I have gotten a lot of comments - most of them just people thinking I'm crazy, not really ridicule. One guy joked that I'm the only person he knows since the 80s that still wears spandex.

You have to understand that to the average inactive, couch potato, riding even 10mi to work sounds like running a marathon every day. A year and a half later now, people are starting to come up to me asking for advice on what kind of bike to get and to help them find a route to get to work. They've seen me lose over 35lbs and realized that I ride to work and don't stink. I have definitely seen that attitude change from "OMG you are crazy" to "That's pretty cool" and in some cases "I wanto to do that!". A few people still say I'm crazy, but they are the people talking about taking blood pressure medicine and cholesterol medication. Who is the crazy one?

Keep it up - the more people see it, the more they realize it can be very "normal".