I got my bike out of the garage...now what?

Do you drive your car to the gym for spinning classes? Do you feel really stupid and guilty for that? Well, you probably should. Sorry, I didn't mean that. Maybe you're even too busy to get to the gym for spinning. I have a simple solution to these problems. Bike everywhere you can! When I first decided to commute most reasonable places on my bike it occurred to me that I didn’t really know how to ride safely in traffic, nor did I really know how to manage all the crap that I liked to take along with me. As a result, I thought it might be nice for my readers to have a list of items to get or strategies for bike travel so they can begin their personal journey of bike commuting.

Gear: What will you need to bike everywhere locally?
1. Helmet: It’s your call by law, but it seems silly to me not to wear one.
2. Rear rack: This is to put stuff that you want to haul with you.
3. Emergency roadside toolkit for obvious reasons, note: Some auto associations will help you out on your bike. I suggest http://www.betterworldclub.com/
4. Rain gear: I’ve heard rain capes prevent you from getting wet from rain and ventilate you enough to prevent crazy sweat buildup. These only work if you have fenders.
5. Lights: At least a front and rear LED light set to keep you highly visible at night. These are inexpensive and can save your life.

Biking to work/the store: Excuses: I don’t want to get to work all sweaty and gross. I need to take my laptop home with me every night. It’s too boring to ride a bike and I’ll miss Davey and The Crockett’s Morning Show Jamboree. I’m a mason and need to haul a cement mixer everywhere. I’m a taxi driver.

Okay, maybe some of those are valid, but most people work within about 3-7 miles or so of their home, which is manageable for almost anybody with the capacity to ride at all. So here is a list of things you can do (most of which I have done myself) to make your ride enjoyable.
1. Get an iPod or similar device: I download a lot of podcasts and have the time to listen to them on my daily commute. Get your dose of news, entertainment and sports with no commercials. Did you ever want to learn a foreign language? You can subscribe to free language podcasts and learn every day while getting in shape!
2. Wear a different set of clothing on the bike and cool down outside before you change at the office (I don’t do this, but from the looks I get, probably should): If you have space at your desk, you can take 2-5 sets of clothes on Monday and take them home Friday to wash over the weekend or you can just take your clothing in a gym bag every day. (More on that later)
3. Keep extras of toiletries at the office: Deodorant, Cologne, Hair product etc: It doesn’t matter how awesome you look when you hop on your bike. I can tell you that you probably won’t look really cool when you get off it, unless you’ve just won the Tour De France. This is really simple to overcome by taking some extra time at the office. Just towel yourself off in the bathroom with a moist or wet paper towel and prepare as usual.
4. Use panniers for hauling equipment: A pannier will attach to your bike rack and the simple “grocery bag” style are usually capable of holding, grocery bags, gym bags, laptops and briefcases, small mall purchases (shoes, clothes, jewelry etc.) If you use a messenger bag or backpack you will have an unavoidable sweat mark on you back. You won’t be able to see it, but you will overhear snide remarks and sniggering. Note: If you are buying or otherwise transporting home gym equipment, lawn tractors, scaffolding or vacuums you may want to take your car or truck.
5. Map out and time your route: Please don’t just take the route you drive to work simply because you know it best. There is a chance that it’s not the fastest or safest way for you to go. If you typically take the turnpike and hop on I-283, you may need to break out the map to reconsider your route. Also, E-Z Pass isn’t available for bicycles, I checked.
6. Learn how to ride like an adult in traffic (see below): As children we all probably learned similar bicycling strategies. They usually involve staying as far to the right as possible, using the sidewalks and liberal use of prayer.

How to ride with cars: After a fair amount of research on how to ride a relatively slow vehicle amid relatively fast vehicles, I have found the following two resources. If you take just a little bit of time to review this, it could save your life, but will definitely make your rides more enjoyable as the methods are empowering.

Here is Pennsylvania’s DOT resource for cyclists in general, which is work taking a look at. If you click on the “Road Riding” heading, it will take you to a great guide on how to ride with cars:

http://www.dot.state.pa.us/BIKE/WEB/index.htm

Here is an excellent video guide to the NHTSA tips on riding on the road:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdrrxIpQpt4


If you still don’t think you can do it, just try it once or twice, or commit to just one week no matter what and then make your decision. If you need some motivation, consider this. There are few things that make me happier than riding through a bunch of gridlocked cars stuck in traffic (not advisable as it’s kind of dangerous) or riding past a jam-packed gas station knowing their patrons are losing about $50-$80 to fill their tanks (highly advisable as you will feel like you are a better person than they are, feel a little guilty about being so snooty, but get over it and enjoy it even more). Good luck on your ride!