Today was my first bicycle commute ever. I rode around the lake a few times for exercise before heading in to work. With the lake loop and the commute in to work, I got a total of about 12 miles in. Commuting was different. With most of my riding, I can choose to be where the cars aren't. By commuting I threw myself in there with the cars. They all seemed to see me with my flashy lights and my reflective vests. A few thought that they should pass me a lot closer than I felt comfortable with, but most gave me a wide berth. On the most heavily travelled road that I had to traverse, there was one car that wouldn't change lanes to pass me even though the left lane was completely empty at the time. He forced me onto the shoulder, and once I was on the shoulder the other cars wouldn't let me in so I rode the shoulder longer than I would have liked. Hopefully, my tires won't pay the price. Anyway, I made it in and am looking forward to the trip home.