cerewa

Over 95% of my cycling is to get somewhere rather than just for fun. But it's rare that I go anywhere unless I go by bicycle. There are always places to go and errands to do...

Caleab

same here.
I might pick a day on the weekend and get up early and do some serious pedaling in the morning.
I can stay on this side of town and actually get to ride more flat lands.
I've not even had the chance to do that since I got my computer on the bike. I wanna go and see what kinda "score" I can get.

(see... the computer is just a game for me. I always go for a high score )

huhenio

Wellcome to my world ....

tarwheel 

Commuting enhances my cycling. Before I started bike commuting, I was already riding about 600 miles/month recreationally. Commuting makes it easier to get my base mileage in during the weekdays, and its consistency has actually helped me increase my overall mileage. One thing commuting has changed is my weekend cycling schedule. I rarely ever participate in group rides on Saturdays anymore because that is my recovery day from commuting. However, I am that much stronger on Sunday group rides due to all of my mileage commuting. Particularly in the winter months, when many cyclists quit riding or cut back their mileage a lot, commuting makes me much stronger compared to other cyclists in the groups I ride with. However, I rarely participate in local group rides during the weekdays anymore because I ride so many miles to work and back each day that it just isn't worth the effort or time. That's the only drawback I've seen from commuting because I really used to enjoy the Wednesday evening rides with my friends, but I just don't have the time to add another 90-minute ride after my commute in the afternoons.

DataJunkie

If done correctly commuting is a fun ride. However, recreational rides are amusing in their own right.
Commuting, group rides, organized rides, a ride with a friend, a training ride in a circle, errands, etc all have their own appeal. I really should add single track riding to that list.

knucklesandwich

I ride to work 4-5 days a week (23 mi r/t), and any weekend I am in town, or traveling somewhere I can bring my bike, I'll ride at least one day, anywhere from 25 to 100 miles.

My weekend riding actually interfered with my commuting this week. Did a fairly tough 80 miles on Sunday, and was sore in the neck/shoulders on Monday morning, so drove to work instead. I think it had to do with riding more tensely than normal due to gusty crosswinds all day.

ItsJustMe

What's a "pleasure ride"? I don't have time for that. Commuting is 100.000% of the riding that I do. I commute about 4000 miles a year. If I didn't commute, I'd probably ride about 20 miles a year.

When I was in college, I'd ride 20, 30 mile loops once in a while for the heck of it on a nice day. But I've got a million other things to be doing now.

PaulH

Commuting is my cycling. I started riding because driving to work was getting too difficult due to congestion.

Paul

famelec

Commuting is my fun riding as well as decent training for triathlon (otherwise I'd be riding my trainer in the garage, not fun...).

Oddly enough, I think of commuting and my weekend rides as very different activities. For commuting I don't wear a watch, don't wear a heart rate monitor, no cyclocomputer, no spandex, and wear shoes that you can actually walk in. I ride a heavy fixed gear bike with fat tires. I try to ride pretty hard, but have no electronic clue how I'm doing. On weekends it's the completely the opposite, with a fast bike, electronics, spandex, and terrible shoes for walking...

Brian

bhop

Commuting is my pleasure ride. I generally just ride my bike to get somewhere, but I do it because it's fun.

oakback

Commuting is my cycling.

If it wasn't for commuting, I wouldn't be able to ride very much. Evenings are full of routine stuff, dishes, help my son with his homework, all that. Plus our 2nd kid is coming soon, so I'll have even less time for myself to do hobby stuff.

I never do weekend rides because I don't really know any other cyclists, and I'm too timid to jump right in a group ride with a bunch of folks I don't know.

I went on one weekend ride by myself, a 47 mi. r/t ride to the coast and back. The whole time I was just worried about trying to get home as soon as possible, since I had a lot of crap to do. It seemed like a complete waste of 3.5 hours (when I left home to when I returned).

Ya Tu Sabes

Like many here, commuting is my cycling, along with grocery-getting, errand-running, and going out for drinks. That said, I like to integrate extra riding into my commute, which I guess you would call cycling: Sometimes, instead of riding three miles to the commuter rail stop to take the train 18 miles, I ride the full 21.

caelric

I commute 16 miles one way twice daily 4-5 days a week on my roadie.

