I'm fortunate to have a commute with a lot of possible variety.

• I can take it part-"gravel" which has a 1-mile fire road and a 0.1 mile trail in addition to mostly MUP. This is the minimum distance commute at about 5.3 miles. It probably minimizes the commute time and gets the bike dusty.
• I can take it all on suburban streets and paved MUPs. This is about 5.8 miles if I travel on a major artery and it minimizes elevation changes.
• Or 6.3 and a little more up-and-down if I stick to MUPs and suburbs.
• Probably half the commute, maybe more, is paralleled by single track. This is obviously the least efficient thing to do. Not just because it's on dirt, but because to stay on the trails I need to add distance and up-and-down. But is it the most fun?

I've been taking the first option lately. What would you pick? How would you choose by leg or by season?

6.3 miles isn't enough extra mileage for me to choose the 5.8 mile major artery. I'd rather do that extra half mile and be safe. I might go with the fire road depending on how rough it is and what condition I need to be in when I arrive at work. That might be a nice way to go home in the evenings, assuming of course that your bike tires are able to handle the conditions.

All of the above. I like to mix it up a little.

+1 The answer to the question changes every day based on bike, weather, how I'm feeling, how much time I have....

My shortest route is 8.5 miles, all roads, including 2 miles of 4-lane, 40 mph county road (no shoulder). My relaxed route avoids that county road for a total of 11 miles with a mix of limestone and paved trails. Dead of winter, I avoid almost all roads and it's 12.5 miles.

Depends on what bike I'm taking to work. Variety is key to keeping bike commuting interesting and enjoyable IMO

It depends on which half of the commute. I prefer safer slower streets with my son on the back and faster busier streets on my own.

I will certainly take some streets only when it is me. Others only with my son. Some streets depend on how I feel, the vibe I get from traffic, time and weather.

Me too, so I checked them all.

Just like Afghanistan! Or Bush v. Gore.

Yes.

yup

I have a 27.3 kms commute and the second shortest route is 36.6 kms so I don't have much of a choice. Its rural road recently paved except for a 1.5 kms strip which is very very bad with a lot of potholes with no shoulder in a 70 kmh speed limit zone. the general terrain is very very flat acrros the fields so my main concern is Wind.

+1. I feel bad for those that have to bike the same route everyday. But not as bad as I feel those that must drive the same route everyday. If you have choices, put the least safe at the bottom of the list, or off the list.

I change my routes regularly, it makes daily commuting more interesting... Dirt, gravel and singletrack trails are fun.

+1.

I also like to use a different route home than the one I rode to work.

Variety is the spice, don't cha know.

In my experience, there are arteries, and there are arteries. The ones that are lightly travelled enough during your commute time that the drivers can pass you in the left lane without any difficulty, are no problem (except for ignorant drivers, but that's a different subject). I minimize or avoid riding on arterial roads with more or less continuous traffic in both lanes. Sounds like your major artery is in the latter category, so I'd go with all-paved, safer. By the way, I found that hills tend to make my average cruising speed faster, in the long run, due to the conditioning effect. I'm thinking of significant hills with at least 1/4 mile of steady climb, not so much rolling hills where you're effectively "sprinting" for only a few seconds at a time.

Variety is the spice of life. If you have a bikr set up to do the part gravel and a bike set up for the single track and a bike set up for the road, it's all, about how you are feeling that morning! I have very little chance to vary my ride and wish I could-or I just haven't been inventive enough yet

I don't. I should, though. I have enough bikes, just need to finish setting them all up. Right now my MTB is set up to do upright commuting, but it'd be easy enough to give it big knobby tires again. And it has enough features to play around with newer or better features like disks, tubeless, a better than worst fork, etc.

You'd think you'd have more time to goof around on the ride home but I'm finding my wife & baby are more needful of my punctuality than my job is. I'm salaried and don't punch a clock, but the relief pitcher needs to be there in time to make the save.

I'd probably take the suburban streets and MUP for my ride in to work, and then take the singletrack and gravel for my trips home most days. I miss have even the tiniest amount of singletrack anywhere near my commute now that I've moved to the south end of the city. At least when I lived in the north end I had a whopping half a mile of tame singletrack behind the zoo, but it's silly how much I enjoyed being able to take that. If I had the option of doing 4 miles of singletrack I'd jump at it, for my trips home. I'm used to a one hour (~10 hilly miles) commute anyway.

I would always choose the safe, reliable route. Boring is my middle name.

El Boring Cid? Did your parents not like you?