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Rain.
And heat. Particularly with workplaces with no end of trip facilities. It's 106 F with the heat index and humid where I live currently. My last workplace had lockers and showers, and so I rode even in the rain and heat, but my current job has no bike facilities whatsoever. I only ride in when the weather is good enough that I can ride in without worrying about changing more than my pants and shoes and freshening up.
Yeah, we definitely need the government to offer grants and tax breaks to companies to build and provide better bicycle-commuting facilities to their workers, including ample indoor bicycle parking and showers
It's absurd to me how the US's "Infrastructure Bill" dealt mostly with cars, and the press coverage of this was horrible. Where was the news coverage pointing-out the lack of investment in train and bicycle infrastructure? Fuck cars.
I would even accept outdoor bike parking as long as showers and a changing area was provided.
I won't. Where I went to Uni the outdoor bicycle parking was placed right next to the sprinklers, and it would water the bicycles 🤦 That's not acceptable. We need to treat these machines with the respect they deserve.
That's just the university buildings and grounds dept not adjusting the sprinklers properly/using poor sprinkler design. Bikes should ideally go inside, but they're beautifully simple to maintain machines and can tolerate the outdoors if maintained.
I saw same grounds department driving a golf cart intentionally smash into a bicycle that was parked in same bicycle parking rack as they passed it.
See also Hostile Architecture:
It takes serious investment and education campaigns to fix cultural bigotry.
Definitely a buildings and grounds dept issue then and these things will only be resolved if complaints are lodged with the university.
Heat is the real killer. As someone else said with fenders and a raincoat the former is very manageable but there's nothing you can do when the heat index is in the high 90s/early 100s every day from late May through the end of October.
Counterargument: Fenders and a raincoat
Waiting patiently for a german to say "you're not made of sugar"