General: i need help from you guys.

Are you on a fixed gear, or road bike?

there are numerous ways around this.

something about the environment could work well. but you must be sincerely interested or it wont come out right. Tell her you are trying to do your part, maybe even start up a bike commuting club at school. I actually think thats a good idea. Use velospace as a launching pad and get people in your high school involved. I think starting people in highschool is great. At my age, it seems that given the number of transport options available (car, bus, metro, etc.), my efforts at doing my part both for the environment and reducing my consumption of petroleum and coal seem quite rational. This may not be the case because you may have parents that are skeptical about you going on public transport as well. How do you normally get to school? If they give you a ride, tell them about the benefits of not having to take you (gas money, time, etc.). I think that there are so many reason to ride a bike its hard to go wrong -health, time, practicality, etc.

I dont think many studies are out there with these kinds of things.

I am assuming that is springfield, in the illest-noise. That is quite a tranquil city if I remember well from my 8th grade trip to the capital. Tell your mom that you could be riding in chicago. or even tell her you once spoke to someone who is crazy enough to ride in mexico city and has only been run over once (so far). Just promise you wont ride your bike to go to parties and shit. 5 years ago my brother got real drunk and tried to ride a bike that wasnt even his home at 3am through rain and crashed his face into a curb, and lost an eyebrow and almost an eye.

man if you cite some of those numbers and ratios you will blow your mom away. Do a bibliography in chicago style and she will be on a pista concept in no time. Also, memorize this line:

"The only way to avoid all risk is to be dead already. Every activity we undertake involves risk. Refraining from all activity also involves risk. So there is no way to be alive and not take risks. My point is that cycling is not dangerous as compared to other activities that we do not designate as particularly risky, i.e. not as dangerous as it is painted -- and that cycling and walking also facilitate risk reduction (by improving general health"

Its very true. Taking the school bus or public bus is risky. You could counter her arguments by showing data on buses flipping over and what not, or people robbing on the buses, or something along those lines. Just remind her everyday that you wear a helmet to eliminate risk. and you must wear a helmet

by the way i've only been hit by a car twice, so its not that dangerous...

That's a tough one. When I was 16 my mom gave me a ton shit for not riding to school.

thanks guys i have to go to school so i cant read all that stuff but from what little i did read i might help a little. she talkes about it like if i commute to school(on my gt(it looks a little diffrent now)), 5 days a week then i WILL DIE. i will get ran over. and if i do get ran over i will die. she says she couldnt live with herself. if only there was a way to make someone less hard headed.

jesus she reminds me of my mom back in the day. I really think you should do two things: gain her trust by showing you responsibility with your bike in any way you can, and doing something that gives her little choice. Like I said, start up a bike club at school, maybe to do maintenance and stuff on bikes, to promote use of bikes for commuting, etc. She will see the effort and realize you are being mature about the whole thing. Plus if you are part of a club like that, you are going to need to take your bike to school. The whole accident thing is relative too. I mean, I was obviously exaggerating with the quote i put earlier about how everything is risky. But what is true is that you can eliminate risk in so many ways. You need to identify these ways and show them to her. Whether this is wearing a helmet, taking a specific route with relatively less traffic, riding at specific hours, wearing reflective gear, etc.

Good luck!

Posted By: GOBSTOPTODROPJust puts TONS of blinky lights on your bike, that helped reassure my parents a little.

That and a helmet convinced my mom to let me ride.

man my mom is hesitant to let me ride everywhere too...she's mainly wary about me doing rides that are 20+ miles long. what's worked best for me is having a riding partner (just so happens to be my best friend) and i also wear a neon orange vest in addition to my lights. that and my chrome bag has the reflective strips too.

good luck man.

When I was your age, my mom was always more comfortable with me riding my bike to school if I was riding with a friend or two. Maybe you have a friend nearby that you can ride with. Or meet them at a point where neither of you have to go out of the way to meet, and then ride together.

Wear a helmet. Have bike lights. You will be fine.

I was hit by a car on my bike while I was in highschool. I was coming home and foolish young me was riding in the on-coming lane. A lady drove by going the same direction I was headed (but in the correct lane), but she was fishing in her glovebox and drifted into the on-coming lane where I was riding and hit me from behind. Clearly this was her fault, right? No...the judge said that if I have been riding with the flow of traffic, she would have just drifted right around me and I would not have been hit. I was legally in the wrong by being in the on-coming lane, but it was her that drifted into that lane and hit me. I lost the case.

