apparently my city literally literally banned public rail funding, and people online love jerking off about how good biking is, so i figured might as well try. I have come up with:
pros:
- good for mental health / exercise / endorphins
- arguably quaint
- feel like an old timey guy taking his wares to market
- feel european
- can annoy others
- less of a police state around them vs cars
- more flexible parking, routes
- capacity to be peaceful
- nice in summer
cons:
- look like an annoying dork (esp w neon - which also hurts the quaint factor)
- have to wear a helmet (^)
- getting sweaty, potentially “unpresentable” for work
- still have to find safe parking
- still takes a while
- have to find new routes to places
- can’t listen to music or might die
- little meaningful protection against severe injury
- can only carry so many groceries/etc
- sucks in winter
For rain and stuff in the Netherlands (we have some rain) you can get a rain suit I causing pants you can just wear over your normal clothes to work.
Make sure the rain suit has reflector strips or patches… your lighting and reflectors are key in Beiing seen.
Depending on the commute distance getting an Ebike helps keep your speed up without becoming massively sweaty. You can still exercise but you do it at a steady 25kph.
For groceries you can get cargo bags for on the back of the bike. Depending on the type you get they can store a lot.
Listening to music… put in one earbud only and have the volume low. But in the Netherlands we have mostly separate bike infra (protected bikebanes and such) so this might still be dangerous if there is no good bike infra.
Lastly, you can choose other routes that would normally not work by car. If you find a cut through somewhere, you maybe can avoid the dangerous stroads all together.