I actually started bike commuting because I got my first full-time job when I was 16, and I hadn't gotten my learner's permit. Where I live anyone under 18 has to hold a learner's permit for six months before getting a driver's license. I was/am poor anyway, so I couldn't really afford a car. So I got my Raleigh instead.

I never drink & drive (one beer before a ride on my bicycle doesn't seem to cause me any problems though). The only motor vehicle I have is a motorcycle and I wouldn't risk it.

LOL. Not me. I just wanted a bike, and decided if I did grad school, I'd get one.

Nope, I can't stand the taste of alcohol, I tried to get used to it in college but it's so vile I can barely choke the stuff down, and I certainly never enjoyed it. Plus, the few times I did manage to get enough down to affect me, it had a totally clinical effect; I just wound up with slower motor control, and just sat down until it went away. Not much point in me drinking.
(I can't stand the taste of coffee either - it makes me ill)

Wait, you answered the question twice. (And threw in the coffee bit both times.) Since you don't drink, I'll assume you're totally high. That's cool, me too. Just don't go driving. I recommend sitting at your computer smoking bongs. Maybe answer the OP's question again. Go nuts.

No DUI here. Never stopped riding ST, but I had forgotten how much fun bikes were not on a trail too. Made a goal to ride to work every day (partially due to BP/beergut issues........) and never looked back.

I do, however, enjoy grabbing a beer on my fun rides and riding to the bar.

I commute to work on a bike because I want to AVOID a DUI. But my boss is not too happy with me being tanked at work.

Sex is more fun while drunk.
Grilling is more fun while drunk.
Drinking is more fun while drunk.
Riding bicycles is more fun while drunk.
Performing open heart transplants is more fun while drunk.
Drafting legally binding documents is more fun while drunk.
Determining the course of human history is more fun while drunk.
Listening to music is more fun while drunk.
Making music is more fun while drunk.
This forum is more fun if I'm drunk.
Riding bicycles is more fun while drunk.
And I think I already mentioned sex.

Throwing my license away in 1996, was 100% Political for me.

To get a license, they want a "Social Security number. I'm not a damn socialist, and you and your children are under no obligation to support my stupidity for not taking care of my later years because I drank, smoked, gambled, or otherwise wasted my money away in my youth, which your idiot government thinks you should do, by taxing your ass off so you won't have anything to retire on, all while inflating that same money to worthlessness, in your lifetime.

But then, it's not about our welfare, but a parasitic government's....that hooks us like mules to the tax plow to work for them.

End rant.

I don't mean to make light of anyone that took up cycling/commuting because of a DUI, but I think that would make a more interesting story of why I ride my bicycle to work than the real reason. I have only had a glass of wine and a sip of beer my entire life so it would be near impossible for such a thing to actually happen to me.

Perhaps show your DUI friend some cool videos of biking that would get him into riding.

Not sure his type of music but the moves are damn slick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WMGI...eature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h2djoCtQSw

Something about the second link and thet lyrics cracks me up and I'm not really into rap/hip-hop but the moves are saaawhheaat.

Heh this thread is funny for the way in which it grows all sorts of branches.
Me - I join the brigade that started riding because I looked down one day and could't see my ******. Well 30,000 kms later I can see it, and because I'm a bit fitter I can use it for longer, so that's a plus at home! I haven't yet moderated my eating and drinking, so I figure once I get that nailed, I'll be a lean mean fighting machine. I have some funny stories about drinking and riding - but I figure that it's probably not a socially responsible thing to do.

Not too proud to admit it, but I started commuting a little while after getting a DUI. I used to be into cycling a bit, road and mountain, but the past few years I had gotten away from it. I always dreamt a bit of being able to ditch my car and ride my bike around, but I suppose I was always dreaming of some Copenhagen bike utopia situation or, at the least, living in the city where most everything you need is close at hand. Living in the suburbs with a 20 mi commute to work didn't seem to afford me much room to ride a bike and even for short trips to friends' houses I'd just instinctivly jump in my car. Then I got myself in trouble and had no choice but to ditch my ride. Thankfully, the rising gas prices helped me feel a bit better about not being able to drive.

Anyway, I ended up getting a ride into work with my dad and home on the commuter rail and I really wanted to take my bike but the rail didn't let them on during the hours I was commuting in the morning. Then about two months ago my dad took a week off of work and I didn't and I found, despite what the commuter rail's website said, there was one inbound train in the morning that allowed bikes. Now for the past (almost) two months I've been hapilly riding my bike and looking forward to my commute to school when classes start next week.

