I'm back to riding every day after spending the winter riding the bus. I had to stop riding because I was getting too pissed off at the a$$hole drivers parking in the bike lane. I was stopping to report at least one each way every single day. I was about to fill my handlebar bag with rocks and start throwing them at cars.

But that bus ride is not great. The traffic is terrible. If you are in Seattle, you know the phrase "Mercer Mess." On a bike I get home faster and I am a slow rider. The 4.5 mile journey was averaging 45 minutes and on some really bad days it was an hour and a half.

I honestly can't imagine sitting in that mess in a car every day.

Do away with all other means of getting to work.

I sold the last car and motorcycle in 1989.

I bike to work and rent cars for weekend getaways which often involve cycling or skating at a distant location, Rail-Trail etc.

Get a full length mirror, strip down, and stand in front of it facing it. If you don't like what you see, you will be motivated (unless you just get depressed). If you like what you see, you will be motivated. For instance, about 7 months ago I quit eating all refined sugar and everything that contains it (that is humanly possible). I was never overweight to my reckoning, but I dropped 15 lbs and got ALL of my abs back. Now, when someone shows up with doughnuts or other temptations at my workplace, I go into the bathroom, fact the mirror, lift my shirt, admire my abs, and don't eat the junk. I keep a supply of whole wheat pita bread on hand in case I positively have to jam something into my mouth. Dry, cold, pita will not cause a grazing spike I assure you.

Diet and exercise. Can't make any headway unless you do both.

New to the forum, born-again biker, reformed runner here. I'm also a schoolteacher, so no commute for me until August. When school starts back, however, I hope to ride to work as much as possible. Daycare logistics will be my main hurdle as we have two children in two different facilities.
I just wanted to chime in and say I am loving this particular thread. It's heartening to hear everyone's experience, particularly the OP's.
Cheers!

I don't really aspire to that kind of physique. I know the limits of my self-discipline and that's well beyond those limits. I'm not sure if I'd actually live longer if I stopped eating pizza and donuts, but I'm certain that it would seem longer. :p

Besides my wife actually complains that I'm getting too skinny when I drop below about 190.

I finally got my commuter bike done up to take my kiddo to daycare (bike seat, big cassette) and it's been hit and miss. Four ago was yay, it all works! Three ago was the call of shame due to a massive pinch flat, two ago he was sort of not into it but we made it and I found a route with less climbing, today we got rained out. I think I'm getting more use out of it than he does.

You could still eat SOME of that stuff if you commuted every day. But setting reasonable goals is certainly a good thing when it comes to fitness.

Gotta keep Wifey happy. In my case, my wife is already a gym rat. When all of my 6-pack magically returned (didn't do ONE sit-up or crunch) she hired a personal trainer to catch up. I am not complaining. :thumb:

Just a footnote for the rest of you (guys only): If you are trying to attract women into a long term relationship, DO NOT get yourself looking like a "Men's Fitness" cover model. Most women are so self-conscious about their bodies to begin with that ripping up only hurts your chances of hooking up long term ESPECIALLY middle age dudes like me. Thankfully I'm covered already.

Keep eating the pizza if your wife digs you as is!

Amen, bro! All my fitness roads lead to a beer and some pizza.

Obviously we all live in different places and have different jobs and our approaches to commuting differ accordingly.

My commute is about 60 miles, which would be a horrendous drive (which doesn't stop a lot of people doing it every day) but for me it's a bit over 6 miles by bike and an hour snoozing on the train.

I don't need inspiration to ride, since I don't have a car. I could get one, and I certainly could borrow my wife's car most days, but driving to the station still wouldn't make much sense. Parking is expensive ($155/month for an unreserved spot, $195 reserved; in contrast, my bike locker costs me $7.50/month) and navigating the garage would eat up most of the time savings anyway.

So... I realize what works for me is just what works for me. But even so, my advice is: make driving more difficult. Sell the car, or park it in the garage behind all the bikes, or park it at work, or... I don't know what works for you, but you get the idea.

One thing that motivates me lately is noticing that I have a better day at work when I ride in. I think all the breathing nourishes my brain.

The exwife is a CPA who weighed more and then less at different times during our marriage. I found her laying on the couch drinking wine one time instead going to the gym for her usual work out. She said she'd done the math, figured the extra time exercising was a wash as far as extending her life and was going to take the easy way out and skip exercising. That was about 20 years ago, and she had a stroke last fall before even reaching 60. The 2 may or may not be related, but why risk it?

I agree with this 100%. That's part of how I convinced myself that I should ride anyway on days when I'm running late in the morning. Given a choice between (a) arriving 15-20 minutes earlier and looking a bit more committed, and (b) arriving 15-20 minutes later and being mentally sharper the rest of the day, I'm pretty sure that the company gets more value out of the latter. Obviously they'd prefer that I show up earlier and also mentally sharp, but they never mention punctuality during my performance reviews. As a salaried worker I'm paid for my productivity, not the time I spend sitting at my desk.

Yeah, long term health is a good motivator if you can focus on it. I'm 56 now and didn't think much about it until about four years ago. I rode for fun, and I was glad about getting the benefit I got but that wasn't what got me on the bike. Now I'm more committed to cycling and other exercise, because I figure it's likely to make a difference in my long term health. Unfortunately, many of us don't think this way until we're of a certain age.

I visited the emergency room (for something that turned out to be minor) three years ago. The medical personnel said I was in unusually good condition. I managed to get to that condition without any time carved out for exercise, just because I enjoy cycling. Now I realize I better not stop.

