recumelectric

In the the postings I've been a part of, the issue of modeling bicycle commuting for others has come up a few times. I've been thinking that it's helpful to see "legitimate people" (not just alcoholics and homeless, as I read in one post) making the choice to ride a bike to work.

It occured to me that my card-carrying Republican dad was an influence. He rode his bike to work in rural Texas 3 days a week back in the seventies. As he tells it, some of the "ladies" in the community took issue with a "professional" riding his bike to work. They felt that it wasn't proper because it made it seem like he didn't have enough money for a car.

He'd just laugh and say that he had 2 cars in the driveway--one for fishing and one for the wife. Then he would briefly explain that there are numerous benefits to bicycling, including health and saving a few bucks in the wallet.

Best part is that he rode an old, beat up boys bike with a rusty chain and a banana seat! My cousin left it at our house, and my dad said, "Hey, now that's a good way to get around!"

So who modeled it for you? Tell your tales.

devianb

There is no model for me since my choice to commute is due to economic reasons. If I had to pick an isolated example it would be my 5th grade teacher Mr. Irish. He would ride his roadie to school when it was nice out.

recumelectric

You just reminded me that I had a couple of professors who did it, too. One of them literally rode 4-5 miles for an appendectomy. (But his wife had to pick him up after surgery.)

77midget

Not sure, really. I used to work with a couple guys who would ride in every once in a while, but it was when they went on morning road rides. I did have a guy in my neighborhood growing up (in the 80s) that would ride his upright 3spd to the T station (Boston's subway).

I have always liked biking, but have not always done it. My primary motivator was the ledge that formed over my belt. I think that, now having done it, the feeling of being independent from your car for your commute needs is very liberating, and has opened my eyes to other areas where I can just ride my bike.

d2create

No one. I just didn't want to have to wait till the weekends to ride my bike.

Rosie8

My father used to commute around the base (Air Force) on an old 3 speed. I have fond memories of my sister, my dad and I riding to do errands, etc. My sister sat in the basket in front, I was a passenger on the back rack. No helmets in those days, but the traffic was much slower and sparse compared to now. He also rode a motorcycle in his youth but eventually switched to a pickup.

AdrianFly

Pee Wee Herman. Of course, the 40 year old virgin inspired me to wear a helmet.

Inspiration hits when we least expect it.

jakedaniel

My dad roda a cheapo bike to work at the Plant 5 or 6 miles each way from the time I was 10 till I left home at 17 and a few years after that. It used to be a lot shorter but they stopped letting him ride through and started making him ride around. He's a chemical engineer and could have driven whatever he wanted to but he rode the bike. Said he had better things to spend the money on like raising 6 kids.

Oh yeah, this was in Baytown TX, at the ExxonMobil plant. Just east of Houston.

nemo

No model I was ata point in my life where i was misearable for a variety of reasons. I sat down and did a lot of soul searching you know 'when was the last time you were truly happy' what were you doing' and so on. stuff you read in self help books. I thought back to the days before i was old enough to drive and all the enjoyment I derived from the simple pleasure of a bicycle. it was all downhill from then! I drove to mom and dad's that very night and resurrected my old 10 speed and began riding everywhere. found a kids trailer at a yard sale for 30 bucks so i could even go to the store and do laundry. some days i mis it, but would NOT trade my kids for ANYTHING! so i guess i was car free when it was uncool. i was green before anyone knew what green meant. LOL I should have patented it! then cable companies would have to pay me

crhilton

Didn't get modeled here. I bought a bike, after recreational cycling was modelled to me by my brother. I fell in love with said bike and wanted to spend every waking moment on it. It took about a month to realize "I could go to work on it." After that it was all about "how can I dump that hunk of junk in the driveway and commute on my bike year round?"

crhilton

I could see how they might not be big fans of bike commuting, but I'm guessing they mostly just don't care.

nashcommguy

Related the story on another thread of being on the bus in Chicago in the winter. A guy goes by on a bike w/a big smile on his face and it was bout -5 w/t windchill. That weekend I got an old bike from some friends I was helping move. Fixed it up as best I could and have been a cycle-commuter ever since. Came up w/my own approach to 'gear'.

Used to line my tires w/old, worn out tubes to help prevent flats. Even went so far as to try smaller tires inside of bigger ones. Used old 27x1" inside of 27x1 1/4, but could never get the beads to stay inside the bigger tires, so I gave up. Never thought about just trimming the beads off and using the rest of the tire or even hard tire liners like Spinskinz(I don't think they'd been invented, yet), though I DID try some old garden hose, but that didn't work either. Just kept getting 'pinch flats'. And it made the bike VERY slow for the 5 mins they DID work. Of course Mr Tuffys were around, but as I didn't frequent lbs'(still don't) I'd never heard of them.

But, I digress. The unknown cycle commuter w/t big smile and riding a single speed Murray, Schwinn or something like that down Western Ave in Chicago w/bright red mittens, a copper colored scarf and a baseball hat was my model.

flyingcadet

My parents made just enough money while I was in Highschool that we got by comfortably, but they couldn't afford to get me a car when I turned 16. I got a part time job during the summer and bought a cheapo K-mart bike. After spending about $108 on it, I treated that thing like it was gold and took really good care of it. Even with all the TLC, it died after a year. By the time it died, I had saved enough that I could buya Jamis mountain comfort from the LBS. Used it almost every day for the next three years without doing any maintanence on it. Then I moved to College and stopped riding to get around.

