acidfast7

Das ist gefährlich

wapiti

very.

BobbyG

Pick out your day's clothes the night before and pack them in your backpack/paniers. Lay out your cycle clothes. Put your car keys & house keys in your bike's saddlebag. Pick alternate routes to work to aleviate the tedium. Name them/number them and decide the night before and put that route name/number on a slip of paper and put it somewhere you see first thing in the morning; bathroom mirro, coffee maker, etc.

DX-MAN

How else do you travel to work? Car, bus? EVERYTHING else has a daily cost -- that's money you could SAVE (if that's important to you) or use to get BETTER FOOD for lunch/dinner.

If you enjoy the bike, use it to give more of your life some enjoyment, too!

tarwheel 

For me, the secret to commuting almost every day is to get up when my alarm goes off. If I lie in bed, I will just think of excuses not to ride or oversleep. So I get up, eat breakfast, drink some coffee and check the weather forecast and radar. Unless it's storming or bad weather predicted, I ride. I also feel much better when I ride. It is a natural antidepressant. When I don't ride, I feel moody all day.

Sasquatch.

I literally had to sell my pickup to make the commitment. While I had another option I always had a excuse. Selling the pickup was the best thing I could of done. I wouldn't go back now for anything.

MMACH 5

I used to half-jokingly say, "Sell your car."

I've been a long-distance bicycle commuter since 2005 and I was a skateboard/bus commuter for 15+ years, prior to that. My wife and I had one mini-van, so if she needed it, I had to find another way to work.

Last Summer, we got a second car and I've come to find that my old suggestion was no joke. It is ridiculously easy to hit the snooze button and sleep an extra 90 minutes, when there's a car waiting in the driveway.

essiemyra

It seems simple to me, you mentioned you are sad when you do not commute by bike. I would ask myself everyday if I want to be sad or happy? Then I would choose happiness and I would do that everyday till it became second nature and did not have to ask.

daihard 

A car would be a lot less beneficial where I live and work. Parking is ridiculously expensive, and I wouldn't save much time if at all by driving instead of riding - no more than 20 minutes.

Mr. Hairy Legs

Yeah, the car only saves me on average about 10 minutes, or one snooze press. 3 or more snooze presses and it might be a little more tempting.

Bike Gremlin

I love bad weather because then I'm often the only cyclist in bicycle lanes, or on the road. More room, I move quicker, no need to wait for others. So I do all I can do discourage other people from riding bicycles - stay in the car, it's "SAFER", nicer, warmer. Give up man!

HydroG33r 

Well done, tsl! I find your posts on this forum to always be helpful, insightful, and respectful. Super glad to hear about the positive impact of cycling on your life!

HydroG33r 

Lucky for me, my bike commute is now down to about the same amount of time as a car commute (during rush hour, anyways), and at least 10-15 mins faster than public transit (assuming I make every connection and there's no delays). As such, I'm really not sacrificing any time by riding to/from work.

When I was getting started there were days that I would drive or take the bus because I was too tired to ride or couldn't get up the motivation for some reason. Now, 4 months in, those days are few and far between. Sure, there are still mornings that I think about how I don't really want to ride, but it's such a liberating ride that I never regret riding...

Bike Gremlin

One thing I used when I was training hard: if you don't feel good before, you still know you will feel GREAT afterwards! That is good if you need strength and will. For me cycling is not about strength and will. It is about freedom. When driving car/motorcycle, or taking public transports, I can't stop just wherever I want, take any shortcut, run red lights without sweat and have a beer after work. Bicycle gives me that freedom, without sacrificing too much time (car takes me 20 to 30 minutes to work, while bicycle takes between 35 and 50).

tsl

Thanks!

Hey look!
<-----
6,000th post.

Glad I didn't waste it!

Leebo

Park your car at work, pedal home. AM trip the next day kind of forces your hand. I need my car for work during the day, so that is the only way it works for me. As said before, prep your bike and clothes/ equipment. Get some good commuting bike clothes. Do you have basic bike repair skill like changing a tire? If not, learn.

PatrickGSR94

I started out doing it this way back in May, not because I needed the car at work, but because I could come into work early and leave early, then bike in early and leave on time the next day. But having the bike rack on my car ALL THE TIME and also leaving the car at work was taking a toll. This month I have started doing the full round trip in one day, twice a week. I can't bike home on Monday or Wednesday due to time constraints, and Friday is when I haul all my week's crap home in the car. So Tuesday and Thursday it is. But that's still about 2 1/2 hours each day on the bike, 62 miles total each week. A pretty good amount.

There are a couple of spots in my 31 mile round trip commute that are a little stressful - 2-lane roads with no shoulder with me having to huff and puff up hill at 8 MPH. To me that's no fun really. But overall I still enjoy it.

And yes there are SOME costs associated with bike commuting. Because my commute is long I use my road bike, which I bought September 2012. Since starting in May I have logged nearly 1,800 miles on the bike (almost 1K just commuting now). The bike itself has over 2,300 miles, and is due for a chain and cassette replacement. That plus a couple of tools will be over $100 (parts from Amazon, doing the work myself). Also I've been having problems with the cheap POS crankset and BB that came on the bike. That could very well be over $200 getting that fixed up if I have to replace both.

