How did you start your Bicycle Commuting Adventure?

bromyG

Stolen from iPete (again!)

Was it an impulse and you changed your life by adding a cycling to work to it?
Always had a bike, but it was the rising cost of the London travelcard that spurred me into riding to work. I have to use the train to get into London first, but then cycle across town to the office. I love every minute of it and wish I'd done it years ago!

Did you have to search for the information and advices on your own, or you had a friend who introduced it all to you?
As I need a folding bike (because of the train journey), I did some online research first, but soon decided it had to be Brompton and haven't looked back since! Been a regular lurker within these forums for some time and always appreciate the advice given by the more experienced cyclists.

Did you take time to prepare, or did you just simply jumped on the bike and started learning by failing?
No - bought the bike, jumped on and cycled off. Don't think I've failed yet - but have learned a few things along the way!

Did it take you long to get hooked up?
Instantaneous! Loved it from the first day cycling.

Did you have a "I don't do it any more" moment?
Never regretted it at all, even during rain, cold, the wind and anything else nature can throw at us.

notsoblue

Was it an impulse and you changed your life by adding a cycling to work to it?
I had a bit of an awkward commute from Bath to London (Mile End) about 7 years ago, and I really wanted to save as much time as possible. Having a bike meant that I could avoid both a 20min walk to and from the station in Bath, and the Hammersmith & City in London. I hate being dependent on public transport if I need to get somewhere quickly, and given the length of my commute I wanted to take all the hassle of delays and overcrowding out of it.

Did you have to search for the information and advices on your own, or you had a friend who introduced it all to you?
I did it on my own.

Did you take time to prepare, or did you just simply jumped on the bike and started learning by failing?
I just got started really.

Did it take you long to get hooked up?
Nope, I loved the cycle commute from the moment I started. Way more fun than walking/tubing it.

Did you have a "I don't do it any more" moment?
Not that I can recall, to be honest. I've commuted in all weathers, and have had a few offs, but nothing that has made me want to pack it in. I really enjoy my ride into work, it gets me there refreshed, and I get to unwind on the return journey.

CiB

Was it an impulse and you changed your life by adding a cycling to work to it?
Had a bike from when I was 8 and loved the independence, esp living on a farm a couple of miles away from civilisation outside the village. Cycling was the way we all got around, to school, out with pals, doing a paper round, cycling to college, to work as a young apprentice and then to work properly as as a mix of car & bike ever since. Cycling hasn't changed my life substantially since I was 8.

Did you have to search for the information and advices on your own, or you had a friend who introduced it all to you?
Pa showed me how to mend a puncture and helped when I couldn't fix things myself but generally it's all self-taught through necessity, lack of available funds and through having a barn full of tools to hand. And bike shops that are 5 miles away and always closed weren't much use. Sunday afternoons in the 70s anyone?

Did you take time to prepare, or did you just simply jumped on the bike and started learning by failing?
Just did it, as a continuation of what I'd always done. The current commute was quite a leap going from 6 to 21 miles but it soon became the norm.

Did it take you long to get hooked up?
No.

Did you have a "I don't do it any more" moment?
Lots. Weather & apathy are surprisingly hard obstacles to overcome. It only takes a few days or a week of not cycling to want to to do it again though.

keyser__soze

JonGinge wrote:

In homage to 1980's text adventures:

You are in a dark place.
To the left is the tube. To the right is a car.
In front of you is a bicycle.

There is a threatening little moped in the cycle lane with you! One sharp nasty left hook is thrown at you! It misses!

lockstock666

It all started for me last summer when I didnt have enough petrol in the car to last until payday.

I got my dad's bike and road in to work for the rest of the week. However I found it pretty enjoyable and continued to ride in for a few weeks on the days where I didn't need the car to pick up the wife or take the little one to nursery.

About three months later the wife passed her driving test, and so the wife commandeered it everyday to do the nursery run and I was free to ride everyday.

Bought myself a road biased hybrid in November and have barely missed a day since.

I really didn't think there was much to learn when I first started I just jumped on and rode to work. And got lost looking for those cycle paths that I knew were around somewhere. It took a couple of days to get my route down.

The thing I have learned is that mudguards are of more use on a bike than any amount of waterproof clothing you could ever own.

I have not once wanted to stop, the thing that keeps me going is mainly SCR, I have never known myself to be as competitive as I am on a bike. Seeing the guy in the distance and knowing I can catch him is great but not as good as a proper wheel to wheel sprint until the winds get the better of one of you.

In fact I'm looking to join a local cycling group as soon as I find one that fits in with my time schedule.

rick_chasey

LockStock666 wrote:

The thing I have learned is that mudguards are of more use on a bike than any amount of waterproof clothing you could ever own.

*thumbs up*

greg66_tri_v2.0

medoramas wrote:

Was it an impulse and you changed your life by adding a cycling to work to it?

Not an impulse. Just got fed up of the Northern Line

Or you had been riding for a long time before and it was an obvious choice?

Rode as a kid in school holidays. Not so much once at secondary school - my secondary school mates lived further afield. Didn't have a bike at University, which was unusual, but I didn't need one.

I stuck the Northern Line for about a year. After that, it was a bleeding obvious choice.

Did you have to search for the informations and advices on your own, or you had a friend who introduced it all to you?

