My commute (which I've done all of once so far, LOL) is about half moderately busy roads (including one freeway entrance/exit, woo woo) and half multi-use paths, about 15 miles each way altogether, but i do have the option of cutting through Coyote Hills park near my home which would add another 3 miles or so, which I might do as the days get longer. I cross a bridge at the southern end of the San Francisco bay, the Dumbarton bridge, which has a separate bike/pedestrian access path, separated from the car traffic by a waist-high barrier. The traffic whizzing by just a couple of feet away really bothers some but it's never fazed me - somehow I manage to tune it out. The route is essentially flat, the only "hill" is the bridge crossing, but it can get windy at times. In general my commute goes with the prevailing wind direction... except when it's not I ride alongside or across the bay for the bulk of my commute, and it's very scenic. I'm a lucky gal.

The office park where I work has a small gym facility with showers, in a separate building from my workplace (at the moment the showers are in the next building over, but we're moving into another building in the same park in another couple of weeks at which time I'll be a couple of blocks away from the showers, rats) . I packed a gym bag with a couple of towels and soap/shampoo/hairdryer/toiletries and I leave that in my office - I also put a couple of pair of panties and a bra in the bag in case I ever forget them

I have a full set of panniers (front & rear) in preparation for a tour I'm taking early this summer, and for my commute I'm using the small front set but hanging them on the rear rack. They give me ample room to pack my work clothes, shoes, plus all the other detrius I'm known to carry while riding

For visibility, I have a bright yellow jacket with zip-off sleeves that converts to a vest, and on the evening ride home I also wore reflective bands around my ankles. As for lights, I have 2 red blinkie lights mounted on the rear rack, a white blinkie light on the front fork and a cateye headlamp mounted on the handlebars (note to self - pack spare batteries...). I also carry a small MagLight flashlight in case I ever need to change a tube or to find something in my pack when it's dark.

- Jo "freakishly anal" bob