Hey guys, I was wondering how many other people ride in with a friend? I recently utilized Strava to search for similar routes to mine into work and found someone who shares 95% of my commute. We hooked up and are now going to start riding in together. I will admit that I have had some trouble with the motivation side of things when it comes to commuting the majority/ all of the week and think that this should help a lot. Do many of you do this as well, if so, was it someone you knew beforehand or did you actively look for someone to ride with?

Interesting plan. That's pretty cool that you used Strava to make a new friend. I personally probably wouldn't want to ride (commute) with somebody on a regular basis. Mainly because the commutes are kind of my time to be alone, and have some peace and quite, away from life, kids etc..

But if it helps you to stay motivated and you and the other person enjoy riding together, then I think that's great.

I definitely hear you about the alone time and that's one of the reasons I love commuting, but for me that makes it so much easier to bail on a ride (As opposed to having someone expecting to meet you). Our schedules don't sync up perfectly so our after work rides will be solo. Its nice being able to pass the time in the morning with a like-minded rider and hopefully because I will be commuting more, it will make it easier to do so even on the days he won't be joining me.

I would not want to ride with anyone. Pretty much everyone around here are edge riders/gutter bunnies and I'm not having that. Plus there's the fact that I'm slower than most: it took me 77 minutes MOVING time to go 15.5 miles to work this morning. I wouldn't want to drag someone else down to my speed, nor would I want to be dragged down even slower than that.

Good for you and cool way to find a riding buddy. I definitely see how that can help.

My motivation comes from preferring to ride and not having easy access to a car (i.e., waking wife up to drive me in our shared car).

Let us be honest. This is the real motivation many of us face.

I like riding myself and I occasionally catch up with a few people going the same way. Some of them are similar in speed and I will ride together. I have never actively sought commuting partners though; there have been morning I want a good workout and hope for some of the people I know on the route to push me.

i have never really ridden with anyone into work but I have caught up with a few friends afterwork. I did catch one co worker riding in ONCE but that was more him making the effort. He has a more flexible schedule than I do.

Sounds like an ideal situation to me, the gutter bunny can be on your right in... the gutter, and you can be on their left in the travel lane. But I didn't fire up the response window to state the obvious. I was wondering what the overall tenor of your commute is, if you are vehicular cycling, controversial as it is, but VC and not even keeping close to the posted speed limit? I just don't know. So that's why I'm asking.

H

I have 13 immediate colleagues and 5 of us share 75% of the route

My pace is too slow to ask someone to hang back for me. When I ride with my wife she matches my C&V road bike pace on her knobby MTB tires. It's depressing!

2/3 rural 2-lane, no shoulder. 1/3 residential and some 5-lane arterial. 31 miles round trip, 3 times a week. I drive my bike as any other vehicle on public roads. It simply works, period. I'm not going to argue about any of that stuff in this thread, though.

Thats awesome. I don't see any of my coworkers ever attempting to commute by bike. They are more of the look at me like I have 5 heads type..

I ride solo. I have a hard enough time getting out the door on time without worrying about someones schedule. I enjoy the alone time. Motivation? Sitting in the car is reason enough. Plus I leave my car at work so the only way to get back to work in the am is to pedal.

I'll ride different bikes into work depending on my plans. SS EVO for days with club rides after work, my cyclocross rig for days where I am taking some "shortcuts" home, and have done the MTB when it snows.. I told my friend this morning that As long as we are vocal about what we want the ride to be that day I have no problem with tailoring the ride accordingly.. Now, at pace, we are likely very close in ability, but recovery days, different bikes, and weather can all make a difference. We will just come to an understanding and make it work..

or it is impressive that you ride with your wife.

mine wont ride with me for nothing

It's quite cool and we often see each other

I've done it in the past when it worked out. (Living near or on the same route as a cycling co-worker), it's better when you have bike trails/wide shoulders than road where you're going to be single file. It def. helped my motivation, and also helped me physically, as we were able to keep each other pushing hard.

I meet new riding buddies every day who happen to be riding at the same time and on the same route as me. We draft off each other, or sometimes it's only me or the other person pulling. However, the real motivator is the horrible traffic around here. Also getting a workout and fresh air. I loathe public transportation.

Not in more than a year... awkward pregnancy then babysitting. I'm looking forward to riding with the kid, though... at 4+ months it's too soon, he can't even sit up!

we rode together once while dating. She on a super heavy 10speed in the hills of Virginia.. me on a Cannondale SUper V 700. Neither good for really road riding but she hasnt been on a bike since. 16years or so ago maybe.

I always ride to work/home solo, but I do have a few friends who also ride to work. We compare notes and keep each other accountable, so I don't feel like I'm alone.

I get you on that.. I have a handful of friends who have been commuting more regularly (to different locations) and that even helps seeing all of their commutes on strava.

One of my motivations is the freedom bike commuting offers. I get up when I want, ride which ever route I prefer that day/direction and I certainly am in no hurry. It’s all about bicycle commuting though. So, whatever gets you on the bike is good.

How can you get up whenever you want? I have to get up an hour earlier to bike commute, as compared to when I drive.

Everything is on the bike and ready to go the night before. All I do in the morning is put on my gear have a cup of coffee while reading the bad news and off I go.