Posted By: Mancha150man if you cite some of those numbers and ratios you will blow your mom away. Do a bibliography in chicago style and she will be on a pista concept in no time. Also, memorize this line:

"The only way to avoid all risk is to be dead already. Every activity we undertake involves risk. Refraining from all activity also involves risk. So there is no way to be alive and not take risks. My point is that cycling is not dangerous as compared to other activities that we do not designate as particularly risky, i.e. not as dangerous as it is painted -- and that cycling and walking also facilitate risk reduction (by improving general health"

Its very true. Taking the school bus or public bus is risky. You could counter her arguments by showing data on buses flipping over and what not, or people robbing on the buses, or something along those lines. Just remind her everyday that you wear a helmet to eliminate risk. and you must wear a helmet

+10000000000000000000000000000

There is inherent risk in damn near everything. Also remind her that the meat she feeds you is carcinogenic, as is the air you breath because of all the exhaust, that you exhale a fatal gas, that water can kill you, that 40,000+ people die in car accidents, and that cycling is a legitimate form of transportation and one that will allow us to live on this dangerous rock we call Earth for a little while longer. Also remind her that it will keep you from getting fat, that helmets will protect yer noggin, lights will help you see and be seen, and that beyond that there isn't much you can do. In this society sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. One can't live in fear of something just because that particular something was on the news, and the shiny-toothed news people said it was dangerous. She's right about the snow or when it rains really hard, because if you don't HAVE to be in those situations, then don't. You're trying to have fun, so don't get killed. Maybe make a deal. If you only ride when it's dry, or on a predetermined route, or something.

thanks guys. but i have a good helmet, a lazer.. made in canada. i dont have lights, its day time by the time i would leave. none of my freinds ride bikes like i do or you guys do. a lot of them dont even have a bike. ive tried the whole you have to take risks in life or you wont live a good life, thing. oh and she knows i know how to ride on the road, i passed my drivers test the first time, i know the laws.i have done a few charity rides sponsored by bass pro shops im sure a few of you are familiar with them. so that might have given her some reasurance. she just came in my room and saw what ive said along with you guys and she wants to see the route i would take.... i think i might have won, i might just get to ride my bike to school! if not thanks for trying to help me.

my mom calls moto cyclists organ doners. i like motorcycles... i had a moped till the shop we took it to closed shop and never gave it back. thats when i started to ride bicycles.

my school has 1700 kids im sure some would like to join. it would be fun but its a lot of work. i might think of trying that when i get my litespeed all built up.and i dont know enough about bikes to teach about them, i have only been riding for a little over a year.

Posted By: Mancha150think about the creating a bike club at school idea. Even if you only have one or two other members, it would show incentive and motivation on your part.

Posted By: carbon fiber15my school has 1700 kids im sure some would like to join. it would be fun but its a lot of work. i might think of trying that when i get my litespeed all built up.and i dont know enough about bikes to teach about them, i have only been riding for a little over a year.

Starting a club gets you those cherry extracurriculars for your college applications because it demonstrates initiative and leadership and takes a lot of work.

Tell your mom that, too.

I got my gym teacher interested in starting a district cycling program about three years ago, I thought she was working on that, I wonder what happened. I should go ask her.

Ha. When my son stops wanting to play with me I die inside.

But the bike club is a good idea. A few friends and I created an Ultimate Frisbee club in high school... It's still going today, some nevermind that years later. They even did up custom Ultra Stars with the school's mascot (an axe...) and colors. Sorry, I know that was totally irrelevant, but also pretty much the only thing I did in high school.

ha the Frisbee shit is what all the hippies do in my area. its like the my little citys equivelant of big citys ''fixies". and most of them are in highschool.

Posted By: simonweissJust be careful man. WEAR a helmet! People don't give a shit about cyclists.

I just got out of the hospital with a hole in my lung and my new Pinarello destroyed. Commuting on a bike can get gnarly if people aren't aware.

Good luck and ride safe!

sorry to hear about that man get well quick.


and im not over talking about the problem i have only talked about it for like 3 days. we just sat down and talked about it for a while, calmly.and i used as many big words as possible. and it was fustrating because she is super stubbern and at the beggining she was saying NO NEVER, your brain isnt fully developed and it just isnt a good idea.

but i will look for a route to school today since i have school off:) and later today i will show her what i found.

I like playin some *bee!
Man I wish there was a Steal your Face head tube badge....my bike would be complete! :)

Ya, I agree, I would like a really cool metal headbadge though, not just the decal. I bet I could get one custom made, maybe I'll look into that for the LHT I'm about to pick up.

You know... there's a dude who makes custom headbadges... looking...

I might be thinking about this guy.

Posted By: nearly everyoneFrisbee ... hippies

Yeah, well, I live in Eugene, Oregon. So go figure.

Hear, hear. There aren't many subcultures that have "Be excellent to each other" as a core tenet.

It's at least not criminal here in Massachusetts. Possession of less than an ounce is like a parking ticket and the cops don't care unless you're pushing it in their faces. Which puts it in the "don't be stupid" category of law, which I think is just fine.

she read the first part. i will edit the pot part if she wants to read it again. she wont care about the hippie, fisbee stuff. after all she is a hippie herself.