Discuss: The Commute

Our family went car-free in September and (re)invested in some good commuter bikes and a folding bike. I’ve commuted regularly to work and school - even through the deluge that soaked the Northwest a few days ago! You get wet, you get dry….

Thanks for continuing to get the word out about bike transportation. I think it’s an integral part of our future, in one form or another.

I frequently ride my bike to a bus stop, and then ride the bus 5 miles, and then ride my bike the last 2 miles to work.  I do the reverse on the way home.  I sometimes bike the whole way (8 miles). Your writing David, inspires me to bike the whole way more often.  Living in Redwood Vally, Northern California, I do have one of the most beautiful commutes on the planet.

Bikes HAVE to be a BIG part of just about every able-bodied person’s present and future if we humans are to make it to the end of this century with a reasonably intact biosphere.

I just turned 57 this week.  It is interesting to me that David and many of the folks responding to his writing are 50+.  By the way, climbing trees is another good way to stay young and have a realistic perspective of what is important in life.

Be Well.

Sandy Turner

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We have this interlude, this free space, between work and home to rediscover both the outside world and our selves.  The experience of it is different for each of us depending on our locality, age, gender, perceptions, psyches.  And yet, we share a common ground, getting out every day, bucking the trend, flying with the wind.
  It dipped just below freezing this morning.

Great observations and scribing, I can identify with season changes and compassion of the flat tires probs. I tell you how many people I have helped because they don’t carry a pump (!!!!!) on 9W in NJ.

Having been a motorcyclist for many years, I am rediscovering the bicycle.  My commute is only 3 miles and then only if the weather is perfect.  You have encouraged me to ride more often.  At 64 it takes some determination to get out there.  Need all the help I can get.  Thanks to all for the comments.

I’m retired now, but commuted by bike for nearly 10 years in the ‘70s & 80’s, first in Albany, NY (well, I took a break from Dec. to spring), & San Diego, CA. If it seems crazy now, it was crazier then. I was—& still am—a bit nutty about bikes. Twenty-30 years ago almost no women rode bikes; I was the only one in the several State agencies that shared bike lockers. If anything, drivers were less pleasant & accepting then they are now—& there were no bike lanes. The problem now seems derived from a) a lot more vehicles; b) vehicles moving at higher speeds; c) driver patience less. There have been several nasty incidents involving altercations between drivers & cyclists this year. Tempers need to cool on both sides; cyclists need to ride responsibly. Perhaps most of all, cities—perhaps state governments, too—need to make a larger effort to become bike-friendly, incorporating bikes into their urban transportation system, promoting their use through public education & active encouragement. As Europeans learned, bicycles are a natural form of transportation for urban areas.

Now that the streets are getting narrow because of leaves, slush and salt I’ve started walking for a few months again.  I take just about the same mile-and-a-half route, cross over two of Ithaca’s gorges and below the spectacular Ithaca Falls.

I am a 53 y/o who has been biking to work on the East coast for 30 years. In upstate NY I was only one of a handful of IBM’ers who biked. For the past 2 decades I have biked all year in Delaware, except for when its real icy. I have fallen on ice several times in the past few years, and never gotten hurt.  Each time I think I should be more careful, who needs a broken collarbone at my age?  I work on a campus where few people commute even in perfect weather. Most people don’t realise I can cover 2-3 miles around town or around campus far quicker on a bike then they do in   their car.  Now we have a bike path   around the edge of campus. I consider myself so lucky to be able to bike in 90 degree heat or 20 degree frost. BTW, I often visit Philadelphia and am impressed with hardcore bike commuters like this author. One warning: beware of the streetcar tracks esp in West Philly.