11 November 2010

Why Walking Beats Biking

Things you cannot do while riding a bike:

-Hold hands
-Have a conversation
-Ride on Shoulders
-Find neat rocks
-Look strangers in the eye
-Find coins
-Window shop
-Play tag
-Leapfrog
-Daydream
-Pick flowers
-Play soccer with a stone
- etc etc

And for distances less than about 4-5 blocks, I find it is just as fast. Why go into the street and fight cars, especially with kids, when it is more enjoyable to walk?

9 comments:

Quimbob said...

on a bike you absolutely CAN

-Have a conversation
-Ride on Shoulders
-Look strangers in the eye
-Window shop
-Play tag
-Daydream

and best of all, when you sing, you are less likely to hear yourself when biking.

CityKin said...

you must ride on my street ...with headphones, singing

Unknown said...

Funny, I often have this debate with myself -- like this morning, when I biked to the Vine Street Kroger to do my grocery shopping. It is only a few blocks, and it is awkward to try to balance bags of groceries on my handlebars, but it feels faster and easier than walking. I am able to say hi to people on the way. I also feel a little safer biking rather than walking home alone from an evening event or dance class, even though, again, I'm sure it's more a matter of my own warped perception than reality. p.s. My eggs made it home safely.

Jeffrey Jakucyk said...

Why make the argument in the first place? It comes off as rather adversarial, even somewhat pedantic. I could give just as many examples why biking is better than walking, or why streetcars are better than buses, or why trains are better than highways, and vice versa. They all have their niches, and for short distances walking certainly does win, but why pick such a fight to start with?

Dave said...

I'd rather walk because it is a real mess to reseed the bicycle chain after it comes off.

Quimbob said...

@Julie - backpack or even better, panniers.

CityKin said...

I guess I should qualify this by saying that biking with kids in Cincinnati is dangerous and a big hassle. Yes, if I was going solo, most of the time I might choose a bike... that is, if I had maintained it and could find my lock...

McEwan said...

This summer, I rode my bike to and from work. But, for the one mile commute, I now prefer walking. I decided that saving the hassle of taking my bike in and out of the house, stopping with traffic, and then locking the bike up at City Hall, the extra 5-10 minutes it takes to walk is worth it. And although it's going to be harder to enjoy the walk in the dead of winter, I can't imagine the gear it would take to make the bike ride comfortable.

As far as family biking is concerned, I think I agree with you that it's better to walk. I've never put my son on a bike seat. And he's still too young to bike on his own, so I have no real experience with this. I only know that drivers in Cincinnati are not yet very bike-conscious. And so I can't imagine taking my young child onto the streets downtown. Maybe by the time my kids are ten years old, there will be a solid bike culture in the city and things will be different! In many other countries, bicycling with children in dense urban areas is much more common-place.

ekalb said...

I prefer to walk. But just a few nights ago I called Akash a bit too late, but they took my to go order even though it was past closing. So I grabbed my back pack and bike. Arrived there in four minutes rather than fifteen. Decided it was much more pleasurable to bike downtown at night than walk. Felt safer because I could move fast. Took less time and was out of the cold night air quicker. I will return to walking downtown when the weather is warm again.