I lived in San Jose for five years, and would bike commute to the Cisco campus from downtown. I loved that commute, even if I ate it hard once going over the VTA rails on 1st Street and San Carlos. (Fortunately the train was still half a block behind me!)

When I moved to Willow Glen my job site moved to Los Gatos, and I always wanted to bike commute along the Los Gatos trail from our townhouse to LG, but some miscreant stole my bike. I could never afford to replace it, but I would run the trail nearly every day, and even ran home from the office a few times.

Sometimes I really miss SanHo. Perfect pancake-flat bike commuting town. Decent bike lanes, good public transit, and except for a few weeks in December when it pours for days on end, the weather is always good.

I like your bike setup, too. I'm currently commuting on a 2005 Specialized Rockhopper. I've added PlanetBike SpeedEZ fenders, Nashbar LDT rack, and a Nashbar Daytrekker panniers. I'm thinking about getting some bigger panniers though, these lil guys just don't cut it for anything but the most frugal grocery trips.