Bike There - Part Two

Now that you know what your route will be to work, you’re probably wondering what else you might need to realize your dream of riding your bicycle to work every day.

Let’s start with the obvious: A bicycle.

You probably have a bicycle already, and you paid a lot of money for it. You ride it on the weeknight club ride and a couple of t-shirt centuries every year. It is a good bike, and very comfortable, but it may not be the right bike to ride to work.

One thing your “work” bike must have is lights. Even if you don’t plan to ride in the dark, you will eventually find yourself riding in the rain, or fog, or just through a shady road in the late afternoon. A flashing light on the rear of your bike will make you more visible to cars coming up behind you, and a decent headlight on the front will make you more visible to cars pulling out of driveways and side streets. Most people are law-abiding good folks, so if they see you they will try to avoid hitting you.

The lights don't have to be anything expensive, but they should be more than just vestigial blinkies that only show up on moonless cloudy nights. Many of the new halogen clip-on lights are fine. The Cateye EL530 is an excellent choice on the front, and the Planet Bike Superflash on the back will almost make impossible for cars not to see you.

Another good thing to have on the “work” bike is a fender on the front and either a rack or fender on the back. Again, you may not ride in the rain, but you may ride the day after a rain, when the streets are still wet. Or you may ride by a house with poorly aligned sprinklers, or a leaky water main. However you find it, you will encounter water on the road, and it will spray up onto you when you go through it. Even if you are planning to change when you get to work, the water may spray up onto the bag that holds your clothes and everything else – including your laptop computer and those marked-up papers.

Again, the fenders do not have to be permanent. You can get clip-on fenders that you keep on the bike during the week, then take off for the Kiwanis Club Century. The coverage is usually not as good as full fenders with mud flaps, but they will do the job in most weather situations.

You will also need a solid wheelset (32-spokes front and 36-spokes back) with stout tires (preferably 25c). These are not going to make you the fastest guy up Backbone Ridge on Saturday, but will have you fixing fewer flats – or broken spokes – on your morning commute. Again, you can still swap out your light-weight deep-dish wheels for the weekend club rides.

If you're going to get serious, however,  your “work” bike should be simple and stout, and it's hard to combine this requirement with any kind of racing bike.

I like steel, because it’s comfortable and strong. I also like to ride fixed gear in the winter and single-speed during the summer, because I never have to worry about derailleurs or their cables, or anything else that may get gunked up riding on nasty roads or when I leave my bike outside chained to a rack in the rain. As an added benefit, simple stout steel bikes are much cheaper than super-light carbon fiber speed machines with top-of-the-line components. I would still be very upset if somebody were to come along with bolt cutters and pinch my ride while I’m at work, but I won’t have to take out a second mortgage to get a replacement.

Stuff

Next, you’ll need to consider what stuff you need to bring back and forth to work, and how you’re going to carry it. For regular commuting, you really only have two options: A bag on the back of the bike, or a backpack. I’ve done both, and mounting luggage to your bike is best. It keeps the bike’s center of gravity lower and won't trap heat on your back during 95-degree days.

If you put a rack on the back of your bike, as I recommended above, you’ve not only protected your back from muddy spray when you go thru puddles, you now have a great place to put a rack-top bag. For most commuters, this is enough to carry a change of clothes – if your office is “business casual” – as well as a spare tube and tools, and maybe jam in your lunch and a jacket. The serious commuter, however, should mount a pannier on the side of the rack, which will let you carry all of the above plus your laptop and real clothes.

Arkel makes a great pannier with a laptop sleeve. I mount mine on the left (traffic) side, and it holds everything I need for a day in the office. The only time I notice the weight difference is on some of the steeper hills on my route.

However you decide to carry your things, here are some tips for what to carry:

• Work clothes: Unless your bag is at least water-resistant, put these in gallon zip-lock bags.

• Lunch: It’s often a hassle to jump on your bike and ride somewhere for lunch. If your office has a cafeteria or someplace good within walking distance, or you have a regular group that goes out together for lunch, there's no problem. Otherwise, pack something.
  

What to Wear

Depending upon the distance of your commute and what you can wear at work, you may be able to bike in wearing work clothes. For long pants, you should either roll up your right pants leg or put on a reflective strap to keep it from getting snagged in the chain. And, of course, helmet and glasses are mandatory.

If your commute is five miles or longer, take a few extra minutes on mornings when you bike in to check the day’s weather forecast. Consider what the weather will be like for your ride in, and what the weather will be like for the ride home.

