Do any of you bike to work?

I bike to work. To me it is the only form of exercise that serves dual purpose. By bike I mean bicycles, not motorcycles or powered two wheeled vehicles.
 
I bike everywhere when the job permits. I live on a freeway link to work the past couple of years, and cannot reasonably bike anywhere in this wasteland of a suburb (long story), so I've been stuck driving for a long time - still haven't become accustomed to it. Cars suck for commuting.

Minneapolis, where I lived before, is a pretty good bike town - there is a fairly extensive network of actual bike trails, in addition to those goofy and dangerous lanes on car roads, and also some dedicated bus routes open to bikes. From my apartment to my main job then was mostly on paved trails separated from cars, and I could park right next to the front door both ends, for free. Easy riding, and much faster than driving in total elapsed time.

The main hassle was the custom of the city to plow the snow off the car roads unto the bike trails in winter. We bitched, we wrote letters, but the typical car driver simply doesn't see a bike as anything other than recreational exercise, which of course is traded in for skis or skates in the winter.
 
parmalee said:
It's a myth that bicycling in large cities is somehow dangerous, or more dangerous than driving. The statistics for bicycle accidents in traffic situations are indeed somewhat higher than for motor vehicle accidents (on a percentage of bicyclists compared with percentage of motorists basis, that is); however, one need consider that a HUGE portion of these accidents involve children, wholly unfamiliar with laws and "etiquette," and utterly inexperienced bicyclists. Experienced cyclists seldom have serious accidents.
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Sadly the only part of that that isn't false, it that bicycle accidents are higher than MV accidents on a percent of motorists basis, which is the best case for bikes. If you do it by miles driven then bikes are over twice as dangerous as cars per mile and if you do it by passenger miles, then they are about four times as dangerous.

2008 National Bicycle Accident Statistics
•In 2008, 716 bicyclists were killed in traffic accidents, a slight increase from 2007.
•There was a 21% increase in the number of bicyslists injured in 2008, totaling 52,000.
•Bicyclist deaths in 2008 accounted for 2% of all traffic fatalities during the year.
•Bicyclists accounted for 14% of all non-occupant traffic fatalities in 2008.
•Bicycle rider fatalities occurred more frequently in urban areas (69%), at non-intersection locations (64%), and between 5 and 9 at night (28%).
•The average age of bicyclists killed in traffic accidents in 2008 was 41. The average age for those injured was 31.

Cars and bikes don't mix very well, and when accidents happen, it's the bike rider who suffers, so if you choose to do so, be visible, be predictable, and watch out, your best chance of safety is if you rely on yourself to avoid a potential crash and always assume you are nearly invisible to the motorists.

Arthur
 
Living in Eugene, Oregon (college town) has its advantages for bicyclists. There are more bike bridges than vehicle bridges, thoroughfares and lanes devoted to them, buses that accommodate the carrying of bikes, etc. It is not difficult to commute from miles out of town into the downtown area. And the scenery is spectacular.

In a perfect world, ones job, home, and favorite food store are on the same block. I know this, because I wanted to see it for myself. Though no longer in that position, I still must say, for daily stress reduction, it was the best of times...
 
I like to bike but I don'thave one now and will be getting my permit soon so I will then be driving. Besides I livein the country it's too far to bike anywhere but down my road. (My road is like 20 miles long with no storeson it sono pointto it at all.)
 
Cycle about 3 miles to work around the airfield ringroad.
 
When my wife and I were house-shopping, we were initially looking for homes close to my work. I wouldn't have minded walking a couple of blocks to work every now and then. But we ended up buying a home that was five or six miles away; too far to walk and I wouldn't want to ride a bike since the only ways to my job are either dark, back-country roads or a poorly lit highway with no real shoulder to ride a bike on.
 
35 years ago, when I lived in Hollywood and worked in downtown L.A., I used to bike two or three days a week, about eight miles each way.

That wasn't a bad deal. In the city traffic it was a forty-minute round trip by motorcycle (even longer by car), and on the bicycle it was about twice that long. So for the expenditure of an extra forty minutes a day I was getting eighty minutes of exercise.

It was quite a workout, for those of you unfamiliar with Los Angeles it's very hilly terrain.

I was in good shape back then. Sometimes in the evening I rode all the way up to Mulholland Drive, at the very top of the Hollywood Hills. It took six months before I could do that sitting down, without stopping for breath.

