I feel your pain. Pedestrians are worse for me because A.) they're slow, B.) there are lots of them, and C.) they're sometimes unpredictable. It would be nice if more people understood that the safest way to walk when you see a bicycle approaching is to continue walking in a straight line in the direction you were heading. We have a plan to avoid hitting you, but it goes all out of whack when you try to change direction on us.

There's BU Cycling, but to my knowledge they don't really "advocate" anything other than the sport for those who join (racing). I get the feeling that bike advocacy comes with biking enough to know what needs to be advocated. Most students just don't bike enough to care or know what to care about. Most people I know who ride don't know how to ride safely in the streets or properly lock their bikes. Some, like me, do eventually learn, though many don't. I'd say hardly any students I know who bike care about bike safety/advocacy and care more about using their bikes to get around or how pretty their SS/Fixed looks.

I did notice that this year on the "moving in" webpage there's a link to the BUPD bike registration page. That's a good step, but it tends to be more the Police advocating it because i'd imagine they get stolen bike reports every single day; it was a BUPD officer that I remember from freshman orientation that warned us of the BIC pen lock hack and that the Fugghedaboutit lock was the only lock that thieves really couldn't get through without power tools. So, despite the poorly placed bike racks and lack of indoor bike shelter, I applaud BUPD for their bike advocacy efforts. At least there's something.

I'm seriously considering handing out printouts around campus with pointers on locking up a bike properly and biking safely on the streets-gorilla bike advocacy heh. It's sad to see bikes with stolen parts locked up outside dorms and people almost getting hit by cars/train/people every day..Maybe something like this (pulled from this year's excellent NYC bike map)

I rode this for 3 years to college 6 miles round trip. Started in 2005 before fixed was cool. :-)

Alumni here...however, I used to have about a 4 mile commute into school. I have come to find that I really miss commuting and riding for transportation. My commute was a pretty relaxed ride through lightly traveled residential areas. Driving was the alternative mode for me, which was usually reserved for when I had large things to carry to class. I would have to park so far away since I didnt have a campus parking pass that it was much more time efficient to bike. Just lock up right out front of whatever building and stroll on in. Theft wasn't a huge problem at my school. I always used a u lock thru a wheel and the frame and never had a problem.

college was AWESOME. I loved it. it is what got me into cycling, what else can I say? my original motivation to ride to school was the cost of getting a parking permit.

I was able to get up at a relatively later hour than the one I get up at now which meant I had a lot more energy. I could wear what I wanted. didn't have to care how I looked. after class and a couple hours of studying I usually was able to get some extra riding in.

I miss college. could be part of why I'm going back

I have been missing college too. I lived in the dorms for awhile and missed biking to school. I then moved off campus and had a 2 mi R/T. I even biked when the snow wans't to deep.

Mechanical engineering undergraduate senior here. I've been riding since the beginning of summer class. I usually cover about 6 miles round trip, depending on the route I take and the errands I run. I have a vehicle, I just choose to not deal with parking, fuel use, or the ticket writing nazis. It's actually been really beneficial for me--there's a grocery store just off from campus, the weather is generally pretty cooperative, and most of the students who live off campus live close enough to walk, so motorists (except for a few of those who have Greek-lettered license plates) are mindful of pedestrians and cyclists. It's really a nice place to ride a bike.

Hell--I've even lost a little weight doing this cycling thing.

Tomorrow is my first day biking to school even though school started Monday of this week. It's 4 miles each way. I hope to be biking to school at least a few days each week.

I am a multi-mode commuter at UARK, I ride to the bus stop and put the bike on the rack to go up the hill, then on the way down the hill I pedal my ass off outrunning cars until I turn off of a narrow 1 lane arterial road.

The drivers down here a much more ****ing dangerous than they are in NYC. In NYC there is enough congestion for the real speed limit to be slow and you know the intentions of the driver. Down here they are just unpredictable and do not know how to handle driving around bikes.

jd student. 7 miles each way. i lock my bike on the bottom floor next to a stairwell. the security office is right next door to there so i guess that comforts me a little.

i cant drive because of HOV rules, and metroing is around $70 a month. 6 miles of the trip is on the MUP so its a nice peaceful ride.