I got into recreation road riding after Hurricane Dennis. During the hurricane, I was a refugee in Jacksonville, FL, and the only things that I could do was swim and watch TV. Luckily for me, the only thing that was decent on TV was the TDF. "I can't run, but I can ride!" My model for Commuting was a guy calling himself Commuterdude at bikejournal.com. After I started to date my ex last august, we both wanted to move in together, but to that required for us to move 2.5 miles off-campus since coeds can live together on campus. At that point, it was either "Live seperately" with a car or live together without a car. Because of roomate issues, we chose the latter. After 4-5 months of commuting 5 miles total almost every day, my legs were chizzeled, but the relationship fell apart because we weren't a good match.

I've been Hooked on Commuting ever since. People can not believe how big my sense of independance has gotten since I started commuting 10 miles one way for classes (I moved home after the breakup).

Forgot to mention that I just bought a new rig just for commuting, a Marin Navato. Its an 07 model, but will do me just fine (yes, I'll have pics up after I get it from the shop )

girljen

The first bike commuter I knew was Mr. Serious Roadie, one of my coworkers. He used to ride his bike (from the next county over!) when he would work in the communications center, but never when he worked his regular shift on the ambulance. I thought only serious roadies bike commuted.

Then my brother started bike commuting the three miles to the station I used to walk to. It took almost a year of me making excuses for him to finally get me on a bike. I'll never go back!

As for my brother, he now lives nine miles from work and is totally car-free. If he can be that hardcore all the time, I can ride to work in the cold, the rain, or through my own laziness.

aMull

No one, i've just liked bikes since i was a kid. I like cars too but only on a racetrack.

coldfeet

The main influence that got me started was this 30 lb stranger that started hanging around my waistline. He's pretty much gone now.

virre

Well, I used to live where there was almost no way of commuting on weekends (as I don't have a driver license, cars was never an option), so I got a bike. But then I wasn't exactly commuting, but now adays I am, and there is two guys that are reasonbale for me bikeing, one is a online friend on IRC that lossed serious weight by his bicycleing (I did drop quite much weight this winter, but that was due to martial arts practice, as I hand't started bikeing yet) and the second guy was also the person how was quite instrumental in makeing me much more intrested in a bike as general means of transportation...

This guy https://rosnix.net/~per

(I don't have a recumbant, but that would be cool, but I really want a foldebale bike, that would be nice. For the times, when I do go with train to places)

CommuterRun

Right on. Your Dad sounds pretty cool.

I haven't been riding continuously since then, but I guess my parents modeled it for me if you go far enough back. I'm the oldest child and from when I was about five on, I don't remember ever not having at least one bike for each family member, all Schwinn. Back in the '60's Schwinn was de rigueur for a quality bicycle. My parents knew the dealer on a first name basis. Every few years we would all load up and go buy new bikes. Everybody got their choice of what the dealer had in stock, and as I recall he had a pretty good selection.

I think it was in the late '70's we switched from Schwinn to Peugeot. I don't remember why. But that was about the time us kids were getting older and we were moving to higher level road bikes.

My parents encouraged us all to ride, but I think I rode more than my siblings. We also did touring/bike camping around the county and surrounding counties. As a family and with larger groups.

Sirrus Rider

No model per se. I figured out that I had just the right support facilities at work then I planned the route and guesstimated my start time.

Artkansas 

I'd have to say it was my older brother who died at age 8. When I saw him riding down the sidewalk and around the corner out of sight, I knew I had to get a bicycle of my own. The only way I was able to come along, was by pushing his bike, with him astride the saddle. I had to run.

I got my own bike for my birthday about the time he contracted cancer. Back then, people would draw back in cases of such disease, death or divorce. So I lost my friends and had to start over again. My bicycle became my steed, it carried me beyond the area of my brother's and my old friends so that I was able to find new ones in new places.

By 2nd grade I had persuaded them to let me ride to school. Pretty soon after that, I had gone way beyond the limits they set for me to ride. We moved a lot, so the bicycle became my way of checking out the new locations. I always rode my bike while looking for jobs as a teen, so riding to the job was a natural extension. By the time I moved from my Dad's house, I still hadn't bought a car, so I became car-free by default.

o-dog

I got into commuting by myself but if there was a model I'd have to say it's my old roommate, who was the first person I saw really using his bike to get from point A to point B on a regular basis.

genec

Early in my life there was no model... I rode the moment I got a bike. I rode to school often when I was young. My cycling took a short break when I got a driver's license. But soon after I met a young lady that was a cyclist... she introduced me to cycling groups such as the Wheelmen and AYH and Knickerbikers... I gave up my motorcycle for a bike and never looked back. I went car free after that for about 7 years.

The desire to bike was always there... and just needed to be kicked into high gear from time to time.

thebarerider

I was doing a lot of running a few years ago and got to the point where I wanted to run to do all my errands around town. I asked my uncle if he had ever run to get around and he said he used to run to the post office, but no where else (he was an avid runner for a while but no more). When I bought a bike to do some cross training, it naturally developed from there. Cycling instantly became more fun to me because of how much farther I could go. It helped that it was easier on my body as well.

cod.peace

The one and only Jake von Slatt, a dedicated bike commuter:

no motor?

For me, it was seeing someone stopping in a park for a rest stop while riding back to Madison from Milwaukee. I was on my motorcycle, and the guy rode up and we got to talking. I've done my share of long distance riding on my motorcycle and am used to people asking "you rode that far" when I told them where I was from and this time it was my turn to ask the question. Later I got to thinking I could loose my gut if I started bicycling again, and did.