Commuting - Bike friendliness coming out of my ears!

I'm really shocked by the bike friendly attitude I've been getting lately!

My job takes me all over the city, to different clients. I travel there by bike. A new client called me and we set up a 10:30 meeting. She told me where I could park my car. When I told her I bike she said, "well, call me at 10 to make sure your are coming." I told her I would be there. When I arrived she was really positive and asked me a million question about commuting. Cool.

A regular client is worried about where I leave my bike. She offered to talk to the guards in her building and see if I can leave it in their office. Cool.

I went to the doctor the other day. Outside is office is a really nice railing, the pefect place to park your bike. Above the railing is a sign that says; Do not leave you bicycle here! Of course I locked my bike there', as there was no other spot to lock it. The doc saw my helmet and asked if I was on a motor scooter. When I told him I was on a bike he asked me where I left it. I braced myself for the "Don't leave your bike out front" rant. Instead he was really concerned, told me that several bikes had been stolen from out front, and that I should leave mine in the waiting room. Cool. The list goes on...

Does anyone else have any POSITIVE experiences as of late?

More than once, people have looked at me like I'm crazy when I roll up to work in my bike (Or sometimes they've come right and and told me I'm nuts). I say something like, "No one ever accused me of having an sense, but I enjoy it."

Then a week or two later, they're asking for advice on choosing a bike.

I get tons of, "are you a bike messenger?" questions when I walk into stores after work. On the train my bike seems to be a point of intrest as well with people asking me if its a track bike (which it isn't) and other random stuff.

I think the overwhelming reactioin I get is, "woah thats so cool you ride your bike so much, I could never do that!"

Welcome to the positive side of biking. The bike is quite a conversation piece as you found out. Most people understand your need to keep the bike safe and then there are the ones that wish that they could bring a bike to work or shopping. You should know that you inspire all kinds of people and people that you do not see but they see you.
WE all may have saw someone like you in our past. Now we are hooked :)

I get a Lot of friendly attention as well. I live in Vermont and work in NY state. I ride y bike to work year round. I have to take a ferry across Lake Champlain every day and that is where i get the most questions and comments. I have even made a convert! a colleague of mine now rides as well.

In the cities where I work and live, I get mostly very positive receptions from the peds and drivers. At least once a month on the really cold days, a driver will stop and offer me a ride. I always decline, but what a nice gesture!

My students are in awe that their professor rides all those miles through the ice and snow to teach them. some have said to me that they were thinking of cutting class but didn't becasue they thought of how hard I worked to get there to teach them.

I've lived in Vermont. Brrrr. You really ARE a mad scientitst. Good for you!

My students are in awe that their professor rides all those miles through the ice and snow to teach them...
I can't tell you how many times I've read the obituaries and saw some old professor who lived to be a hundred accompanied by a photo of him riding his bike on campus.

You'll probably live to be a hundred, too. Cycling is so healthy.

For two winters now I have been after the building management where I work to shovel out the bike rack when it snows. Sure, it never occurred to them that someone would want to use it in the winter, but actually someone does, and why should I be the only one that has to shovel out his own parking spot?

It took a while, but finally, after this last big snow, I noticed that they had done it! A nice spot shovelled out of the big 3' drift on either side. It was a beautiful site.

Too bad I never got to use it after that. I didn't get an opportunity to ride all last week, and our office moved to another location over this week-end. So now I have to start all over breaking in another maintenance staff! ;)

Actually, the new place is a brand-new building that's still being worked on, and doesn't even have a bike rack yet. So I got to do a little awareness raising talking to the person in charge of the move about making sure there was one eventually. We'll see what happens...

On the plus side, the new place has not one, but TWO shower rooms! (And they're both labelled co-ed. :D)

Does anyone else have any POSITIVE experiences as of late?

-- The nearby town of Arcata is only 12,000 population but supports three thriving bicycle shops plus a bike lending "library". ( www.arcata.com/greenbikes/ )

So yeah, I get a lot of positive strokes when I bike out that way.