Made three trips today, took four showers (one after each ride). As someone who normally only showered five days a week as an undergrad, I've got to say biking has done wonders for my hygeine. I typically take three showers a day on weekdays now...

Right now I'm in law school. In fact I'm in class as I write this. My commute is all of a mile. I purposely picked a place as close to the school as possible so that I could easily commute. When I factor in finding parking spots and walking from the parking lot to the building (about a 1/4 mile walk), it's actually quicker to commute by bike than it is by car.
There is no theft problem at my school but I still remove my lights and computer and I put them in my backpack whenever I park the bike.

I use the grocery bag panniers from PBK. My backpack includint computer and a book or two fit nicely in them. If i have more books, I use the second of the same pannier.

I'm just sorry I didn't bike commute at my undergrad. I went to school in Waltham MA. There are some nice places to ride around there.

Well, it's been almost two months since I started riding. Still on the same bike, probably put at least 300 miles on it, nearly all of them utility-based. Bike's held up well aside from a broken pedal that the store freely replaced. Most of my riding is done in the day, but I ride at night at least once a week, sometimes more than that, and my lights are great.

I'm extremely tempted to pick up a Forge road bike, but I'd be using my parents' money since my TA barely pays enough to cover rent, so the guilt's keeping me from making the order. Maybe I can justify it as a reward in a month or two.

I start commuting Monday, barring any huge complication. My commute will be about 8.5 miles each way to campus. My campus has more than ample car parking, with a parking lot easily 8-10 football fields in size, but with a catch: the parking field is 2 miles from campus center. There's a dedicated shuttle bus that goes to campus from the parking lot, but it's always seemed silly to me. With solid bike racks in front of nearly every building, biking's got a huge advantage: I don't have to waste the 20 minutes of shuttle bus time, and I can probably beat a car home (especially at 5pm, given the traffic here.)

Over the last month I've been building up a commuting bike, a motobecane fantom CX. Yesterday my last part, the panniers came in, and I'm set to go. Very quickly with saddle, pedals, higher rise stem, dinotte light, rack, and panniers it's gone from a $550 bike to a $1000 bike, and I have a feeling even with Sora/Tiagra it's going to be the nicest bike on campus among the rusted old ten speeds and department store mountain bikes. I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about theft, and I'm not exactly sure what will come of that.

I do have a small rented locker on campus, so I'm going to pull off my lights, any other accessories, and possibly my panniers too and lock the bike with both a U-lock and one of those heavy cables so I can get both wheels and the frame.. Definitely keeping spare skewers in the locker are in order, along with bolt-on skewers on the bike itself.

I am a clyde, and I do break a sweat doing even minor activity, so I'll be carrying a change of clothes every day. it'll be a hassle having to change back and forth, but I think the end result (being on my bike more during the week, and saving on car insurance) makes the means worthwhile.

Anyone have tips for stealthifying a brand new bike to make it less palatable to steal? I'm seriously considering the rust-colored paint that someone showed in the "fred" thread in foo, and am hoping that if I lock it with a proper lock and get the entire thing securely locked, it'll discourage most theft.

I'm a professor with a 16 mile round trip that's the highlight of my day (or night, depending)

But I'm a student doing a multimedia grad program 50 miles away that's just too darn far to commute.
I do have dreams of doing it at least once, just because.

Good to hear you're still going strong, uke.

Since I started my new commute this August (I moved to a new town to attend a new school) I have failed miserably at waking up early enough to extend my commute from an embarrassing three miles to ten miles or so. It's just so nice to crawl back into bed...

Just started a Masters program at a new school. Bikes are numerous on campus and the nearest clusters of bike racks are always full. Close to the rack I lock up to there's this small sign post with no sign on it, about 5 feet high, which is used every day for one to two unloved bikes, often with just a u lock looped around it and over the top bar. Dunno if that's resulted in any thefts but I'd be surprised if it hadn't.

