Is it me or has there been a huge mushroom of new peeps this month? Is there a surge of new cyclists this year? Welcome one, welcome all. Two wheels good, four wheels baaaad!

think how awkward it's going to be when you have to face that hunk of steel that carried you butt all the way to work after you described it as "just a walmart bike".

I use quotation marks liberally at 1am

Go to your LBS and get them to recommend something..when you have the money..I find most of them to be really knowledgabe..

Riding a Wally Wold/Dept. Store bike compared to a real bike shop bike(what I call a 'professional' bike) is like the difference between night & day. Just about any bike from a real bike shop is a pleasure to ride and while you're at work you're just itching to end the day and get back on for the ride home.. it's like the first time you drive a car to work...you can't wait for the day to end so you can get back in that car and zoom around.. I was really fazed by the cost of LBS bikes at first but when you compare a $28,000 vehicle (car) with a really good $2,800 bicycle (not including insurance/gas/wear&tear/depreciation) that two grand starts looking like a real bargin..

Okay enough of my rambling...Great on your first commute!! Keep going!!

Cheers!

well as soon as i get my dirtbike sold i will have some extra money to put into the bike account. on a side note im having withdrawls on commuting. a busted pedal from a mountain bike spill sunday has ruined my riding. thats ok im replacing it tonight though.

Welcome to commuting. I've been doing it for about 8 years now. The last 4 or 5 year round.

I love it when I get to see the sunrise - normally I ride earlier than that. I start work at 5:30, but that means there is less traffic. I counted the other day - 13 cars passed me and 7 were oncoming. Also saw three rabbits. I say hello to them because I see them in the same place almost every day.

My first "walmart style" bike started skipping like mad one day, changing gears up and then down. Looked down to see what was up and saw bearings falling out. Stopped, took off my back wheel, put in a few of the recovered bearings and screwed the cassette back on... (or was that a freewheel?)

Currently have a bike I got from a neighbour, but I'm saving for a "real" bike....

Like Caspar, I sometimes get to see the sun rising. Only I get to see it rising over Queens from the Roosevelt Island Tram on the days that I'm too lazy to tackle the 59th St Bridge. Either way, I have a great commute. You might want to also check out <<Living Car Free>> for the times when your commute just isn't quite enough riding and you have to pick up some groceries.

As was mentioned earlier, you probably won't save any money by riding to work. The money that would have gone to car fare gets recycled into bicycle bling :-)

I disagree....the current agreed average for just running a car (insurance/wear&tear/depreciation/gas&oil) is approx. $8,000.00 per year (not sure if that includes the car payments).

There is no way in the world that i'm spending close to that, even if i bought a $4,000 carbon/alien space metal/composite i'd still be saving money...

The other big bonus of course is the health benefit (my real reason for riding), how much of a dollar value can we put on missing that 'cardiac event' or being able to go up stairs & have sex... Hey you can't put a dollar on that last one..

Cheers!

Welcome to the other side.

It's about time for the spring surge.

By the by, to the OP...congrats! I still remember my very first commute. 9.5 miles, and not as fast as you! Keep it up!

To clarify, [Street] Car Fare is a Toronto colloquialism meaning Subway Token, currently USD2.00/trip in NYC where I now live. To Heywood's point, if I was only giving up commuting by car and recycling just the gas/tolls/parking into a bicycle, it would amount to an enormous amount of bike bling with leftover cash to support other interests. The comparatively meager $80~$90/month that I'm saving by not taking the subway to work on a daily basis still amounts to a substantial amount of upgrades to the ride, which I dutifully spend at the LBS on a regular basis.

I think the bottom line is that we ride because we enjoy it. We ride to work, to the store, and with our friends to no-where in particular. When someone discovers the joys of which we all share, it's cause for great celebration :-)

andrew
ex-pat Torontonian living in Astoria, Queens.

My wife has that bike. I had the Next Power something or the other. I've graduated from Wal-Mart to Target and now have a "Schwinn". Anywho... the wife and I racked up hundreds of miles on our Wal-Mart sub $70 dollar bikes. Take care of them and the'll be ok.


BTW, congrads on the commuting Black Geet Red Car. I"m about to start my 35 mile round trip commute. I've been carless (truckless) for about a month and my ride favors are about up. I think I've got a relatively safe route mapped out. What guitars do you have? I always hated red guitars and most of my electrics ended up red.

Yeah it will be a bit Toady for the first few weeks but after awhile you'll get Foxy.