Advantages of Biking Over Driving In Winter
Saturday December 27, 2008
"The advantage of biking over driving in winter is that you get all bundled up in the warm house and then go out on your bike. So you start off warm and then stay that way because you're riding.
When you drive, you first have to go out to the cold, cold car and warm it up. And then either you opt to watch the car burning gas going nowhere or you sit in a cold, cold car for 10 or 15 minutes. Sitting still. Shivering. Oh yeah, and scraping frost off the windshield. That rocks. Or filling up the tank on a raw cold day. Gimme some of that!"
Bob Foster, of the St. Louis Bike Federation
Related Articles
Photo: Michael Blann/Digital Visions - Getty
Comments
I am one of two die-hard bicycle commuters at my workplace (out of about 350 employees) who ride year around, even though there are several of my coworkers who are much more hardcore during the summer months than I am. Ironically, many of my coworkers who call me crazy will indulge in the sport of ice fishing.
Yea, driving your $30,000+ pickup or SUV out onto a frozen lake to go sit on a bucket near a hole in the ice for several hours is so much more rational than 20-30 minutes of bicycling to work in the winter in Minnesota (even if a heated shack is involved).
These are all good reasons for biking in the winter. I’d also add that bikes usually have better traction on snow-covered streets than cars do. I feel pretty smug when I bike along the road at a more or less normal speed, while the cars around me are spinning their wheels and trying to get up gentle hills.
Sometimes I encounter stretches that are too slippery for my bike, or covered with deep unplowed snow. Then I have to dismount and walk for a while, but that’s not too bad, and it’s better than being in a car that can’t move.