this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
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People always point out the irony of driving to a gym to ride a stationary bike. But one of the primary reasons people do it is because they don't feel safe riding bikes on the road with all the cars. Its an onion of irony.
Another thing people seem to forget is that with an exercise bike you can stop whenever you want and be in a place of safety. Knee pain in the middle of the road? Yeah, no thanks.
What fascinating about exercise bike is it train you indoor so you can take on outdoor long distance cycling. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive and i hate conversation like this.
Also bike isn't only meant for exercise, you can go to the store or run errands with it if distance allow.
And you don't have to worry about emergency repairs.
Biking for transit also isn't much of a workout if you're relatively fit. There's a cap to how fast you can go before it becomes dangerous because of obstacles and limited reaction time.
And also not wanting to show up at work a sweaty, disgusting mess because you decided to do threshold intervals on the way to work
Although i've been told that it's normal for dutch people to show up at work meetings in various states of wetness like rain or sweat
I'm lucky that despite living in a car centric Texas suburb, there are tons of of bike paths, and quiet neighborhood streets to get a workout ride on. Commuting by bike is currently not viable, but a new commuter rail line is opening next year that might make it work for me.
Indoor biking isn't much of a workout either to be fair.
It's one of those things that seeped into the public mind as part of going to the gym. Whereas you can get the same or better cardio while lifting weights that also builds your muscles, while indoor bike is imo just a meh, or borderline the "lazy" choice realistically for a lot of people.
It's what you do when you don't want to run because that's hard, and the elliptical is too hard because that actually hits the whole body.
Ofc this is a generalization of the majority, individuals can still use it to great effect, but imo, meh.
The cheapest treadmills and ellipticals are a lot more expensive than the cheapest exercise bikes. They take up more room, too (especially the treadmills.)
Of course, I'm talking about exercising at home here rather than going to the gym, but it's worth pointing out regardless.
Naw, bad take. I hate spinning, but it absolutely can be a solid workout.
Not an expert but this certainly rings true for me, the bike is the one I go to if I'm too tired to do a real workout, because I get to sit down the whole time.
(edit: fuck me, sometimes it's just not worth sharing, people are downvoting because I openly admitted that I'm not using a piece of gym equipment properly? Get over yourselves)
people suck
you can absolutely get a great workout in on the bike while not having to go through the effort and tax of moving equipment, racking/unracking etc
just have a seat and go as hard or as light as you want, with the ability to instantly change intensity in response to how you feel. no need to think - just sit there with your head down and pedal hard
It's almost like people intentionally misunderstand things. that, or they simply don't have the experience and so weigh in on things that they don't know about
however that person's comment that indoor biking isn't much of a workout is just blatantly false. It's as much of a workout as you want it to be. People just don't know what it feels like to be holding hundreds of watts for a long time, and that that's what's required for a solid workout
There's way too much gatekeeping going on here. Your light bike workout on a bad day is as much of a workout as a high intensity treadmill run on a good day. Both are very much proper usages of gym equipment. Doing something suboptimal is always better than doing nothing.
right but it's comparable to the type of cycling that the grand majority of people do on the bikes at gyms
which, to be fair, is often because that's a warmup/cooldown activity at the gym. but there are people who go and just cycle at a low moderate pace and then drive home.
If you're fit, then cycling will ensure you stay fit. If you don't have to strain yourself, that's a plus. It's supposed to be fun commute, not a challenge.
If you want to workout, go the long way?
I think that person is saying that street biking requires a lot of slowing and stopping cause we invented cars then immediately had to invent traffic lights. I'm lucky in that I can stay at a decent speed for like 30% of my commute and even that doesn't really feel like a workout.
Going the 'long way' increases the time not the load, and it's the load that's missing.
That's fair, but on the other hand, accelerating requires more energy than maintaining speed.
And AC. It was 105 heat index out the other day here. I biked outside but it was awful and dangerous.
