Eventually I’d like to ride to work (gotta get to the point where I can take my hands off to signal without running into the gutter!) but the way I’d be riding is a busy, big road, full of construction. I want to get a lot more experienced on the bike first.
Also, this is South Carolina and it is hot in the summer. I don’t know about that whole “showering at work” thing. I don’t think I want to get here that early. 
This year I lived about ten blocks from campus. Next year my new apartment will be twenty blocks from campus. I have no car. I ride my bike every day, except when I’m in the mood for walking, which probably isn’t more than once a month.
Explore residential neighborhoods and try to work out alternate routes. I find that cutting through neighborhoods often gives a better, safer path with fewer punishing uphills. Also, there’s a better chance that most of your ride will be in the shade, which is quite nice during summer.
For me, the weather is always permitting. In summer, I check the weather every day. When the temperature is over ninety (which is always, at least between now and the end of August) I bring lots of water and I make a point of drinking regularly. In winter, I will wear two pairs of pants (jeans on the inside, synthetic on the outside), and I’ll wear a T-shirt, sweatshirt, fleece, and synthetic jacket, in that order. And gloves are very important. For rainy days, I have breathable synthetic pants and jacket.
I rode in 3 times last week. I would have done 5, but I took 2 days off of work for various appointments, and instead of driving to those appointments, I took advantage of free public transportation thanks to 2 consecutive Spare the Air days (today is the 3rd.)
My ride home last Wednesday was a bit of an adventure. Had a load of sheetrock crash off of a truck in front of me, then got a flat tire, and it was ungodly hot. And I needed to be home in time to shower and get to my first class at our local college. Made for an interesting ride, and I did my ride (and tube change) in a personal best time.
I cleaned up my bike and put new tires on it over the weekend. I still need to take it in sometime soon for a tune-up, but so far she’s riding smoothly. I’d also like to add a rear rack and invest in some nice panniers soon. I was looking forward to riding in this morning on the new tires/shiny bike, but I didn’t hear my alarm clock at ALL this morning, and woke up a little too late to ride, so I drove. I’ll ride in the rest of the week except for maybe Thursday.
I wanted to average about 3 days a week this year, and so far I’m on track to meet that goal. It feels good.
Just a note that I have been biking to work one / week as planned, except for a week where the WX was lousy, and the week before a metric century (100km - 62 mile) ride.
Didn’t bike to work today, but did some riding on teh nearby state bike trails.
Brian
A number of circumstances (bad cold, visa expiring, and mostly the freaking rainy season) have kept me off my bike for the last few weeks, but by the end of this week I should be back on. I’ve taken to carrying my shirt and pants in a backpack and riding in shorts and a T-shirt. A towel to wipe the sweat off when I get to work is also helpful.
I’m going to start commuting to school when my summer class starts in 2 weeks. It’s about 13 miles one way and I’ve ridden it before so I know the back way - there are rarely any cars on a very rural road, just a few hills. There are a couple parts where I may encounter a little traffic, but it will be OK. I’ll use the showers in the gym to clean up before classes. The class is 4 days a week and I hope to bike all 4 days.
I rode the route today and it took me a little over an hour each way. I hope my time is a little better when I actually start riding it every day. I got a late start this spring getting back into biking with other school activities and trips.
I ride 5km to work. Which is a bit frustrating, since I am just warming up to it when I arrive. Try and make up for that on weekends though.
Lights - lots of them. Flashing LEDs are best for power/visibility. Put them on your helmet, pants, bag, bike - as many as you can afford. You might look like a christmas tree, but you will stay alive.
I iron my clothes before work, roll them up and put them in my bike bag - and I wear typical office clothes - good shirt and trousers.
I avoid panniers, as they are heavy, cumbersome and increase wind resistance. A horizontal bag on a seatpost rack works really well - and easily holds my rolled up work clothes. I use the shower at work, except in the middle of winter when it drops down to 10 C in the morning when sweat is not a problem.
Have to second what SCR4 said about keeping the tyre pressure up. Also, get a floor pump - makes it more likley you will keep your tyre pressure up.
I bike to work when I can - about 7 miles. No tips nor tricks, unless you count that it finally dawned on me that you can put the chain lock through the helmet, too, so you can leave it with the bike.
Floor pumps are essential. You lose tire pressure every day, I refill and check twice a week usually.
And this does not need to be through the helmet shell: it can be just through the strap. No-one is going to pinch your helmet after cutting the strap.
Well, I completed the half marathon over Memorial Day weekend that I was training for (which had reduced my cycling commutes to work as I concentrated on running) but I ruptured the plantar fascia on my left foot at the 8 mile mark so I haven’t ridden bike since then. I’ve tried running a couple of times to test my foot out but it is still a problem. I see a physical therapist this afternoon so we’ll see what they say about it. I really need to do something and right now running isn’t going to work so I hope riding bike will be OK.
Ouch!
I live less than a mile from a bike path that takes me right to the University where I work in 7 or so miles (It takes about 45 minutes to get to work, 30 to get home, guess which way is uphill). Looking at my calendar I see that I’ve ridden 32 times this year so far, though the last ride was the 21st as it really hasn’t stopped raining since last Thursday. Last year I was able to ride 82 times between March and November and hope to match that this year though this weather has given me a bout of pessimism about the whole summer.
