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I LOVE commuting to work on my bike. It's one of the highlights of the day, tonight's rather chilly ride notwithstanding.
A year ago, I bought my wife a bike helmet as a gentle encouragement to join me on bike rides. I was hoping she'd join me for easy trips through Golden Gate Park on the weekends. She hadn't been much of a cyclist since she was a pre-teen in suburbia. A year later, she's riding her bike to work every day, navigating the scrum of Market street with alacrity. I am beyond impressed, and I am tremendously proud of her.
I keep thinking about possibly riding a bicycle to work, but then I remember that I'd have to bike on a 6 lane highway. (Also, I can't really ride a bike to save my life.)
I used a similar path beside the river in Wichita to ride to college and recreational activities, probably 1500+ miles a year. Proper infrastructure makes cycling as rapid or even better than driving.
Beautiful! I love cycling to work, except today in the driving wind and rain it was not exactly the most pleasant of rides. The great thing about it as a form of exercise is you can't quit mid-way through. This morning was really hard with the strong headwind but I had to keep going, which meant I probably got a pretty good workout.
Plus it's a stress relief and you just feel so much better all day.
Triode, I'm much like your wife. My husband started riding about two years ago and convinced me to buy a bike so I could join him on weekend rides last spring. By the end of last summer, we were riding metric centuries and I was commuting daily. I even tried to keep going through the winter, although I did end up taking a break in Jan-Feb. Now I'm about to buy a second bike because the hybrid I got for what I thought would be recreational use isn't really cutting it for the number of miles I ride now... What did I get myself into??? :)