la proximité que sa pratique quotidienne exige et induit

10:37 Jun 12, 2015 

The person speaking has actually spent many years cycling around the world so perhaps he found it a way of facilitating contact with the locals? Then, of course, there are cycling clubs - every time I go out I seem to be passed by a group of keen cyclists chatting away to one another.

09:59 Jun 12, 2015 

When I used my bike to get to work in London and for getting to sites for work, the main human contact involved was hostile encounters with aggressive/murderous motorists! There was a memorable encounter with a bicycle-hating policeman in Regents Park. It did make me hyperconscious of pollution from vehicle exhausts, but cycling to work through Hyde Park was really nice. It was great to get where I was going twice or three times as fast as by car or bus.

18:30 Jun 11, 2015 

But it doesn't really encourage contact with other humans, unless we have conversations with strangers every time we ride our bikes. It encourages contact with things like fresh air and sunshine.

16:37 Jun 11, 2015 

Just heard from the author, who conducted the interview with the guy speaking, and he simply interprets it as 'le vélo favorise les contacts humains'.

13:08 Jun 11, 2015 

That's my first thought for 'proximité': daily cycling requires you to be grounded and keeps you grounded at the same time. Kind of like this:
...biking in Chicago keeps you grounded. It lets you see, touch, smell and taste what makes this city great.
http://oregonmanifest.com/teams/chicago/riding-in-the-windy-...

10:22 Jun 11, 2015 

Yes, it does seem to centre on how you interpret 'proximité'. The idea of close contact (with your inner self and the world around you) seems to be more compelling than my own close to home/close to nature idea.

10:15 Jun 11, 2015 

the difficulty seems to be the word *proximité* indeed one is in close contact with a bicycle and therefore very familiar with the contraption when using it daily...