Yeah going try ride my bike to work tomorrow. Only six minute by bike vs 3 by car. Trying to save on gas, but will miss the AC it freaking hot here. Luckily have AC at work. But it's starting to cool down here, but not by much.
Sounds American.
I mean for me it's comfort, I don't want to bike in the rain, or high heat, or snow... If you do then awesome that's great. So instead i just reduced my car footprint. Drive a smart fortwo which is one of the least polluting cars on the road and you can fit 2-3 into a standard parking spot (depending on orientation)
i know I'm in the wrong place for this but I wish people would focus on just trying to make people realize that they don't need so much car instead of fuck car entirely. It is much more likely to be a successful message in the long run and still beneficial
IMHO most people here are for systemic change that internalizes the external cost of pollution, and building better transportation infrastructure. Not pointing fingers at individual working-class people.
I will give you high heat sucks, though 110 heat index isnt terrible when youre moving fast, but it takes 30 seconds to throw on some rain gear, Ive even seen people do it at a stoplight.
Putting on raingear, while less miserable than not being in rain gear. Does not entirely save one from the annoyance and wetness of the rain. I did a LOT of biking in my teens in all conditions... I'm familiar with it lol
Yeah unless it's an absolute downpour I tend to prefer the rain wet over the sweaty under the rain gear wet. I totally get how people are not into that. Which is why we need more trains/busses too
What exactly is the point in covering the front of the bikes there? Some of those look dangerously close to getting caught on their tires.
Keeps your legs dry at speed and protects if the bike next to you splashes.
Honestly these are the kind of things we need to share more: tips for dealing with common problems that make biking inconvenient. Seeing how other people handle rainy weather is a great example.
Those look to be motorbikes so I’m not sure it 100% transfers, but… where does one get such a thing?
IDK. A nice one with good material and a window for the headlight is ~4USD on at a random store or on shop.ee. The ones I see on Amazon are much more expensive.
Personally I use a normal split raincoat, because I can use it off the bike too, and use it on bicycles too.
you are not in the wrong for this
you are making a responsible choice given your options
it's not about cutting out entirely, it's about minimizing where possible
Same. It often gets to 45°C where i live. No fuckign way I am walking in that. I'll get heat stroke.
I like to use my ebike as much as possible instead of driving. Ironically some people will say I'm "cheating" 😂 bitch, it's replacing my car, not my bicycle!
Six months of every year being -40°C is a pretty compelling reason to want to be inside.
I live in the greatest state in America, New Jersey. We can hit 36+ in the summer with 100% humidity -16+(-?) in the winters, and this is exclusioning wet stuff. We can dislike the car machine without hating on gyms. And I don't like gyms either, but c'mon.
I translated the temps into world, so bear with me folks.
Agreed
Hey! Ho! You don’t live in New Jersey using that unit of measurement.
Still sus on where you live. Let everyone else do their own conversions; this is New Jersey. Taylor Ham.
Ha, Lemmy's softening me up, but you're right, Fs for us and Fs for everyone else too.
This won't do my credit any service, but I'll take a BEC or SEC on a poppy bagel every day over P/THEC. I'm really not big on that particular meat.
I'm from Central Jersey if that makes it better.
No, Central Jersey makes you everyone's enemy then! XD
Everyone knows central Jersey doesn’t exist
I think another part people are missing is that going to the gym is a social event. You see people there regularly, talk to friends, and do an activity together. It's extremely healthy to have a group of people that you spend time with outside of the home and work.
My bike route is down canals and the river to the local nature reserve and then back again.
Fuck riding on the roads, I've seen how these pricks drive. They barely look out for other cars.
Exactly this. It's 10km to my gym, it's two towns over. But there is no designated bike path so I'd have to drive on the road, getting passed by cars going 100kmh. The roads here are already lined with crosses for people who died there, I'd rather not have my family have to add one for me.
And weather
I do it, but that's just because nature tries to face-fuck my sinus cavity (severe allergies)