I have a strong desire to commute to work by bike, but the lack of showers at our office building prohibits such activity. I live in Texas (freakin' hot!) and am a clean, odor-free individual.

I've been re-thinking this lately, though. Since I'm in IT and so many of the foreign folk smell so bad, I might just fit right in.

I live in a community (in the area of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) that is not bicycle friendly - no bike lanes, etc. While I could ride the back roads (it's about 10 miles one way), I would still encounter some fast-moving traffic on roads with very little shoulder, and there is the occassional dog that comes after runners and bicyclist. Over the years, several people have been killed and severely injured riding bikes in this area.

The other problem is cleaning up after I arrive at work. I suppose I could join the fitness center and use their showers - I could pay for the gym membership easily with the savings in fuel cost I would realize by riding my bike several days each week. I'm sure I could spend some time reading the threads here and get ideas from members on how to clean up at work, assuming a show is not available.

Depending on the distance and the effort you put into it, you might be able to get by with showering before your ride. During the warmer months (when the lows are above 80F) I tend to shower 2x day at home.

Where there's a bathroom and a will, there's a way.

unscented babywipes anyone? cheap. disposable. you can wipe down your whole body with a packet.

No thanks. If I can't find a way to shower after a sweaty ride into work it's a deal breaker. Ideally I would have a membership to the closest gym. Cycle to the gym, workout, shower, get ready for work, and cycle a short distance to work.

Rain! I hate having to be out in it! Hate getting wet from it!
High wind, especially head winds.
Lazy.
Sick.
Out of the way errands to run after work or at lunch.

I commute to school when the weather is nice; however, the route that I take is not particularly bike-friendly in that motorists are not expecting to see a cyclist in the winter months. Because of that, I drive during the snow and ice---it is the fear of getting hit because of bad weather and bad visibility that keeps me off of my bike in the winter months.

Aside from a 1500 foot hill? I live in the SF Bay Area, and I can take BART through the hill, but BART cops have gotten aggressive about ticketing riders ($200 fine) who are on trains during prohibited hours. You can get on a train at my station as early as 8:35 AM with a bike, but you can't get on in the PM at my station on the other end until 6:45 PM, which doesn't put me home until 7:30 PM. I'd like to be able to sit down to dinner with my family once in a while.

Procrastination on school work results in late nights which results in driving to school rather than riding. Being a biking guy to me means being a little more organized and not procrastinating. I guess its building good habits.

I have to carry my tools and parts, and some days I'll put over 200 miles on the car getting from one service call to the next.

Lately for me the only reason I've driven my car is because something on my one bike has been broken, and I didn't notice until the morning. This hasn't happened much, as I've only put about 60 miles on my car since February 25th, and it's 12.3 miles round trip to work.

I can't believe such a slight headwind would keep you guys from riding that day. I've recently been plagued with 20+ mph constant headwinds, and it slows me down to about 9-10mph. Ain't no thing, though.

Right now..it's a 21 mile commute and I am out of shape .. I used to commute back in the mid 1990's..roughly 20 miles one way..now sadly I am not up to that level of exertion... yet.

I commute by bicycle for several reasons, first I reduce my carbon print as the environment is dear to me, and second, it keeps me
out of the gym except for weight workouts.

I can't commute to work by bike because I'm unemployed.

For me, weather is the biggest impediment to biking. I generally won't ride in snow, sleet, ice, heavy rain and extreme heat (over 100 F). Fortunately, the weather is pretty fair and mild in NC, so I usually miss only 1-2 days a week at most due to weather and sometimes none at all. Occasionally I'll need my truck at work due to a meeting, doctor's appointment, etc. I take advantage of my driving days to restock supplies in my office (food, clothes, towels, etc.) and run errands.

Sounds like more reason to keep at it and lose the weight! I use to be a serious athlete and had an injury to my right shoulders ligaments that caused my shoulder to
dislocate from time to time. I used that as an excuse for several years for why I am not in shape until I had enough. I am now back on a bike and have already lost
about 20lbs. Get back on the saddle, even if you just do it twice a week until you can built up strength to do it more. Start slow if you absolutely have to and take it
from there. You will get stronger but you have to start riding. That's how it works!

I agree. Rain, sleet, snow, or wind will not keep me from riding! One thing that will keep me from riding and taking the train/bus is hail!
Nope, not gonna get knocked out! I have been hit in the head with hail before and man oh man did that crap hurt! Thankfully, it doesn't
hail that much so it is far from an issue! What I do when it is windy is get my speed up as fast as I can, stop pedalling for a second,
and pedal 5-10 rounds, stop for a few second and repeat. This seems to work out great for me. If I am on city street and it is strong
enough where I am moving from side to side... I get off the bike, walk to the bus stop and hitch a ride!

Ride until you can't go on and then walk your bike up the rest.

I work from home. My study is upstairs, and the stairs are tricky to negotiate by bike.

The main thing that keeps me from commuting by bike right now is that I don't have a job. :-(

today, it was because I could only find on of my tights, and I didn't want to wear sweatpants because it's threatening rain.

I have a longer than average commute, so if I'm particularly exhausted, there's no way that I'm handling the long commute.

But for the most part, weather is the only thing that really stops me. There's no way that I'm commuting 30 miles in the rain or snow. Not when a bus ride costs 4 dollars round trip. I also develop asthma symptoms when breathing hard in less than 45 degrees. So if the temp is low, I'm riding the bus.

I ride M-W and Fri. I dont ride Thursdays because i have something to do that night and i rather have the extra time to wind down and get dressed up. The only times i dont ride is when it rains.. i dont like ridding in the rain because there is always sand on my route and theres a few twists and turns i think would be slippery. I also dont ride if i wasnt able to get any sleep since i can usually sleep about 30min longer when i take my car.

I have just recently decided that I want to commute to work. Not just because gas, diesel in my case, is getting to be too high but also for the health and fitness benefits. My first thing right now is lack of a good commuter bike but that should be remedied soon.....looing at a REI Novara Safari.

The second is I work a 12-1/2 hour shift that starts at 0530 and ends at 1800 (5:30am to 6:00pm) and at times im usually wiped out at the end of the day. On the flipside it would be a good time to ride to decompress and work out the stress from my job. The upside to 12 hour shifts is that I work 4 days....4 days off...work 3 days 3days off.

Visalia is middle of the road as far as being bike friendly. They are slowly putting in more bike lanes, actually just added a fw miles worth, but they have yet to extend any to the side of town I live on.

I don't mind the weather, other than the summer it can be 100+, as between my 7 ears in the Army and my current law enforcement job I have always worked in the elements so getting wet or hot or cold doesn't bother me much.

So as I read this post as I'm typing I have come to one solid conclusion the only thing stopping me is....well me.