I've yet to commute this year. I've commuted in three different years due to schedule. Each time I usually drive to about 10 miles away and do that a few times then keep backing up.

For some reason leading up to my first commute I get very nervous. Not sure why. I'm not nervous about much of anything normally. Unless the weather is just nasty I plan on this next Monday being my first one. Friday I'll take in all my clothing and this and that so all I'll need to do is ride.

Still, I get nervous. Can't figure it out.

Relax. It's just like riding a bike.

It's perfectly normal to be a bit nervous about certain things, and a first few commutes could be one.

What in particular makes you nervous?

I know that feeling and, for me, it has a lot to do with an uneasiness about suddenly reappearing on the road after being absent so many months. When you're commuting every day in a medium-sized suburban town such as mine, you get to know many of the drivers along your route and they get used to seeing you there. The night before my first commute, I often toss and turn in bed wondering if that person who has been cutting his turns really close to the curb all winter is going to see me coming around the corner, or if the teenage girl who had just started driving when I last commuted has now gotten cocky enough to be taking selfies when she's approaching a STOP sign. And as an "older" commuter (55), I'll admit that I am always concerned that this might be the year I just can't recover from a winter of sitting on my ass in front of a computer all day every day.

I think the little bit of edginess you feel might actually contribute to your safety during those first few days you're getting reacquainted with the road and the road is getting reacquainted with you. Don't sweat it.

I've heard that before. I also get nervous before riding those things.

Nothing, in particular, is making me nervous, actually. I'm a preparer, and when I have an "event" I prepare the heck out of it, then when it starts I relax and let life happen regardless of the outcome. The desire to make it all go well is most likely the issue.

I'm ready, blah blah and more blah. It will go ok.

All good points. I know my route. I can do a version of it and not be on the road except for crossings if I want.

I think part of it may be what you mentioned and that I'm of the habit of riding my bike. Commute or otherwise. All Winter NOT riding my bike.

I've compensated by buying bike related things. Ahh.... there I go!

For me, having something new on the bike at the beginning of the season can take the focus off the underlying stress of the first few commutes. Last year, I got some new super-bright "day lights." The year before, I think it was a cool new mp3 speaker, or maybe the Topeak bag. Whatever, those kinds of things can be a good distraction. And before y'all start jumping down my throat with comebacks like "You should NEVER be distracted on a bike," I mean "distraction" in a good sense. Like something to focus on the night before.

Understood on the distraction! For those that would mention it, they are just looking for something to jump down peoples throats about.

I just went outside and put my Topeak bag on my rack to admire it. Tomorrow after work I'll load it up with my standard commute set to see how it acts.

Oh, so you finally received it? Congratulations!

No I put the one I can't return on it. I can use it but it just can unzip to expand. Since there is no way to return it, I'll use it until I get the new one. Only downside is it can't unzip to get the extra room.

Oh, that's right. They told you to keep it. Perhaps you can have a new zipper installed and try to get a few bucks for it.

Anyway, it's a pretty big bag, even without expanding. Unless you do overnight trips, which I do, you may never even need to expand it.

I do occasional overnight trips as well. For those I have a Burley Travoy.

LOL I cant beleive what I just read!

I've worked at home for a long time now, but when I used to bike commute in addition to weekend biking, when winter hit I stopped biking. Then, usually in March or so, the weather would be good enough to start up again, I'd do the bike maintenance thing - but I'd always do a "shake down" ride on a local trail loop around BWI airport just to make sure everything worked and if I was going to do something stupid I wouldn't be doing it on the road with cars and trucks.

These days, with climate change, in the Baltimore/Washington area we haven't had a real winter in over 5 years - I'm able to get at least 2 rides a month (usually more) in over Dec/Jan/Feb but I still have that habit - it paid off once when a seat clamp bolt busted on a bump and my seat clattered down the trail on its own.... A bit easier biking back standing up the entire time while on the bike trail than on Rt. 108 here!

I totally get it. Back when I'd drive to work in the winter, the first bike-commute of spring always made me anxious. I started riding year-round and the spring nerves were no longer an issue, but then it was the first snow that made me nervous. There's always something to overthink and worry about.

I found that the best way to get past the first bike-commute of the season is cherry-pick a warm and sunny day to really enjoy the ride.

BTW - for the last 3 years I've worked at a home office, so now I have to find new things to overthink.

Never heard of it, but it sounds delicious.

You sound like a person who tends to overthink things. It’s just a bike ride. Go ride your bike around the neighborhood. Get it out of your system. It’s not like you are about to go into battle.

It could be simple anticipation, neither positive nor negative.

What's the issue with it?

I've missed some opportunities to get out for a ride this Winter. Usually we always have patches of ice under a bit of moisture remaining and I'm reluctant to find them. Gravity REALLY likes to *****-slap me when it comes to things like that.

Mostly I've been babying this leg/calf issue but if it continues to go well I'll bike well into late Fall and turn my hybrid into a Winter bike for small outings.

I'm an over-thinker, for sure. As I mentioned I do that and then when "whatever" arrives I just react and go. Another thing I find helps is to just set a date and do it, and I've done that with this coming Monday. Unless the skies open and it's just terrible, I'll do a 10 mile in, 10 mile back commute. That means I'll drive part way there but that helps get my legs in shape and go consistently rather than do the full thing and be too dead to do it again.

When I first got the idea that I could ride my bike to the station, about 18 years ago if I remember it correctly, it seemed a pretty radical idea. When I proposed it to my wife, she did not focus on the fact that this would mean we would no longer have to coordinate who's using the car every day, how the kids are getting to daycare, and all that; her concern was my safety. And I shared her concern. She insisted I call her when I got to the station (!).

We got over it.

I mean, my first commute of the year was on January 2, and it was no more stressful than any other. Effin' cold, but not stressful. Do something often enough, it gets to be perfectly normal.

Cool thing I got a bunch of years ago when I started to commute and also wanted to bike camp. Golf cart looking thing.

Yes, I certainly do. I've ridden around the neighborhood but the first commute gets to me.

This nature lends very well to my job, and generally those around me in my personal life don't know things like this make me nervous and would actually be quite shocked, but it's there anyway.