Do young single folks commute by bike? Or is it just what married-with-children folks do to get in a good ride without
missing time with the family?

I'm young and single and I commute by bike. The way I see it, being young and single fits in perfectly with cycle commuting, so I think I'll stay that way.

I'm young and not single but live alone and I mostly commute by bike. And a few trips by train at the moment, because at the end of the day I'm quite lazy! And a couple of car trips per week. I'm trying to cut those out, but I'm having car storage difficulties.

Ellie

I'm young at heart but married and commute because I enjoy it, though after this mornings two punctures!, the first for months, I'm not sure why I enjoy it.

Well I might be married but I'm youngish (30 rapidly approaching 31) and only have grown-up step-children.

Richard

Seems like time for a poll - do you commute? if yes are you single, how old are you & how many kids.

I guess that's a rather complex matrix

FWIW I'm married, 39 2 kids aged 2 & 4 & I commute.

Stew

I'm married and 51, soon to be 52, even older than Pete Clark, the philosopher! My youngest is a sophomore in college. Exercise was my primary reason for starting to commute. Now going to work has become a good reason to go for a ride and going home an even better reason!

As a young, unmarried cyclist, I commute daily by bicycle due to the fact that in my 28 years I have yet to find a good reason to own a car. My live-in GF owns a car, and that is one more than I will ever need. The only time that car gets used is when my GF goes to work (she gets off work after the buses stop running), and when we need to run across town to the X-mart (to look, I mean laugh, at the bikes). In total the car get less than 50 miles a week.

To get back to Pete's point, I believe younger people are more self-conscious of their peers, and they think they are looked down upon if they don't own a car. Personally, I was about 25 before I stopped caring what people thought of my cycling habit. Now, I wear my ankle bands and helmet as a badge of courage as I stand in line at the bank.

Old people are cool!!!

I do voluntery work for aged persons at my local sheltered accomidation centre .
They often Question me about my enjoyment of cycling , I regale them with stories of my expliots on the bike.
Its difficult to tempt any of them into cycling tho`

Maybe thats because the youngest in the place is 87 years of age. lol

Willi`c

Well, I'm old, have a GF/SO (don't know which to call her) and I don't commute. Living upstairs and working downstairs makes commuting, as you guys describe it, a bit difficult. However, on another forum there was a thread about riding a bike downstairs... If I can figure out a way to open the door by remote control and start riding my bike downstairs, while that qualify me as a "commuter by bicycle," or do I need to travel a certain number of miles?

If you can do it, you're a commuter!

Age 54, live in SO, commuter.

Pete,
You don't see Young single commuters in USA?
I would of thought the opposite, that younger single people can commute easier.

I commute half-time. Married, 47, 2 kids.

I commuted up to 22yrs old and started again when 42. I likely would of commuted off and on those years if Mtn bikes would of been around.


I don't look at bike commuting and bike riding for training/fun as compatible. At one time i did but now if i want to have fun on a bike i don't want to do the congested, boring, commute to work.
Sure i could do some variations but would rather ride where i want , come home and shower and then either bike or drive to work. I bike to work for ethical reasons now and save money. Maybe if there was a shower at work i would combine the two more.

Erik

I bicycle commute for fun. Heck, after the day I had last time at work, I don't think I would have got through if I didn't have the ride home to look forward to.

I'm 56 (soon to be 57), happily married, youngest is 21. Although according to realage.com I'm 48.

Because Atlanta motorists drive even worse at night and the sun sets 30 minutes before I get off work, the last day I commuted was Nov 23. And I dearly miss commuting.
I thought two headlights and three taillights would suffice for my 14 mile ride home. But these Georgia idiots can't see something that "small" and there were a few close calls.
I'd much rather ride in morning darkness!

But I'm always looking for a new job. Perhaps I'll get one with better hours so evening darkness won't be a problem.

Heh Ron!

Thanks for the Realage site.
I have just completed the test.
My age is 55, real age test 49.7.

And i did badly on the alcahol test.
They reckon I need to drink more.

YIPPEEEEEEE!

Mzungu, I guess it all depends on your commute. Before I moved I could lengthen my commute by going up a very scenic river route and it really added to my fun/recreational/training miles. If I didn't have the time I'd just go straight to work or cut it off at any number of places.

I now have a much longer commute though, 40k if I do the whole thing, which I havn't yet this year. When I start up again in the spring I'll see if I agree with you.

I also took the Realage test. I'm 29, but my RealAge is 20.9.

Thanks for the link Ron!

I also took the real age test. It takes about 15 minutes, but the results are intersting. At 28 years of age, I am actually only 19.2. I guess I am doing something right and if I can avoid the cagers, I might just live forever!

Why does everyone come out of this "RealAge" test appearing younger than they actually are? I did some of it, but got sick of it so I stopped. At the time it was saying my real age was 16.8

Pete, define what "young folk" means.

From what I can see on a lot of the rides I've been on, young is anything less than 60!

I'm nearing 50, married 26 years, one child in High school (14), One in Italy studying culinary arts (19), one on his own (24). I've commuted for over 10 years and have been riding for over 30 years. At one time in the early days of commuting, I did it all year long, except for a few really rainy, snowy days and I got a ride or drove while my spouse stayed home. I now have a second car and drive when it is dark so early or the weather is hideous.

Now I don't like the darkness at this time of year and gave it up until the days get longer, then back on the fixed-gear bike for the commute. I love it and feel good about myself when I leave the car at home.

If I was young and single I'd commute for sure. It is a good conversation starter with all types of people and if you are looking for a mate it might be a way to start to strike up a date. Hey who knows?

He he.

For sure, it's easier for a single person to start up a conversation with a member of the opposite sex when they have that "cyclist's bod." And don't forget that "swaggering confidence," too.

Sometimes I wish I lived farther away from work. I am only about a 5 minute walk to work so hardly worth getting on the bike for 30 seconds each day for the commute. Thankfully I can still manage to get some real quality time in with our new son and still get a ride in on most days. My wife and I both try and take about an hour each a day to excersise and then on weekends a little longer. It seems to be working out very well for the time being. The best part is that if we are not riding we take the little one just about everywhere with us. We take him to the pool or lake when we go swimming, we take him on canoe trips with us and when we run we take the running stroller which just happens to be the best babysitter in the entire world. A nice 10 km run with him in the stroller taking in the sites and sounds is wonderful. It almost takes the pain out of having to run instead of biking.

Well I'm young (21) and I go almost everywhere by bike. Occasionally I walk or take the bus or subway. I don't currently hold a license.

I have been using my bike as transportation since early high school. I have not found any reason to stop. Of course, I never really think of it as commuting. It's just how I get from A to B.

To me, driving a car is like smoking. I'm still waiting to hear a good reason to start.