Commuting - Lonely tree

When I look at the landscape of bicycle commuters in this forum, it doesn't remind me of a forest of trees, but of lots of individual
trees far apart from one another. Some look to me like a tree that grows straight up out of a barren rock.

It makes me wonder how all these lonely trees got planted so far apart from one another. I don't think anyone suggested bike commuting to me, or even taking up cycling in my mid-thirties after about 20 years. What posessed me? I don't remember, exactly. I think it just sort of "came to me."

Now that I am on BikeForums, I have lots of comrades who do what I do. But who got them started? Are you like that tree growing from a barren rock, roots just splitting the rock apart?

Deep thoughts.

I had a boy scout master (teacher?) that road his bike about 10 miles to work every day. One of my best friends dads road his bike almost 15 miles to work every day. When i got my first job at age 16, i road my bike 10 miles to work a few times a week, just to see if i could ride as far as these older adults who have been riding for longer then i have been alive.

One day when i was riding i passed a lady in a mini van yelling at the car infront of her to move just a few hundred feet from my house. When i got to work 30 minutes later the same lady came into work ranting and yelling about traffic. I kinda chuckeld to myself that i had gotten to the same destination 5 minutes faster on my bike then she did in her car. I didnt really think more about it then, but now i notice when i ride in the city, i will see the same car on one side of the city and then 15 min later, i will see the same car on the other side of the city. I know these drivers see me, do they wonder how i get there faster? Do they think that there wasting time / energy in there car? When i ride, i usualy have the biggest smile on my face, i love to ride.

Hmm, i guess im going off topic.... I guess you could say i had two "father figures" who showed me bicycle commuting, i have never thanked them, i doubt they know how much they showed me, or changed my life. To me bicycles were always toys, untill i started driving, and saw these two guys riding there bikes all around, i just had to do it :)

Cya in an hour, im going to ride my bike :)

Originally posted by Joe Gardner
I had a boy scout master (teacher?) that road his bike about 10 miles to work every day. One of my best friends dads road his bike almost 15 miles to work every day.
Now you've caught me in a bad case of "Duh..?" I remember now.
My Dad used to ride his bike to the bus stop.

"KICK ME <here>" :cry:

I want to commute on a bike because you people commute and because I see others commute on a bike when I drive to work so I figure why not I? As soon as I get over my "commute anxiety" I will start and realize how I made a big deal out of nothing. So I guess right now I am just a sapling trying to get through the rocks.

I like to bike to work because...well, frankly it would be a long walk.

I first started 'commuting' in fifth grade. All of the cool kids rode their bikes to school, so I just had to too. After what seemed like years of begging, my mom finally gave in. It was the beginning of a long and tender love affair. When I got my first real job, the logical thing to to was ride to work. Now that I work at a shop, well, that should just be obvious.

So I suppose I can blame the fifth grade 'cool kids.'

I started because it was the only way to go places. My mom couldn't just drop everything and drive me to the gas station/department store/dad's work and so on, so I biked. So now it just seems like the thing to do. Why drive when you can bike?

Servus!

I am very much like LightBoy who began riding his bike to school at an early age. I would like to commute to work but it's about thirty miles one way and as much as I would like to put on 300 miles a week, it's just not a feasable concept. Maybe if I get a recumbent....

Ditto here. 20 mi. one way(W. Tempe to E. Mesa) all last summer. As long as you can keep moving. I'd make right turns when I came to a red light just so I didn't have to stop. As long as you're moving it's like having a swamp cooler blowing on you.
I never had a "role model". I always had a bike, a 20 yr old KHS that I'd never ridden more than a mile or two. One Mon. morning a couple of years ago my truck wouldn't start. The jobsite was about 15 miles away(24th and Camelback) and I was going to be late anyway, so I tried it. That was all it took. I loved it! I haven't bought gas since.

Originally posted by mwmw
That was all it took. I loved it! I haven't bought gas since.
Yep!

When you drive one of these:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1280428&a=9533496&p=37444094&Sequence=0&res=high
Commute cycling becomes less of a pleasure and more of a neccisity!

The funny thing is when you look at that, you would say that I'm a mountain bike guy.

I ride a cannondale r600.. Go figure? That tree anology hits it oh so on the dot!

Those things probably drink gas like technogirl drinks coffee.

Originally posted by Pete Clark


It makes me wonder how all these lonely trees got planted so far apart from one another. ?

Getting back to Pete's original post on this thread, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday. For years I have commuted alone - the lone commuter at work, the only person along my commute except for aluminum can + junk pickers.

Naturally, there are some people who assume that bicycle commuters are kooks or drunks who have lost their driver's license and you have that to deal with as well.

Still, I am compelled to bicycle almost without the will-power to stop, like a moth to a flame. The question comes to mind, "Am I the only one in this community who does this or who is so passsionate about bicycle commuting?"

To read BikeForums.com, though, you would think that the whole world is bicycling and driving is left for desparate situations or for the insane and misguided.

This is one of the delights of BikeForums.com. It is a place where the kooks are in the majority.

Originally posted by mike


Getting back to Pete's original post on this thread, I was thinking the exact same thing yesterday.

Thata boy mike!!! Keep us all on track!!!

