When I started bike commuting about a dozen years ago, I never gave much thought to what it would be like now, many years later. Now, because I've had this bike commuting habit for so long, it's the normal thing for me to do.

Not only is it my preferred way to get around, it makes trips fun. Going somewhere on my bike, like to work, to the store, or to other commitments gives me an excuse to get out on my bike. In fact, I put in enough miles that way that it actually feels funny just to go out riding without any specific destination, other than back home again.

Not only that, but when I see other cyclists who are out riding together, I realize I've been riding alone all this time. I didn't choose it that way, but that's just the way it worked out day after cycling day. Am I in a "rut?" If I am, it's a comfortable one, but I admit I wonder if there are very many others in the same boat.

Are you, or is anyone else you know, primarily a solitary bicycle commuter of many years? Are you so hopelessly addicted that you can't imagine your life without bicycle commuting? Do you plan activities so that you can include a bike ride? Are you ever late somewhere because you wanted to ride, even though you could have driven? Have you ever gotten off early from work to get in a bike ride before an appointment? Been to the doctor's in sweaty clothes? Suffered uncomfortable weather so that you could ride, and you'd do it again in a hearbeat? Give people a confused look when they ask you, "Are you going to ride today?" Ridden a junk bike because that's all you had at the moment? Built a "Frankenbike" when your preferred ride was broken down and you didn't have the cash to fix it, just to feed your addiction? Stayed up way too late at night fixing your bike so you could ride tomorrow, or to put on a new part that took longer than you thought it would take?

To what lengths have you gone to ride when obstacles got in your way?