During undergrad I used to lock up my old bike to a pipe in the entryway of my dorm. One day some idiots decided to kick the **** out of it, the worst damage was to the chainring, they bent up all the teeth on it. Never ran well again, even after painstakingly bending it back into shape. I'm lucky the bike wasn't worth much anyway, but beware: drunk *******s are always looking for something to ruin on college campuses!

edit: oh, and my roommate had his bike cut loose from a rack (should have used a better lock) and found it in the lake behind the dorm. ridiculous.

grad school --- 15 miles round trip, mon/tue/wed eve's. i park the bike in the classroom. some days, i go by foot. waiting for new porteur rack and panniers to allow for better errand-running tasks on the return leg.

i am amazed by the chaos on this campus. people/bikes going wrong direction in bike lanes; bikes hauling watootsie on sidewalks and crosswalks (w/o stopping at intersections, etc.); general poor attention skills while driving auto by younger drivers. crazy i tell ya.

I'm a mech engineering undergrad, snubbed the buses during the warm weather last year on my ten speed Skyline. This year I'm gonna go after the snowy months with it, while my newly converted early 70's Sekine singlespeed has just taken to the road. I ALWAYS beat the buses to my campus (just under 5 km) as well as just about everywhere else in the city, and so Far I've paid less for my Sekine than a single monthly transit pass would have cost me (even at student prices). And I PAID for the Sekine! My other two useable bikes were free.

At under 5 km, I can make it to class in under ten minutes even with the incessant headwinds. I lock up in front of whichever building I have class in, although I favour one set of racks which have a camera high above them. I have a condescending chuckle at some of the more hideous tarcky bikes (yeah, you with the Ourys on the chop & flops and the single green rim, or the guy with the bike that looks like it was spraypainted black with the rims and seatpost handpainted green over top). I just need to figure out a way of making my bookbags into quick-release panniers so that I can take my twenty pounds of textbooks to my tutorials without killing my back. I carry my archery case by bike, too.

I think Ottawa's great for cycling. The bike lane's suck, appearing for short distances and disappearing again, but the scenic multi-use-paths are a good way of quickly getting downtown along the canal, and lots of people bike so drivers are used to it. Besides which, this city is pretty small, and the mess of one-way streets and no-left-turn intersections are no big deal on a bike.

Now I just need some bursary money to blow on a classic, double-butted steel racing frame and everything'll be doubleplusgood. That and a balaclava come November.

Last year I rode about 5 miles one way to school, but I moved this summer and now only have to ride about 2 miles one way. There are bike lanes almost all the way there and in general cars are very respectful of bikes (at least in this part of town).

I really like riding around campus late at night. Some friends and I will often go for a nice bike ride (10-20 miles) after a night of drinking. Nice paved roads + no cars + some alcohol = fun.

There is a bus system that runs around campus, but it doesn't come out anywhere close to where I live so basically the only other option is walking (which I have done a few times, including when I lived about 5 miles away).

There have been huge increases in people going to class by bike, and while they have been adding new bike racks, there still aren't nearly enough. This semester has been insane as far as increased biking to class goes. We are working to get more bike racks, but its a slow process. I imagine the number of people riding to class will go down somewhat once the weather starts getting colder. There is definitely a huge decrease on rainy days.

I have an Arkel Bug that I use for classes and I love it. I usually ride in to class, convert to backpack, and then just walk from class to class.

Parking is pretty ridiculous. From talking to people that live close to me, it takes 10-15 minutes longer to drive due to traffic and finding a parking spot.

There aren't really any problems with theft on my campus as far as I know. I have never heard anything about bikes/bike parts being stolen and I've never seen a bike with missing wheels or similar.

so I'm back in school now and my commute is as follows:
- 3.5 mile ride from my house to metro
- about a 40-50 metro ride to campus (bike goes in bike locker)
- climb up the monster huge multi-story staircase at the metro station then up eight more flights of stairs to get to my first class

Thanks! You keep riding too when you can, thebarerider. I understand the temptation of sleeping in. It's always a struggle to go to bed early, even though I know it'll make me feel so much better than staying up late would the following morning.

I ride every day. I just don't get up early enough to ride more

UT Austin grad student. My classes are on campus, buy my office is up at a research campus. MWF I ride 7.5 miles to the research campus and take a shuttle down for class. TTh I have been riding 3.2 miles to a park and ride and boarding an express bus whose first stop is the UT campus. Just this last Thursday I biked the 15 mile trip from home to campus and took the express bus back to the park and ride on my way home. From here on out I'll do that once a week, gradually building to twice a week, and if I get to feeling really strong I'll do the uphill version and bike the 15 mile legs back home.

UTA staff and students ride all the busses for free, so it has been pretty easy to get around without a car.