For me, it's the energized feeling that I have when I arrive at the workplace after riding my bike, plus have a more relaxed attitude for the rest of the day, and being able to take a lot more stress at work without blowing a gasket,as a number of my co-workers tend to do.

When I restarted cycling a few years ago I told myself, "Just take it easy. Don't push it."

I started out commuting 3 mi each way to work. It wasn't enough. There's just something about riding. I found myself going for a "quickie" at lunch, then extending my ride home until I was averaging 15 mi per day. I went from a flabby 205 to a fitter 175 lbs. I feel better when I ride than when I don't.

Truth is I don't think about it much nowadays. It's a habit. Get up, dress, hop on the bike and go to work. But for those few days I drive I just don't feel right.

I never don't feel like it. Some times I have rough weeks w/ a lot of work related travel and then I might be more likely to bring the company car home at night so I don't have to start so early the next day, but really I always regret missing a commute.

I live in Sunnyvale, CA.. so I have the advantage of a year round commute that only introduces rain as another factor... My bike is as of now my only vehicle, and it is helping me be financially free of the rising cost of being a car owner... I still miss driving sometimes...

"This was a bad day to give up drinking" - from the movie Airplane. That makes me think of when I committed to making my gas last over a month. The next day the misses drove it down to the bike shop to meet me - I rode the bike in to work and the bus down to the shop, but took a ride back with her. Left the bike at work. Next day took the bus in expecting to ride the bike home. Opps, public hearing went until 10:00 PM (stepped off the bus that morning at 6:14 A.M. - long day) so the bike was out and the bus stopped running at 7:05. Wifey to the rescue - with the van of course. Finally got to ride it home Wednesday (the bike that is).

Today, needed to haul the family to a school event so there goes another 40 miles. But got dropped off at work and will bus home. There is always Friday for a full bike commute in and back - hopefully!

I agree. I don't have a long ride, 2.5 miles. I have the option of driving, but as a person who despises the morning, riding to work helps me wake up. I always feel much better when I get to work.

Same here, though I find if I don't get enough sleep(5 hours or less) I don't want to ride.

Ever since I got a bike-specific GPS to log my rides, my OCD tendencies have motivated me enough to commute almost every day even in cold rainy days.

For some additional motivation you could join 10,000+ fellow bike riders in the 2012 National Bike Challenge...

It starts next Tuesday May 1st and Ends August 31st.

Ride your bike...record the miles...get points...win prizes...compete by State, City, Team or Solo.

Here's the scoop...https://www.endomondo.com/campaign/national

We had a great time with it in Wisconsin last year.

jp

Some mornings I lay in bed and wonder why I bother to go to work, and then I remember that at least I get to ride my bike. So I get up, scrape my fangs, etc.

If they would simply mail money to my house I could avoid that whole going to work thing.

However, as I tell my friends when they complain about work when we are out adventuring I remind them that if it weren't for our jobs we wouldn't be riding multi thousand dollar bikes to a pub to drink $5 pints of local brew!

This is how I feel. Days I have to drive I feel sluggish at work and cranky.

I ride to see how many other people are as nutty as I am in the fall/winter. That is when it is really hard. When it has been raining for nearly a month straight and at no time have you ever been either dry or comfortable while riding in. I do not mind the snow or ice, but the rain. You just get wet, cold, and uncomfortable. That is when it is really hard.

Generally I feel more lazy biking to work than biking home. My motivation to bike to work is the idea that if I don't, I will regret it later when I want to do something relaxing and physical after sitting at a desk all day.

Also, my hate of the MTA.

I find that selling your car provides the most motivation (albeit extrinsically).

Parked it (the van) last night and shouldn't need it until Sunday. The "low fuel" light has been on for two days, but I at least got home last night without running out of gas. This was a tough month with a few extra/necessary/longish trips. Interesting to note though that I drive way less than anyone I know and I still drove over 10 miles per day this month. The average in the US is 25 and I thought that seemed high, but apparently not.

Anyway, the challenge has provided a bit of motivation - and an education.

Exactly!

My truck broke. It's sitting, immobile, in the driveway right now - and has been since last September. It needs to have about $1k worth of repairs done to it. Until very recently I was paying child support, which left little dough laying around. I just finished paying my child support. 14 years. I plan to fix the truck soon.

