The Scotsman

I enjoy getting home an hour earlier than being on Public transport and being able to eat some of the nice things that push the weight up and know that i can compensate for it!

AdamDZ

My commute isn't always fun if the weather is bad, but it still gives me great satisfaction... even if it was not much fun. So it's not always about fun for me, but about being independent from the mass transit problems and traffic, being free to stop or detour at will, feeling well, and yeah, heck... riding a bike itself is fun, whether it's commute or something else. On a nice day, almost everything about my commute is fun I'm not stuck on stinky subway, I see the sky and feel wind on my face!

Bud Bent

I had no idea just how fun I'd find commuting by bike to be until I started doing it a year and a half ago. It puts me in a better mood all day long at this horrible excuse for a job.

Leebo

Beer, coffee, and lots o food as fuel, for the ride, and post ride rehydration. Taking in the sights and sounds. Being present.

Titmawz

The fact that I am riding my bike around =) and I love the fact that once I get to work I feel awake and ready for the day.

Jose Mandez

1. Instead of being annoyed by dogs chasing me, use it as an opportunity to see if I can outrun them.
2. Change up the route; sometimes I'll gladly pick a route that adds a mile or two to the trip just to see some different scenery.
3. Driving a car every 7-10 days and realizing how boring it is compared to riding a bike. Especially my legs...they feel like they should be doing something more...
4. Enjoying the scenery...you can see for miles here in South Texas, and somehow not being in the shell of metal, plastic, and steel makes me feel closer to this world that God has made.
5. Easily fixing something that's gone wrong with my bike within 5-10 minutes, and realizing that if my car broke down, it would most likely cost me a couple hundred bucks and a couple of days with my car at a shop.
6. Getting to know all of the less-trafficked routes to get me to where I'm going. This also helps me out whenever I do drive a car, because I can resort to these routes whenever all the main roads are flooded with traffic.
7. Trying to keep up with traffic (in congested urban areas).

urban rider

traffic, looking at the increase in gas prices and not needing coffee when I get to the office. Oh yeah, beating my co-workers to work on snow days and not having my bike stolen or damaged because I did not use the company parking lot.

cyclezealot

Just viewing all those cagers stuck in traffic as I move along.

downtube42

Having a parking space by the door
Riding my unicycle occasionally
Riding my tallbike occasionally
Taking the long way home
Looking forward to a leisurely ride during lunch

midschool22

What keeps it fun aside from the ride itself?...

Getting in shape while cagers get BENT out of shape...

Seeing the looks on the cagers faces when their car don't start in the winter or when they have to scrape their windows...

Parking right up front and then watching the vultures circle the lot several times to keep from walking the few extra feet...

Enjoying the silence of a midnight night with no one around with only the sound of the wheels on the road...

Pausing at the gas station to see the high cost of gas and then ride away...

Knowing if I have a breakdown that I can fix it within minutes while cagers call for help...

Having several different choices of bikes to ride over the same car everyday...

boro

dodging piles of vomit. never know where it's gonna be!

juliansparrow

I love photography. I'm not what you will call an artist in the medium but I love it- preferring 35mm film over digital but sometimes all I have is my rather capable phone. So, when I'm commuting I allow enough time to capture a shot or two if I see something which strikes me in the moment. I'm always on the look out for some temporary street art (others call it graffiti) to capture and study later on.

At night I enjoy looking at the stars and do so when it's safe enough. Often I look for the Orion constellation during the seasons he's out- I'm particularly awestruck when he's low of the horizon and takes up most of the sky in October where I live. In a chaotic time in my life the only constants were my bike and Orion, so even when I didn't know where I might lay my head that night I knew I had Orion and my bike as companions. It's a bond which persists today.

Another thing I do is look for something different along my route each day. So far I've found at least one new thing to marvel about each time. I'm lucky in that sense.

tsl

I mix up my route so it doesn't become rote.

In the three seasons last year I used variations of four different routes, trying to not use the same route twice on the same day or twice in a row. There was long and flat, medium and hilly, short through residential streets, and slice-and-dice through the thick of downtown. This coming year I want to add something that takes a long loop to the lakeshore.

In winter, due to plowing, or more precisely, the absence of it, I'm down to two choices--the short residential and the slice-and-dice. In particular, I miss the hilly route with its cobbled climbs through the cemetery.

Jim from Boston

For my 14 mile commute I too have four different routes with variations, all of a similar length with the last four miles the same for all. (This is the basic commute, which I expand in the summer). They are different enough that I describe them as gritty (but safe urban), pleasant urban, pleasant suburban and ritzy suburban. Nonetheless, after twenty plus years they are rote, but still nice routes, pleasant and satisfying to ride with many of the good feelings as described in preceding posts. I guess for me, a “fun” ride is a novel ride in a new area.

I have noticed that when I happen to drive a usual route, I notice new things even after all the years cycling. I have tried to keep my head up more to note new things on the bike to make the route novel, but I find I have to concentrate more on the immediate road surface than I do in a car. On occasion for fun, I am accompanied by an imaginary friend from a different part of the country (a real subscriber to BF who rides like me and whose posts I find entertaining) and I show him in my mind the sights along my route.

Still the one thing that keeps my mind occupied, and I find even focused on the ride is to listen to talk shows. Even at my primarily mentally-strenuous work, a radio keep me going. It may sound mundane but it works for me and has kept me cycle-commuting and century training for years, even having fun while doing it. When I chat with cagers about their commutes I always ask what they listen to, since I figure that is the only fun they have, and I have such similar fun plus more on my commute.

Babylon

The look on my co-workers faces when they say that I am completly mad for riding in all weathers.
The fact that I am riding in all weathers (I like riding in the rain).
The fact that I am getting fit by going to work.
The time to unwind and relax before getting home, and knowing that I can ride at a leisurely pace there is no rush to get anywhere (my wife understands this).

I'm sure there are alot more things that make the ride fun.

elvez

+1 on being in the present.
Switching to pannys after 18 years of backpacks.
Looking down at hot chicks in their cars at stop lights.

sulr

What keeps my commute fun?

Riding my bicycle. There is no better way to commute. I save money by not having a car, it is a form of intensive exercise, and it is easy to find parking in limited city space. I am very fortunate to be able to commute by bicycle.

Jim from Boston

100+ to that, and me too, especially since I have great routes and facilities at my destination, and commuter rail back-up.

An interesting thread might be or (have been already), "Who has the best commute?".

akohekohe

To answers the OP's question: the alternative.

Keith K

San Diego weather.......and a cold beer at Busters after a long day at work

https://www.bustersnationalcity.com/

av8soulfly

This time of year, the funnest part of my commute is the cool shower after I finish riding. Seriously.
(highs today in the mid 80's Los Angeles)

L.L. Zamenhof

Seeing my reflection during or after my commute. I love how messed up my hair gets.

kegoguinness

Now that I commute largely on a busy road with a designated bike lane, I get a thrill out of how close the cars pass and how I have to be "on my game" in terms of balance and basic bike maintenance. I cannot afford to screw up and somehow that thrills me.

I also love riding in cold weather. It's so bracing and refreshing. I stop at a red light and my breath is steam, my heart pounding, feet on the ground--it's cliche but I feel alive and connected to the world. Motorists never seem to give me any grief. I think they're in awe and in awww (awww, poor bast*rd. Good thing he wears a helmet).