Proud to say that I am a semi full time commuter now. I rode to work every day this week. 70 miles in total. Wow what a work out. Up until this week I would only ride the odd time. (I was running 5 days a week) Aside from the tired legs I am loving it.

I was even able to talk my wife into commuting on bicycle. She only rode 4 days this week, but that's up from none before.

We are both relative beginners on the bicycle scene. We bought bikes last October but did not ride them very often. I had to go to the doctor about a foot problem and he told me no running for 3 months if I want to be able to run again. Biking was the next logical choice.

Just kind of proud to join the club. (and the money I save in gas gets to go towards my road bike next year)

Welcome to the club and congratulations. At first it can be quite daunting, and different...but at least for me, I've reached the point where the day doesn't feel quite right if I had to drive...like I'm somehow going about this all wrong.

your story sounds a bit similar to mine. i started jogging to lose some weight, and did, but then my knee started aching really bad. so i started riding an exercise bike in the winter and decided in the summer it would be better to ride a real bike outside. i love it. i ride whenever i can, to friends houses, the grocery store, library, etc. i hate driving now, but occasionally i still do, and banzai's is right, the days i have to drive just bum me out. anyway, congratulations to you and your wife! keep up the good work!

Welcome both of you to the Happy Healthy Commuting MotherF*ckers (HHCMF) club! Benefits of membership include envious stares from jealous cow-orkers to lazy to put down their Timbits and Iced Caps and join you in looking and being gorgeous as well as being the objects of lust and affection from the opposite sex. Try not to flaunt your awesomeness too much as you pass SUV driving cagers paying $80 to fill their tanks. It may cause them to flip out and try to crush you w/ their giant gas guzzling behemoths.

Thank you. I will defend the club until my dying breath. I do love it. I really love eating the timbits and not feeling guilty. My (overweight) coworkers look at me in disgust when I brag that I can still lose weight while eating this food. Based on my Garmin 301, I am burning 1000 calories a day riding to and from work. The biggest problem with having one of these is that I am terribly competitive and I am constantly trying to lower my time. I will love seeing the lower time when I get my road bike.

Congrats! 70 miles is an incredible first week. What's your commute? I go from Westboro to downtown; about 10 k each way if I follow the Ottawa River path. What are you riding?

Cheers ...

What a great start! My average week is 70 miles and I feel cheated if I do less.
It's great that your wife is also commuting - I have yet to get my wife out for any type of ride.

I am currently riding a Trek 7100FX. My commute is from Morgans Grant (North Kanata) to Bells Corners. I have to deal with the hill between Moodie and Eagleson everyday.
I do 14km to work (I ride with the wifey to Nortel) and 12km home everyday. I am doing it right at 35minutes to work and 30 minutes home.
I was just talking to the boss about my birthday coming up and how a road bike would be nice. I am thinking about a Giant OCR touring or OCR 1. I can't find any info online about the touring model. I am going to to visit Award cycle and sport, Fresh air experience and bushtuka tomorrow for ideas on pricing.

You'll know you're in trouble when you have to move and purposefully choose a place that's further away from your job, just so you can make sure you get more miles in. I just moved, and I'm now 14 miles away from my workplace. Been riding it for two weeks now, and just now getting adjusted to it.

Excellent! Be sure to check out the Winter Cycling forums since it will be upon us in no time...and winter is no excuse to stop commuting by bike!

Winter is especially fun. You think people find you strange now, wait until winter.
Next month I switch to purchasing cooler weather clothes. Items like poly long johns and wool sweaters.
I can't wait for winter. The trails and roads are even more empty.

Bushtukah has some neat tourers on display -- a Surly LHT, sometimes a Trek 520 as well. As far as I know, though, they don't do Giant. In that area are a couple more -- Cycle Power on the north side of Carling between Kirkwood and Churchill; they are Ottawa's only Felt dealer right now -- and there's always CycleLogic on Richmond next to the MEC if you want something whose name ends in a vowel. Let us know what you end up with.

WTG Canuck. And your wife too! That's impressive.

What the heck is a Timbit? Some sort of crazy northern donut? Does it come free with my HHCMF membership packet?

Welcome to the group!

Okay - is it considered demented to deliberately choose a different route to ADD miles? We just moved our office about 1.5 kilometers closer to our home. That would mean that the direct route would now be 4.5 kilometers - hardly a workout (except that it is verticle...) But, the alternate route is now 9.5 kilometers - pretty nice actually - just feels a little weird to be heading away from home for a bit while I am going home...

I call it the "Shut Up And Ride Diet" as long as I ride, I can eat whatever I want to. Slacker days mean that I have to eat like a girl.

They are called Cow-Orkers. [thanks to Scott Adams of Dilbert Fame]

WTF is a timbit ?

BTW... congrats. And winter is right around the corner. Time to start shopping for studded snow tires

A Timbit is a doughnut hole sold by Tim Horton, a ubiquitous chain in Canada founded by an NHL hockey player. Tim's is embedded in our national consciousness (even though the chain was bought by Wendy's some years ago). If Canadians were wandering for forty years through the Sinai, God would have had Timbits, rather than manna, rain down on us from the heavens.

mmm... donuts

Congrats, I was hoping this would be my first week commuting, but I was talked into doing some mechanic work after my 8-5, so I've had to drive with my car loaded with tools to work this week.

I guess I've already got the commuter mentality... I'm bummed about having to drive my car then having to find a parking place, AND I get irritated that I can't roll up all the way to the stop strip at a redlight, instead I have to sit behind the Nissan Armada of a single parent.

nice! good job on getting your wife out there too!

i also commute with my girlfriend daily... while it does slow me down; it is nice to see have someone else out there with you for some pleasant conversation, it really makes the miles fly by!

Tim Horton's is starting to filter down - we've got them in Maine now!

Congrats, Canuck and Spouse! (Former Massena, NY resident here, not to far from your fair city. CHEZ 106 rocks!)

Great job. You'll need to get accustomed to answering stupid questions from your co-workers, but it's fun now.
"Did you bike in today?" Yes, I bike everyday, remember?
"What do you do when it rains?" I get wet.
"It's so hot (or cold)!" Yes, don't you love it?
"Do you want a ride home?" No thanks, I already have one parked at the rack by the building.
"I need to start riding my bike to work" Yes, {pat co-worker's stomach} you do.

By ubiquitous, he means you can give directions in Canada by saying that whatever location you're interested in is "by the Tim Hortons". For example; you wanna go to the Hockey Hall of Fame? You can't miss it, it's on Front St. right by the Tim Hortons.

I have officially been riding two weeks straight now with the exception of one night. The wifey wanted to go out for ribs and I got off of work late so she picked me up in the truck. I made it up after supper though. Rode another 20km to help work off the ribs.

I went out and looked at the giant OCR1 at fresh air experience and came to the conclusion that I am a freak of nature. I am 6' tall but only have a 31" inseam. Really short legs and long upper torso spells problems on compact road frames. I was able to fit on a medium but my weight was way ahead of where it should be. When I was looking down I had to look back to see the handlebars.

The Trek Pilot seemed to fit me a little better because I could go for a larger size (58cm) which added length to the frame.

Ca you recommend any other road/touring bikes for a person with a long torso.

Jamis makes steel-framed bikes with more traditional geometry which might let you stretch out a bit more. Kunstadt on Bank sells them, but they don't have a huge selection.