I'm still in fairly good shape for my age (67) but I quit bicycling because I just got fed up with having to stop so often to fix flat tires. After Proposition 13 they basically quit cleaning the streets for several years. Having locked bikes stolen was also a big nuisance.

I also tore a meniscus somewhere along the way so I try not to stress my knees too hard. I tried skiing but it was too hard on the meniscus. I swam for a few years but it was aggravating an old motorcycle injury in my neck. Now I just work out in the gym.
 
I used to cycle to work, 5 miles each way, uphill on the way in. Used to have an old Peugot road bike, drop handlebars, thin tyres, nice and quick, esp on the downhill on the way home.

Had some scary moments though, drivers often misjudged my speed, and pulled out in front me, and the gap closed pretty quick. Had a guy pull out from a petrol station on me, I went into a two wheel skid, which is quite hard to control, and I still hit the back of his car. He just put his foot down, and drove off too. I would have kicked his arse if he'd got out of his car.
 
I want to build a powered 2-wheel vehicle. I think it's a practical combination of human and gas power, so you don't have to get to work all sweaty.
 
Working as a trades person it is very hard to carry your tools on a bicycle or even pull them along with a hooked on cart of some type. That just doesn't make sense to even think about bicycling to work if your carrying a load of any type. If you were to live within a few miles of work and you had a bike path to ride on, I would think that would be about the only time I would consider to ride to work as long as I had nothing to carry.
 
nietzschefan said:
Don't mind good bicyclers at all. Just like I don't mind good drivers.

When I see a biker mover all the way up to the front of the pack/split lanes to get ahead of traffic (in other words suddenly NOT act like a car) and then hog the lane as cars have to go around him...I fervently wish for the revolution when I can kill such people. I will fucking crowd him big time as I pass. Don't act like a vehicle and I will not treat you like a vehicle, but like some kind of small animal that wandered on the road and impairs my safety.

But good bikers, yeah I'll completely give the whole lane.
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But that is acting like a vehicle - like a narrow, two-wheeled, human-powered vehicle that can safely pass through stopped traffic. That's what bikes are. It's one of the reasons why they're brilliant. I only know about the rules in the UK, but here that's perfectly legal.
 
The problem with bicycle communting is still cars. Even if you have a bike lane, you have to breathe car exhaust while exercising, that cannot be healthy.
 
spidergoat said:
The problem with bicycle communting is still cars. Even if you have a bike lane, you have to breathe car exhaust while exercising, that cannot be healthy.
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Yes, that is a concern. I wonder how many people it puts off cycling compared to, say, perceived risk of traffic accidents. If more people in cities cycled instead of drove, the air quality would improve for everybody.
 
And I wonder also how the health benefits of cycling instead of driving stack up against the harm done by inhaling increased quantities of particulates.
 
If you were to live within a few miles of work and you had a bike path to ride on, I would think that would be about the only time I would consider to ride to work as long as I had nothing to carry.
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That situation is common in Minneapolis - in my case, I found fifty or sixty pounds of hand tools and a complete change of clothing easy and convenient to transport.

Consider, among other advantages, that the carry distance to the actual job location is normally much shorter. Bikes park easily right next to doors, ferry gear across lawns and lots, etc - something like a dolly or handcart.
 
spidergoat said:
I want to build a powered 2-wheel vehicle. I think it's a practical combination of human and gas power, so you don't have to get to work all sweaty.
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Like the Velosolex? From high end commuter airplanes to motorised bikes, you've to give it to the French. That's technology.
 
Laika said:
If more people in cities cycled instead of drove, the air quality would improve for everybody.
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If more people worked at home it would accomplish the same thing. These days a huge portion of the work force sits around all day using a computer and talking on the phone, two devices which they all have at home. The only reason they have to "go to work" is that their managers are too incompetent to rate their performance on the basis of what they accomplish, so they just base it on the number of hours they're sitting at their desks looking busy. And they schedule meetings which are nothing but a colossal waste of time, to justify their own existence.

One-fourth of America's petroleum consumption goes directly into communting. And that doesn't count the second-order effects of fast food joints for people who don't have time to eat at home, and gardeners, cleaning ladies and baby sitters driving all over town to do things we could do for ourselves better if we were at home.

This isn't China, you'll never get a significant number of Americans willing to ride bicycles to work. If you're really worried about congestion and pollution, support the telecommuting revolution. Does your boss let you telecommute? If not, why not? Unless your job is something like a psychiatrist, diplomat, plumber or bulldozer operator, you should be able to do your work at home.
 
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