Sixty Fiver

This is what the good smelling commute looks like... my road is just off to the right.

squeakywheel

Best smells come from restaurants I ride by.

Worst smell is a several days old dead animal in the woods near the road.

heywood

That picture looks alot like the mup i take to work (well at least 3/4 of the trip).

Love the smell right after a rain shower, also a very...very cold day has a unique 'crisp' smell.

Hate riding by sweage treatment plants..yuck! I apprciate the job they do by removing crap from rivers & streams before sending back to lakes & oceans but they sure do stink..

Leiniesred

Worst: Sewage treatment plant. Dumpsters near the boat docks in the state park (rotting fish!) Best: Crab apple trees blooming. Mexican restaurant.

savethekudzu

Honeysuckle and wisteria are wonderful.
Humus in the early spring is actually pretty pleasant. The coming of springtime means lots of fresh scents, mostly good.

Haven't had much trouble with unpleasant smells... mostly stagnant drainage ditches and the grocery store dumpster.

PunkMartyr

I passed by a house with a siamese cat in the yard that smelled of flowers and sweet smelling things. A second later I come up to the neighbors who have their garbage out and boom nasty. Road kill left in the sun is pretty bad as that stuff goes.

HardyWeinberg

Boy, there's a French bakery across from my daughter's daycare. Mmmm The Chinese buffet I pass early on my trip home is sometimes yummy and sometimes just smells like old grease. And then I go through a lot of wetlands w/ varying degrees of anoxia so depending on how that goes some segment of that is likely to be the less desirable part (although bus exhaust is another frequent nose wrinkler)

Pinyon

My favorite smells are the grassy and flower fragrances coming off early-morning meadows, and trickling mountain streams next to the road.

My least favorite smells are when I ride near cattle or sheep feed lots; and at redights in town, I hate it when there is a heady mixture of lots of cigarette smoke mixed with billowing dark clouds of diesel smoke, and a hint of coffee. I associate those particular redlight smells, with extra agressive drivers, and choking.

d2create

The worst smell is easily the Bat pee in the morning as I cross over the Allen Pkwy/Waugh St bridge, Houston's home to a Bat Colony.

But I don't mind it as much as I did when I thought it was homeless people pee.

Carl214

Best: The Blommer's chocolate factory in Chicago northwest of the Loop, especially in the winter. Mmmm, chocolate.

Worst: Getting stuck behind an old diesel bus accelerating away from a stop - gaaaaaaag.

Flimflam

Rotting vegetation/garbage/garbage trucks/vehicle fumes

and...

if I pass by it, the cookie factory and bakery, or the chocolate (Nestle) factory near my house

xB_Nutt

Peanutbutter!!! The Jif factory is in downtown Lexington and I love the smell!

Riding in the wet wake of a garbage truck is my least favorite smell.

scottieie

Dead Possum in the alley....yum!

halfro

Best: Shasta Bottling plant.
Worst: dead animal or sewage smell during low tide

bike4life

Best: TIE! crab apple trees or lilacs in full bloom along the parkway.
Worst: Deep Tunnel overflow (sewage) along the parkway after heavy rain.

FreddyV

The water purification system I drive by about 2km from work. I arrive sick at work and nearly throw up by the stench to start working another 8 hours... After that I do another run by the system and throw up nearly, while moving on and riding another hour.

Sawtooth

Bacon or roasting coffee/roadkill or dohnuts (can't stand the sweet smell)

gholt

Best: Riding in after a rainstorm in the spring.

Worst: Smell of fres ashpault, skunk kill.

cyclezealot

A tie. Worst. Dead animal smell besides the road and A roomful of overheated cyclists during our associations lunch stops. / Best smell. riding thru lavender fields.

Aquajag

Agreed. There's also a burger place I pass that smells good.

For worst, the smog from trucks is bad, but what tops that is the smell of McDonalds at 1am right at the top of the hill I climb.

jpmartineau

Best smells: Lilacs and coffee roasting, depending on time of year/of the day, french fries and indian restaurants.
Worst smells: Auto body shops and Creosote (bike path next to a rail track), not to mention all the cars idling in traffic.

MMACH 5

Best: (three-way tie) Bacon, laundry (drier sheets?), and honeysuckle

Worst: I pass a company that makes fertilizer. GAK! Some nasty smells come out of that place.

phillyrider

+1 on the coffee shops.

worst - some of the homeless dudes I pass...

misterE0

I need to modify my entry for worst: Garbage trucks don't hold a candle to the cooking oil dumpster at the seafood restaurant right by my office.

Pedaleur

Is that a favorite or a worst? Hahaha.

For me:

Best -- lilac season
Worst -- **** season, when the apply the manure to the wheat fields...