I thought about riding to work on and off for over 20 years. I am not sure what got me started thinking about it. I never did it because 1) I was intimidated by the traffic and 2) I was sure my wife would have me committed for even thinking about it. Rainbabe has been a faithful walker and exerciser for 2-3 years now while I was just getting bigger. I used to love running, but I was too heavy to run. Finally I got up the courage to mention riding to work, and to my pleasant surprise, she was quite enthusiastic about it. So I started riding around the neighborhood for 2-3 weeks until I was pretty sure I could make it the almost 9 miles to work. When I was pretty sure I could do it, I went, riding my DAUGHTER's mountain bike since all I had was a cruiser, and I felt like I might need some lower gears sometime. After a few weeks, I bought a better bike that FIT. Now I love the ride and can't stand the thought of not riding.

It is great to have this cyber coffee shop to chat with others who ride and commute.

Thanks,
Raymond

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er
When you drive one of those... the question comes into my mind... uhm why?

For all the places it has and does take me, and for all the people that I've gotten to meet. It breaks down barriers like nothing else I've known, except maybee 6 months on a small ship. The people I travel with vary from a computer programer, an FBI agent, truck driver, industrial parts salesman, transportation manager for the LA transit system, accountants, technical writers, military, retired, apartment managers.. and it crosses all ethnic backgrounds as well. I've been to Washington State, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, as well as a lot of the Southern California deserts..
It seems like a ridicoulous hobby, but, I'd say ride along once (and I have open seats for anyone that wants to go) and you'd get a different prespective. Of course, of the group that I regularly go with, I'm the only one who bike commutes, and they think I'm crazy. But, the reality is, I much more enjoy my bike commute to work than driving the jeep in stuck hour traffic. And the benfits are much better too. I'm not trying to start a flame, it's a fun hobby, I'm not a "gumbo mudder" like you might imagine, crashing through mud pits and plowing through the forrest.. It's all about rock crawling really. Anyway..

The Jeep almost neccistates me to ride to work, and it the bike helps keep me fit for long weekend trips that I may be spending in the seat of the jeep. All about balance I think. YMMV!

Originally posted by RainmanP
It is great to have this cyber coffee shop to chat with others who ride and commute.

I agree, but I still haven't located the donuts...

Originally posted by JonR

I agree, but I still haven't located the donuts...

I think the delivery man got stopped by the police, and they ate all the donuts!!!:D :D :D :p

Originally posted by fubar5
Those things probably drink gas like technogirl drinks coffee.

13 city 15 highway if the weather cool. I average around 14 mpg. Reasoning is that it's an automatic transmission, and at that a 3 speed automatic.

Originally posted by William Karsten
When you drive one of these:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1280428&a=9533496&p=37444094&Sequence=0&res=high
Commute cycling becomes less of a pleasure and more of a neccisity.
William,

That is cool! What I don't understand is those folks that drive those kinds of things but never go anywhere but in the city.

:confused:

I guess it's like those folks that buy an expensive, top-of-the-line
bicycle and all the gear so they can hang it in their garage and impress their friends. Or someone who likes to wear a t-shirt from a college they've never attended. (I wear t-shirts from several different colleges in several different states so I guess that's me!)

Hey, looks like an absolute trip, man! :cool:

See, I just think life's too short to miss doing cool things. It's those "unnecessary diversions" that sometimes lead us straight into the path of a powerfully meaningful life experience.

Thanks for the picture!

Originally posted by Pete Clark
What I don't understand is those folks that drive those kinds of things but never go anywhere but in the city.

:confused:

I guess it's like those folks that buy an expensive, top-of-the-line
bicycle and all the gear so they can hang it in their garage and impress their friends.

You're right. I've met people who are in a panick because they don't want to scratch paint or they might bruch up one of the skid plates.. And I've met folks who dump tons of money into their Jeeps (litterlly tons.. upwards of 7 - 8 k) and don't use them at all. All the toys I could dream of.. and they don't use it!

And though I love the thing, as a commute car it sucks. It's loud, it manuvers like a greased pig on a double expresso on a a frozen lake.. and it gets horrible gas mileage.

It is a lot of fun though. When I went to Moab this year (not for the Easter thing, but a smaller group) I met up with folks from Canada, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, South Dakota, Oaklahoma. Last year a whole bunch from all over the US met in Death Valley too.

I'll take Mike's lead and get back to the original question on the thread (I'm catching up on everything after the weekend).

I guess I actually started commuting as a youngster too, except then it wasn't commuting, it was just natural to ride your bike all over.

As an adult I got a couple of bikes with gift money at my wedding, and have had bikes ever since. I actually did commute for quite a while when my ex wife was finishing school in another town and we only had one car.

Lately though, my commuting is a result of: 1)The example of one particular guy at work who started commuting almost from the day he started, and goes a lot farther than I do. 2) The BikeForums has had a lot to do with encouraging me to keep the commuting up, and getting rid of some of the excuses I had for not doing more of it. I've managed to work around most of the reasons I had before for not commuting on some days.

It's great how the support of a group such as this has helped me, even though we've never met face to face, but are connected through the forums.

Thanks guys and gals!!!
:D

Originally posted by fubar5


I think the delivery man got stopped by the police, and they ate all the donuts!!!:D :D :D :p
I wouldn't doubt it. I don't know about other cities (such as in the wilds of South Carolina ;) ), but in Kansas City, there are "police substations." Guess where they're located?

KFC and McDonald's and--convenience stores... Guess what they have in convenience stores? Does "KK" ring a bell?

Originally posted by JonR
Guess what they have in convenience stores? Does "KK" ring a bell?

King Kong???

OOOOOOOhhhhh, Krispy Kreme!!!! ;)