Commuting - Wooohooo!! I converted someone!

My office mate made his first commute to work this morning. The gas prices combined with my constant spewing about how great it is finally got to him. I am impressed. He did the 11 miles one-way at 5:30 am in the dark and outfitted himself with a headlamp and a rear-facing flashight with a red cover (the cupcake sprinkles lids fit the mini-mag perfectly). He said he enjoyed it and feels great. I hope he can keep it up as it gets cooler.

Anyone else out there making converts as the gas prices go up?

I got a woman at work finally back on her bike after years of driving. She's been wanting to do it, and I keep bugging her. She has commuted before, but not this far (it's 6 miles). Her first ride was this morning; 6 miles in 35 minutes; not too bad at all!

The gas prices have done the work for me. You might say the mountain has come to Muhammed in this case.

Best,
e.

He did the 11 miles one-way at 5:30 am in the dark and outfitted himself with a headlamp and a rear-facing flashight with a red cover (the cupcake sprinkles lids fit the mini-mag perfectly).

Good for him for being safe and resourceful, and realizing that sometimes what a company can do for you, you can also do for yourself.

WTG!!!!

I got 2 guys at work to start commuting

I got one guy to start commuting, kinda. He has decently nice bike but is more worried about tuning it and making it look pretty than actually riding it.

There's a guy in my office who lives nearby me and was asking about my route to work a couple weeks ago.

Not sure if he was thinking about trying it or not. He's probably about 2 1/2 to 3 mi. closer to work, via the route I take, than I am. So it'd be 12 or so mles instead of 15. That's still a pretty good distance for a newbie, mostly sedentary, cyclist, and there's a fair amount of climbing.

OTOH, I may be overestimating the difficulty of the ride simply because I tend to push it somewhat on the hills, and I ride a fixed-gear. Cruising, on a geared bike, it probably wouldn't be all that tough.

Didn't think to ask him if he was thinking about trying to ride, or if he was just curious about the route. If he shows interest I'll probably offer to accompany him for a few days. Dunno if I'd want to do that all the time though 'cause I don't want to have to get up early enough every morning to ride at a newbie pace ;).

-Trevor

I've had several co-workers quizzing me for bike-commuting info. What kind of bikes are any good, how long it takes, what I do to get presentable, how safe do I feel, what streets I'd take if I lived in their part of town, etc.

So far no-one's gotten a bike, but I've done my best to really talk it up, while giving a pretty honest and thorough explanation of the pros and cons of biking.

There are two of us who already commute by bike to my work. He rides a hybrid (full suspension) I ride a road bike, mostly, though I used to ride a mountain bike with slicks. I tell them the pros and cons of my two rides, and tell them to go ask the other office commuter what his opinions on hybrids are. That's what he's been riding for quite some while.

this forum convinced me to commute, reading about those really long commute people

i think i got my roommate convinced to commute. didn't really have to convince him, i guess seeing me actually do it made him convinced. won't be positive til he actually gets a bike. i just started commuting less than a month ago so i won't be able to help him all that much but it'd be nice to have someone to ride w/.