Yeah if I wasn't panting so hard I would have laughed my arse off. It was up my least favorite hill I got them on also.

At least for them it is not a trailer.

I enjoy being outside in the fresh air be it in the early morning or on the way home.
I love not being stuck in traffic waiting for endless stoplight cycles and idiots trying to get in front of me or pull across 6 lanes of traffic.
It's nice not paying $50 every week or so for gas.
Saves wear & tear on the car so lower maintenance costs.
You meet people of like mindedness - who are [usually] pretty cool.
Enjoyable exercise.

What I like is the fact I'm combine two activities into one. I have to go to work plus I also have to get in some daily exercise. Commuting gets me an hour and a half of cardio-resistance training in the morning and in the evening. Plus, I get to work then home. I also enjoy my alone time. I can think about what I have to get done, and reminisce over old happy memories ..

no traffic jams, no hazzle finding a parking space, faster than car or public transport, cycling home the long way clears my mind, more awareness of my sorroundings, positive exercise effect, feeling of independence, ..........
my list could go on and on........
basically it is fun and convenient.

The more I commute by bicycle, the more I find I get angry and frustrated when I'm forced to commute by cage. In the car, I'm getting more and more angry with people always in my way but I can go my own pace by bicycle.

As an added bonus, today was Bike to Work Day (at least in Colorado, not sure about elsewhere.) Got to sip coffee in the AM watching news coverage of all kinds of people doing something most here do all the time... and thought "how can folks NOT do this more?"

It's what got me started, that one ride.

Another cool thing, myplace of employment had breakfast and bike bling for participants, who either work there or stopped on their way to somewhere else. Fantastic morning.

What do you mean by that? :rolleyes:

Anyways, I recently replied to this thread on the Living Car-Free Forum, “Show Us Your Current Current Commute/Errand Routes”:

I’m a decades-long, year-round cycle commuter, and I have read this Forum for about six years. I posted the above to demonstrate a near-perfect situation with solutions to many of the repeated threads on this Forum about common problems for cycling commuters. FWIW.

1. Gets me outdoors.
2. Saves me money or so I like to think. I keep buying stuff for my bike!
3. Exploring. I've learned alot about our county. Short cuts and back roads.
4. Exercise. I love when I get home and my excercise is done. Well mostly done.
5. Sunrises and sunsets.
6. Wildlife
7. Tranquility. I've grown to despise loud cars and trucks. I love it when it's just me and the road and all I hear is nature.

The smells is what gets me.. the good the bad and the ugly. Doughnuts, the BBQ joint and then there is the sewer plant. I've found a lot of interesting businesses along the path wouldn't of found otherwise. Pretty much agree with what ever one else posted.

The smells are always so amazing and interesting, well not amazing I go by a fish rendering plant. But in the neighborhoods the smells are always so different. There is a house who is making a curry almost every morning and it smells incredible. Then a couple of bakeries. Nice flora smell. Other random sometimes identifiable odors.

I can only imagine what someone with a good sense of smell experiences.

wow!

The exercise and being ready to ride my road bike on fun rides. Not that some of the commute rides are fun, most are. Each is a challenge and I like that too.

i love the smell of the honeysuckle in the mornings when the air temp is around 67-70 degrees it reminds me of being a kid and playing outside. The air seems fresh and it is easier to breath.

speed.

pain.
rain.
climbing when it's cold outside.
breaking the mandatory sidepath law.
chasing down motorvehicles who threaten cyclists.
weaving in and around slower moving motorvehicle traffic.
irritating safety nannies and bike ambassadors in a safe manner.
chasing down motorvehicles or bikes who threaten or buzz pedestrians.
stopping or blocking motorist traffic to let pedestrians or cyclists cross.
jumping a line, skidding to a stop, and track standing in front of a large suv or truck.
occasionally taking the lane on the ross island (US 26), sellwood, or morrison bridges.
a drive train that allows me to rapidly and smoothly click through the entire range as i accelerate from a stop.
the exhilaration of splitting lanes at speeds that commuting forum posters believe are impossible (except for elite professionals who ride the TdF).


PS: the above may rile but it's entirely genuine.

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I love the thrill of riding through the neighborhoods and avoiding the main roads. I skip all traffic lights and love riding under the trees to make my ride as enjoyable as possible. It took me a while to stop whining and wishing I would use a car, but my legs got stronger and my mindset changed. After visiting Portland, I just keep wishing every city would adapt cycling into their culture as much as they do.

enjoy your months in traction

I take this to mean that the commuting forum has "elite professionals who ride the TdF" lingering about. Cool! I wonder what their handles are...

i've found that people who use a bike as their primary mode of transportation rarely wish ill on other cyclists. on the other hand, people who still drive for transport often enjoy fantasies of cyclist suffering. i'm guessing you fall into the latter category.

i would also like to vehemently dispute the idea that crashing is necessarily dangerous. i've crashed at 20+ mph more than a dozen times (i've honestly lost count). in fact, i currently have a few broken ribs that are healing up nicely and have not caused me to miss a single day of bike commuting. even after almost 30 years of commuting primarily by bike i have yet to visit a doctor due to a commuting-associated bike crash. commuting by bike is a safe activity period. in fact, in many north american cities it's statistically safer than walking.

I got hit from behind with six weeks in the hospital while riding leisurely, with flashing lights, on a wide, well lit, low low-speed and low-volume residential road.
(With apologies to the OP of this thread, “What do you like about commuting!?!?!?!?!?”.)

This is not the "How did you become injured by a cage driver!?!?!?!?" thread.

The chance to clear my head before and after work.