Choosing a route

I've been lurking for a few weeks, getting myself mentally prepared for commuting to work by bike. I don't know why this has me so nervous. I used to do a lot of bike touring and didn't think twice about riding on pretty much any type of road, but I think 18 years and two kids has done it to me--there's more at stake now and I'm not as young as I used to be!

In any event, I remembered/discovered this weekend that there's a walking/biking trail along part of my route. This would make it possible for me to bypass a long hill and somehwat heavy traffic with one blind curve where the road narrows and the shoulder disappears entirely. OTOH, it adds a bit to the total route (not much--maybe a half a mile each way) but slows me WAY down, since instead of zipping down a hill I'm dodging joggers with headphones, people walking little dogs with bows in their hair (the dogs, not the people, although maybe they had bows too--I didn't look), tree roots bulging through the surface, and many more cross streets where there's no traffic but I have to slow down to negotiate across.

So given the choice between a busy but fast road and a slow but relatively safe trail, which would you choose for your commute?

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm so excited to get my bike back tomorrow! I've been researching bikes since I decided after one ride that my Target POS wasn't going to cut it as a commuter, and I kept coming back to touring bikes--they're reliable and sturdy and comfortable. So instead of plunking down a bunch of money for a new bike (tempting though that may be) I'm getting my 18 year old Miyata overhauled and back on the road.

Sarah

welcome to TE!

I'm a bike commuter too. I don't have an alternative that takes me off the hill AND the busy streets, but if I did, i would definitely want to try it. If you don't like it, you can do the other. Or you can alternate depending on your mood.

Some people add to their commutes for the sheer joy of it; my husband being one. His typical morning commute ride is 18 miles and his office is only 9 miles from home.

Enjoy your Miyata, it's probably a great bike.

I used to live in a place where I had your exact situation - go the most direct way but deal with a whole lot of traffic or take the longer bike trail way, more leisurely, but (less often) crowded by joggers. I basically switched it up because:

1) Variety, the spice of life and makes it more difficult for potential predators to be locate you the next day.
2) Time constraints (involved with early shift or late waking)

Often, I found a hybrid route that took side street to busy street to trail. Now I live where there is only one route for me to get to work - I can ride a busy county road to the bike trail that ends later on down the busy road.

I really miss my options.

When I lived in and around DC, I had several different routes that worked for me. I would mix it up so as not to get bored, and so as to not be too predictable, same as for walking places.

Try different ones. You'll find refinements as you go along. Commuting was the best part of my day! I miss it now that I don't do it anymore (I work from home).

Welcome to TE. Where in MD are you?

Personally, I feel safer on the road with the traffic than I do on a trail dodging the pedestrians and the "joggers with headphones", and the "people walking little dogs with bows in their hair". I also find it frustrating.

I go an extra quarter of a mile to avoid 4 miles of hot heavy trafficked roadway and a steep hill that has me crossing multiple lanes of heavy traffic to get home. By doing so I ride along a quieter road, next to a lake, then up the backside of the same hill but with switchbacks, on a paved trail, through prairiegrasses, it's one of my favorite rides. And it was my commute til I started working from home. But MDHillSlug has a point -- what's your path like and what's your goal?

On another note have you seen http://www.mapmyride.com? It's my newest online bike addiction, and it's helping me discover new routes in my own backyard.

Thanks for the feedback and the welcome! I've loved mapmyrun.com for a couple of years, so I've been having fun with mapmyride!

I live in Catonsville, just west of Baltimore, and commute to Columbia. There aren't a lot of route options at my end, and all but one of the options are busy since they all involve going around or through a state park. The least busy road has an 18% grade and lots of twists and turns and it scares the living bejeezus out of me even in a car. It also adds 2+ miles to the route. The busiest road I'm also not considering. I might if it were the most direct route, but it's out of the way, four to six lanes, lots of traffic, lots of businesses along the road. No fun for riding. So that leaves me with the most direct route that I described and the bike path (which really only runs for about a mile and a half of my total commute). I'm just going to have to give them both a try during actual rush hour. I rode the road one morning after 9:00 when it wasn't too busy, and I rode the path during ITS rush hour (Sunday afternoon) so it could be that on a weekday morning at 7:30 the path is faster and the road more hair-raising. On my drive in this morning I noticed the guy in front of me stray into the shoulder several times--not paying attention because he was on his cell phone.

Sarah

It sounds like the bike path will add maybe a minute or so to your trip, and will make it a lot more pleasant.

If you happen to go in to work particularly early one day here or there, before the traffic builds up, take the road.