My job is 20 miles from the house.

Luckily, Houston has a pretty good public transportation system, so I started riding the bus. The catch is that I live on one side of town and work on another side of town, so I had to take a bus downtown and then take another bus from downtown to work. That usually took from 1.5 (rarely) to 2.0 (usually) hours. On the weekends it could take 3 hours. On the weekends the buses run less frequently because there are fewer people working.

One day, in the middle of one of those three hour rides, I became incensed. I said "Holy cow, I could ride my bicycle to work more quickly than I could ride the bus." It turns out I can usually make it home more quickly on the bike than I could on my best day on the bus.

Plus, I don't have to deal with smelly winos or very vocal religious nuts when I ride my bike.

So, I gave it a whirl. I started riding. Then a funny thing happened. People started saying "wow, have you lost weight?" "Man, you're looking good!" Mind you, this was after a lifetime of struggling w/ my weight. Hearing stuff like that is like viagra for a fat man's ego.

I've got all kinds of motivation to pedal in. From the horrendously odoriferous pig that gets on the bus at Gessner and instantly turns the atmosphere on the entire bus into a noxious fume, to the weight loss, to the general health thing (approaching 50 and I don't want to go from a heart attack any time soon), to the time and the money savings - for me - there's little question as to whether I'll ride the bike or the bus.

The bus is only an option when there are actual thunderstorms going on out there.

I don't think I have ever not wanted to ride; the only thing that would stop me is the weather. If it's raining or too cold. The ride is just too far to go (for me, anyway) if it's wet out. I get up the same time every day and if I don't ride I go to the gym. My gas is paid for by the company, so I ride for the fun of it anyway. That and maybe just a little less crap in the air, and one car less on the road.

You post a fascinating question. Why is motivation even in the mix? Isn't it as simple is I want to bike today, I do not want to bike today? Obviously it's not, like you lose your 'real bicyclist commuter badge' if you fail and don't commute by bike on any given day. Do you become a ...poser? Just seems to me there are enough genuine stressors in life without creating a new one around whether of not you choose to ride your bike.

It depends on your reasons for cycling to work in the first place. If it's strictly because you enjoy it more than any other option, then it might be as simple as you say. If you want to ride today, then ride. If you don't, then don't.

For me it's more complicated. There's been mornings where I'm not looking forward to climbing on the bike, but it's rare that I regret doing it. So sometimes I need to push myself a little to ride. If I got in the habit of choosing not to ride on those days, it's not hard to imagine falling out of the habit of riding altogether. After a while the idea of starting up again might become a little daunting. That would be a real shame because the benefits I get from biking to work are substantial.

I try to ride 4-5 times a week during the weeday and usually ride a longer ride or two on the weekends (40 or more miles). If I am training for a century, then I try to hit 63-80 miles on one weekend day.

Motivation for me means overall health, no wanting to go to the gym, bragging rights at work, writing down the miles on the calender, working toward my monthly and year goals for miles and getting better at riding. Others include a break away from work, cleaning my head, and seeing the sites. Everyday on the commute is different. I love it. I commute on a heavier bike and it makes me faster on my road bike on the weekends.

But I do have days that I do not want to commute. Like this morning. I wanted to sleep in so bad but decided I should ride. Why? Because my goal is 450 miles this month and end of day yesterday I was at 298. So it is working otward my goal! Plus to be frank, I HATE gym time. Boring especially when it is nice out.

I am curious, for the commuters that commute 4-5 days a week, do you still ride on your days off of work (weekends in my case)?

The turning point for me came when I realized that regardless of how I felt when I got out of bed in the morning, by the time I'd been riding for 5 minutes I *always* was happy I did that. I never got to work in the car and didn't wish I'd ridden instead, and I never got to work in the bike and wished I'd driven instead. So it's just a matter of realizing that when you drive you're sacrificing feeling better for the whole rest of the day for your 5 minutes of laziness now. If you can't do that, there may be no hope.

Yes. I love riding on the weekends; it's time for social rides and metric/imperial centuries. As I've said in another thread, regular commuting has become pretty mundane, so weekends are where I spice things up and keep it fun.