6 Myths About Commuting By Bicycle

Bicycle commuting

I'm in an almost ideal situation to commute to work, as I live in Florida (which is very flat, and no snow), and I'm able to wear casual clothes to work.

I do about 90% of my commuting by bicycle, and I even have a bike trailer that lets me do major grocery shopping (25 lb. bags of cat litter, mulch, etc.). I credit the practice with saving my huge amounts of money. I not only buy less gasoline, but I spend less on car maintenence and I'm more productive at work since I have less job stress. My bike is a variety that I call an "Urban Frankenstein" bike. It's a cheap Wal-mart roadmaster mountain bike (with a suspension fork) with alloy wheels that were cannibalized from a schwinn that someone was throwing away (I did this not to be cheap, but because I believe in recycling to reduce the carbon footprint, which, in my mind, must also consider the carbon dioxide produced by manufacturing processes), and heavy, metal BMX pedals to replace the cheap, fragile, breakable rubber ones that came with the roadmaster. The bike is too ugly to steal, it's a heavy steel frame which gives me an excellent workout, and it rides as smooth as butter. I use a bell-brand headlight with rechargable nickle-metal hydride batteries, and a bulldog combination U lock which allows you to set your own combination and has a sliding dust cover.

The final touch is a metal luggage rack with removable baskets that can be put on and removed with plastic zip ties, and, lo and behold, I'm good to go. Estimated costs: About $120.00 spread out over a year and a half that I've been using it.

22 year old's thoughts

I live way out of the way in the country with my parents. Most people in my high school even lived closer to our highschool and civilization. I've wanted to live in an area where I could walk/bike places and when I started college I love the way everything is set up so you can walk and bike practically anywhere. I'm not the only one that likes this kind of freedom. Not having to have a car is GREAT! Having a car expands your social sphere to a bigger area but it hurts your opportunity to spend your money on your school bills and other stuff thats more important. I hate feeling like I have to work so much to pay for my car to get work. I could live in a modest campus apartment cheaper than I live at home because of my transportation expenses. Why does everyone set up their lives around their cars? I'd rather live in the city and rarely use a car, just to go on road trips, the theme park, and go camping. Not for my everyday commute. I know it rains, and I don't ride a bike now, but I keep reading about all these people that do it everyday so maybe that part isn't so bad. When my dad was in the military overseas years and years ago, they had schwinn bikes with lights and baskets racks on the back they used to get around base.

Nice to see this subject getting attention

Nice to see this subject getting attention... I am still the "bike dude" at work and many think me daft for riding to work, so it's just nice to see the issue being talked about because for so long the US has treated cycling as either a sport or fitness thing, but not a means of transportation.

I must advise against taking statistics too strongly, either. An experienced and fluid cyclist will be ten times more aware of his surroundings than a pedestrian crossing or a driver in a car, but not everyone fits this catagory even though they may think they do! Besides, if you are looking at accident rates, how about all those times police fill out general complaint forms when a driver causes a cyclist to crash, rather than accident forms, because a car is not damaged? I am pretty sure that distorts the statistical record by defining many accidents as not accidents.

Iv'e ridden my electric bicycle every place that Iv'e gone locally

My electric bike is my only vehicle. I centralized my life here in Elsegundo Cal. enjoy it completely. I read that owning a car costs us an average of eighty four hundred dollars each year so if this is true my bike has paid for itself about six times!

Reason #6

I bicycle commute 3 to 4 times per week. As I turned 40 last year I've found the exercise from cycling actually increases libido. Like the article said, unless you're training for the Tour De France riding a bike to work an hour or two a day won't hurt your "performance". As I mentioned, it improves it!!

Well done article!

Wow! I realy enjoyed reading your article about the Myths of comutting, and must say it was full of alot of great information, also am looking forward to your back lot bike swapmeet this August, that should be great fun! see U there!

new biker

I'm totally afraid to start commuting to work by bike in DC. I went for a long bike ride through Copenhagen, Denmark and wasn't ever really concerned. The roads were wide, and the Danes seemed to have a very bike-happy society going. Seriously, bike rakes galore! I just don't want to get nailed trying to cheapen my living and decrease my footprint.

I know the risk for driving a car is greater, but it just seems like dying on a bike would hurt more.

Cheap Bikes

I paid roughly 160 (after taxes) for a brand new Schwinn Cruiser from Target. I then took it to the local bike shop (which, while a great place for service is extremely expensive to buy bikes seeing as they sell sport and race bikes). Me and the mechanic had a look over and he found nothing wrong barring a slight adjustment on brakes. He didn't even charge me.

