How do you tell which ones are commuters?

I don't know whether I should count everyone who's not wearing lycra or only those wearing high-vis vests, helmets with mirrors, and riding a practical commuting machine. Simply only counting those wearing high-vis vests would eliminate everybody I see on the road excluding the hordes that come to town once a year for a century ride who all seem to have high-vis vests and helmet mirrors. High-vis, mirrors, and helmets for that matter are very uncommon sights here.

But seriously. How do you know who's commuting?

I agree with you...I should have been more clear, I think filtering in front, especially in front of riders who were riding faster than you, is rude.

I do not think not waving is rude. I personally don't wave, and don't see other rider wave, and I am fine with this. If someone waved to me I would wave back if safe to do so (first priority is being in control of my bike and safe in traffic). I really don't expect commuters anywhere to wave while riding, particularly in an area where there are so many bike commuters.

I was trying to simply pointing out that there is often a bit more of a friendly bond on the Marin to SF commuters, as we all take that long commute and our routes all overlap over a large portion. To be clear, nobody waves, but it is common to say hi or make small chat at lights, or say hi or nod while passing. I don't consider it rude if they don't, but its nice when people are friendly.

One other area where I have seen these commuters be "nicer" is when I have had a flat - when I first started commuting I had too many flats with my crappy old tires. Many people would ask if I was OK as they rode by or stopped to make sure I had everything I needed. The majority of these were commuting from Marin (or likely too based on getup, most Marin to SF commuters are in a road kit vs city commuters in regular clothes). I am sure this is because many of them have been there at some point, and maybe realized they don't have tube, etc.

I live in a city. A cold city for a good chunk of the year. On the worst winter days I'll see about about 1/2 dozen others. I sort of catch the edge of downtown on my way into work. I'd probably see more if I took a different route.

It always surprises me that I'll set several other bikes when it's really cold (-20 or worse) but on a cold, windy, and rainy day there might be only a couple others.

On a nice day in the summer it can be harder to tell who's a commuter and who isn't. I'll usually look for a backpack or pannier. On a particularly popular route I got to well over 100 one day before I lost count. I was maybe half way home. In a bigger city or a European city popular with cyclists that wouldn't be anything, but I found it very encouraging.

Why would you not count someone wearing Lycra?

Because my workplace is at the last street crossing the MUP before it runs off into BLM land. And the folks in lycra keep riding down the MUP past where I stop. None of them are commuters.

Too many to count. One day I did actually count the number of oncoming riders and was over 100 on a popular stretch from the 14th St Bridge to National Airport, a distance of 4 miles of MUP.

Sadly, China is starting to look less like China in the last several years.

Most commuters use a backpack or saddle bags for carrying clothes. I only wear lycra as I try and minimize my time on the bike.

Ah, okay. I would suggest you are extrapolating from a fairly limited data set. Plenty of people commute in bibs and jersey, myself included.

I don't disagree. My data set is atypical but it is my local community and it does have a lot of bike commuters. Of 20 employees at my workplace about 4 commute, none of whom are using backpacks or saddle bags to carry clothes. That's pretty typical here. I think some of you live in communities that are more difficult to commute in. Longer trips, more challenging terrain, lots of bad drivers (not that drivers here don't suck but they're very used to cyclists), inclement weather, etc. A "long" commute here is doing a 3-mile ride on flat ground...

While Bend, Oregon, population 80,000, is no Portland, I do see lots of commuters. We're more of a mountain biking mecca and professional road racing town, but I do see commuters.

Portlands commuter load can vary(on weather). Some days I've seen 60+ people on my five mile ride to work, other days I will maybe see one or two. Here's a video I took the last week or so of my commute into work if you want to see the Portland commute, though it's from Nopo which is kind of the least bike friendly, even though I'm on a bike path the whole way.

Back to my OP

I live in a town of 22,000, ride through a town of 40,000, a town of 55,000, into a city of 155,000 where I work.

I live on the south side of Milwaukee, and commute through downtown up to the north side/suburbs.

Like someone else said, it's not crowded, but there are a fair number of other bike commuters. Which is great, because by and large drivers here are more (or at least seem to be) aware of cyclists on the road.

On my ride to work in the mornings I usually see five to seven "regulars" heading downtown on the MUP, their commute being opposite of me.

In the summer I will were my kit to work because it's too hot to were my usual jeans, so it would be harder to tell I'm commuting except for the panniers with my work cloths. During the winter I'll were jeans or dress pants.

I live south of Miami and commute to Florida City. 9 miles one way. I've actually ridden to work and not seen another bike rider. Normally I might see half a dozen bikes and in the morning I pass my truck mechanic as he's going to work.

The Bike Path runs along the Bus rout and I have actually ridden to or from work without ever being passed by a bus going by. Just shows that it's faster to ride my bike than take public transportation to get to work.

Bob

Around these parts at least half of the bike commuters I see are wearing spandex. You can usually tell because most of them, including me, are wearing back packs too. I leave the man purse home on weekend rides.

Time of day and direction of travel are also good indicators.

My town has a population of about 500,000. It is very hilly and there is basically no biking infrastructure, except for a few bike parkings downtown. ("A few" = count them on a hand and a half)

A good number of people commute by bike; mostly middle-to-lower class workers, and it pains me to see them not know the "proper" technique of following traffic direction, stopping at lights, not riding on sidewalks... but they get by. I've helped a couple with bike trouble on their way; sadly most seem to go on pretty decrepit bikes.

Then there are the "proper" ones, on well-maintained bikes, wearing helmets, etc., and they are invariably connected to the local biking groups. It's kind of disconcerting to see that "educated" bikers are the ones with enough money/time to dedicate to their biking. I guess I'm in this camp.

