My first bike commute today. High fives all round!

is_76

Made my first commute today. It felt great! I had sorted out my bag and bike the night before and set off. No problems with traffic but had a slight problem with a hill. But it was all good once I made it too the top. I didn't forget anything and had breakfast once I got to work. Didn't brag about it too much at work but I am sure you could see the admiration in colleagues eyes - or was I imagining that!

I did see a few fellow cyclist buts surprising they had headphones in :shock:

The only down side was putting on my not so dry cycling top to cycle home in :? but I soon forgot about that once I got going. Nice little cycle home too. Reckon it was a 17mile round trip.

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Jacomus-rides-Gen

Virtual high-five! 8)

Nice one is_76 that hill will get smaller and smaller the longer you do it.

If you haven't read Cyclecraft, browse through Amazon or somewhere similar and pick up a copy. Its a very very handy book.

snakehips

Excellent stuff.
Good time of year to start , are you planning to keep it up through the Winter?
Time to sort your lights and clothing out now.

Snake

Porgy

One Less Car

or


One Less Sardine




congrats!!

bisickle

utter congratulations! i wish i could cycle to work where i'm living now. in Los Angeles, California the roads between different towns don't well cater to our urge to pedal to work. i'm contemplating moving entirely just so i can. I am a bit jealous of your new daily endeavors to work!

ash68

Yeh good on ya mate. sure if you keep it going over the next few weeks you'll soon feel the benefits of riding to work. you,ll feel better mentally and physically. Bike to work myself and love the buzz of cycling through the countryside first thing when no one else is about.Try to persevere over the winter months as well.As the saying goes " no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing" Is it possible to keep spare kit at work just in case you get soaked in the morning?

is_76

Made another commute today, this is getting addictive. Felt a bit easier on the hills already sure to be flying up them in no time.

pneumatic

Well done!

I did my first commute on 2 Feb 1999. Never looked back. Life-changing.

Here are some motivational tips:

1. Ride through the winter (even if you set a target of only 4 rides per month, make sure it is every month).
2. Don't feel you have to ride every day to start with. (17 miles a day can leave you pretty drained by Friday, and that is not the point of it. Set a target of so many per month, or one more than last month or whatever.)
3. Lay out all the gear the night before so you are not tempted to skip just because you can't be bothered to look for your socks.
4. Keep a tally of the miles you do, convert it to petrol/train/bus not used, convert that to pounds not spent and see how long it takes you to pay off the bike (and all the lovely accessories you buy for it). It won't take long and then you can think about the next bike.
5. Branch out. Do some touring at weekends. It makes the commute seem even easier.
6. Feel smug. You deserve it!