For the previous week New York has been like a windowless rest room after a scorching bathe, and from a biking perspective the easiest way to deal with these situations has been to put on athletic clothes whereas driving a bicycle on the street:

With regards to street bikes, it may generally appear as if there’s a stark divide between those that choose the simplicity and class of basic downtube friction shifters, and people who embrace the push-button accuracy of contemporary digital programs. Nonetheless, should you’ve ever longed to straddle these two worlds, this might be the setup for you:

Say what you’ll, however that’s essentially the most sensible L’Eroica workaround I’ve ever seen.

Talking of inherently contradictory initiatives, right here’s a household that’s saving the planet by driving:

I imply, positive, ostensibly they’re setting an e-bike world report or one thing as a way to “promote sustainable transportation:”

However the journey apparently comes after a 25,000-mile intercontinental household street drip throughout which they seem to have run roughshod over Mom Nature in a truck:

Now, within the identify of exhibiting you that you should utilize an e-bike to interchange automobile journeys or one thing, the daddy can be driving one from Montana to Florida:

Although paradoxically he’ll be accompanied by a help automobile the whole method:

That is like claiming you may maintain your self on a gradual eating regimen of lettuce, simply so long as that lettuce is surrounded by a hamburger.

I begrudge completely no one their journey, however between their earlier journey and this one, they’ll be doing a whopping 31,000 miles of driving, which is an terrible lot of driving simply to inform individuals they shouldn’t be driving. I imply if I have been cynical I’d recommend perhaps they’re tacking on the entire environmental angle as a pretense asking others to underwrite their Griswold household fantasy:

However that couldn’t be, as a result of completely no one would use the perilous state of the planet to advance their very own private agenda.

I’ll admit that this video made me re-think my relationship with driving, and what I’ve realized is that I don’t must do much less of it; what I really want to do is reframe it. All this time I believed I used to be being egocentric once I resorted to automobile journeys, however in truth my automobile is merely a “help automobile” for my mannequin sustainable life-style! In spite of everything, I stay in a housing collective comprised of 80 models, positioned on a plot of land in regards to the dimension of a typical suburban yard. Moreover, all of us share treasured sources reminiscent of water, electrical energy, and storage, I make the most of shared transport within the type of electric-powered trains and zero-emissions buses, and all my bicycles are so “inexperienced” they don’t even have batteries! I imply yeah, there’s the automobile, however that’s simply to facilitate provide runs for our ongoing sustainable life-style mission, and for holidays household journeys through which we pedal for a greener world…you realize, as a result of we supply bikes on the automobile. (Kind of like how bike advocates don’t personal automobiles, they only “have entry to their spouse’s automobile.”) Attempting my hardest, it takes me a very good 5 years to drive 30,000 miles–and as I say, it’s solely to encourage others with my sustainable life-style. So if you consider it, I’m probably not driving in any respect.

Say what you’ll about life in 2023, however it’s by no means been simpler to be ok with your self.