My goodness this is a long thread!

I commute on an eighteen-year-old Specialized Crossroads that's filthy, covered with crud, saddle falling apart, etc. so it looks like it isn't worth stealing (mostly because it isn't). Been commuting for nearly ten years now; my commute's never been longer than about 2.5 miles, and has been only 1.5 miles each way for the past four years, all but a couple of blocks in bike lanes. I live in SF; live at one end of SOMA and work at the other end. It's literally quicker to bike than to take public transit.

Weather has been absolutely awesome this whole week; sunny, mild, not too much wind (more headwind in the afternoon as is typical for SF). The high points of my commute usually consist of the number of lights I can make without stopping--simple minds, simple pleasures I know!--and the low points generally consist of scrapes with idiot drivers on cell phones who don't realize that those things on their right are vehicles that actually have rights to the road.

Every now and then of course (today included) there's that confused person who doesn't understand that the arrows we have in the bike lanes here are to tell you which direction you're supposed to be riding in.