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I think for some people it's like a form of meditation, especially for those with a big lawn and a riding mower. I don't personally get it, but that's the vibe these guys give off.
For others it is a means of escaping their family for an hour or so.
My wife's parents have a decent plot of land and always go out for a mow when they're bored of us. I guess it's better than staring at their phones.
I hate the time it takes. I'm HIGHLY allergic to grass and wear near hazmat level protection.
But it requires many different skill sets including driving. This is what makes it enjoyable. The challenge to get the best look, or the most efficient mow.
Plus instant gratification. Each line looks good as you turn and come back on the next pass. And when you're done, the whole thing looks 100% better so you get a big o'l dopamine push with your self gratification.
ok so there's mowers you actually ride,... this makes a lot more sense
Not just ride, that doesn't encompass the relationship properly. It's nearly a sport or art form really. A man and his mower.
There's a skill to not just driving, but you also control the speed of the blade, the direction of the cut, your lines. You need to control the speed so you get a good cut, which means dropping gears when you run thicker patches. You can also adjust the height of the deck (the part the blades are attached to), the speed of the blade. There are different kinds of blades to attach and you need to change them depending on the task or season. Also the blades need sharpening, so you need to pay for that or learn to sharpen (and balance) the blades. Then you use all of those skills to perfectly navigate diverse and uneven terrain to achieve the best possible look for your yard (once you decide if you are mowing for street looks or mowing for views from the house).
And that's just cutting grass with a basic model. There are so many vehicle options that the equipment alone can be a huge part of riding mower life. You can have a basic no-name with two small blades that rattles your teeth while you hold on for your life wishing you had better hearing protection. Or maybe a nearly silent electric zero turn where you steer with levers and are practically sitting in a reclining chair with a built in insulated ~~cup~~ beer holder. And there's everything in-between.
Mowing life is weird.
this is amazing. The US fascinates me from an anthropological stand point
It fascinates us as well. The diversity is pretty insane when you stop to think about it. And every different place has their own things that everyone else thinks is strange.
I’ve never heard of anyone not just setting the deck depth, putting the throttling to max, engaging the blades and proceeding to mow. Nothing about what you said seems at all like anything anyone realistically cares or worries about. Whether a push mower, small riding mower, zero turn, or sub compact tractor; it’s all essentially the same. Nobody is changing blades out by the season. Someone that cares will probably sharpen their blades at the end of the mowing season but that takes about as much learning as washing the dishes. It was like reading a cosplay about lawn mowing from someone that has never mowed before.
And I can tell you either don't mow much or your lawn looks like shit.
Gotta thatch once spring rains stop, special blade. In the height of summer when the grass is growing inches every week, you need a high lift blade so you can attach a bagger. Fall brings & early spring brings on a mulching blade.
If you don't sharpen your blade you get jagged brown tops and your blade isn't staying sharp all season long.
Maybe get some real life experience before commenting.
I mow plenty, everything gets mulched. I do adjust the deck height so the lawn is 4 1/4 inches tall in the summer and work it shorter by half an inch a cut until it’s under 3 inches on my last mowing. You can try gate keeping lawn mowing to be consistent with whatever fairly tail you got yourself committed to telling but that doesn’t make it real.
Gatekeeping?
Man I'm just here providing some insight to a culture that other people aren't exposed to on a daily basis. I literally get paid to get people excited about mowers. You're the one rolling up being a dick for no reason.
All of the products exist for reasons. Features have reasons. If everyone just sat on their mower and went full send then there wouldn't be multiple speed settings in the first place.
If you wanna vanilla out the experience for yourself, you should very much do as you please. But don't try to play off that any of my information was incorrect just because your mowing is basic.
I didn't get it until I lived it myself. It's a whole thing. Felt like a King of the Hill skit when the neighbors rolled up my 3rd weekend. We were all out doing the same thing so they came to say hello. Just three guys out sitting on riding mowers in the front lawn chatting and drinking beers in the early afternoon while we all take a quick break from our solitude. It's probably the most relaxing chore that still requires a lot of physical labor. And you feel good about completing it.
Although if I wasn't renting, all this grass would be gone in favor of plant diversity. American lawn culture is strange.
“riding mower…still requires a lot of physical labor” rofl
This post caught me off guard when I first read it, I had to scroll up and see if it was the same person that wrote all that ridiculous shit nobody actually does while mowing and sure enough it was. Using anything other than a push mower doesn’t require a lot of physical labor, that’s just absurd. The most physical labor I’ve ever exerted other than a push mower was probably my tractor but that’s just because it’s old as shit and doesn’t have a hydrostatic transmission.
If you think mowing is just riding on the mower then you probably haven't had to tend property that many of these mowers were designed for. You also have to deal with a trailer full of cuttings, and run a string trimmer.
Considering I sell hundreds of mowers a year, rebuild and repair them, and sell the accessories.... I can say that I talk to many people who would agree with everything I said.
Sure, some of my customers are like you. They don't care what their property looks like. They do the bare minimum to keep from getting fines from the city. But that's not the culture where I'm at.
That makes sense. I also totally get you on the last point. As soon as I manage to own a house, the yard is getting planted with local flora, fruit bushes, and a vegetable garden.
Even more amazing: weeding. Some people go into the zone out there pulling weeds. To me it was always torture -- mental and physical.