No introducer - just looked around and watched. It was in the days before there was an in-ter-net.

Did you take time to prepare, or did you just simply jumped on the bike and started learning by failing?

No real preparation. I went for a Trek hybrid first, but asked Condor to swap out the middle ring of the triple it came with, shove the "big" ring to the middle and put a 53 on it. Best. Decision. Ever. Never came off that 53.

Didn't bother with cycle specific kit to begin with. I remember starting in a rugby shirt, some running pants, rugby socks and trainers and a backpack. This was fine right up until my first ride in the rain.

Learned by falling. Specifically learned that toestrap pedals do not allow a lateral foot release at a red light. A lot.

Did it take you long to get hooked up?

Nope. Living at the top of Archway, the immediate goal was to see how long it took me to get the strength to ride up it in the 53+whatever was the smallest cog on the rear. Stupidly stupid. But fun.

Did you have a "I don't do it any more" moment?

Not that I remember. Had a lot of "I want a new bike" moments that I remember though. Many of which resulted in a new bike.

rjsterry

Greg66 wrote:

Horrifying revelations including the words "hybrid" and "triple"

Well, well, well...

greg66_tri_v2.0

rjsterry wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Horrifying revelations including the words "hybrid" and "triple"

Well, well, well...

Ha! Everyone has to (re) start somewhere. I had a five speed "racer" as a kid, which I loved.

I fell for the idea that a hybrid would give better vision in traffic...

To be fair, it didn't hang around for long.

rjsterry

Greg66 wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Greg66 wrote:

Horrifying revelations including the words "hybrid" and "triple"

Well, well, well...

Ha! Everyone has to (re) start somewhere. I had a five speed "racer" as a kid, which I loved.

I fell for the idea that a hybrid would give better vision in traffic...

To be fair, it didn't hang around for long.

Ditto. I stuck with racers when everyone else was getting into mountain bikes. I was not the cool kid at school, no sir!

Perhaps I should have answered the questions based on the year when I rode to college - first proper commute. Wasn't really aware of proper cycling apparel then. Flats and toe straps destroyed a couple of pairs of trainers before I discovered SPDs.

First.Aspect

Used to cycle to school and cycle after school around the estate. Its just what kids did.

Didn't cycle at uni, but needed to get to labs and to rowing, so started again - not serious (bike occasionally cleaned by throwing in river).

Moved abroad. Big city. Student, wrong side of poverty line. Still rowing, still needed to get there. No other option.

Got injured rowing. Cycling only option to preserve sanity. Turned out to require fewer early mornings than rowing, with less penalty for being short.

Being student easy, not being student hard. Cycling necessary to avoid being bloke from "Falling Down". Has been a prerequisite for choice of which city I live close to and where my house is. Can't imagine not cycling most of the time. (Well, I can, because I've not been able to do it for a year. Not missing condensation on inside of bus windows. Other people's breath. Yum.)

Taken as a whole, I've been cycling to school/uni/work for most of my life with a few gaps. I think if you start early, it stays with you.

optimisticbiker

Took up running at age 40 to get fit when I found walking up stairs hurt my ankles, did a few 5k, 10k, 1/2 marathons and marathons inc London twice. Used to get up at 5 to run 6miles before getting tube to work! Then changed jobs to something nearer home and static location but tube journey there was difficult, since they had showers I started running to work but knees definitely weren't happy with the distance each day so started riding it on an MTB and got the bug. Don't run these days, but still commuting after 10y and apart from an enforced 3mo layoff when I broke collar bone and another 2mo when i had a bad viral infection I have commuted by bike virtually every day since.

mouth

Was it an impulse and you changed your life by adding a cycling to work to it?
Had a Carrera mountain bike in the garage which I'd owned since I was 17 or so. Put simply I ran out of money for bus fare and had to find some other way of getting to work. It soon became a habit.

Or you had been riding for a long time before and it was an obvious choice?
When I was a kid I used to either ride or walk everywhere. Wasn't the obvious choice to begin with but I soon realised it made sense.

Did you have to search for the informations and advices on your own, or you had a friend who introduced it all to you?
I made it up as I went along to be honest. It's only recently that I've started looking for solution to problems i come across.

Did you take time to prepare, or did you just simply jumped on the bike and started learning by failing?
I learnt the hard way. Having to run to work cyclo-cross style because I didn't have a patch and a pump etc taught me some lessons.

Did it take you long to get hooked up?
Honestly, no. I noticed pretty quickly that I felt good about myself when I got home from work. It started when I was working in kitchens. 14 hours closed up slaving over an 8ft char-broiler gets to you quite a bit. I quickly found the ride home an effective stress reliever and I found myself sleeping better almost immediately. I eventually moved on from this job to one where walking was a more effective solution since it was so close. I've moved on again now and almost immediately started using my bike again to the point where it's now the norm or at least 4 days a week on average. Didn't take me long to get a two more bikes and all the gear such as cycling glasses, lycra, lights, fancy helmet etc etc. I also ride on my day off for lisure now.

Did you have a "I don't do it any more" moment?
Couple of times I've spat the dummy like when my chain snapped on the way home in the pissing rain at half one in the morning or there's a torrential downpour happening and I really can't be bothered but somehow I manage to get my leg over again come the morning.