The Tale of the Most Reluctant Bike Commuter Evar.

[DaveK]

I love(d) my car, but driving it around here would make me hate life. I sold it before I moved into the city. Couldn’t bear the thought of it living the life our one car does now, being scratched, dented, walked on (!), and god knows what else. I’m still a huge car guy though. If I moved somewhere out further I’d get another car in an instant, even if I didn’t drive to work. Bike guys can be (and often are) car guys.

[PrintError]

@mstone 13466 wrote:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Admittedly, my butt is the least likely thing to get cold thanks to the chamois padding. I need a bridge-of-my-freaking-nose warmer for the sub-freezing days.

[baiskeli]

@acc 13382 wrote:

The grocery store, not so cool. I had to chain my bike to some sort of pipe. When I asked about a bike rack I received a blank look followed by the observation, “Yeah, three other people ride their bikes here.” It’s going to be all uphill on the education front.

I find that the response that has the best shot at educating them is “well, there’s a store nearby that has bike racks – so I guess I’ll go there next time.” If that doesn’t help, at least it makes you feel better.

[acc]

Thank you for the advice. I honestly try to minimize my time in the grocery store (and my time in the kitchen) so I should, but didn’t track down the manager to whine that there is no place to park my bike.

Now that I’ve managed to survive a few runs to work on my bike I can share the following observations.
1. Hills suck.
2. Test out the ride at least twice with an unloaded bike.
3. Hills suck.
4. Don’t say to yourself, “Hey, I bet that’s a shortcut…” when you really need to be at work in 30 minutes.
5. It’s all about the weight. If it goes in the panniers I have to haul it. Suddenly I need so much less. Eyelash curler, gone. Lunch, yeah– I’ll buy that. Student papers — uh, we’re going all email submissions.
6. Hills are the instrument of the devil.
7. My U-lock key goes on a chain around my neck along with my ID.
8. Helmets are hell on hair.

Happy trails,
ann

PS – When will this start being fun?

[jrenaut]

@acc 13523 wrote:

PS – When will this start being fun?

You might need to increase your smug factor – I find my elevated level of smugness keeps me warm on cold days and energized on crappy hills. Think of all the things that people in cars hate that just don’t apply to you on your bike. Think about your carbon footprint. Think about how many calories you burn. Think about everyone who might say, “OMG, you BIKE to work?”. Think about all the fresh air you breathe without having to change a cabin filter.

I can’t, however, help you with your hair. It’s been at least a decade since I was seriously concerned about how my hair looked – I have a nicely-shaped head (I’ve been told this numerous times), so I can cut my hair pretty close and not look silly. That may not apply to you.

[DaveK]

Dirty little secret – I won’t ride if I don’t think I’ll have more fun than I would riding Metro to work. Fortunately this gets me to ride almost every day. All the side benefits are nice but in the end I choose to ride because I enjoy it more than any other method I have of getting to work. Look at it vs the alternatives… if driving is great for you and you enjoy it, do it. If biking is fun, do that. If they both have their days, do both. I can’t even fathom that anyone would enjoy riding Metro so I’m leaving that out.

[Subby]

@acc 13523 wrote:

Thank you for the advice. I honestly try to minimize my time in the grocery store (and my time in the kitchen) so I should, but didn’t track down the manager to whine that there is no place to park my bike.

Now that I’ve managed to survive a few runs to work on my bike I can share the following observations.
1. Hills suck.
2. Test out the ride at least twice with an unloaded bike.
3. Hills suck.
4. Don’t say to yourself, “Hey, I bet that’s a shortcut…” when you really need to be at work in 30 minutes.
5. It’s all about the weight. If it goes in the panniers I have to haul it. Suddenly I need so much less. Eyelash curler, gone. Lunch, yeah– I’ll buy that. Student papers — uh, we’re going all email submissions.
6. Hills are the instrument of the devil.
7. My U-lock key goes on a chain around my neck along with my ID.
8. Helmets are hell on hair.

Happy trails,
ann

PS – When will this start being fun?