Things are definitely changing here, though. Drivers *are* getting used to seeing people on bikes riding properly on the streets.

In some circles, Cambridge (like China) is known as The People's Republic of...:innocent: :lol:

In January this year, I posted to a new local cyclist:

The JP Bikepath is a popular commuter path into downtown Boston, and the Harvard Medical Area for about three miles at the beginning of my outbound commute. Past that, in residential Boston and the suburbs on the best of days, I might encounter up to about five inbound cycle commuters before about 7:30 AM.

...and time of day.

I don't see too many at 5:30 am. I do see a few on the LA River path but they look more like racers, not commuters.

These are not mutually exclusive categories.

I agree, normally if I see a commuter though I see either a pannier, backpack or messenger bag. I could be mistaken though. Either way it's great to see other riders on my way to work.

There are probably different cues that can be employed depending on where you are at, time of day, size of group, etc.

If I see 10 riders on the Greenway all wearing matching kit at 7:00 pm in the evening, they probably aren't commuters. A single rider wearing lycra and a backpack near downtown at around 7:30 am probably is, and so is the guy wearing business casual clothes with no backpack or panniers. Take the backpack away from the guy wearing lycra and it's more of judgement call.

I pass several K-12 schools on my commute, so most of them are children on the sidewalk. Probably 5-10 on a nice day. I've only seen one of them actually in the bike lane--I'm not sure if the "no sidewalk riding" rule should apply to these kids? They are definitely not steady in their riding or completely spatially aware, but some of the sidewalk paths are pretty treacherous too.

Concerning adults, most of them in the residential areas seem more like recreational riders, mostly because they are of retirement age and don't seem like they're in a hurry. The only adult commuters I see on a regular basis (maybe 1-3 a day) is in the last bit of industrial stretch of my commute, and most of them are in casual clothes on mountain or hybrid bikes.

Kids up to about age 11 should ride on the sidewalk and, as such, should be allowed to ride on the sidewalk. Beyond that, they're better off on the street. The final call is with the parents.

The fraction of kids who walk or ride to school has fallen a lot in the last generation. I don't think it's a good thing.

I'm not an expert on child development, but suspect the "ride in traffic" age should be a little higher than that. This is based on observations of my normally bright 13 year old grandchild. She's almost ready. In general I agree with this comment.
Sad but true.

You're probably right, depending on the conditions, CC.

I commute from the central valley to the bay area via train here in CA and by the time I get off at the the "middle" stop of the whole route, the bike racks are full on each car (7 cars with 20-25 racks per car) with several people standing with their bikes. Some ride year round regardless of weather, they just change bikes, but its definitely getting busier as weather warms up. When I get on in the afternoon, its usually standing room only with a bike for the next 1-2 stops when enough folks get off and make room.

I see all types of people, from those that look like they are about to start a race on their full carbon and TI rides with no backpacks or bags to women in skirts on cruisers. On my route to the office and back I see maybe one rider every 2-3 rides though we have several folks that commute via bike.

I go 6 miles from home to the bus in the morning (to make sure I make the train), then 5 miles each way between the train and the office and finally 23 miles one way to home. I wear my cycling clothes and run saddle bags on a QR rack with my laptop, accessories, clothes, etc. I could not ride that far in jeans. I leave work shoes at the office so I don't have to carry them and shower there as well. I think a lot of it has to do with the distance and facilities at the office. No way to clean up after a decent ride would keep me from commuting via bike to work. Well, not myself, but my co-workers would probably not want me commuting via bike.....

The other day I was out riding and came to a place where the bike path crossed a road using a cross walk. There was a father and daughter(about 11 years old I'd say) at the crosswalk. The father was instructing her how to ride safely, and told her it's best to walk across crosswalks. I liked how the father was taking the time to teach his daughter safety skills. I was actually tempted to get off my bike and walk across when the time came to set a good example. However, the father may have sensed that he should say something because I was there and he knew I would probably ride across. So he told her that when you get older and more experienced it's ok to ride across. In doing so he let me off the hook, but otherwise I would have walked. It's nice to see people spending time with their kids and teaching them about life.

Yea, even being married without kids its a bit harder to come home, then go for a ride/run or to the gym as then we really don't see each other much during the week. I have tried riding with my wife after work, but its a very different ride as she isn't as strong a rider, so not a great workout, just a nice way to spend time together. COmmuting gets me that fun/workout time without significantly taking away from other time. This, plus health benefits of riding, makes the wife happy (happy wife = happy life)

Seven Bike cars per train? Way cool. Do you have a link to the transit agency?

I ride the Southern CA Metrolink from the furthest point south, and get off halfway to LA. They have one bike car per train, and not on all trains. There are “officially" 18 bike spots on the car, but they will hold more.

The train I catch at 5:15 has two to four bikes board at the first stop. By the time I get off, there are five to ten more. The conductor told me that it often fills up by the time it gets to union Station
I board just about every day with my steel road bike in full kit. One other rides nearly every day-Trek road bike-Kit. Another, always boards another, car-steel road bike-cargo shorts, sneakers.

Return trip I board with three to five other regulars. There are usually half a dozen bikes already on board. One other on a road bike. A guy with an old Motobecane tourer who never misses a day, Two other guys who work together, one on a touring bike the other CX bike. Along the way we pick up more, including some high school students on mountain bikes, and two women. An RN new to riding on a Next MTB and another on a Schwinn Cruiser.

Full agree that this makes sense for kids. I would hope that many such parents are cognizant of the dangers peculiar to riding of sidewalks, and take these into account. It is rare, but I have seen fully grown adults bombing down sidewalks, then dismount at intersections and walk their bikes across.