A typical bicycle to work morning: Shower at home and put on riding clothes (casual clothes for me), ride 40 minutes and arrive at work, lock up my bike in my building's parking garage, change in my office's locker room, and start work less than an hour after I left home. How does it compare to my other options? Only 10-15 minutes longer than public transportation and 20-30 minutes longer than driving.
The ride home in the evening is the opposite: Change clothes at work, ride, arrive home.
Advantages of Commuting by Bike
I can't believe it took me so long to start based on how much I enjoy it. Below are some of the reasons I like it:
- It's fun! I really like riding my bicycle.
- Time savings: Commute time is dual purpose, transportation and exercise. I get an hour and a half of cardiovascular exercise for a 10 minute time investment. I'd have to spend nearly 2 hours a day outside of my busy schedule to otherwise get the same workout, not easy with family and other responsibilities.
- Being outdoors: Most of my commute is on Chicago's Lake Front Trail which runs along the lake front. I've watched the sun rise over Lake Michigan in the morning, a full moon rise over Lake Michigan in the evening, and seen many of the Lake's moods. Occasionally it's reminded me of sailing (see my sailing blog, Sail Donnybrook).
- A feeling of accomplishment: It feels great to arrive at work by bike. I feel like I've accomplished something instead of being frustrated by traffic. It also gives me something to look forward to when leaving work--a bike ride instead of a grueling commute.
- Money savings: I save $4.50 a day over public transportation and $16+ day over driving (parking plus gas). My bike will be paid for in savings after 50 days compared to public transportation and less than 13 days compared to driving.
Part of the reason it took me so long to actual start commuting is I focused too much on the challenges. They were easy to overcome once I decided I really wanted to commute by bike.
- Time. I drop my boys off at school at a set time. I have flexibility on when I start work, however there are days the extra 10-15 minutes can make me late to a morning meeting. This is one reason I don't ride every day.
- Weather. This year's mild winter has made riding a lot easier. There were still several days I chose not to ride due to weather. They include:
- Snow or ice. Many people ride in the ice and snow (see the Bike Winter site) . I've gone out in snow for practice, but haven't commuted while snow is falling. Within a day or two of a snow, however, the roads and paths are generally clear enough to ride (with caution due to icy spots).
- Rain. Snow doesn't bother me as much as cold rain. Rain should be less of a deterent in the summer.
- Cold. I've commuted in as cold as 25 degrees. Colder shouldn't bother me. Heck, I've snow skied when the high for the day was sub zero. I don't wear anything special, jeans, t-shirt under a sweatshirt, and my North Face outer shell. The difference between 40 and 35 degrees is I wear thicker gloves. Between 35 and 30 degrees I wear ear warmers. Between 30 degrees and 25 degrees I wear thicker socks. Colder than 25 degrees and I might add a liner to my jacket, something to cover my face, and possible long underwear to keep my legs warm. The body generates a lot of heat so I haven't yet been cold on my ride.
- Wind. A head wind can really slow you down, especially on a bike like my hybrid where I'm sitting upright. During the worst wind day (a 30+ MPH head wind) my bike speed was down to 6 MPH. With no wind I can comfortably ride about 14 MPH. A tail wind can help as much as a headwind can hurt.
- Sweat. I was worried about sweating and needing to shower at work (adding additional time), but the reality I found is I sweat very little at the pace I ride. I wear a heart monitor (Polar RS300X) and I keep my heart under 78% of max, which is a light enough workout to carry on a conversation. I'll write more about effort and heart rate in a future article.
It seems I have it easier than others commuting by bicycle. Here are some of the factors:
- Proximity to work. For me, 8 miles takes about as long as public transportation. A longer ride will start to eat into the time savings. The time should continue to decrease as my body gets more efficient--I've decreased my average ride time by 5 minutes when I started. I've talking to people who regularly commute 12+ miles, and one person who commutes 19+ miles one way.
- Proximity to the Lake Front Trail. I only ride 5 minutes on city streets. It's bike path the rest of the way to my office meaning no stop lights to slow me down or crazy automobile drivers to scare me. Summer, I'm sure, will bring another set of challenges due to the crowds.
- Availability of a locker room at work. Having a locker room to change makes it easy. I also have access to showers if I find I need it in the summer. I changed in the men's room before I got locker room access so it's not needed, but a locker room makes changing easier.
- A bike rack in the parking garage in my building. My bike is very secure there. I have no worries about leaving it over night if I can't ride home for any reason (i.e. weather, dinner meeting, etc).
Resources That Helped
I like to research and understand something before I try it. The links below provided the best information on commuting by bike.
What are your bicycle commuting challenges? Whatever they are I'm sure they can be overcome with some persistence and creativity.
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