HardyWeinberg

Fun, fitness, convenience are my top priorities too. The convenience is mostly mental, having learned to drive in Boston it's a major mental effort to drive with Washingtonians. Don't get me wrong I aspire to be green as all get out, but my commute miles would not really be much of a percentage of the miles I still drive (for work) across the year (which I really don't enjoy).

JReade

This probably is my biggest gripe. I have my bags upstairs, but then my bike lives in the condo bike room, I miss having it in my garage. So I get home, and don't want to unpack, and then I forget something upstairs in the morning. and I get really close to driving.

Edit -

1. Fitness - Get my rides in before and after work
2. Fresh Air - Sit in the office all day
Not money savings, really.
Not time savings, 18 minute commute.

Viich

Mostly laziness - I switched to a bicycle from running.

Money is a part as well - it's $10 in fuel and parking to drive.

jfowler85

1. Mental health
2. Buffer between arriving at work and arriving on post
3. Frees up the nice vehicle for my wife to use
4. No dealing with traffic
5. I know my city much better
6. Being outside, especially during inclement weather when I would normally not just go outside
7. Fitness - though this will drop off the list if follow through with returning to running


My taste in bicycles is becoming a more expensive one, and I've always had the upgrade bug, so cost is pretty much a wash with respect to the costs of vehicle maintenance and fuel - especially considering that I leave the vehicle for my wife to use so we pay those costs anyways. My employer pays for my parking, and I wouldn't exactly say that it's fun but rather fulfilling, given that I spend a lot of time fighting wind and hills. Considering the time I invest before and after each ride, I spend considerably more of it cycle-commuting than car-commuting.

Archwhorides 

1. Love burning my beer calories and keeping up aerobics
2. Love efficiency of door-to-door on bike vs public transit or drive/park.
3. Love the community, biker-guys and biker-chicas on the road.
4. Save my firm $20-38 per day in parking, save fuel/co2, buy more bike gear

Hate city rush hour driving with a passion!

Classtime 

Started with fitness: got tired of rollers in the morning.
Stayed with it because driving is not fun.
Commute on rainy days too because my kids need the car.
Bicycle expenditures easily justified to CFO.

wphamilton

I do it for fun. That's hard for people to accept when they see me biking every day for years, in all weather, so they tend to project all of these other reasons. And I'm sure, a few more which are perhaps less flattering. Which I'm actually fine with, but the honest bottom line is that life is too short to waste time in traffic when you could be doing something you enjoy more.

tclune

Cycling is the only kind of exercise I enjoy. So you could either say fun or fitness, I guess. I am retired, so getting rid of one of our cars was a noticeable financial incentive. About the only thing I don't really relate to is "convenience." It doesn't seem any more convenient than a car, and is often noticeably less convenient. I suppose it's more convenient than the buses around here. But I've really never taken them, so claiming convenience just doesn't ring true to the way I roll so to speak.

InTheRain

I have noticed that you can get nearly every piece of a bicycle in carbon... however, I have not come across the carbon ass.

InTheRain

Many of the comments in this thread have to do with fitness. And many of those comments have to do with exercise... not commuting, per se. If commuting is your exercise, I understand that. For me, commuting is getting to work and back - I don't intend it to be a workout. Most of my commutes are on an ebike. Even the ones that are on my road bike are not done with an intensity that has fitness in mind. I really don't want to arrive at work as a soaking bucket of sweat (no showers available.)

tclune

For me, commuting is getting where I need to go in my daily routine. That includes going to work, grocery shopping, to the recycling center, etc. While I cycle to my retirement job, it just doesn't seem like a unique activity to me.

tarwheel 

All of the above, and the benefits to me are hard to rank. They are all important -- fun, fitness, environmental benefits, cost savings, avoiding driving in traffic.