Bicycling's commuter blogger tells you why right now is the best timeto start riding your bike to work.

March 26, 2009
Just Say Yes

Bicycling's commuter blogger tells you why right now is the best time
to start riding your bike to work.

By Liz DiFebo

My decision to start using my bike to get to work is one of the best
decisions I've made in recent history, right up there with ditching
cable television and cutting bangs. The obvious reasons for the
awesomeness are simple--the bike allows more freedom and flexibility
than my car or public transit have to offer.

But there are a host of other benefits that I hadn't even counted on
when I first started out. I'm saving a bundle of money that I'd
otherwise be spending on car maintenance or bus tokens. Save a new
tube here and there and an annual tune-up, I spend next to nothing on
transit. It's also about the best form of multi-tasking I can think
of--I'm exercising (however minimally, in this super-flat city) while
traveling to and from work, which is very helpful on days when happy
hours or laziness lure me from my mostly rigid gym routine. And I'm
never happier to be on my bike than when I pass the roving gangs of
non-profit fundraisers who hang around Rittenhouse Square and hit
people up for money at rush hour. I never have to come up with awkward
excuses anymore as to why I don't want to hand over $20 to a random
stranger wearing a generic-cause-here t-shirt, I just roll on by
before they can even ask.

So even though I've hit a rough patch here and there, and winters
become intolerable around the mid-February mark, I am 98 percent happy
as a bike commuter. Which is why I think you should do it too.

If you've ever thought about it, if you've ever sat in your car or on
the bus or train and imagined how much happier you'd be if you could
get yourself to your office powered by just yourself, I say, give it a
try. Now is the time to do it. Incentives abound and the weather's
turning around. Give it a go now and you'll have a whole nice spring
and summer ahead of you, and by the time the weather turns again you
might like it so much that you'll power through the gray cold bundle
of suck that is winter (unless you live in the southwest, in which
case I acknowledge that it's just gorgeous there almost all the time
and that's great and that's enough out of you for now).

You might have a list of reasons why you're reluctant to try it, and
I'm sure they're valid. But for every reason not to do it, there's a
good way to work around that reason, and it's worth trying it for at
least a week to see how it works for you. If you're in an urban area
and uncertain about tackling the city streets for the first time, many
cities do organized group rides that would be a great way to start.
Familiarize yourself with the streets on a bike when they're closed to
traffic, and then do a few dry runs on weekends or at other times when
traffic is lighter. If distance is an issue, try cutting it in half.
Driving your bike part of the distance and then riding the rest of the
way in. There's tons of ways to work around the obstacles, I'm sure
many of you have great suggestions to encourage your reluctant
counterparts. But I really want you to try it. Because you can do it.
And I'm almost positive you'll be happier for it.

http://inthebikelane.bicycling.com/2...-inthebikelane