I am considering getting a bike and trying to ride to work (thanks MMM), although I do have a few obstacles to contend with.
- The weather (hot hot hot and humid) -- I think if I left the house around 7am, it would be ok. I just need to get my butt up and at 'em to do it. I would probably still need to work until 5pm, regardless. Our clients need us and expect us to be there between 8am and 5pm.
- My own lack of bike skills -- I need to practice first. I haven't owned or ridden a bicycle in years. Decades in fact. I need to be able to trust I can go in a straight line, avoid objects, etc.
- I need to buy a bike -- I would want it to be light (more on that later), dependable and easy to ride. So I need to set up a budget to save specifically for the bike; while I am posting on MMM's forums, I will not be buying somebody else's used bike. I won't be able to trust it. Besides, I already looked at Craigslist and everything on there was either crap or overpriced.
- My city isn't bike-friendly. At all. I saw two bikers the entire time I've been here. My co-worker said she tried to bike around the area I need to ride in order to get to work. She followed traffic laws and rode on the street near the sidewalk. A van came up right next to her and honked, startling her and nearly causing her to fall. She hasn't been back on the streets with a bike since. She's freaked out. Folks here aren't used to bicyclists; they don't know how to drive with bicyclists on the road. She told me of a guy that used to bike to work here for what was probably 10+ miles each day, each way. He said the scariest part of his ride was the area I was going to have to bike through. Why? Because the drivers reacted poorly to seeing his bike. Instead of staying in their lanes and simply driving past him, they all crowded behind him, going extremely slowly, causing honking and general road rage. They would cross into the adjacent lane to get around him, cutting off other vehicles. He did this for an entire year and it never got better. He said it was very stressful.
I talked to a bunch of people at work yesterday about how I should combat this problem. The vast consensus is that I would need to ride on the sidewalk, despite it violating traffic laws. The narrow streets along with drivers who don't understand how to react around bicyclists make me extraordinarly anxious. The route I take to work has sidewalks most of the way. The part where there is no sidewalks, I can walk with the bike on a grassy area. I would need to bike against traffic on the way to work to avoid having to cross four lanes of traffic.
Yesterday, I drove home, looking at the route I would have to take and, lo and behold, one of the two bicyclists I've now seen here was doing just what my co-workers said--he was riding on the sidewalk against traffic.
I should mention that there aren't a whole lot of people on the sidewalks here. The heat isn't conducive to a lot of walking. The only area I can think that would have a lot of people is right in front of the school I would need to pass on my way to work. I would probably get off the bike and walk it past the school.
I just can't see another way to bike safely to work. This isn't a biking town.
Any further suggestions are welcome. I was a "I can't bike to work" person, too. But I can. I'm very scared to do it, but I want to try.