Originally Posted by
PaulRivers
Yeah, and frankly, in some ways I bike better when wearing headphones. Many times when *not* wearing headphones I've thought I could hear what I wasn't looking at, only to suddenly have a car/bike/etc appear out of "nowhere". When I'm wearing headphones I *know* that I can't hear them, so I always look. (After a couple of close calls I started always looking when not wearing headphones to.)
let's see what happens.
right now, i am selected a place to live based on commuting distance to work coupled with bike-friendly routes and back-up plans. thankfully, northern rail (northern english trains) allows full-sized bikes on their commuter trains, so if I have a serious issue I can walk 1-3 miles to the train station.
that should let me live 12-15 miles away from work without any fear of missing work.
in addition it seems like there are some kick ass programs in the UK to cover the cost of new equipment anyways:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycle_to_Work_scheme