Unexpected Commuting Benefits

[Catrin]

Only very recently have I gathered the nerve to both ride to work and to do urban riding at all. While I still prefer my trails and country roads, I suddenly find myself far more willing to ride places I would have rejected the very idea as little as 2 months ago. I am still cautious, and I am still very new at this, but there is something pretty cool about this process.

This was an unexpected and unquantifiable outcome of my starting to ride to work a mere once a week, and I am curious if others have found other unexpected benefits of commuting.

[OakLeaf]

It's been a long time since I've commuted in traffic, or ridden in urban traffic at all, but I do remember that, and I'm not surprised it's happened to you. You have to believe you are a tank. That confidence carries over.

[Catrin]

It's been a long time since I've commuted in traffic, or ridden in urban traffic at all, but I do remember that, and I'm not surprised it's happened to you. You have to believe you are a tank. That confidence carries over.

I will remember this: I am a tank, I am a tank!

We have something called the Cultural Trail downtown that is for mixed use. Here is a photo and here is a website that discusses it. I think that the existence of something like this makes it much easier for me to do this,

I still won't ride in traffic during the evening rush, but then again, I am quite new to this commuting thing.

Shooting Star, thanks for sharing your experience. I am having fun considering different routes to and from work, though a few very large sewer projects have really limited my choices until they are finished later in the year. My in-bound route is one I wouldn't consider any later than 5:30am...

[indysteel]

You and I have done things in reverse order. When I first started riding as an adult, my rides were mostly in and around downtown Indy, sometimes at rush hour. From there, I started doing club rides that really ran the gammit in terms of traffic. Then I moved to a mostly rural area and have grown unaccustomed again to riding in traffic again. I did an urban ride a few weeks ago and was more unnerved than I expected to be.

[shootingstar]

During the first 10 years of returning to cycling nearly daily, I learned to ride routes that combined both bike paths, bike lanes and just streets with no lanes in heavy, congested downtown areas of Toronto. All of this car traffic, combined with high volume pedestrian crowds pouring out of light rapid commuter trains, subway system and buses into downtown. It does train a cyclist mentally how to ride with alot of cars and people crossing /jamming near around you.

Much more congested than Vancouver.

So whenever I go back to visit and cycle in these conditions, it's a slight shock: I used to ride in that type of traffic when commuting? But I've come to appreciate it's easier as a cyclist to ride in congested slow moving traffic vs. fast downtown congested traffic with all 4 lanes going 1 way as found here in Calgary. Just imagining make left-hand lane switches over multiple, one-way lanes, doesn't thrill me at all. (In fact, I avoid it if I can during peak car traffic hrs.)

As a comparison, Toronto has over 2.5 million people with more people living and working in its core (1 million people working in downtown and midtown, including those from the suburbs). If anyone tells me that dedicated bike paths are useless under these car street conditions, they have to be crazy. A busy bike path is still preferable than dealing with that and also avoid stopping at many more multiple traffic light intersections. Someone counted the total number of traffic light intersections she had to negotiate over a 10 km. bike ride --over 25 different traffic light intersections. But half of her route was avoided through using dedicated bike paths.

If I didn't combine a ravine park bike path from the suburbs, to join up street route remainder into downtown, I would have to contend with over 50 different traffic light intersections since I had a 16 km. ride one way. (We counted.)

Even now where I live, I could ride downtown on streets to work since it's very early in the morning and quiet. But that means 10+ different traffic light intersections for only a 4 km. bike ride. So I go on a bike path and only contend with 3 traffic light intersections after getting off the path. It's just so much more pleasant and closer to Nature on a path.

Calgary has 1.2 million people but less people pouring into downtown to work compared to Toronto.

It helps a cyclist's confidence to cycle comfortably under common conditions : urban street, country and some dedicated paths.

[Melalvai]

This was an unexpected and unquantifiable outcome of my starting to ride to work a mere once a week, and I am curious if others have found other unexpected benefits of commuting.

I could write a book. SO many unanticipated benefits!

One was the amount of fitness I have gained over 6 years of commuting. Just a few miles a day, less than 10 a lot of days, but EVERY SINGLE DAY, turns out to be a powerfully effective way to gain fitness.

[lovelygamer]

This has happened to me too. I rode to my hairdresser today, after commuting to work. Almost 13 miles total. A few months ago, I would have thought that was insane.

[Tri Girl]

I'm MUCH more confident on the roads now thanks to commuting. I feel I'm more aggressive in traffic situations and take the lane or assert my right to the road more than I did when I just rode for sport. I feel like I can handle myself a lot better now than I ever did before.

