I'm not into running anymore, mostly focussed on weight lifting, if you're on HK island, go for a run on Bower Road, it's definitely an experience. I also used to run in Happy Valley race course, it's nice and quiet there.
Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll give it a try. I’ve been mostly running up and down Quarry Bay Park, but it does get boring after a while and the proximity to the highway probably isn’t too healthy either.
I also love cycling but in Hong Kong it seems too freaking dangerous for all sorts of reasons.
You can do some cycling in Tai Po area, but down there, it's not the drivers that make it dangerous, but other cyclists. They cycle like they walk, so be prepared to be constantly cut off and have people stand in the middle of the road.
If you're close to Quarry Bay, you might want to look into Tai Tam, it's a nice nature park, there's several paths that you can take.
I cycle a lot in a city which has a lot of electric Toyota cabs. I'm always terrified by them because I can't hear them and only notice them when they are already very close to my bicycle.
The Toyota Prius already emits pedestrian warning noise at low speeds.
I’m not sure whether the current Prius sound is compliant with the new EU rules, however. Many EVs in Europe, such as the Leaf and Zoe, are already compliant.
What about other bicycles and escooters? They don't make any noises. I think quiet noise from cars is ok, but maybe bicycles and e-scooters (and anything on wheels) should also make some noise.
Michigan isn't a terribly dense state but has a large Muslim population.
My rural hometown had a population of around 2000 people, and supposedly around 10% or so are hmong. They weren't treated any differently as far as I knew; several were part of what passed for the preppy / popular clique in school.
I am a white male, and get plenty of stares, because I am unusually tall and have an unusual hair style. Wherever you go, if you stand out, people will notice. That isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't mean people don't like you.
Looks like the oldest mosques in the united states are in places like Maine, North Dakota, and Iowa (in addition to obvious places like NYC). Like I said before, this is a big, diverse country.
Wear a mossy oak hijab into the rotation if you want to go out of your way to fit in (or just don't any you'll probably be fine).
IMO you tend to get less racism in rural areas than you do in suburbs but when you get it it's not as obscured. It's a million times more about class and culture than it is about race.
As an openly transgender person, I had the same thought. Specifically, in the Bay Area I can be a walking pride flag, and in fact strike up conversations with all kinds of people in all kinds of places and feel very connected. There's all kinds of community here that I haven't found other places I've lived.
In a lot of parts of the country I have to be very careful about what I say and how I present.
In a lot of other countries, my very existence is criminalized.
If your wife wears a hijab, then you are right, you will need to stick to a few very specific parts of the US. The good news is that in those parts, you'll probably find a thriving Muslim community to interact with.
> a) it encourages car drivers to assume bicycles should not be in the lanes
This is something I’m struggling with right now. The city where I live has a lot of mediocre or downright dangerous lanes for cyclists which are often very narrow and next to a column of parked cars so that riders can get hit by a suddenly opened door. When I then ride on the road instead, I often have to contend with car drivers who seem seem to purposefully pass by very closely at high speeds, seemingly in an attempt to ‘teach me a lesson’ and get me to ride on the bicycle lane again. That’s my interpretation at least. Has anyone else here noticed something like this?
I've even had drivers pass me dangerously closely when I was riding 17 mph in a 15 mph zone with sharrows printed in the lane. I stop and speak with some of these drivers at the stop light, so I'm not even breaking the law and they literally save zero time. Far too many of these drivers seem surprised that the speed limit is 15 mph as they seem to think they should drive 40 mph or faster.
You also might find the acronym MGIF (must get in front) to be interesting. I think it's mostly used by British cyclists.
If my memory serves, the responses range wildly. On one end you have completely reasonable and sincere sounding apologies that they accidentally passed me dangerously. Whether or not these were accidents, I don't know. On the other end you have the typical rants against cyclists. In the middle I might help convince bad drivers to treat cyclists nicer.
One time a driver I was speaking to seemed apologetic and some random pedestrian started screaming at me about how I shouldn't be telling drivers what to do. That guy was nuts.
I didn’t know the MGIF acronym although the attitude is something I pretty much take for granted. If I’m on a narrow road with a car behind me, I mostly expect the driver will try to squeeze past me even though they won’t be significantly faster.
Oof, that's where defensive cycling is important. Whenever I come up to a spot where a car and a bike cannot fit side by side (with safe clearance), I take the lane.
Where in the world is there a 15mph zone where cars can drive 40 that bikes want to go? I cant think of a single 15 mph zone in any of the 6 cities ive lived
San Jacinto Blvd. at the University of Texas at Austin campus. I would intentionally ride there on my commute because the speed limit is so low.
To be fair, few drivers seem to actually go 40 mph, though 25-30 mph seems to be regularly observed, particularly on the downhill road next to it (Deloss Dodds Way). I could easily do 30 mph going downhill there. I think the speed limit is 15 in that entire area due to the heavy pedestrian traffic.
> When I then ride on the road instead, I often have to contend with car drivers who seem seem to purposefully pass by very closely at high speeds
If you ride at the edge of the general purpose lane, then this is very likely to happen because drivers will believe their vehicle will fit between you and traffic in the adjacent lane. If you ride in the center (or between the center and left tire track) position in the lane, then practically all faster traffic will completely change lanes to pass you.
