Understandably so, I think haha. But for me, abandoning my car has made me actually realize distances in my city. Relying on a car, I barely even considered the distances I was traveling, and how necessary or not they were. I was more concerned about where I could park the thing than how far I was traveling just to do errands. But on a bicycle (and just walking), the first thing I do is consider the route, and distance, and I came to realize a lot of the distances I thought are best driven are… extremely walkable, or bikeable. And the distances that are a little far for a bicycle (in my current shape), I questioned why I even need to go that far. Especially if you’re in a city, there are a ton of businesses everywhere, it was easy to look for and find closer alternatives.
So I guess for me personally, it really helped me contextualize the distances I was actually traveling, and helped me more concretely view my city and what’s around me, compared to just driving through liminal spaces until I reach whichever destination I was headed towards.
Can you expand on that? What do you mean bicycling shrunk the world, it seems counterintuitive?
Understandably so, I think haha. But for me, abandoning my car has made me actually realize distances in my city. Relying on a car, I barely even considered the distances I was traveling, and how necessary or not they were. I was more concerned about where I could park the thing than how far I was traveling just to do errands. But on a bicycle (and just walking), the first thing I do is consider the route, and distance, and I came to realize a lot of the distances I thought are best driven are… extremely walkable, or bikeable. And the distances that are a little far for a bicycle (in my current shape), I questioned why I even need to go that far. Especially if you’re in a city, there are a ton of businesses everywhere, it was easy to look for and find closer alternatives.
So I guess for me personally, it really helped me contextualize the distances I was actually traveling, and helped me more concretely view my city and what’s around me, compared to just driving through liminal spaces until I reach whichever destination I was headed towards.
Ah, it’s like it allowed you to view where you lived at a new scale. You previously viewed it at car scale, now viewing it at human scale.
Absolutely, that is a far more eloquent way to put it! It’s very freeing in it’s own way.
I had the same experience, biking made me appreciate travel over distances I can’t bike. It really is very eye opening.