But even still I'm stretching out tanks of gas to 2 or even 2 1/2 weeks. In June, August, September, and this month, I have only put gas in my car 2 times each month (except our Florida road trip). In July I only filled up once because the car was laid up for over 2 weeks while I replaced the head gasket. So yeah, 9 tanks of gas in 5 months, save for a road trip, ain't too shabby.

mstraus

After THINKING about bike commuting for years, I finally got myself doing so on a regular basis. Two things that seem important to me are
1) Figuring out your Motivation
2) Removing barriers to riding each morning

For me, motivational factors include feeling better the days I ride, having more energy, saving time (same time as my commute would be by mass transit or faster, plus I get my workout in too), loosing weight, and improving my fitness and health. Some side motivation involves a good excuse to buy new gear (my wife is happy to let me buy a new bike if I commute regularly, etc). I also have started recording my commutes on Strava, and seeing "progress" motivates me - some days I will try to do a climb faster, trying to get my total commute time bellow a time, etc.

The next issues is removing barriers, from more fixed things like bike storage, showering, getting clothes to/from work, etc., to the everyday barriers. These "little" things are what has made it possible for me to make sure I don't change my mind in the morning and take transit (or drive). For me this includes doing a number of things the night before
1) Getting my bike clothes ready
2) getting my work clothes ready
3) packing my backpack
4) making sure my bike is as ready as possible (my goal is to have nothing to do but put some air in the tires in the morning).
5) making sure everything is set for coffee, breakfast, and lunch if I plan to pack it

The other important factor is sleep - going to bed earlier and at a more consistent time and waking up earlier at a more consistent time. Try to avoid the snooze button and just get up!

Finally, my rule is to commit if I bike or not the day before, so its driven more by outside factors (a work dinner, etc.) not by me deciding a don't want to bike in the morning as I am tired, its cold out, etc. If I decide to bike the night before I just make myself do it, unless I am really not feeling well.

These general rules apply to many things, not just biking. I have heard it takes 30 days to make something a life habit, and I would say that is about right. After about a month it felt natural and part of my life. I am actually about to face the first week where I can't bike commute due to travel, and I am dreading missing my bike commute.

RubeRad

+1, if possible. This requires ability to park car at work overnight. I am lucky, my work has its own 5-story parking deck, which itself is inside a 24/7 guarded gate. For months my car has been literally living in the parking deck (up on the 4th floor, out of the way of the cagers that are battling for a good spot down low). Once a month or so, something comes up that I take the car home for a day or two, but otherwise, removal of car also removes temptation to not ride.

Short of that, many people find that setting personal goals helps. Write them down to make them concrete, track them physically, not just mentally to help keep it real. Like for instance, "My goal is to bike-commute at least 15 workdays in November". Every workday in Nov, mark the day on a calendar with either a friendly green check, or an angry red X. Getting your goal (a) concrete and (b) out of just your head and onto paper will help you.

Also, if possible, find a person you work or live with to keep you accountable. Tell them what your goal is, and ask them to send you a quick email or text or phone call asking "did you ride today?"

Frenchosa

I would first make sure your bike fits and you enjoy riding it. Commuting via bicycle should be enjoyable not a task.

Somethings that help me...

On busy days.. I pack the night before.

I use a dynamo light (one less thing to worry about)

Waterproof pannier and rack (back packs tire me out, leave me with a sweaty back)

listen to podcast while cycling. (not too loud)

Good rain gear... also leave spare clothes at work.

Figure how much you save per month and buy more cycling gear! For me it is over $200 dollars. My wife has nothing to complain about when I buy something new







I have

blackhawknj

1. I just turned 64, I get to taunt people half my age about not being in shape, not having energy, etc.
2. Biking to work, like many other things-weightlifting and bodybuilding (which I also do)
is probably 65% will power.
3. Like developing any good habit, it takes time, don't expect wonderful things overnight.
4. Finding the right equipment is a matter of trial and error, finding what you like and don't like, what works for you, and what doesn't.

Jim from Boston

I'm a year-round commuter of 14 miles one-way to work (Commuter Rail home with bike) for over 20 years, so I have a reputation to maintain.

On particularly nasty, wet, and/or cold days, a strong motivation to ride is to confront that usual question, "You didn't ride you ride your bike today, did you?"

BTW, tsl recently posted this classic picture with comments. It makes me look forward to the Winter!

italktocats

Its about doing it, not thinking about doing it!

cooker

It would help to get a full picture. What is your other mode - driving? How much difference in time? Is there a cost to parking? Is the drive congested?

For me, car and bike take about the same time but the driving is way more annoying, as it is congested rush hour traffic. The bike ride is rarely frustrating as you can go on side streets or main streets, easily vary your route if there is construction, lots of restrictions on turns or entry at various intersections say "bicycles excepted", and there is basically no way to get "stuck in traffic". Parking is very expensive at work unless you get the monthly pass, so I don't purchase that. So it is a no-brainer to ride.

My other option (which I use during winter if the roads are icy) is public transit, and it takes much longer, so if the pavement is clear it usually it doesn't tempt me.

There are only two circumstances in which I find I hesitate to ride. One is if there is really heavy morning rain (light-moderate rain doesn't stop me, and heavy rain doesn't bother me coming home) in which case I might ask my wife to drive me to the subway. That would be maybe once per year or not even that - maybe once every 2 years. The other is if it has been icy and snowy for a few weeks and I haven't ridden. Then, I have to push myself to start riding again the first day, but by the next day I am back in the groove.

tsl

My stock answer, when written, can be taken as being snarky. Imagine it said enthusiastically, with a grin, a wink, and a big thumbs up:

Them: "You didn't ride your bike today, did you?"

Me: "It sure beats pushing it!"