Watch "Cycling in the US from a Dutch perspective" on YouTube

[Yateesh Kumar]

https://youtu.be/m2THe_10dYs

Seems like every country including India barring  few European countries have similar problems with cycling infra, cycling culture, sensitivity and policy alignment 

[Opendro]

"... more upright cyclist in ordinary clothes..." the concluding lines. That is what should be considered as the goal of a city cycling infrastructure.

[Nayan Pinto]

An interesting video, couldn't help myself from commenting and having a bit of a rant at this time.

I'd just been to the US (Minneapolis) for a couple of months and back. Cycling there is heaven. Absolute heaven! I had a tonne of fun and even large distances for commutes seem trivial, given not only the amazing infrastructure that's in place, but also the fact that people respect cyclists.

If this guy found cycling in the US to be below standards, I can only wish that someday I'd be able to bike around Europe!

The problem I see with cycling here (and I've been a commuter for a good 7 years), is something to the effect of what he presented. People don't see cycling as an investment, as a means to commute. There's absolutely no respect given to a cyclist, and except for a couple of instances, I've always been at the receiving end of the good ol 'Ooooiiii' and a typical hand gesture. And that's just coz of the mentality of people. As far as I see, it can't be changed.

Things have gotten pretty bad these days. Road rage is a common sighting. People just don't think. You bump into a guy on a scooter, but you don't bother asking if he's ok, you fight right in the middle of the road. There's something very wrong with our mindset, and I've failed to see where we could have a nip at the problem. As much as I find it disheartening, I try to explain the situation to anyone who fights and calm them down. Having said that, I got spat on today by an autorick for showing my handsignal to bypass traffic taking a left turn...

I've been a regular commuter along Hosur road, and the condition of it is beyond pathetic. On the bright side, I get my share of mountain biking (at the expense of getting my pants quite dirty and my bum sore!). The unfortunate part is that our roads weren't planned to accommodate cyclists, and our BBMP wasn't built to, well, be capable of achieving much. The path made for cyclists on Richmond road (by TenderSure I believe), is always taken up by vehicles. Similarly on residency road.

Given the deplorable conditions we have to face, I still don't mind it, because I absolutely love those 20 minutes of commute. Not because I'm helping the environment or being fit (God knows we're probably the most affected with the pollution), but it's because I feel that just maybe, someday, the trend will change and we'll have more cyclists than vehicles. And it's always a positive feeling to see more cyclists along the way...

Just felt like sharing my experience. Peace out hommies.

NP

[Opendro]

Nice ranting Nayan, specially cycling in our cities :-)

Yeah, I too have never claimed cycling as fitness or healthy or saving the planet or whatever. I feel that it is the most comfortable as well as quickest mode of commute for me. It does save a lot on my pocket too, but that is never the intention for me as the saving is hardly anything significant for me.

I also bump into some bad motor vehicle drivers on the road - random, sometimes bus, sometimes cab, rarely two wheeler though. Mostly, I'm in good mood and avoid unwanted face-off with them. When I'm in really bad mood, I had got in close verbal exchanges. I'm not afraid of getting physical as I believe that I'm decently skilled and strong, but when I cool down, I feel really worthless about the tussle. Thankfully, I had never got into physical fight.

Anyhow, cycling is much more important for me than all these small aberrations. So, I will be cycling for long years to come until the government bans cycling on roads and pavements. Even if they ban, I will still take some chances until they start fining heavily. That is the level of my desire and determination to cycle :-)

[santosh kumar]

:) 

Cheers
Santosh

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