For bicycle commuting – as with ultra-distance cycling – layers and spares are best. It may be 60 now, but it’s going to be 90 degrees during your ride home, so wear knee warmers and a light jacket as you head out. On the way home, you can roll them up tight and they will take up the space that you needed for your lunch this morning. That light jacket may also come in handy this afternoon, since 90 degree afternoons are rife with rain showers.

Probably the most common mistake that experienced cyclists make when they first start commuting by bike is that they do not dress warmly enough. A spirited group ride in the country is very different from the stop-and-go travel of a weekly commute. When in doubt, wear a short-sleeve jersey and a long-sleeve jersey in the morning – you will be much more comfortable waiting at the red light.

Along with dressing for comfort, dress for success – which, in this case, means being visible. Bright yellow is almost always good, especially with reflective patches and/or piping. During the fall, of course, if all of the foliage on your ride is yellow, you may want to use another color. Many manufacturers of cycling clothes use illumiNITE, which lights up like 100 mirrors when caught by a car’s headlights. You can also get reflective patches to stick on your bike, or various reflective things to put on the spokes of your wheels. Putting the reflective items on the legs and/or wheels is best, since the motion will also catch the attention of passing motorists.

Speaking of mirrors, bike commuting is more about efficiency than style, so get one of those mirrors that hooks onto your helmet, glasses, or the end of your handlebars. The more you can see, the better off you are.

What to Leave at Home

What shouldn’t you wear when bike commuting? I do not recommend your fancy team kit. For one, you don’t want to get it dirty with road spew, but more importantly I believe it sends the wrong message to cars. You do not want them to think that you are out there training, but that you are instead just trying to get to work like they are. One study in England showed that the more you look like a pro rider, the more comfortable drivers are with your ability to hold that line on the edge of the road – even if the edge of the road is crumbling. If you look like some Fred – complete with reflective yellow jacket and helmet mirror – that might move left into the lane without a moment’s notice, a driver will give you a wider berth.

And, finally, one other thing that you should never wear when bike commuting: Headphones. If you have to listen to music in traffic, drive a car. When biking on crowded streets, you need every sense tuned in to what’s going on around you.

Final Notes

• Once a week, drive to work and bring a couple of changes of clothes. You’re going to need to do grocery shopping on the way home, anyway, so your carbon footprint is not all that different. You can still commute in with clothing, but having a spare set there is handy on days when you are in a hurry or it rains too hard for those clip-on fenders.

• If your employer is really cool, they will let you bring your bike inside during the day. If your employer is slightly cool, they will have a bike rack. If your employer is not cool, you will need to attach your bike to a street post, fence, or something. If you need to chain your bike up at all, get a good bike chain and leave it at work. The strongest ones are heavy, and if you need to chain your bike up at home, too, just buy another chain.

• If your employer is really cool, they will have shower facilities at work so you can get cleaned up and change clothes. If your employer is slightly cool, they will have a gym nearby for this. If your employer is not cool, you will need to bring in at least a wash cloth and small towel and clean up as best you can in the bathroom. When all else fails, keep a container of sanitary wipes at your desk.

• On hot days, when you get to work your riding clothes may be very sweaty. Find a closet or cabinet, and keep a couple of suit hangers (the ones with the clips for the pants) inside. Given sufficient air flow, your bike clothes will be dry when you are ready for the ride home.
  

For More Information

• Commute By Bike: Great articles, and a lot more on their forum (http://commutebybike.com)
• Bicycle Safe: Excellent tips for avoiding common accidents (http://bicyclesafe.com/)
• Bike-To-Work: A great book by noted bloggers Carlton Reid and Tim Grahl (http://biketoworkbook.com/)

Bike There – Part One

The League of American Bicyclists (LAB) has named May “National Bike Month,” and May 11-15 is National Bike-to-Work Week. In honor of this auspicious-but-mostly-ignored event, I am going to post some mostly serious blog entries advising how you, too, can ride your bicycle to work.

Today, I am going to talk about how you can design and implement the perfect bicycle route to work. Later this week, I will discuss what you need for your ride and some tactics to help keep you safer in rush hour traffic.

Step One: Pick Your Route

For most folks, the road that you use when you drive to work is not going to be the road that you use when you bike to work. Finding the perfect route to work on a bike typically takes research and time, and may result in a few mis-steps. But, once you get it right, it will make all the difference.

First, look at the distance that you ride to work. If it’s over 20 miles, you may want to only bike part of the way. Yes, you ride much further than that every Saturday, but fitting this in with eight hours of work will soon drag you down.