So you can easily find a brand-spanking new bike for under 200. I'd suggest getting some flat-resistant measures such as self-lining tires and some tube protection. It will save you a head ache.

Also, I live in Austin and every bus I've seen is equipped with a bike rack on the front. Granted it only permits 2 bikes but rarely is this a problem. I've dumped the gas pump and haven't looked back. I might get a small car within the next 5 years but I'm not sure. Biking is real easy right now (for me).

I know it's not possible for everyone but there are small steps we can all take to help out with our wallets, energy dependence, enviromental issues, and health problems.

Imagine if kids biked more to school. We'd have an easier time shaving off our reputation of having the fattest people on the planet.

Not meaning to go on a tirade but I hate it when people dismiss bicycling to work or school as impossible. In most cases it's not.

And this is from a conservative liberterian so the whole biking issue is not really political, it's more about being practical.

Depends on how you run your numbers

Evaluation of the "takes too long" argument depend on personal circumstances. True, it does for some, but not for all, and for those it is a good alternative.

In my case, my best drive time is 7.5 miles in 15 minutes on the freeway. The average bike time is 6.3 miles in 40 minutes on regular streets. That makes the round trip 30 minutes versus 80 minutes, for an EXTRA 50 minutes if I bike.

I ride slowly, so I don't need any cleanup, so I arrive "ready to go" just as if I had driven. This is especially true in the fall, winter, and spring, when clothing can be adjusted so that the wind chill of moving blows off the heat generated by pedaling, so I can arrive in nearly perfect comfort. The possibility of needing a shower only really comes up on hot summer days, and even then, my personal circumstances have given me a back-office job where dressing up is not required.

So in my own case, I "waste" just 50 minutes a day by biking. But do I really? I spend those 50 minutes exercising. If I had driven, and I still wanted to get some daily exercise as we all are supposed to do, I would have to change clothes and go jogging or maybe drive to the health club, which could easily consume 50 minutes. And those 30 minutes I spent in the car? What was I doing with them except sitting? On a bike I add those 30 minutes to the exercise total.

Of course I could have used the drive time to listen to books on tape, eat breakfast, send some text messages, make some phone calls, or do some other activities that could increase my chances of joining the 40,000 people who die every year in car crashes.

Commuting by bike

Egads! I kept hearing from friends, regarding commuting to work: "I wouldn't do it, it's too dangerous. I would get to work all tired out. What about thunder storms in the afternoon? People will think I'm weird."

*...too dangerous: I've been commuting on bike, depending on where I've lived, some 18 - 36 miles round trip into downtown DC to work from suburban Virginia since 1990. During that entire time, I've had one accident and it didn't involve a motor vehicle. In fact, I was hit by a roller blader on the W&OD bike trail in Falls Church, VA, and I broke my pinkie. (Talk about embarassing.) However, I'M HYPERCAREFU. Unlike many bike commuters, I don't blow through stop signs, I don't challenge vehicles to an open lane, I always look out for cars and SUVs emerging from parking garages and alleys, and I never, ever NEVER assume a driver sees me.

*"I would get all tired out": Not on your life. I'm tired during the cold dark months when I do not bike. But from March - November, life is good. I arrive at work with lots of energy and at night I get home hyperenergetic. Biking has strange effects on one. While the other commuters are stuck in traffic guzzling up $4 gasoline and/or getting too cozy with strangers on DC's overcrowded Metro, I'm buzzing along on my bike at 15 - 17 mph watching the sunrise over the Potomac, cruising through historic Old Town Alexandria, and sometimes even stopping to watch planes take off at National Airport. How many drivers can see egrets or even bald eagles on their way to work? I look forward to my commute; how many car drivers or transit takers can say that?

*"What about thunderstorms and lightening?" Well, there's now such a thing as Doppler Radar. You can pretty much tell where the severe storms are, and you can wait them out, or even take your chances. Sometimes playing a hunch is fun.

*"People will think I'm weird." That was true for many years. I have a beater for a car, and many folks believed I biked because my car was not reliable. (In fact, my car is very reliable, and I have been able to keep the same car since 1991 because I bike. Eliminating commuting related wear and tear on a car means it lasts longer.) People also thought I was a strange enviro type trying to make a statement: well, yes, somewhat. But now fuel prices are high. The bike locker room where I work is just chalk full of new cyclists. I stop to eat at a restaurant on my way home and people ask me how long it takes me, how much my bike costs, and how they can get started. I'm no longer regarded as weird; now, people think bike commuters were prescient.

Get on a bike and ride, folks. It's the best thing to do for yourself, for the nation's security by avoiding imported oil, and for our planet.