I started bike commuting again about a year-and-a-half ago. I got back to it for three reasons: 1) I needed to slow down in general and on my bike in particular. I felt like I was flying through life without seeing things and bike commuting was a way to dial things back and look around. 2) There were too many times when I would go 2 or 3 weeks between rides, so I was always kind of falling out of shape and having to catch up. 3) I had started tinking with older bikes and was developing a stable that I wanted to ride regularly (my commuter is a baby blue powdercoated 1991 Stumpjumper, with only the seatpost and seatpost binder remaining from the original bike, with Soma Sparrow bars, platform pedals, dynohub with front and rear lights, rack, etc., etc.). It's been great.

So, I've ridden much more since I started bike commuting again, mixing in road rides with my go fast and my tourer, singletrack with various MTBs and my fatbike, and winter riding with the fattie. My fitness is good, but not topflight, and I haven't had the time to put in a lot of road miles. I have a January cycling event coming up, however, so a few weeks ago I decided to lengthen my commute and go harder (from about a 12.5 mph average to 17.5 or so). I miss the easy cruising, but this is really helping. I'm curious how many of you occasionally use commuting as a way of ramping up the fitness before a race.