Of course, yesterday on my commute I nearly got t-boned at an intersection when a truck with a stop sign apparently thought that the stop sign was optional. I thought to myself "do NOT kill me with 3 days left in the school year- kill me in August- NOT May." Is it weird that that was my first thought?

[BodhiTree]

I'm not a tank.

I'm a tender and fragile being on a lightweight metal frame that amplifies the output of my limited organic power generators.

When traffic is crazy, I walk on the sidewalk. At busy intersections I get off and cross in the crosswalk.

Pretending you are a tank puts a lot of faith in drivers to see you and treat you like a tank.

In all honesty, if a driver hit me while I was riding in a tank, they'd total their car. If they hit me while I was on a bike, they'd barely notice. It is up to me to be the adult in the situation, gauge the risk, and proceed accordingly.

Don't trust them an inch.

[shootingstar]

Don't trust them an inch.

A cyclist really can't trust drivers. We are against a 1 ton machine.

Besides, nowadays it's the added danger of people on their cell phones, texting, etc. Which never existed 30 years ago. In a sense, driving was abit safer back then.

For workplaces I've been, since I returned to cycling 20 yrs. ago, I've requested to start work earlier than others just so I can avoid heavy traffic and slide into the work groove in a more pleasant way.

And leave work abit earlier to beat the rush hour because I started work earlier. Even half hr. earlier makes a noticeable difference to a cyclist.

So for over 6 different employers, I've started work at 8:00 am, some other employers at 7:30 am. Then I can leave at 4:00-4:30 pm, depending on employer's rules.

which means I get into work BEFORE 7:30 am to change, get a coffee, etc.

One was the amount of fitness I have gained over 6 years of commuting. Just a few miles a day, less than 10 a lot of days, but EVERY SINGLE DAY, turns out to be a powerfully effective way to gain fitness

Quite true Melavi. It doesn't make me a superwoman in the summer immediately, but I was pleasantly surprised for the short very cold winter rides I did several times per week for work and for weekend grocery shopping, that this type of incremental cycling helped me deal mentally, with cycling long hills and longer distances faster in spring /summer.

[Melalvai]

When traffic is crazy, I walk on the sidewalk. At busy intersections I get off and cross in the crosswalk.

It is always an option to get off the bike and become a pedestrian. If you are in a traffic situation that is more than you are comfortable with, that is probably a good option.

However, pedestrians have higher fatality rate per hour than either bicyclists or motorists. Pedestrians get hit as much in the crosswalk as out of it.

Pretending you are a tank puts a lot of faith in drivers to see you and treat you like a tank.

In all honesty, if a driver hit me while I was riding in a tank, they'd total their car. If they hit me while I was on a bike, they'd barely notice. It is up to me to be the adult in the situation, gauge the risk, and proceed accordingly.

Don't trust them an inch.

If I had this attitude I'd never bicycle or walk. I wouldn't even ride in a mere car, I'd have to have an SUV for the "protection" of its glass & steel cage. Better yet I'd never leave my house.

The risk of dying in a car is about the same or a little higher than on a bicycle, per hour traveled. Learning the actual relative risks helps us put our perceived risk into perspective. It also gives us control to manage our risks. I ride an arm's length or more from the edge of the road, I take the lane if it is too narrow to share comfortably, I obey traffic rules & regulations, I use appropriate lane positioning at intersections, I stay off sidewalks, and I wear a helmet. These practices decrease my risk of a crash by over 90%.

In a car, I only drive sober, I don't drive & text or drive & talk on a cell phone, and I wear a seat belt. I don't know the statistics on all of those but I know driving sober decreases my risk of dying in the car by 30%.

I don't trust motor vehicles to watch out for me or to see me, I watch out for myself and assume that a vehicle about to turn might not see me.

Sorry if this is a rant, and I probably read a lot more into this than you intended, it just sort of triggered something for me. Rant over!

[Antaresia]

Of course, yesterday on my commute I nearly got t-boned at an intersection when a truck with a stop sign apparently thought that the stop sign was optional. I thought to myself "do NOT kill me with 3 days left in the school year- kill me in August- NOT May." Is it weird that that was my first thought?

Not at all, I think you do have to make peace with the fact that any idiot at any time can kill you (even though it's unlikely) and after a while you just get used to that. "meditation at gun point", as it was said in a bike article I read a few days ago.

I remember one time I was so excited that I had apricot rugelach pastries at home, and my first thought when turning onto Kent Ave was "I am going to be so pissed if I get hit in traffic, I need to eat those pastries if I'm going to die happy" and the casual honesty of that thought did kind of scare me...