I think the problem is that a lot of people (apparently not many of the kind that come to BF =P) won't change their behavior until forced to. As much as I wanted to ride my bike I kept thinking that there was no way to make it work until I had no choice to, and ta-da! its not impossible after all. We've known that pollution is getting bad, traffic jams suck, and cars are way too expensive, for a long while now, yet not until gas prices started going up did many people (and the media) start looking at alternate transport like bikes and public transit.

I don't plan on getting my license back when the state will allow me to, either. I'd like to see how long I can go on without a car, if nothing else, the next four years of school. As long as I'm a full time student I'll never be able to make enough money to afford insurance when/if I get my license back. Cars are too expensive anyway, even without having 'at-risk' insurance...

Darn, I keep getting stung by people dredging up zombie threads from months/years ago. I gotta start watching out for that.

BTW, nope, never have smoked anything.

I like bicycling, and I work in a dmv, or dps ofc (as they call it here in Texas). So I guess I've seen both sides of this discussion. Maybe that's why a lot of folks ride up the the office on bicycles. They lost their licenses, so not they bicycle. Okay

I only started drinking recently. I buy one 20oz can of beer and take it home and drink it. I do this maybe once or twice a week. If I were to receive a dui the agency would fire me quickly. That happened to a female co-worker in another office last year.

I just ride because it is fun. If you really want to get to know an area ride your bicycle around in that area. That's why police officers patrol certain areas on bicycle. it's a great way to get the feel of what's going on. Cars move too fast. Walking is too slow.

DB

Wow I started to feel more and more like total deusche bag the more i read. Thought i was going to be the first and only on BF.

I started riding because of a dui. Actually my 3rd dui. I will not go into any details about the situations, becuase there was no excuse for what i have done. I am 25 now and have only legally had a license for probably 18 months of my life due to very loong license suspensions. I finally bought a road bike this time and it is something that i will be doing for the rest of my life. I can get a hardship in january but i dont see the point with how expensive it is. I plan on riding clear threw the winter/summer for 2 1/2 more years. I have been sober for over 9 months now.

You're not doing it right.

Kinda sorta got started because of a DUI. Just divorced, I had moved my car, motorcycle, and bicycle to my new place, which was about 7 mi from work. The subway was about a ten minute walk on either end. Lots of options. Was actually working two jobs at the time, the second job was 4 mi from work 1 and 4 mi from home. Most of the time, I was taking the subway (cheap) or riding my motorcycle (free and accessible parking)--I was only biking in sporadically, not enough to really call it a regular commute, and there always seemed to be one excuse or another to not ride in to work.

One night, friends and I went out drinking after work 2 and I got on my motorcycle to ride home. Big mistake. On the way home, I hit a stopped bus--glanced off it and bounced against another car at about 10mph at that point. (Extenuating circumstances: it was raining, this was a blind downhill, ending in a stoplight, and the road was extremely slick, plus Boston potholes don't play nice with perhaps overly stiff suspension). I was OK, no one injured, minor damage to the bus, damage to the car, my moto was unridable because the radiator was split. Cops showed up--busted! Total of 225 days license suspension for various DUI-related reasons. Because I had an out of state license at the time things got really messed up: the good was that it doesn't show on my record in my native state, was not reported to my insurance co.; the bad was that I could not get a license in the new state while suspended and without a license from that state, I could not get a hardship work waiver.

That left the subway or the bike. The bike was cheaper and about twice as fast, so it got the nod. Plus riding in was exhillarating, taking the subway felt deadening. Two weeks after starting to bike on a regular basis, my bike was stolen, but I had a backup bike that got pressed into service.

I moved shortly before my license was due to be reinstated and my commute went to 80 mi one way, so I gave up cycle commuting for a while. Now, it's a 35mi r/t commute, and I'm happy to be back on a bike, even though I have a perfectly good license. Not sure I'd be doing this on a regular basis without the impetus enforced by a DUI.

DUI is expensive--I was out $4500 or so without any insurance impact. The mandatory drunk class was a PITA schedule wise, and expensive, but a complete joke--it is 90% punitive, 10% corrective. We watched a Star Wars movie in one class and I learned where to buy opiates in the area and what the going rate was at the time. I did learn that what I am is a binge-drinking alcoholic, and as a result, have cut back on alcohol consumption almost completely--couple of drinks if I'm out to eat or out with friends, but beyond that, nothing, no alcohol at home. Lesson learned.

It is your built in fairing!