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This is going to be my first time biking to work. While I'm not prepared enough to go 20 miles each way, I will be riding about 5 miles to a bus stop and then 3 miles to work. The transit service is free in San Diego for bikers on Friday so it probably is in other cities around the country as well.

Who knows, I just may start doing it on a regular basis to get some more exercise in.

Anyone else biking to work on Friday?

You bet! In fact, I was just about to start a thread.

I'm biking 14 miles to work on Friday with a buddy who lives & works near me. It's a 400 foot drop to work, so it shouldn't be any problem.

On the way back, we are both putting the bikes on a rack on the back of our Prius, which my wife (who works near me as well) will have driven in:

Total miles driven or ridden: 72
Total gallons consumed: 0.3
Friday MPG: 240mpg

Yikes! I'd love to give that a shot but I just don't have any low speed roads I can take there. :( I could try the mass transit middle man but I don't have any idea what the schedule is.

Yikes! I'd love to give that a shot but I just don't have any low speed roads I can take there. :( I could try the mass transit middle man but I don't have any idea what the schedule is.

I found the schedule online for mine. I could use their route calculator to figure it out and also see the route maps and schedules.

Funny that this is coinciding with my plans for this week (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10689). Weather and equipment permitting, I'm going for it!

Funny that this is coinciding with my plans for this week (http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10689). Weather and equipment permitting, I'm going for it!

Hey, Good Luck!

I read your thread and I think that you should give it a try. While it is going to take me more time to get to work, I am getting some fresh air, exercise, not using my personal vehicle or gasoline at all and I'll be able to read a book while someone else worries about the driving.

I'd be afraid for my life with the way people drive around here.

Trust me, I am very apprehensive about trying this in no small part because of the kind of traffic between home and work!

Well, I cant do it because my work is 18 miles without any public transports and 9 miles of 55mph roads.......may be I will try extra hard to increase my trip mpg to compensate for not using bike to work...........

It's great to hear so many of you are going to try biking to work this Friday. If it seems like a major hassle to get organized for the ride, remember that it's only because it isn't your normal routine. Make sure the chain is lubed and the tires are pumped up the night before. In your car, tire pressure = fuel economy. On the bike, tire pressure = speed.

I saw a fox with a mouse in its mouth on my bike commute this morning.

The Versipack came tonight. I loaded it up with my necessities and wore it until about 10 minutes ago. So far, so good.

I used to bike to work, but then I moved into an apartment that was about 8 miles further away from my work place. Although if gas prices keep going up at the rate they are, I'm probably start again. I just hope my co-workers don't mind me coming in looking like I did a section of the Tour de France....

And...life gets in the way of plans. I wound up picking up a side job that will more than pay for my SG, so I've been bringing home my tools from work. I took off Friday to work on the project so I was going to ride tomorrow instead, but then I remembered my tools will still be in my trunk. It looks like I'm going to have to put in a rain check until the side job is done.

Point of interest, it's bike to work week in Madison all this week.

I've been taking part because I can, because parking's a lot easier to find when biking, and I'm trying to lose some weight and get back in the swing of aerobic exercise.

Hi, Swoon.

I hope your cycling experiment proves rewarding. I've been a bike commuter since before I could drive. I'm now 51 years old and I believe cycling has added a lot of enjoyment to my life.

I noticed in a lot of replies people are interested in riding to work, but are nervous about dealing with traffic. Here is an excelent primer by John Allen on how to ride safely:

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

Hypermiling is a great intro to cycling technique - think about it - you are trying to get the most out of the least amount of energy. In general, drive your bike as you would a low-powered car. If you behave like another vehicle, you will be more predictable to drivers.

I used to take a bike from my house to the train, about 3 miles, lock it up, then get on another bike I kept in town when I got off the train. Worked great!

Good luck.

Hi, Swoon.
.Here is an excelent primer by John Allen on how to ride safely:

http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/usa/index.htm

Hypermiling is a great intro to cycling technique - think about it - you are trying to get the most out of the least amount of energy.


Excellent point!! Moderators, how about adding a "bicycles" section to this website? It would be handy to incorporate in it links like this safety one (which is excellent), as well as links to bicycle-related forums for people who want info about bicycling. How about it?

I wish the best of luck and enjoyment to all that will participate in this tomorrow. :) As much as this is right up my alley I cannot bike to work as there is no shoulder on the highway of the Reno side of Mount Rose, and even if there was climbing 4,500 vertical feet in 17 miles is one hell of a workout.

Moderators, how about adding a "bicycles" section to this website?

Excellent idea!

I encourage all biking tomorrow to keep some stats on their trip.

I plan to, simply because I suspect that my bike commute may not differ radically from my car commute.

Home to Work by car:

~ 11.6 miles
~ 35 minutes
~ 120 mpg (400 feet downhill ;))
~ 20 mph

Predictions for the bike route

~ 14 miles
~ 60 minutes
~ 9999 mpg
~ 14 mph

Glad to see so many people doing it. I'll be riding tomorrow too.

Here in the Northwest, local groups don't usually promote National Bike-to-Work Day, because our May weather is very unreliable. Summer brings too many distractions and excuses, so we get the best results by holding our big bike-to-work drives in September when kids are back in school, people are settling back into their schedules, and the weather's almost always nice.

That said, this time we won't have to deal with cold or rainy weather. Despite the cold spring, tomorrow's forecast high for Portland is 96 degrees. If anything, we'll have people avoiding getting on their bikes tomorrow because of the heat.

I think adding a bikes forum is a great idea. Bike topics seem to be increasing lately, and will probably continue to as gas prices rise.

Predictions for the bike route

~ 14 miles
~ 60 minutes
~ 9999 mpg
~ 14 mph

Well, THAT was fun!

14.6 miles
60 minutes on the money
9999 mpg
14.6 mph average

The wife left soon after me, with bike rack in tow. She dropped off the kid at Grandma's, then headed in to work.

She only beat me by 15 minutes.

What a great morning. Austin bikers were out in force. I saw them everywhere. By the time I got to downtown, I stopped by Lance Armstrong's new Austin enterprise, where there were hundreds of bikers having a drink before the work day:

http://www.austin360.com/recreation/content/recreation/stories/2008/02/0214bikeshop.html

I may have to start doing this more often. It's a great way to start the morning. I passed a lot of commuters in traffic, and felt pity.

I made it to work. My new bike computer that I just installed says:

9.14 miles
14.3 mph
38:09 minutes
9999 mpg
~0.5 gallons of gas not used

The bus portion took about 50 minutes. As this was my first time on the bus line, I learned how the bike rack works and all the stops on the line. I think I can easily shave off 10 minutes on the bus ride by getting off earlier and riding a more bike friendly segment. I had some Neanderthal honk at me for being on the road. I was completely doing the correct thing by being in the lane so the car would not try to overtake me as there was a freeway on and off ramp lane to the right. However, I think I'll go with the more bike-friendly segment in the future.

If I can get into better shape, I can probably maintain 20 mph in the bike segment which would cut off another 10 minutes in time.

We'll see how the trip home goes.

Whew, what a trip home. I really slowed down because it warmed up to about the mid-nineties in the afternoon, the way back was up a slight incline and my legs were still a bit rubbery from the morning ride and being out of shape. I did go to the closer bus stop which resulted in .31 less miles by bike.

8.83 miles
11.5 mph
46:31 minutes
9999 mpg
~0.5 gallons of gas not used

How did everyone else do?