I know there are some Dopers who commute to work by bike.
How do you keep your clothes tidy? How do you deal with the weather? What kind of stuff do you carry and how do you carry it? What are the particular hazards? What’s nice about it? What would you like to see changed?
Share you bicycle commuting wisdom.
what to do about clothes, tidiness etc. might depend on whether your job has a shower and locker room, or whether you can join a health club nearby. lesson no. 1 is to wear the brightest clothes you can get, including a vest like construction workers wear and lots of lights at night, and still ride AS IF YOU ARE INVISIBLE. you WILL be invisible to some drivers. never assume that the driver next to you or behind you or getting ready to turn in front of you even SEES you, let alone will yield to you. use side streets and bike trails whenever you can, even if they make the ride a little longer. in a clash with a car, you always lose.
You didn’t ask this but it could be useful to you but have you thought of adding a motor to your bicycle? if you don’t want to show up at work sweaty and tired a motor attached to your bike could help alot. i’ve never owned one but they look like they should work fine.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3663431693&category=2904
They go from about 15-60cc. On Ebay they are about $300.
I personally haven’t ridden a bicycle as a main source of transportation since i was 15. but i do know that back then due to using the bike all the time that my stamina was pretty good and i could go 3-4 miles without breaking a sweat due to the wind and having stamina. So i guess after you get used to riding the bike you will not really get sweaty or tired anymore.
For carrying i just had one of those metal things you put over the rear tire. When i needed more space i used a backpack. i dont know what i did in the rain, just fought through it i guess.
I believe one of the points of riding the bike to work is the exercise…so a motor would not be desirable.
My husband rides to work (downtown Cleveland). He rolls his clothes up and puts them in panniers. Or, if he rides the mountain bike, he wears a back pack. He has four bikes; I am not making this up. He also has a canoe and we have two kayaks. And we have a tandem, I have a bike and my daughter has a bike. There is barely room in the garage for the cars.
His philosophy is that you must always assume that the car driver is going to do the wrong, dumb or aggressive thing. So always be prepared for that. Always follow the rules of the road. Also, if you are waiting at a red light, don’t go up the side to get in front. This annoys car drivers because it makes them feel like you are getting ahead of them, which of course you are not because shortly they will pass you. So there’s no point in getting to the front.
My husband has lots of the specialty clothing and can ride when it is quite cold. He just doesn’t ride when the snow is actually falling or it is raining really hard. He is forever calling me in the afternoon after he checks the weather online so I can tell him if I can see the clouds coming from the west.
It worries me terribly about the danger, but I can’t let it bother me because it is what makes him really happy. It turns out that the way to a man’s heart is not through sex or food, it is to go on a bike ride with him. On a tandem, preferably.
:rolleyes:
Here is a very helpful link if I do say so myself.
I ride my bike to work every day now and have found that one of the most important things to wear is a hat. It is chilly in the morning and at night here and I would be freezing without my beenie. I wear a baseball cap or one of those silly fishing caps when it rains. I also advise taking a drink with you, waterbottle or sports, drink for when you arrive.
Being a college student, I don’t really have trouble keeping my clothes neat enough. If I have to ride somewhere while carry my backpack, then I’ll put a good shirt in the backback and wear a T-shirt instead because I don’t want the good shirt to get all sweaty. Now personally I think that most drivers are perfectly respectful towards bike riders, there are just a few drivers (usually the ones with cell phones) who don’t bother looking both directions before they pull out of the their driveway or make a right turn. In cases where you can’t see whether or not there’s a car in the dirveway, you should get into the habit of slowing down when you approach.
Being from Amsterdam, I can’t advise you on the hazzards in trafic. Car drivers are used to bikers here. But: Be very careful with trucks. Truckdrivers often can’t see you. Always let the truck go first.
Get one of those see-through rain-capes. The ones that fit in a small package. A basket on the front will keep your stuff.
Have enough lamps on your bike. In front and back. Strips of luminous material between the spokes of your wheels. Wear a bicycle-helmet.
If you wear flared jeans, or a long skirt, pin them down. They might get caught between the spokes. [grrrrrrr, don’t I know it :)]
Clearly indicate, by raising your hand, before you turn a corner.
