if I do other things on my way there.

One article: http://cyclingnutrition.blogspot.com/2007/11/cycling-and-osteoporosis.html

I love walking. It was the only 'exercise' - although I never thought of it that way - I could engage in as a child. And when I had my second birth - the start of my weight loss five years ago - walking was my first, and for a time only, outside activity. It was sweet victory, for only a couple of years before I couldn't complete a block without resting.

bikefind - thank you for the reminder that riding my bike is NOT the panacea that I usually believe it is. I think I'll try to return to running at least once a week. The impact is comparatively unpleasant, but clearly necessary.

thehistorian - my dad lives at the bottom of a brutal hill (think Mount Washington). This past summer he made it all the way up that hill on foot for the first time in his 25 years of living there. He was so excited he did it again a few days later. Walking seems to be the gateway drug of exercise. He owns a bike and I hope one day we can ride together

ejwme and bikefind, I think simply hiking and walking will help with bone density. No need to run if you don't like it.

My first 'mountain' was Mount Misery in Valley Forge. I'm going to hike up it New Year's Day, simply because I can. I well understand your father's excitement, because I get excited too. Me atop Mount Tom in Pine Creek Gorge:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs378.snc4/46111_1492969656682_1607271639_1173705_1022958_n.jpg

I love walking. My biggest regret moving to where my wife and I moved to is that a walk to Regent Square is now out of reach. It's a quick bike ride but includes rides up fairly steep hills which my wife struggles with. We used to just walk. I miss it.

Any particularly nice walks in Pittsburgh I should look for?

thehistorian - there's books about the steps and bridges of Pgh by Bob Regan (amazon's got them). the flat parts inbetween are the easier bits

I live about halfway between Regent Square and Homewood. As rsprake points out, Regent Square is a nice walkable neighborhood. It's adjacent to Frick Park, which is basically a wild ravine within the city limits. It has wide gravel trails brimming with dog walkers ad sometimes mtn bikers, and a really nice restored wetlands area.

In another part of town (the hill between Bloomfield and Lawrenceville), there's a ~90 acre wooded cemetery which is also nice to walk around. There are some other great parks in the city, and good neighborhood strollin'.

I actually do enjoy walking up liberty from 33rd to my apartment on 38th. those 5 blocks feel like a bit more with the slight incline and all. I think the mixed modes of walking/riding will be better for me than the mixed modes I used to take of riding/busing.

Biking is faster than walking.

Biking is more convenient than busing.

I'm just back from Berkeley. There are tons of bikes on the street and a real variety of people (from lycra/Seven to homeless/MTB). It's nice to see what consistent good weather can enable. Unfortunately that doesn't imply law-abiding or courteous biking.

I even saw an (Oregon) affinity license plate with a bicycle on it.

Pseudacris -- Park Place, represent!

The Nine Mile Run restoration area in Frick Park is the most special place in Pittsburgh to me, though all of the parks offer some nice trails.

I also like walking around the Point (assuming the construction down there is over). It's just cool to be able to stand at the forks of the rivers.

someday (probably in the summer) I'm going to get up earlier and hike to work (4.5 miles), then hike back home after.

To me, it's all about just leaving yourself enough time to get where you need to go, considering which mode you want to take. (easier said than done for a procrastinator...)

Rubber factory: we might be neighbors? Im at

39th between penn and lib.

I walked 30 miles last weekend in the woods.

It was cool. I averaged maybe 1.8mph for the

entire thing. I loved it the entire time.

I just wish it was easier to walk across

the country or over mountains.

yeah, if you walk on the bloomfield side of the 38 block on liberty, My building is the one with the hideous teal pain on the inside - you can see it from the street. yuck.

I used to think walking was too slow, but now I really enjoy it for a lot of the reasons mentioned. I also am aware of bone density and spine-straightening stuff.

Ever since I invested in a good pair of hiking sneakers (finally choosing function over fashion when it comes to shoes), I like walking even more.

As much as I love adding to the biking masses while I'm riding, I also love adding to the people-on-foot masses while walking to run errands.

Last winter, it seemed to me that by the time I replaced my stripped-to-prevent-theft accessories (computer, lights) and got bundled up in gloves and balaclava and then undid it all at my destination, it was just easier to walk if I was just going a short distance to make a series of quick stops or errands. I walked two blocks on the South Side tonight, for instance.

I sometimes enjoy walking, but over any serious distance, tend to think "Dang, biking would be much faster."

I have ridden my bike from mancini's to mcdonalds (in the strip) on many occasions.

I like a short walk though, and I like walking my bike and making designs in the snow with my tires

I'm at my parents' house, and I want to go to the store.

I miss my bike

Boy, did I wish I had my bike while sitting on a bus trying to get through the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC a few days ago. If I was on my bike, I'd be there already.