I love reading your posts because I am new to this too – not just commuting to work, but this is the first bicycle I’ve even owned since college. Right now the best part of it for me is riding hands-free on the slight downhills – such a great feeling – sitting back in the saddle, arms across my chest or holding the back of my seat, just cruising.

I have a Honda Pilot which I LOVE, but I still get plenty of time in it toting my four kids around. Not having to take it to work is 20 miles per day of gas and wear and tear saved.

The side benefit is that I’ve lost 15 pounds of middle aged flab since the beginning of the year – excited to think how much faster I can go if I get down to my ideal weight.

Finally – on the hills – they totally suck. But if they were easy, everyone would do this. I take some satisfaction that most of my friends and co-workers think biking to work is insane/herculean.

/rambling

[DismalScientist]

@acc 13523 wrote:

1. Hills suck.

Some on this forum would disagree.

That that does not kill us only makes us stronger.:rolleyes:

[Tim Kelley]

@DismalScientist 13540 wrote:

Some on this forum would disagree.

That that does not kill us only makes us stronger.:rolleyes:

Yay hills! Not a single flat spot.

I can’t wait for Pete to make it even harder this spring!

[americancyclo]

@Tim Kelley 13541 wrote:

Yay hills! Not a single flat spot.

I can’t wait for Pete to make it even harder this spring!

Ok, that does it, since I can’t make JB’s Gran Fondo this year, I am DEFINITELY making this ride whenever it happens.

[culimerc]

Ann- Dont worry. Hills are an acquired taste. You start to enjoy them more, the more you do them. It’s an odd evolution.

[Rootchopper]

Ann

Be glad you have hair to mess up. We in the fifty something male cohort long for the days of helmet hair.

As for the hills, can you route your way around them? A straight line doesn’t necessarilly mean the best route. I regularly take a steep down hill on the way to work, but avoid it in favor of a long, gradual uphill on the way home. It adds about 1/2 mile to the ride.

As for the fun, have you noticed the sunlight creeping into your morning and evening ride? Soon you will hear the birds coming back from their winter hideaways. And the trees will start budding. And the flowers blooming. And you’ll smell the change of seasons too.

Keep at it.

P.S. I saw a bald eagle on the wing flying across Roaches Run near National Airport this morning.

[Terpfan]

@DaveK 13526 wrote:

Dirty little secret – I won’t ride if I don’t think I’ll have more fun than I would riding Metro to work. Fortunately this gets me to ride almost every day. All the side benefits are nice but in the end I choose to ride because I enjoy it more than any other method I have of getting to work. Look at it vs the alternatives… if driving is great for you and you enjoy it, do it. If biking is fun, do that. If they both have their days, do both. I can’t even fathom that anyone would enjoy riding Metro so I’m leaving that out.

Aside from downpour days or days I know I will be drinking after work (drinking, cold weather and biking don’t make for good rides), I avoid Metro. I can’t fathom the idea of giving them $7 and them still managing to make me naseaus, standing on a crowded bus, or playing train bingo when one train breaks down thereby causing every line to take longer to move than it would to walk the 7 odd miles home.

What I can’t wait for is more days like yesterday. Give me low 50s-low 70s all year round and no wind. That would be awesome.

[dasgeh]

@DaveK 13526 wrote:

I can’t even fathom that anyone would enjoy riding Metro so I’m leaving that out.

This is what I mean when I say Metro has done a lot for promoting bike commuting…

Well, this and how ridiculously unreliable it is, but that’s part of the misery of Metro, in my opinion.

[dasgeh]

@Rootchopper 13557 wrote:

As for the fun, have you noticed the sunlight creeping into your morning and evening ride? Soon you will hear the birds coming back from their winter hideaways. And the trees will start budding. And the flowers blooming. And you’ll smell the change of seasons too.

Oddly enough, I think I appreciate winter more when I bike commute, because I truly experience the seasons. Or maybe this winter just hasn’t been so bad.

As for hills, two words: electric bike. (I’m still waiting to be booted from the forum for saying that. Maybe that’s why Tim is doing his purge.)

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