I starting commuting last summer and my ride is almost 10 miles round trip. I'm old (53), overweight, and our of shape. I ride a Giant Sedona which I believe is categorized as a comfort bike. It gets the job done. My average speed to work is 11.4 mph and my average speed coming home is 10.2 mph. The only thing I carry is a small frame bag with a spare tube, some tools, a flat repair kit and a pump. I also carry my water bottle. I used to carry my coffee in a cup holder mounted on my bars but now we make coffee at work so I wait till I'm there to have a cup. I do want to get fenders, a rear rack, and bags for the rack so I can carry stuff if I ever need to. I have noticed that since my bike is a lower end Giant (it has cheap parts on it) that it needs attention fairly often. I have to index the rear derailleur every couple months or so and I lube the chain every couple weeks or so. Back in the day when I rode BMX bikes all the time we never did regular maintenance on them. Also the spokes have become way loose. My tension meter will be here tomorrow so this weekend I'll get the spokes tightened up. I like to tinker with stuff so the maintenance doesn't bug me much but I figure if the bike had better quality parts the maintenance would be less often.