I was a reliable cyclist for a long time. But not for the past month -- mileage has been reduced by 85% ever since I started a new job in Portland. After many years of considering 20 miles a non riding day (that distance not even being sufficient to commute one way), I rarely ride as many as 10 miles now. I used to love solo centuries, spinning on open road, and going more than a day without riding made me crazy.

But I hardly put any miles now. Of course I still ride my bikes, and I can't imagine getting to work any other way. But my short commute has everything I need -- well over 1000 feet of sustained climbing, decent grades and descents, and even a short flat section for a sprint. Lopping off two hours off my day has really been nice. I'm finding that the river and the city offer a number of convenient distractions that I didn't have easy access to before. Nonintuitively, I'm finding I don't miss something that I couldn't do without as recently as August.

The equipment I have is overkill for my riding habits. The 1600 lumen light setup I use for riding in winter storms on heavily trafficked two lane highways is absolutely ridiculous urban areas. Clothing I have to ride many hours in just about any conditions is unnecessary. The bikes, wheels, and other equipment was acquired to help find speed on long runs in a variety of conditions is silly where I ride now -- if you're only going a few miles, who cares about weight, aero, or anything else?

It seems disrespectful to my bikes to relegate them to an existence of tooling around at low speed when they want to go further and faster. Maybe I'll return to my old habits as there are mountains, rolling and flat ag land, and just about anything else you'd want within easy riding distance. But if not, I need to shed some gear. This all sounds like blasphemy to me, but it still seems right.

Be careful going down the slippery slope or you might find yourself with only a fixie riding down to local watering hole for some PBR... <shudder>

N-1?!?

Sacrilege.

I may turn into a Portland Fred (which will help me blend in nicely as it looks like someone detonated Fred bomb out here), but I will never sink that low. And I will never take a good bike on the MUP even though I live along one of the most popular ones in the city. There are some lines you just can't cross...

Aa soon as you down grade, you will want to replace because the bug will get you again!

Join a cycling club.

Take a longer route to work..

This. Personally, I wake up early, do a one hour and 20 minutes route. Get back home, shower, then commute. not every day though. Takes some dedication in the winter months. Though it beats exercising at the end of the day. When i cycle past the gym and see all those people who have just worked a full day on those treadmill things, I feel like the way I do it is the much, much better option.

Come visit the great green north, and do some personal BOMRODs. Check out the road riding in the Methow valley while you're here.

And keep in mind that summer ends Friday.

To a small extent, I do this. Shortest commute is 2.5 miles, but I usually take this instead. I realize that even the "long" way is short, but it has a surprisingly good mix of riding in super low traffic areas that is scenic and relatively intense. I've explored a number of considerably longer routes, but the miles feel like junk due to traffic controls, lame grades, and the like. This is where I sometimes miss my old rural highways, though I don't miss having vehicles buzz me at 65+mph.

The scale has reacted the way I'd expect it to. Body fat is up 2% to the highest value I've ever seen it. It's not a problem yet, but the pattern has to stop. I actually had to adopt sensible eating habits which sounds like it sucks but it doesn't since I hate force feeding myself and have had to eat way more than I wanted to for a long time.