When do you ride?

I actually MOVED to a location where I can ride to my country roads, and go in later most days of the week to the office. I am going to try Crankin's example of riding before work - but we don't get much early light due to being at the extreme western edge of the Eastern time zone. If that doesn't work for me will continue to focus riding after work - I get off at 6pm and can be on the bike by 7pm.

My goal this year is to ride 4 days a week, and to force myself to go hiking/fitness walking once a week :)

Roadtrip, mornings are a perfect time to get used to the roads. You can also scout out new routes. People are also generally more polite than when they are coming home!
I also was going to mention commuting, but 23 miles is a long one way commute. I commuted 2 days a week, when I was teaching, probably for 8-10 weeks of the year. That was before I had a light for my bike. My first commute was 6.7 miles, a perfect distance to get used to it, on beautiful country roads. Then I moved and it became 13.9 miles, with more suburban type traffic plus country roads. At first, I drove to a lot about 8 miles away and rode from there, until I got up the nerve to make it through one particular intersection. Hey, at 6 AM, there was no one there, anyway. I did a lot of route scouting in the car, and the way I ended up riding seemed counter intuitive, i.e. that it would be longer. But the first day I commuted from my house I live in now, my ride in was 17.5 miles, up 3 hills, and I did not want to do that every time. I now use my old commuting route to quickly get out to the more rural areas west of here.

I'm lucky. Our neighborhood hooks in with several other neighborhoods, and most of the roads are very decent for cycling. Some have bike lanes, there's a bike path, and even the roads without bike lanes tend to be wide and fairly quiet, though they are busiest right in the 5-6pm timeframe, naturally. I can ride miles and miles without ever having to get onto a very busy road. This time of year, weather permitting, I ride both weekend days and at least 2x during the week after work right out of our apartment, don't have to drive to ride. I also work at home on Mondays so can often get out for a lunchtime errand or recreational ride.

I used to live much further from work so basically was limited to weekend rides or driving to a park after work to ride one other day a week, since I didn't get home in time to head out for a ride after work. I like this much better! Unfortunately even though I'm only 11 miles from work now (used to be 29 one way), when I tried to map out a commute route, to avoid super busy roads with no shoulders during the commute would almost double the mileage. That's just too long a day for me.

I bought lights so I could ride in the mornings before the sun comes up. I like to ride 15-20 miles in the mornings. I don't like to ride in complete darkness, but predawn isn't too bad, plus traffic is light at that time of day. I try to time it so the sun comes up about halfway into my ride... it's inspiring. But this routine only works when we are having longer days. In fall, winter, and spring, IF I ride outside, it has to be during my lunch hour.

I have a helmet lamp and two lamps on my handlebars - one for light and one for blinking, plus a couple tail lights. I sewed reflecting strips on my jerseys and put extra reflector stickers on my frame :)

When I ride:
- in the late afternoon; I take my bike with me to work and ride before coming home
- in the later afternoon, after I've gotten home from work
- in the evening, both before and after the sun has set; I have lights on my bike (boy, do I ever!) for a reason!

I like riding in the evening/in the dark. It's peaceful and I have most of the trail to myself.

I see that the loop in Columbia has come up. Perhaps 24 Hours of Booty is in your future? If you need a team to join, let me know! :)

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Originally Posted by fallstoclimb

Wow, thanks for all the responses! Unfortunately I don't think commuting by bike will be an option...It's 23-ish miles each way, and for those of you familiar with MD, I'll be commuting from Laurel to Rockville.

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Pity they didn't include the planned bike path along the ICC! But yeah, I wouldn't want to do that commute by bike either. Or by car, for that matter. That's the other side of Columbia for me--I live in Catonsville and commute to "downtown" Columbia, so I'm more familiar with the roads north and west of you.

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Originally Posted by fallstoclimb

Part of my problem is that I really do just need to get more comfortable around traffic. I'm still new with all this and get rattled when a van gives me a foot clearance at 40 mph. Apparently I also need to get to know my own area more! Sarah -- I just looked up Columbia Gateway Drive on a map, so people just circle through that that as a training ride? Also, if you don't mind sharing details I'd love to know what your favorite post-work route is (I assume its through Patuxent State Park?). We're more in Laurel than Columbia, but of course we could drive for 15 minutes to get to real Columbia for the start of our post-work rides.

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Getting comfortable around traffic is a big part of increasing when and where you can ride, and really the only way to get used to it is to just do it. If you haven't yet done so, read some of the threads about how to handle traffic and ways of making yourself more visible.

The Columbia Gateway loop is precisely as boring as it looks--two miles around with only a slight change in elevation, but it is wide and largely traffic free in the evenings and on weekends. I'd imagine that there are other business parks with loops that would serve the same purpose. I go to a college campus near my house for this kind of riding (although not evenings--it's empty in the summer and on weekends), when I just want to knock out some miles without having to think too much. If you don't mind driving a bit, the BWI ten mile loop and connector to the Baltimore Annapolis trail are good for covering distance without worrying much about traffic.

I ride through Patapsco State Park, which is well out of your way from Laurel but there are some good rides through it mapped on Bikely or MapMyRide if you ever make the trip. Patuxent Wildlife Refuge is closer to you and I've heard there are good rides there.

It might to late to sign up or to fit into your schedule, but there's a League of American Bicyclists Traffic Skills 101 class being taught this weekend in Rockville. If you can't make this one, you might keep an eye on future events in your area.

https://members.bikeleague.org

Depending on where you work in Rockville, you might be able to ride on the Rock Creek trail after or before work, if you bring your bike with you. The northern end of the trail is at Lake Needwood.

http://www.bikewashington.org/trails/rockcreek/md.htm