Bike commute enough this year to put more mileage on your bike than your car. I’m gonna give it a shot. Conserve energy, save money and build a huge base for next year!!!
I am with you on this one. I am just waiting to get my Cross bike built up then will use that for commuting. Should be a great bike to use. Will run normal tires on it as I have an extra set of rims kicking around.
I am going to purpose to my company that we start up a challenge to see who can commute the most in a year. I live farther than most but hey I am the Triathlete right. This will give me some incentive to get my sorry ass out the door as well.
Shouldn’t be a problem for me.
I have 0 cars and 3 (soon to be 4) bikes.
I would love to do this…the challenge is living in South Dakota - a freakish amount of snow/ice for darn near 6 months out of the year. Anybody else do this in the snow? I have a mountain bike i guess…not sure how that would work though…
Good for you!
Let us know how you are doing in a couple of weeks when it gets dark and wet.
Best of Luck.
P.S.: Isn’t that like a New Year resolution, with the New Year being the gas price hike?
Good goal - I road my bike to work today for the first time since LP. I’m going to try to ride 3 out of 5 days each week. Figure it will save me about $5.00 per day in gas.
I’m lucky - 15 miles to work - rural roads, mostly on the Great Floridan course - 561, 455, Buckhill, Grassy Lake. Nice showers at the NTC. Jumped into the pool after the ride this morning for a nice cool down.
Z
See my other post…I am looking for a light. If I can manage 3 out of 5 days per week, I should just about reach my goal (more bike miles than car miles). Shooting for 5 out of 5 days though. We will see.
Mike
Check here…
Lots of useful info on biking on snow and ice…
I’m starting up either tomorrow or Monday. I hope.
Oooh. This is very tempting. I might just try, but I have a few things working against me. First, it is still really hot here and we don’t have showers at work. 2nd my wife and I normally carpool. So it would mean both of us riding (which is realistic, she is a triathlete too). 3rd, 1 week a month I work the night shift. It ain’t happening then. I’m not riding home at 4am in the dark. 4th, we have a young dog that hasn’t quite graduated to making it all day without a pee-break (inside dog) so my wife and I take turns going home at lunch to let her out.
On the plus side, we have a good route and it is only 7 miles each way. Turning a 7 minute commute into a 30-45 minute (including changing) would take some getting used to though. Time is already precious at our house.
On the really plus side, I would definitely love to be a bike commuter and to minimize how much gas I use. Certainly something I believe if I can make the logistics work.
I’m in… going to be tough though winters here (bosotn) can SUCK. do you have an official start date?
Live in Vancouver so the weather is never really that bad. The distance to work is 30km but I do have a shower at work. I started doing 3 days a week. Drive in on Monday with my clothing for the week and my lunches. Friday I would drive in and get all of my stuff.
Worked pretty good and I would get in 180km a week. Have to get back on track though. I did order a Cross bike for winter riding and will get lights and fenders. I think some good rain gear as well as the temperature is always good but it is wet.
Very nice post! Thanks for the info…
Based upon this, I think I will organize a winter duathlon here…I even have the perfect course for it! Just something else to motivate in the middle of winter.
Count me in Mike. I’ve been commuting about 15 - 20 times a year over the last two years but paying $2.99 / Gal yesterday gave me the incentive that I needed to turn it up a notch.
That’s easy. I’ve had my car for about 5 years now and put ~45000 miles on it. I got my first road bike 6 months after the car and have about the same milage on the road since then. It helps when you live in a college town and your commute is a 5 minute bike ride. Almost all the miles on my car have come from driving across the country several times.
-C
I am already there. Between running to work and biking to work, I am way ahead of my car mileage. So far, since May 1 when I started to get seriously into riding I have only taken my car to work 4 times.
Dev
Never thought of it that way but yeah, I might be close. As for hours on the bike vs. hours in the car, the bike wins hands down. Miles are another story though.
We have one car, the family Sienna, that we use to go to Granma’s or go camping (or drive to CdA for instance). So that racks up some long miles albeit with a full complement of passengers.
In the rainy season my bike miles go down a bit but I carpool then. It’s a risk management strategy at the cost of some petro-death.
Great idea Mike…keep it up.
Oooh. This is very tempting. I might just try, but I have a few things working against me. First, it is still really hot here and we don’t have showers at work.
I’m looking into a “shower-only” deal with a Gym near my office. I’m thinking they can get $5-10 a month from me and all i ask is to park my bike indoors, take a quick shower, and zip back out the door. I’ll let you know if it works out.
I commute during the summer 2-3 times per week, then I ussually stop sometime in Sep. or Oct. I live in Wisconsin, winters can be very nasty. I live about 15 miles away from work. My route is mainly through country roads.
I’d love to be able to commute in the winter. Here’s what’s stopped me in the past:
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It’s dark when I get off work. I don’t feel safe riding in the dark.
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I only have a road bike, and I don’t know anything about configuring a bike for winter conditions.
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Its frickin’ cold.
I think I could deal with these issues if I put my mind to it - especially 1 and 3.
As for 2 - Can anybody spec out a good winter commuter bike for me? Or send me to a good informational link?
If you’e looking for a headlight, check out the CygoLite NightRover NiMH. It’s highly rated on mtbr.com, it’s on sale at Performance for $70, AND, having bought one and used it, its really quite a sweet light for low $$$. My only issue is they don’t offer an OS clamp…yet. OS clamp comes out in October (planned). Other than that, awesome light.
a cyclocross bike with knobbies and fenders…if you want it on the cheap i’d recommend a surly crosscheck. Or check out roadbikereview.
I have a surly and love it. It was my first “road” bike. the thing is indestructible albeit a bit heavy.
Good luck,
Dan
www.aiatriathlon.com