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The Enlightened Cyclist: Commuter Angst, Dangerous Drivers, And Other Obstacles On The Path To Two-Wheeled Trancendence (2012)

by BikeSnobNYC(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1452105006 (ISBN13: 9781452105000)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Chronicle Books

review 1: Sadly far from enlightening. Although the author is honest about his struggle, perhaps the book was premature as I suspect there will be some who read this that will be further along the path than he is. I was disappointed with the minimal guidance. The exhausted point that cars are "here to stay" could have been made more concisely and effectively in an editorial paper. The author's effort at being tongue in cheek flops and just comes off immaturely crass.
review 2: A fun look at the world from the perspective of a cyclist. He simultaneously manages to keep me not only entertained but laughing, while making a whole host of excellent points.He advises cyclists to reflect more often on how lucky they are to be able to do something they enjoy for their commute an... mored how outside the norm that is for most people. He goes on to say that since this is the case we really need to act like it more often and just let things go. If you are like him you probably thought that real biking is something you have to get into all the special gear for and that commuting by bike was just commuting. However he points out that your commute is far more useful and you are still on a bike. He openly mocks the people who are so serious about their 'real' bike training that they call anything outside of the lycra clad variety 'junk miles' or refuse to admit to anything that isn't fastidiously logged, tracked, and measured onlineHe also admits while he tells people to let things go he is himself no saint and gets upset at the idiots wielding those two ton metal behemoths all the time. It is hard not to get upset when if they have a brain fart you will be smeared over several miles of pavement.These points tie into his larger point that the whole bike vs. car 'war' as media outlets like to style it is a load of bull. The car has pros and cons and the bike has pros and cons and both are excellent means of transportation that can coexist without a problem. The whole thing is just sexier to style as a war.One of his main points that car drivers hate cyclists because we seem to be so smug. Yeah our bikes produce no CO2 but that doesn't make us the avenging warriors of the Amazon and we should probably get over ourselves.He rants against other cyclists who draft too close and draft people that don't know they are being drafted which is an accident waiting to happen at best. Also on his shit list are salmon cyclists who bike the wrong way down streets (which I have personal experience with, one almost killed me going the wrong way up a one way street as I turned onto it and I had to swerve violently to avoid him this at dusk and him without any lights)I was disturbed to notice that I share certain similarities with hipsters namely the rolled pants cuffs so they don't get caught in my gears, and keys hanging by a carabiner. Fortunately I have zero interest in fixie bikes, I don't have a messenger bag or bike cap, and I don't keep my U-lock in my back pocket (this mostly because it sounds super uncomfortable and secondly because I don't think it would fit or stay put).Anyways it is an excellent light read with serious points. The author is just skilled in his writing that while he is making weighty points he doesn't let that stop him from having a laugh at the absurdity of it all. less

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