One Year of Biking to Work

[little stache]

May 6, 2013 was the day my wife bought me a bike. May 7th was the day I starting riding my bike to work! I road through the rain. I rode through the cold. I did step off when we had lots of snow and no bike lanes or bridges cleared (about two weeks in total). When my bike was laid up, I ran to work. 10 miles round trip. I learned to fix my bike. True the wheels. Simple stuff. Not only did i save over to 1K in commuting costs, I built in a stop at the gym on my ride in. And in the past year, I have lost 20lbs!

I enjoy my ride. I enjoy the savings. And i even enjoyed bundling up in sub zero temps and riding to work. And when I felt all "proud" about my badassity in that cold, I gave a nod to the immigrants from other parts of the world, where the luxury of taking the train was not an option, ride by with less gear, less warmth and remembered how lucky I am to have a choice about how I get to work.

[Thegoblinchief]

Congrats! I'm a touch over six months myself.

[Basenji]

Any challenges?  Unexpected delights?

[avonlea]

Awesome, little stache!

[Quark]

That's awesome.

I biked 4 miles each way for 6 months and didn't lose a pound. In addition to walking ~4 miles/day. Still fat. :(

[Russ]

bitchin'!

[Ottawa]

whoah!  Kickass Badass!

[William]

Congrats man!  The bike life is so great!  I love wheeling my bike past my car each time I leave in the morning.

[little stache]

Any challenges?  Unexpected delights?

Couple things for me were:
1) wear your helmet, be bright (wear that reflector vest -- its not a fashion show-- and you really really do not know when your going to fall due to ...add the something here)
2) i am commuting to work, not getting a work out (it made me not mind the lights and i was less annoyed by crazy drivers since I could take my time)
3) do not fear the cold! I read the posts of the other long-time bikers, i read some winter biking blogs and they are right...layer, cover your head, ears and mouth (if really cold), i wore my hiking boots, some decent gloves, and water resistant pants. I stayed warm or too warm!
4) do not fear the rain! You are just getting wet and you get dry latter :)
5) your water resistant bags are just that -- when its raining hard make sure to pack your work clothes in a second bag and don't have them be on the bottom of the saddle bags
6) bike rack and saddle bags are worth the investment (go with larger capacity and you will start to lug around groceries!)
7) don't wear headphones -- sensory deprivation is bad when you ride!
8) people that drive cars are generally terrible! watch out for them!
9) yes you can make those minor repairs -- youtube has lots of good short videos for how to fix your bike (take your time on truing your wheel -- really really only do a quarter turn of the spoke until you know what your doing)
10) enjoy your ride, take your time, and know someday your ride will be on your time rather than the man's time. Freedom from work is coming :)

[little stache]

I really have it good for the work situation and the commute. My work has a dedicated locked bike room . My office also has lockers and showers. I come in a complete sweaty mess after my ride and run. I get to keep all my shower items, belts, shoes and so on in the locker room M to F. If I did not have the lockers and showers I could still ride (most of the riders don't use the locker rooms/showers) but I certainly could not do that pre work run!

[little stache]

That's awesome.

I biked 4 miles each way for 6 months and didn't lose a pound. In addition to walking ~4 miles/day. Still fat. :(

Don't give up! A few things I did to get started. I got a free application for the phone to track food patterns (i am totally not OCD about it but it did highlight some habits i changed). I use myfitnesspal but there are several good ones our there. I also upped the cardio. I burn a good 800 to 1.5K calories 5 days a week on bike and run. I also cut out some temptations by making frugal choices! I dropped ice cream off my shopping list (most months!). And those yummy snacks. Buy one bag for the month. Once its gone its gone. Once its gone you realize you don't miss it so much. And the big one? I got my lunch to under a buck! I juice up some greens, some fruit, some berries, and poof I have self contained portioned lunch. And its really yummy -- no joke. My kids now ask me to make them regularly. Got a nurti bullet thing for Christmas and put it to work.

[Quark]

No thanks I'm not interested in starving myself. All the cardio just makes me want to eat ice cream and cookies constantly. I already have to make all my food from scratch because I'm gluten and fodmap free.

But actually I got a new job which requires driving so I started doing calisthenetics in the park every few days and dropped a dress size within a month. I no longer crave cookies constantly. Strength for the win!