I picked back up bicycling last summer. A couple of my co-workers started riding in a weekly fun ride sponsored by a local brewery. I for one am willing to do a great many things if it involves beer. So I dusted off the old big box bike and started riding with them. The first couple of rides destroyed me. The bike had been ridden hard and put up wet, and I wasn't in much better shape. My fitness level increased quickly after the first few rides. I also dove in to the bicycle maintenance videos on YouTube. With a lubricated chain, greased and repacked wheel bearings, and bottom bracket the bike became far easier to ride.
It didn't take long before the low end and cheap components of the bike passed their mean time between failure. I snapped a few teeth off the freewheel, bent the rear axle, stretched the chain, and started snapping spokes. It was hard to justify purchasing replacement parts. The entire bike didn't cost that much and a replacement freewheel was going to be more than a third of the original purchase price. So I skipped the cogs with missing teeth when shifting and lived with it while Macgyvering the bits that couldn't be lived without.
After a few months I decided that cycling was something I wanted to start doing not just for recreation but also for transportation. So I started shopping for a new bike. I am not a small guy, so sturdy and large were the primary criteria. A lot of production bikes are only designed to carry 275 pounds. Most of the carbon fiber and aluminium production frames were not going to be happy about carrying me. (I have straight up crushed an aluminium frame before) This led me down the steel frame rabbit hole. I eventually settled on a Surly Cross Check. The frame is rated for 300 pounds of rider and an additional 30 of gear. It's also just a good all rounder for the commuting, fun rides, and light touring that I do with it.
In October of last year I started riding to work every day. For the first few weeks the twenty mile round trip turned me into a puddle by the end of the day. I would get home, eat dinner, and go to bed. After a month I wasn't going to bed as soon as dinner was over. After three months I wasn't sore all the time from the riding. Now, at six months in I've been working on bringing down my time. The ten mile one way trip is doable in thirty minutes if I don't mind being a sweaty mess (There are showers available) or, if I back off a little and do it in forty I show up fresh and ready to go. Driving takes twenty minutes with no traffic and often pushes to thirty to forty five during rush hour. The bike is not only more fun than taking the car but also gets the job done in about the same amount of time.
I feel great, I've lost some weight, and saved some green employees from being burned up paying for fossil fuel. As a bonus my employer pays a small stipend to bicycle commuters to cover parts and maintenance each month. After factoring in money saved by not driving and adding in the stipend the pedals make a cha-ching sound with each revolution.