On the weekends, to mix things up, I usually go on long MTB rides in the hills near my house, because after the workweek commutes, road bike riding usually doesn't hold as much interest for me. However, to ensure I keep up my long distance road training, about once in every 4 weekends or so, I will do a long road ride (75-100 or so)

cyclezealot

No way. It enhances it. It's probably like 60% of my riding.. All it does is make me want to go for more and enhances my ability to go for more.

nopinkbikes

Most of miles are commuting. I occasionally will do a road ride with friends on the weekend or possibly a weeknight, but probably only 6 to 10 times all season. I will also do the occasional
mtb ride in the fall/spring, and then use the Pugsley when I can and do some snow biking. Those are my only recreational miles, all the rest are commuting now.

Booger1

It's a small part of my day.No car for 30 years,so getting back and forth to work is nothing compaired to the rest of the miles.

Randochap

Thanks to everyone who's answered my question. The results are very interesting to me.

Me? By choice, I didn't hold a drivers licence until I was 30 (now 56). I have only owned an infernal combustion-type vehicle for a total of about 18 years since. Significant parts of those years (like now) the vehicle is not insured and I only ever insure "for pleasure use." That's ironic, because I take no particular pleasure in driving.

Right now, I'm collecting stories and photos from bicycle commuters. So far, the elder statesman of the velo commute is 80 y/o and still putting in 10,000 km a year! ... not strictly as a "commuter" these days, but as a retired but not retiring cyclist. I will soon be posting these on my website, in the commuter pages.

If you'd like to contribute, send a brief description (via links) of your commute, likes/dislikes, dangers, positive infrastructure, etc. and a photo of you and/or your commuter bike (bike description/history), and I'll add you to the commuter "gallery."

Thanks again. Write on.

bkrownd

I only ride my bike to/from work. It isn't something I do as a recreational activity. On my days off I'm exploring the wilderness, which is my #1 priority, and far out of bike range.

tjspiel

I wasn't really a cycling enthusiast before I started commuting regularly. If I had some spare time and the weather was nice I might decide to go for a bike ride as opposed to roller blading for example. I did make a semi-regular bike trip for bagels on Sundays for awhile.

So if anything my non-commute cycling has increased since I became a regular commuter. However, I won't get on a bike just to go for a ride like I used to unless it's with one or more other people. It's not that I don't like riding, it's just that if I have spare time I want to use it for things I don't get a chance to do very much. I get plenty of time on the bike.

jpdesjar

i commute everyday and then add some miles in on the weekends, i love the rides where i am just exploring new neighborhoods and what not...i was riding with a couple friends last weekend and we found some cool narrow alleyways to ride through, stuff like that i love

acline

I rarely ride just for fun. A bicycle for me is basic transportation. Riding it as basic transportation also happens to be fun :-)

jpdesjar

i think commuting is fun and all but it lacks a sense of adventure because you know the route and where you are going to end up so they can be fun but not the same as just heading out for a ride with no set destination...

Mr. Underbridge

I don't have time for pleasure rides, really. Fortunately, my commute rocks. Depending on what bike I use and the route, it's low speed limit roads, rail trails, and a couple miles of off-roading if I have my MTB. Depending on what I want to do, I either cruise and relax or hammer it and get home crawling off the bike. Or I'll do stuff like leave the bike in a fairly high gear and mash away like I have a singlespeed - I started doing that after I snapped the RD cable and had a ghetto SS for a week. Kinda fun. Often times I'll do interval sprints on the hills, and try to keep my speed from dropping below a certain point on the big inclinces.

It's true that often you're riding the same old roads, but that's where multiple bikes comes in handy for variety. And there's things like I do to mix it up to keep it fun. Remember when we were kids and it was fun to just get on the damn bike and go fly down a hill? Bikes are still fun!

chipcom 

Yes - doesn't everyone?

Consularrider

My direct round trip commute is about 10.5, but during 2008 my average milage on commuting days has climbed to over 25 miles per day and I've ridden about 7500 miles this year. Before I started commuting by bike 13 months ago, I had ridden 2200 miles in each of 2006 and 2007, mostly 30 to 50 mile rides on Sundays. Now in addition to my daily commute I get out early on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays and get in at least a 20 mile ride. I'd say the commuting has helped motivate me to get out on the bike more and be willing to ride in a broader range of weather.