The good news is that when you retract your concerns from the international and the national and restrict yourself to regional, state, and local, life makes a lot more sense again. In the real world, the news that matters is the weather. And your own limitations and strengths are down to what you can do in the here and now, depending on the weather today.
I live in California. We've had drought for the last 4 years. This last winter is largely over, and it didn't snow. This is bad, because our water supply comes from lakes fed by snow melt, and there isn't much snow. A pity, to be sure. I expect more dead trees, which is really sad. The local douglas fir and pine trees are 5 feet across and 120 feet tall, on average. The cedar trees block GPS and satellite TV in nearby neighborhoods. Several died last year and got cut down by crews with cranes. Its quite the operation. Sad, yet amazing just the same. There's a bunch of dead trees in the neighborhood, including some of the deciduous oaks. I grew up in Live Oak country, by the coast, where the leaves stay on all year and are cupped to catch the fog, coalesce it into a big drop, and then drip that drop onto its roots for proper absorption. There's a lot of adaptation to low rainfall in California. Once, there were hurricanes up to Redding, and I know that because I've seen the evidence in the rocks. You can see it easier down in LA basin, along the base of all those mountains, those piles of rocks? It takes serious rain to dislodge that.
A couple weeks ago, because the weather is so warm and the winter was so mild, without snow here, now all the flowers are blooming and the leaves are coming out on the trees, my Dad and I opted to put some air in the tires and take out our bicycles for a ride. This is a good place to ride because cyclists are rarely hit by cars. Folks know that its a bike racing stage start for the Amgen Tour of California. It used to begin the whole race in Nevada City, which is about 3 miles away, but it now starts stage Two instead. Keeping in mind I'm at 2600 feet, half a mile up, and surrounded by steep canyons and hills and shaded lanes too narrow to bother with a centerline... yeah, you can picture that right? The roads aren't terribly smooth, which suits competitive cyclists. The roads in France are bumpy too. Tar inside the asphalt flows in the summer heat, and winter rains cause the aquifers to saturate, allowing line-springs to cause pot-hole freezing and cracking of the road surface. Those potholes can make for surprises when at speed.
Despite accidentally overpressuring my 6 year old inner tube and wrecking it, I bought a replacement and installed it since then (see post), and went out for a ride on Sunday. Dad is getting on in years and finding the right balance of effort for his heart without causing an attack seems pretty tricky. He and Mom used to visit the Truckee River Trail running along the river from Squaw Valley to Lake Tahoe, which is a pretty gentle climb for most of it. About half the water in the greater truckee river comes from Lake Tahoe. Riding a bicycle that's properly maintained is a joy. I really like doing this, compared to say being irritated with that racist bastard in NYC. That guy makes moral people angry. Bicycles don't care. They just roll on. With seal sealing inner tubes, a good bicycle is like a Honey Badger. It just don't care.
I enjoy bicycling. Its great exercise and you feel amazing freedom, even though you are working for that freedom via pushing the pedals with your muscle power. Every part of a bicycle makes sense, and you can easily see, without paying some mechanic, how each part works, how to adjust and maintain it. This is a type of strength. I don't think you should bicycle in heavy traffic, or dare cars to hit you. That's immensely stupid. That is your fault, and its suicidal to put yourself in harms way, then insist that drivers "should watch out for you". That is swimming with sharks, and you deserve to be mocked for getting eaten. I see way too many posts from injured bicyclists who dared a car to hit them and lost. Just because your muscles are tired doesn't give you special rights. Instead, bicycle in safe places, at quiet times when there's not much traffic. Be sensible. Hospital visits are expensive. Exercise on a bicycle can be cheap, and a cheap bike is just as good exercise as an expensive one. Its all about the pedalling and if you don't go as far but get just as tired, so what? Adjust the tightness of your bearings and lubricate things properly, you end up just as fast. It still comes down to fitness more than equipment. Buying fancy equipment is rarely the answer. And picking a route away from distracted drivers, onto side streets and back roads is often the solution to avoiding traffic accidents. Get out of their way. You're only 10-25 mph anyway. A slow back street is perfect. Use that. Don't "take the lane" and then be surprised about being rammed. Duh! I've been riding a bike for decades, and never been hit by a car. There's been some close calls, and those were always when I had to join traffic. My options were gone. When I got back to the parallel side streets it was fine. If you are sensible, you will protect yourself and get fit at the same time.
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