I've ridden my upright Dutch-inspired utility bike the 15.5 miles home from work a couple of times, and rode it the whole round trip once. It takes forever.

Well said!

All our commutes are different. Mine is 12 miles with few stoplights and a 800 ft climb coming home. I have an upright cross bike with clip / platform pedals and wider tires, but I much prefer the road bike.

This thread just reinforces the idea of different strokes for different folks. I like being able to carry stuff, so I don't ride my race-ready bike to work often, but when I do I have a lot of fun.

Riding my roadie would have been a lot more fun if it weren't for the messenger bag.

Exactly. I have to plan to be able to commute without carrying anything.

I just use a kids backpack (Columbia NeoSho) which works fine on a road bike. I'm not hip enough for a messenger bag.

Just ask my kids how hip I am.

I'm a backpack commuter anyway, so my choice of bike doesn't have any consequences in that respect. Even my commuter bike isn't 100% dedicated to commuting - it's my backup race bike during cyclocross season. So I'm accustomed to switching it up between 2-3 bikes, and I really like riding my road bike. I have a 7-8 mile commute, depending on route, and a fair amount of climbing no matter which way I go. So I find it much more pleasant on a road bike than anything else. I did just plot out a route that should considerably reduce the climbing I need to do, so I'm going to check it out, and who knows.

Also, I'll just note that while I prefer riding my road bike, speed doesn't have much to do with it. My current typical route has a lot of crossings and lights, so it's not very fast no matter I ride. But the climbing is much more pleasant on a road bike, and it's just more fun on a road bike.

So, just to be contrary to what I've already said, yesterday I biked in on my regular commuter bike and shaved 10 minutes off my ride. It has always taken an hour on either road bike or mtb or whatever bike I'm on. I did it in 50 minutes, door to door. How did I do that? Well, I made an amazing number of traffic lights. In Brooklyn I stopped at 3 over a 5+ mile span. There must be about 30 lights between my house and the bridge and I only stopped at 3. Usually I stop at at least half, if not more. In fact, there are 5 lights between my house and Prospect Park, and usually I stop at ALL of them. Yesterday they were all green. Same thing at the other side of the park, where I only stopped at the three of them. I took it easy over the Manhattan Bridge with its uphill climb, and in Manhattan I also seemed to make all the lights up until I was on 1st Ave. 1st Ave has the lights staggered to keep traffic flowing at 25mph, so eventually you always have to stop. But even then I seemed to stop at fewer than usual.

Just good karma. Tomorrow it'll be bad again.

I'd rather ride my hybrid with the backpack packed on the rack, than a road bike with backpack on my back.

Road bike all this week. Shaved minutes off the commute, fun, fast... the old workhorse MTB is collecting dust.

I use the other (non road) bike only when necessary. I rode it yesterday because it was raining all day and I wanted fenders. It's nowhere near as pleasant to ride.

I don't understand why so many people agree with this, but no one liked my aero handlebar nose-box for roadbikes.

My trunk bag is on the rack whichever bike I ride.

I can only try to guess why.

Could be that weight on the bars is not that nice - hampers steering somewhat. Touring bikes have geometry made so they can more easily carry weight even on the front, road bikes not so much.

I've always commuted on a road bike. Over the years I've graduated from old steel to carbon fiber with endurance geometry. Looking at a Ti road frame as well...if the price is right I'll build that next. It's really not that big of a deal, ditch the messenger bag though and get a decent lightweight day pack. I've been using a Marmot Ultra Kompressor for the better part of 6 years; that backpack replaced racked panniers which themselves were replacements for a messenger bag.

Learn to pack lightly. I typically carry a change of clothes (sometimes including shoes), lunch (a mixed greens and/or kale salad, snacks, a burrito), 1 liter of coffee, cards and keys, a flat kit (spare tube, levers, pump, multi tool), and in the winter a pm kit (Pearl Izumi Barrier Elite jacket and/or Brooks wind/waterproof shell, wool jersey, Craft lined long-legged winter bibs, wool socks, Louis Garneau shoe covers, 2 pairs of gloves, skull cap, balaclava, extra pair of lined synthetic windproof tights). Keep your lock at the rack, find a place at work where you can stash stuff (I stash oil/vinegar dressing, powder gatorade, coffee beans, bean grinder, french press, food I didn't eat from the day before...).

On that last note - if your commutes by mtb vs roadie are the same, then you're not riding hard enough.

That's packing lightly?

Packing lightly is shirt and slacks.

Unfortunately how much you carry is sometimes dictated by the commute and work circumstances.

Yesterday my backpack held my wallet and a yogurt. Using the bag was serious overkill.

Not every day is that light for me though. My client work location changes frequently so every day my load size is different.

Packing lightly is carrying my work ID card, wallet and the little pouch with a spare tube and a pump.

I always keep a couple of changes of clothes at work, and I can just buy lunch if I don't feel like carrying it.

Coffee, food, clothes, keys, and a flat kit. This is bewildering?

I'm not saying it's not necessary items, but your list isn't what I consider packing lightly. Although "lightly" is a subjective term and what you consider the bare minimum is probably different than what I do.

As I mentioned already, my load varies from day to day due to my ever changing work locations. Today I had to bring clothes (underwear, socks, pants, shirt, belt) and my shaving kit. I already had my towel, shoes and food at work. Despite this, I don't consider this a light day even though I was able to easily fit it all into my backpack. Kind of a "medium" day.

Especially compared to Wednesday where my backpack contained exactly one wallet and one yogurt. My work location was close enough to home on that day that I showered there and wore my work clothes while I rode. I probably didn't even need to bring a backpack but I didn't have anywhere else to stick the yogurt.

However, I certainly have my "heavy" days too. There are days where I have to haul my clothes, towel, shaving kit, food and perhaps shoes too. Those days I usually take the bike with panniers as it's a bit much to fit it all in a backpack.

There are even days when I have to haul specialty items that require me to pull a trailer. Thankfully I only have one or two of those days each year.

I rode the Tour de Bronx on Sunday. I've come to realize that the only saddles I'm happy to ride are my leather saddles, so on Saturday night, I moved my Brooks to my Lemond (road racing bike) and rode that on the big ride. Well, it's still there, so the easy thing for me to do this morning (first bike commute day of the week) was to ride the Lemond to work. And it wasn't bad at all. I made my backpack as light as possible. I've grown unaccustomed to skinny tires (I think they're 22mm), and I fear I won't have enough traction, though I don't need to fear it. I had fun. But like Sunday, today is a windy day with the wind shifting direction every few seconds and heavy gusts. It adds a bit of work with a light bike, because side gusts tend to turn the bike, and I have to react quickly.

Nope, it isn't how hard you ride in NYC. While I can do a steady 20+mph on an open road with no problem on my roadie, it just isn't safe to do so riding the bike lane on 1st or 2nd Avenue in Manhattan. And then as I mentioned there are the traffic lights, probably the real limiting factor. Somewhere on this thread I posted how I beat my usual time by about 10 minutes, and that was because I made most of the lights, a very unusual occurrence, and that was on my usual mtb commuter too. Effort wise it was the same as usual.