Except here (where plenty of Mennonite cyclists on the road mean drivers are prepared for them), I’ve found that city drivers are much more aware of (and accommodating of) cyclists than rural drivers.

Another important aspect of riding in the city: act like you belong. If you act timid, you’re going to run into trouble.

This is one reason I’m not a terribly big fan of bike lanes, but I do appreciate a decent shoulder on the road. Bike lanes produce a ghetto mentality: “Cyclists don’t belong on the roads without bike lanes.” And that is the least safe attitude for drivers (or cyclists) to have about cyclists.

On the other hand, I’d never ride a bike to work in Seattle (luckily I live close enough that I can just walk). Seattle has, if you’re lucky, “bike lanes” that consist of a little white line down the road a few feet from the curb. Some roads don’t even have that. Traffic in Seattle is very heavy and the streets are often narrow and/or poorly marked, so it’s not unusual for drivers to make accidental illegal turns or suddenly change lanes to get where they want to go. This makes things less safe for everyone; I personally don’t *drive* in the city if I can avoid it, and on a bicycle your margin for error is quite a bit less.

Today I’d like to provi

Now I wish I lived further away from my work, it takes less than 10 mins to cycle there since I moved…

My no.1 tip: invest in reinforced anti-puncture tyres. :)

Have fun!

It took me a while to work up to 3 times a week though (about 12 miles each way), and it takes about the same time on the bike (1 hour) as it does on the Tube when there aren’t any disruptions.

An important point about the time is that there is basically no overhead – no looking for parking spots (compared to cars) and no walking from the train (compared to public transport) – it’s literally door to door.

When you wrote about smell, I thought you ment something else: I very much enjoy hearing the sounds and taking in the smells of nature when riding the bike every morning. That’s something you completely miss when you commute in most other ways. Bicycling also means that you travel slow enough to actually look at details along the way, which are easy to miss with high-speed transports.

Finally, I save (corresponding to) thousands of US$ every year by not owning or needing a car. The bike itself was payed off in about one year of not having to pay for public transport, so it also makes real economic sense.

I’d just wish that politicians would spend more thought and money on improving conditions for bicyclists.

Anyways, I have been looking at getting a bike to start riding for exercise as well as a way to be a bit more green. Unfortunately I have more than 10 mile ride for either work or school (school is only 12+, so that is doable). I was wondering though about getting nasty on the ride, and those links you provided are perfect.

Now I cannot wait to find the perfect bike, and also pick up some of those bags for it. Thanks again for this blog post!