If you can ride your bike to a good bus line (with a bike rack on the front of the bus) or the train, do that. Or maybe you can drive your bike to a good spot and bike the rest of the way.

Next, consider how flexible your work hours are. Many roads that are busy during rush hour are fine for cyclists at other times. If you are comfortable riding in the dark (more on lights later), maybe you can come in early or late.

With these factors in mind, you are now ready to start looking at some maps. The easiest way to do this is to go to Google, click Maps, and then use the Get Directions feature to get a starting map from home to work. Make sure you select “Walking” from the drop-down list under the address fields.

You now have one way to get to work that will avoid interstates; however, it may still include some roads that aren’t good for cyclists. If you know of some better options, drag the blue route line onto that road and see what Google does for you. Eventually, you should be able to come up with something.

As you plot the route, follow these guidelines:

• Bike lanes are good; bike routes may or may not be. In Nashville, most bike lanes don’t go anywhere, but at least you have a piece of pavement to call your own. Bike routes are usually just signs, but they do force (hopefully) drivers into considering that you may have some rights to that road.


• School zones are good. People have to drive more slowly in school zones (except during the summer) so you aren’t slowing them down. Also, crossing guards like bicyclists … or at least they like me.


• Speed bumps are good. It means the road goes somewhere that people are frequently trying to get to (e.g., work), but via a neighborhood that has enough political pull to get speed bumps installed. The cars will still sprint from bump to bump, but they can’t roar past you at 60 mph.


• Roads that parallel two or more busier, wider options are usually good. For example, Franklin Pike is on my commute. It runs right next to I-65. Franklin Road, with four lanes, is just on the other size of I-65. If there’s an accident on I-65, people may get onto Franklin Road, but there’s never enough screw-ups to force people to bypass both I-65 and Franklin Road and get onto Franklin Pike.


• The shortest distance between two points is rarely the best way to bike. Going an extra two miles to avoid a nasty intersection may mean two extra miles, but you arrive at work in one piece.


• Sidewalks are the last option … but they are an option. When I am in a hurry, I can cut almost two miles off my route by going down Old Hickory just east of I-65. I only have to go about a quarter of a mile on that road, and there are three lanes there; however, cars don’t want me to have any part of any of those lanes. To keep the peace, I just get up on the sidewalk (there are never any other pedestrians) for that short stretch. If you must do this, however, keep in mind that when you are on the sidewalk you are no longer a vehicle, but have become a pedestrian. Don’t expect cars to be looking for you as they turn in to or out of side streets (of course, they barely do this for cyclists), and play nice with the other pedestrians on the sidewalk.

If you are unsure about the traffic on any road, talk to other area cyclists that live in the area. They can usually give you a good idea of the conditions, and may be able to offer alternatives.

Step Two: Test Your Route

Before you bike the route to work, drive it to work one day. Of course, if the route uses a path or greenway (lucky you!), you won’t be able to drive this part, but test whatever portion you can. This will enable you to discover the hidden foibles – such as gravel roads or closed bridges – of the route.

If the route still seems good, try it on the weekend. This will let you spot things that you won’t notice from a car, such as very steep hills and roaming dogs, and determine how long your new-found commute will require. It will also make the route a little more familiar when you try it on a work day.

The evening before you first try your ride in, get everything ready. Pump up your tires and load your bag. Review the weather and determine what clothing you will need for the ride in – and what clothing you will need for the ride home. Pack your bag as best you can, and make sure your lights are working.

Then, ride.

Step Three: Improve Your Route

The more you ride your route, the more you will learn about the patterns of your route. When does everyone in that neighborhood leave for work, and which roads do they take? When does the school bus come? When does the lady with the rottweilers let slip the dogs of war?

When you have time, be willing to explore. Take a road that is marked “Dead End” all the way, and you may find that there’s a path there. Cut through a new neighborhood and you may find a short cut that isn’t on Google maps, even though the road has been there for two years.

You can also improve your route by just playing nice with the cars and pedestrians. Call out “Good Morning” to the neighborhood joggers, dog-walkers, and bus-stop parents. Don’t take more of the road than you need, and when they come up on you and you can see that it’s clear over the hill or around the corner, wave them around. When they go by nicely – giving you enough space and not going too fast – give them a smile.

As cars get used to seeing you on their way in to the office, they realize that you are not just somebody out playing while they are trying to work. You are a working stiff like they are, just trying to take a slightly different path. Once people see their reflection in you – the cyclist – they will treat you as they would like to be treated.