When the women I work around (co-workers or mother's of students) are impressed by me riding, the last thing I want to do is complain about it. I usually do only 8 miles one way, but that is still between 25-40 minutes (lights and wind) each way. That's far better than nothing, and 12 is even better. So learn to enjoy impressing people, you can always answer back that you know you're awesome already.

I have to comment on this. Where i'm at right now (not Wa) i'm commuting 5-8 miles per day. Thats not a big distance, but morning temps are about 95, evening temps around the same, and it's peaked at 115 during the day. And it's still cool out compared to what it'll be in a couple months. Temperature doesn't have to be a stopper as long as you're prepared for it.

Commence *****s.

Cycling is hard work for those just starting out and 12 miles is far to those who don't cycle. In fact it sounds nuts to them. I commute 25 miles total (13.5 one way 11.7 the other) and I can only as of now do three out of five days. I am still building up my strength. I also have a lot of hills, lots of hills!

True. Temperature doesn't have to be a stopper. But for me, it is. If I'm riding in 95°F I have to go much slower than when it's, say, 70°F. I wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much and it would take longer. And I'd be sweatier and stinkier. I'm not willing to allow the extra time it would take or the extra preparation. That's just me, but I will not commute in temperatures over 90°F.


I see what you mean. To people who don't ride more than simply going around the block on occasion, any kind of distance that's measured in miles (or km) sounds nuts to them.

haha I live near Memphis with 80° nights and 100° days and near 100% humidity, but I still commute 31 miles round trip.

When I was first on BF I wanted to bike commute, but didn't think it was possible because of a number of reasons (too far, takes too long, out of shape, hills, etc etc). But then I decided to make it work. At first only 2 days a week. I leave the house at 6 AM and can get home usually before 6 PM. So I'm still seeing my son almost as much in the evenings, only about 30 minutes less than when I take the car.

When I started out I split my commutes up between days and leave the car at the office overnight. I did Tu/Th night commutes and Wed/Fri morning commutes, since my wife was teaching Zumba on Mon/Wed evenings at the time. But splitting up the commutes meant I had to put the bike rack on the car for 4 days out of the week, which sucked. I hate my bike rack. Plus I got a rack and trunk bag, so I can carry my clothes to work for that day instead of trying to bring them in the day before. So I started commuting Tu/Th doing the whole commute each day, and leaving the car at home. It's so much easier now.

Then my wife stopped her Zumba classes, so now I commute up to 3 days a week, Mon/Tu/Th, and only drive the car Wed/Fri. It's been great for me as I usually don't have time for longer rides on weekends.

I definitely wish I lived closer to work. If I were 8 miles or less away from the office, I would probably bike commute every single day. But I don't see that happening anytime soon due to other circumstances.

Oh yeah, this one time I showed up at my LBS *gasp* on my bike! And some chick driving the Red Bull car around was there was amazed that I had ridden only about 2 miles from my house. Some people just have this idea that cycling is the hardest thing ever, I guess.

To be fair, though, my LBS is located on two large 5-lane suburban arterials (one 40 MPH and the other 55 MPH), probably two of the most bike UNfriendly roads you could possibly think of. But I ride my bike there anyway. :)

I've been doing a similar commute for a couple of years now: 10+ miles each way, depending on my route; I try to get at least 12.5 miles in the morning. I can handle it 4 days a week in the cooler months (I never commute Fridays because of the traffic at 5) but often have to limit to 3 during the summer. It's still hard work, or at least it is for the ride home uphill into the wind.

There are some bike shops in New Jersey on what I call shopping highways. There is no safe way to reach them by bike whatsoever. I understand it's a business decision, because being visible to the public is key, but it rubs me the wrong way. Mostly, I think highways of that design are defective.

Someone in another unit asked a co-worker if I had gotten a DUI. They just laughed and said no, he's just weird that way and likes to ride his bike.

Makes you appreciate bike shops that are set up on/near bike paths.

The thing is, it seems so until you try it… then it doesn't seem far. My commute (that link is most of it) has a couple of decent hills too and my bike is heavy (with me on it, there's about 130kg I'm pushing up hills).

For me, 30km+ is far-ish, I'd plan an itinerary for where I'm going and what time I roughly plan to be there, but otherwise I don't give it a lot of thought.

Last Saturday I did 60km, from my home at The Gap up to Virginia, did a loop through Geebung, Zillmere, Boondall, then back home. That's a long-distance run for me. I've also done day trips up to ~80km. I'm yet to do 100km in a day, or do a bicycle trip that lasts more than a day.

I'm doing it. Today. Driving a car sucks. And I've driven all week so far. So, even though it's supposed to be around 100°F when I ride home this evening, 5:00pm Pacific Time, I'm riding. Hopefully the vortex around me will keep me somewhat cool.

Oh, and this morning when I arrived, two ladies were in the office. "I'm proud of you!" and "Way to go!" is what they said to me. I still think it's crazy that a simple bicycle ride to work is enough to garner praise. Nobody's proud of me when I drive. Haha!

Did any of them give you a biscuit or some other treat as a reward? :rolleyes:

No. But that would encourage me to ride more. Perhaps a nice, freshly made batch of biscuits and gravy?

Not really. There are no bike paths in my town and I'm rarely on the ones up in Memphis. The 40 MPH arterial "stroad" isn't so bad to deal with. It's the 2-lane portion of that road that I have to use to get there that sucks. There's a project underway now to widen that 2-lane portion to 4 lanes, which will make it much easier to use my bike on that road to get to the LBS, as cars will always have a lane to pass me.

The 55 MPH "stroad" has a paved shoulder (state controlled highway, no sidewalks allowed from what I understand), but fortunately I almost never have to ride on that road. I can find ways around it in most places.