Lastly: Biking is fun, fast and good for the environment. More people should do it. 
I rode to work for 5 years, rain or shine. I didn’t have to deal with traffic much, because the town I lived in had great bicycle trails, but I do have some tips:
If your bike doesn’t have fenders, get some. Walking around with a muddy stripe on your back all day is embarrassing.
If your bike will be left outdoors, invest in a good U-lock.
Carry a plastic grocery bag to put over the seat if it looks like rain, that way you won’t get a wet rear when next you mount.
Carry rain gear. You can get thin nylon pants and hooded jackets that fold up into almost no space at all. The pants are especially important for biking in the rain.
Gloves are really nice. Even if you think it is not that cold, your poor exposed fingers on the handlebars will.
Definitely get a light, and maybe a back light. Even if you won’t normally ride at night, there’s always that unexpected thing that results in your being caught in the dark.
Get some clips for your pants cuffs, so they don’t get caught in the chain and get greasy, holey, or possibly cause you to wreck.
Definitely get a helmet. I fell three times during my 5 years riding, it happens.
I think a backpack is best for carrying stuff, that way everything is balanced and stowed out of the way of the wheels and such.
Have good floor pump at home, and keep an inexpensive one at the office. Also keep a spare tube or two and a patch kit in your desk drawer. I don’t know how many times I got to work and two hours later a tire was flat because of a sliver of glass or something similar.
I backpack to work, using a backpack with a liner. There are four options I guess. One, bring in a week’s worth of clothes, and then you just carry in undergarments and shoes. Two, use a backpack. Three, many commuters swear by the bike messenger bag. Four, use panniers.
Always ride defensively, wear bright clothes, and a rear red strobe is a definite plus/must. Not to mention a helmet. If you travel through a congested area, OBEY all traffic signals, just like you drive your car (I hope), you’d be surprised how much respect/space you get from fellow commuters on the road if you act like a car.
I can’t believe I forgot a good lock, bec. [maybe because our bikes get stolen, no matter how many good locks you have on them - only to re-appaer in one of the canals :)]
Traffic: be careful. You will get to know your route, and will figure out the best/safest/least uphill way to go (try every conceivable route in the beginning, and soon you’ll realize which has the fewest unassisted left turns, etc). Also you’ll become aware of the places where drivers tend to do stupid things and either avoid them, or be prepared. Mostly I think drivers are pretty comfortable with cyclists, and give you the room you require, but it’s the few really awful ones that stick in your memory. Don’t be afraid to take up your space and stand up for your rights, on the one hand, but also be cautious and remember that they’re bigger than you, and you’re probably more agile than them if someone needs to get out of the way !
Fenders are vital. All it takes is riding through one puddle, without fenders, and your outfit is ruined. You don’t want last night’s rainfall to stop you riding to work, do you?
Clothes: I wear crappy clothes (old tights under a pair of pants cut off around mid-shin, in the winter) and change at work because I always, always sweat and get nasty. This does make it hard to wear my awesome boots to work because I don’t want to wear them biking, they’re too big to carry and I don’t want to leave them at work all the time. But I manage …
I also find it annoying that the only jacket I have at work is the manky one that I wear on the bike (which is made for biking, not for impressing clients). If this is important in your job (in mine, it’s not), leave a nice jacket at work.
And don’t forget the helmet and lights. I went flying off the bike once, and the sound of my helmet hitting the pavement still resonates in my memory, followed by the awareness that ‘That could have been your head’.
Finally, try to avoid pointing and laughing at all the poor suckers stuck in traffic as you whiz past them on your bike. Better just to smugly enjoy the extra time you get by arriving home sooner than any of them.
If you have a steel frame bike, treat it with some frame-saver. It’s a product that you spray into the frame to protect against rust.
Look for lights with LED elements. They draw less power so you get more life from your batteries. Invest in some rechargeable batteries and a recharger from RadioShack.
I tend to ride in the middle of the lane so that cars don’t squeeze me against the curb.
Pick clothing that wicks if you can. The right fabrics will have you feeling a little more fresh when you arrive and will dry more quickly.