You have a point, but I think that if I ride the bike regularly I can have both the food I enjoy and the exercise. As they say, "Everything in moderation, including moderation."

This is actually one of the things that got me started biking to work. I had at various times tried the gym routine, and I generally didn't stick with it for more than a few months at any given stretch. Then sometime in 2007 my company was pushing this health program where they'd give us a $25 gift card to meet with a health coach a few times. My health coach told me that the only way anyone succeeds with an exercise program is if they actually enjoy the exercise program.
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Sitting on the couch drinking a beer (I don't like wine) vs. spending 45 minutes on a treadmill is a choice very heavily weighted toward the beer. It requires will power to choose the treadmill. Sitting on the couch drinking a beer vs. going for a bike ride is actually a pretty tough choice. Both are things I'd want to do, but I know that the beer will still be there and will taste better when I get back from the bike ride.

This is key. I hate gyms, and I hate exercise for the sake of exercise. I love cycling, but not because it's good exercise; that's just a side benefit. The same goes with hiking/backpacking.

On a related note, I find it incredibly humorous that people pay good money to cycle indoors, on "bikes" that don't go anywhere. :D

I don't go to a gym, either, but I would enjoy lifting weights at a gym a whole lot more than pedaling inside.

Then again, people are raving about zwift.

I had to google Zwift. Hmmm, okay. It's been 30 years since I've raced, and this seems geared toward racers, so I'm indifferent. Plus, too high-tech for me. And indoors. :D

Patients will ask about exercise programs at times and some get hung up on finding the perfect program and end up with analysis paralysis. I tell them find something you like to do, can do easily and can do without hurting yourself and you'll be better off than most. The ones that do those things are usually healthier and happier, especially when they learn what they can and can't do without hurting themselves.

And after 40 we all have to exercise and watch what we eat to be healthy.

I am currently in the midst of a slap-yourself-on-the-forehead, "duh" moment ... At 43 years old, I've been a runner since middle school, but I've been dealing with aches and pains, stiffness, and roller coaster motivation for the last five or six years. In January, I finally ran myself into a torn meniscus and MCL strain. Thus, by virtue of dumb luck and in need of some outdoor exercise, I found the bike: I've been riding like a thief for the last 2+ weeks with--drumroll--no pain, trading in my grimace for a grin along the way.

Are you a doctor?

I had a full physical around the time I turned 52. My doctor said that guys my age all say one of two things:

1. I'm in good shape, but I'm concerned, so how can I stay that way?

2. I'm in bad shape. How do I get in good shape?

Of course, I said number 1, but I'm just more concerned than I used to be.

[MENTION=462449]Whib[/MENTION], that's really great to hear. Welcome to the sport that many of us have loved all our lives and that a different many of us discovered it later. I've loved to ride since I was four, and I got my first ten speed at age 14 and have hardly taken a break since then.

I've tried to do progressive calisthenics and weight lifting. But after a few months I just get tired of sets and reps. I use biking as a practical form of exercise to get around. And it's fun for me. Looking to add rowing to my plans. I found I prefer activities versus workouts. I still want to keep light workouts to target muscle groups so I don't wind up with imbalances.

I'm a DC, Doctor of Chiropractic.

That realization that things are happening to them instead of the other guy is a rude awakening for all of us. And after seeing so many people who didn't take care of themselves when they were younger I'm motivated to avoid becoming one of them.

Do you remember these BTA T-shirts?

http://www.thestreettrust.org/wp-con...hirtfront.jpeg

^ Hahaha, that's awesome! :D

Speaking of workouts, I do a bit of walking throughout the city, too. It's such a densely populated place that driving short errands is more trouble than anything, so we shop for groceries on foot. Some people use carts, but like many others, my wife and I just buy as much as we can carry in a trip which is rarely more than a half mile. I like my bags to be heavy, and I walk really hard. Also when I take the subway, I might have a heavy bag or two, and I walk up the stairs really hard, two at a time. It uses a burst of energy which doesn't last long but I suspect does some good. We moved back to the city four years ago, and since then I've lost a lot of weight. When I see someone who hasn't seen me in a while, they seem a little shocked to see me. I'm down to my college weight and size. One downside is that just about all of my clothes are much too big on me now.

+1

I find it incredibly humorous that people pay good money to go to a gym!

It's worth it to some people if the fee is what stands between fitness and non-fitness. So far, I'm OK without a gym. There's a free one at my workplace, and I keep meaning to try it.

Gyms are for different things too. Bike don't cover the whole spectrum of physical activity :-) They're just the most fun.

There are things you can do at a gym that address fitness issues that a bike won't. Upper body strength, for example. And there are things you can do at a gym that will improve your bike fitness too, such as flexibility, core strength, and lower body explosive strength.

Only thing I miss at the gym was the spin class I used to take during the winter time. The weather is usually crappy outside and the stationary bikes at the local YMCA had dual SPD/toeclip style pedals. But that was when the wife and I were dual income and no children. Now its single income and one child. So no more YMCA membership. But the cyclecommuting does do the job and it does indeed get me to work! :thumb:

I'm a bit late to the party, but what keeps me motivated is setting a consecutive commute goal.

First, it was to see if I could go a whole month without driving to work. Once I hit that goal, then I set a goal for 50 days. After that it was 100, but on day 98 we had a monster snow storm that stopped me, so I had to start over.

The next time around I successfully hit 100 days, so I went for 150. Once again, a snow storm intervened on day 146.

Determined to hit 150, I started over. After I broke that personal record I just kept upping my goal by 50 days. I'm currently on day 316 and counting.

And by now it's so much a habit that I really don't seriously think about the possibility of driving to work.