Or you could pack lunch and save twice; gas and food
Even if you go with a frozen Annie Chung lunch (which is relatively expensive at ~$4) you’ll still be saving over eating out.
I just got a Giant Cypress, one of their hybrid bikes, and I’m loving it. Especially compared to the Huffy I had bought when I was 12 - 11 years ago. Plus this new bike has nearly 6 inches of foam padding on the seat! I’m such a girl sometimes.
Only now that I have a better bike I’m not getting as much of a workout. It’s just under 2.5 miles one way to work, and I’m barely breathing hard when I get there anymore.
I bike to work most non-rainy days unless I’m really running late or have errands to run. I don’t have panniers yet so grocery shopping on my way home is mostly out.
Yesterday the weather was forcasted to be upper-80s. It turned out to be 104F, busting through the previous record high of 96F. Luckily I found a coworker with a truck to haul me back home - I hadn’t even brought a water bottle and didn’t relish the thought of passing out en route.
ITR Champion has good advice about riding through neighborhoods instead of busy streets.
Used to, and I loved it. I was about 2.5 miles from work, uphill halfway there almost exactly which was perfect. (To address the sweating issue, in the mornings in Denver it’s almost always cool and you’re creating a breeze, for the last half of the morning commute, cool off and coast.) It was actually faster than driving.
By the time I got to work in the morning I was awake and sort of warmed up. By the time I got home the frustrations of the day (it was kind of a crappy job) would have melted away and I felt great. I was in really good shape. I always just wore work clothes (office stuff, business casual), although after a few years of getting my shoes chewed up by the pedals I made the concession to wear sneakers and change. (Tip: make sure your shoes match. I don’t mean your outfit, I mean each other.)
I had a couple of run-ins with ruts during snow season and took the bus if it was really snowy or below 20 degrees. Cheapo poncho to protect clothes from mud flung up by rear tire.
Had to stop when I needed to drop off and later pick up two kids on the way to/from work, at the same time work got farther away–27 miles one way. Bike commuting did not cut it. (Although when they got a little bigger and had bikes of their own we did things like ride to the orthodontist appointments.) And then, the final blow, a freak spring snowstorm a couple of years ago took my garage roof down, crushing my bicycle, so now I don’t even have one.
Tips? Somebody else said it, be very visible, pay attention, expect anything from drivers, walkers, rollerbladers, people with dogs on leashes (i.e., dog on grass on one side of bike path, owner on other, leash stretched in between and possibly not even visible, can you jump it?). Your visibility is much better than that of people in cars, in a lot of places they are not expecting you anyway, and cars are bigger. A squeeze bottle containing vinegar (or a water pistol loaded with same) can be used to squirt dogs that have an inclination to pursue you.
Bump from summer to winter.
I’ve been riding at least 1 or 2 days a week this winter since we haven’t had much snow. The coldest was about 12 degrees, that was pretty darn cold. I rode earlier this week at around 30 degrees and it was practically balmy. Only my feet still get cold, I’m bundling up with my hiking/skiing gear and stay pretty warm.
We’ve got a big storm coming tomorrow, which should make the streets interesting for a while. I’m on a mountain bike now, but I think I’ll let the plows clear things up before I hit the road again.
Who’s still riding?
I’ve started riding to work this year, 17km each way, takes about 40 min there, 45 back (more hills) door to door, which way beats taking public transport, normally 1hr+ door to door - and by the time I get to work I’ve already done half my gym workout.
It does help that it’s summer here and we’re going through a drought so it’s basically sunny every day - but it does mean that on at least one day it reached 42 deg (107) and I have to confess I stopped at a supermarket half way home to enjoy the coolness of the frozen food section. Hopefully will keep it up once it moves into winter.
I’ve been riding to work every day for about ten years.
I basically don’t carry any clothes to work. All my business clothes stay at work. My suits are dry cleaned and my shirts are washed and ironed by a laundry service (much cheaper than you’d think) which picks up and drops off at work. I just have to take a bag with smalls to work every couple of weeks.
Safety: know your route, study it, stick to it. Learn where cars don’t see you. Learn where they come out unexpectedly. Learn where pedestrians jaywalk (they’re more dangerous than they appear). There are about two points in my route where motorists try to kill me about once a month, but thankfully they tried and failed the first couple of times and now I know how they think (or don’t think) too well to be caught out.
Car: 12 minutes (expensive)
Bike: 30 minutes (dangerous)
Train: 1 hour and a bit (slow)
Currently going by train, but planning on changing that to either bike or car - not sure which yet.
Oh boy. I nearly cried reading my last post in this thread. Just a week after that our house was robbed, and my bicycle was among the items stolen. It was also the only item recovered, but it was beat to hell. Smashed, cracked, and nearly destroyed. It cost me over $200 to repair it, more than the bike is worth I’m sure. (It’s a Celeste Green Bianchi Boardwalk, at least 10 years old, but I just love her to death .) I ended up riding it in to work after it was recovered and repaired about half a dozen times before the winter/rainy season hit. I haven’t been on it since October.
I won’t be riding in to work for at least another month or two, I am very much a fair weather rider. But I will be on her on Monday to ride a whopping 2 miles downtown to check out the finish of stage one of the Amgen Tour of California. We went last year and had a great time.