Ride my bike to work twice a week for a year

fullerton ca.

i ride to work daily its only fifteen min but a great way to start the day

This goal is unrealistic where I currently live. Summers are fine, but I’m not riding 28 miles round-trip in the snow (yup, call me a wimp).

You get exercise and save on petrol. I’ve been riding to work for nearly 10 years but I am fortunate that I live in Southern California and the weather is great for cycling. It’s a good feeling to not have to fill up the car very often. I’d like to make a goal of shopping via my bicycle at least once a week.

rain, sleet or snow.

the subway is for moles.

I reactivated my lapsed gym membership today, in the hope that it would force me to ride my bike to work occasionally (I work in the same building as the gym, and its showers).

So if I manage to ride my bike twice a week, it’ll end up costing me about $5 a trip/shower. The more I ride, the more I get my money’s worth. Not a bad incentive, I guess.

I bike to work right now about 4 days a week. I can’t think of a better way to get to work. My work has bike lockers and showers, so it’s ideal. Be creative! Take the bus half way there. Have a co-worker drive you home from work. Drive there with your bike and alternate. Just make sure to plan it out and look at all possible routes. What’s an easy car route may be difficult bike ride. I discovered a great route that crossed the highway yet had NO highway access. It’s a great way to explore!

... but I’ve ridden to work three times this week. I have to confess that I let myself get stymied and discouraged by the weather, and now that the snow and ice have almost completely disappeared and the morning temps are in the 20s and 30s and the sun is actually up when I ride, it’s much easier mentally.

Plus that whole ANWR thing has me motivated to reduce my fossile fuel consumption just on principal.

During the summer, 4-5 days a week is no problem at all. In the winter, once a week is my current goal.

I use to live near downtown Chicago and I use to ride my bike to work at least twice a week when I worked in the Loop. I saved time and money by riding my bike and got a little exercise to boot! It was a very liberating thing. Try it if you live in a bike-friendly city!

Two summers ago, I unearthed a rare cache of ambition and decided to ride to work every day to “get in shape.” So I managed to get my hands on a reasonably capable road bike. With some nice clippy shoes, even. There’s a gym in my building, so I signed up—to use their showers after biking in (they unfortunately shot down my brilliant “showers-only reduced rate membership” idea). And finally, a “work clothes” stash was established underneath my desk.

Amidst all of this planning, I ignored some critical points:

1. I had never sat on, much less ridden, a road bike in my life
2. My current physical condition was far less than optimal (to put it very generously)
3. My house and office are both situated in vallies—separated by 15 miles and an 800-foot-high hill.

I completed the round-trip ride exactly once. Afterwards, my quadriceps forbade me from ever attempting it again.

Nearly two years later, the trauma has faded, my legs have capitulated, and I’m about ready for a second attempt. For real this time.