commuting by bike

[bruno]

who commutes by bike to work? how many days a week?

[mike_khad1]

I bike commute everyday. Portland, Oregon is a great city for this. My one-way distance home to work is 13 miles. However, in the winter, if its windy i'll pedal to the bus stop and take my bike on the bus and shorten the 13 miles to 3 miles.

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

[ron_bike4peace]

that's good mike, i like it!
i live to ride myself. i can't think of any better way to get around than a bicycle, especially today.
i live just north of seattle, in everett. it's a small city that is getting more and more bike friendly because of a bunch of us that make sure people have good bikes to ride and know how to ride them. we opened a community bike shop here that provides bikes for transportation, maintenance classes, earn-a-bike program and low cost repairs.
some of us ride across the country every summer to promote cycling as a more peaceful, healthier, cleaner, sane way to get around. we call it bike4peace.
http://bike4peace.org
check it out!

[char2006]

I bike in every workday, 32 miles roundtrip, unless there is more than 3" of snow, or lightning (which I can wait out).

[qajaq]

I have a short commute -- four miles one-way -- and a good climate for it . . . I'm in Gainesville, Florida. Only time I don't ride is when a hurricane is bearing down on us.

Gainesville claims to be a "bicycle friendly community" though I don't know if the League takes into account bicyclist deaths when they award that moniker. My ride, anyway, is mostly on quiet residential streets, and I've been able to adjust my work schedule so I'm commuting outside the major drive times.

[mpra4]

I bike daily, in Colorado, four miles one way. It gets pretty cold in the winter, but put on enough clothing and it's pretty snug.

[undies]

I work from a home office so technically I commute in my underwear. However I voted "daily - all year" because I run errands on the bike (including frequent work-related runs to the fedex drop box) pretty much daily all year. I live in Albany, Oregon so our weather is pretty mild year-round (we get snow maybe once every 2-3 years).

[dougstetson]

When I lived in San Fransicso I biked in preference to using the mass transit -- not faster, but more reliable, and better exercise. Never drove. Had a folder to take on the subway and the train to the peninsula. Here in SE Virginia I was fortunate to have a job only 8 miles from home -- good bike commute, with the only problem being getting drivers on two lane no shoulder roads accustomed to seeing this brightly dressed guy heading out and back with a briefcase pannier nearly every day (needed a car to attend meetings out of the office). Rain generally not a problem, but railroad track were a real threat!

[ride29]

Man, you guys are killing me. I'd love to ride to work everyday, but two factors prevent that: 1) I live 25 miles from work, and 2) I live in Michigan.

I do commute a few days a week when the weather is decent, but I have to leave at 5 in the morning to get there on time. In the winter, sometimes it's just too cold. This year much of January and February was in the single digits (or colder) in the morning. I live in a flat, rural area where the winds are often 20+ mph. My coldest commute was about 17 degrees F. My toes were hurtin' by the time I got to work! Everybody there thinks I'm absolutely nuts!

Daryl Bernard

[mike_khad1]

Sorry to hear that Daryl,
You're right though, commuting does depend on where you live and how far from work you are. Can you take a shower and change when you get there? Can you take a bus or other mass transit partway? In other words, how much infrastructure do you have, how much support do you have? I'd say move to Portland Oregon. It's never 17 degrees here, though in the winter that stinking wind can howl and blow right through you.

Michael

Work to Eat
Eat to Live
Live to Bike
Bike to Work

[ptaylor]

I don't commute when there is snow or ice on the pavement. (I live in south Bend, IN, which is in the Lake Michigan Snowbelt).

Paul

[ride29]

I agree. This morning, for instance - temps in the teens, and snowy, icy roads - so much so that driving was a bit hazardous. Not the kind of conditions I want to be on my bike trusting drivers!

Spring will come...spring will come...spring will come...

Daryl Bernard

[ikelikebike]

i must be nuts--I'm a school teacher in minnesota &
commute everyday by bike--about a fourteen mile round
trip. Coldest morning was -17F. Most snow was about a
foot. I'm not even sure why i ride in such weather,
except to see if i can i guess. as long as the skin is
covered on the coldest mornings it isn't bad. The only
trouble i've had was getting a flat at -7F. it was
hard on the hands getting a frozen tire over the rim.

[bruno]

you sir, are hardcore!! my lowest temp commute this winter was 2 degrees.

[Badger]

You don't have to ride far to say you commute.  My one way distance to work is 1.2 miles.