It's Bike To Work Week; Here's How To Make It Bike To Work Year
Drive to Work Day. But the problem with a Bike To Work Day or Week (and all of these posts about how to bike to work) is that to enable people to bike to work you need infrastructure that works all year. Just like the car gets a lane and supposedly some storage at the office, there has to be support. I don't believe it has to be so complicated, and it is certainly easier now than it was even five years ago.
Many office buildings now have indoor bike storage (it is in most zoning bylaws and in the LEED rules now) and many companies, wanting to attract millennial workers, are insisting on it. Many even now have showers. Many cities are improving bike lanes. Some cities have added municipal protected bike storage.
So check out what your employer or landlord provides, and get noisy if they don't provide anything. Figure out the best route to work. Dress appropriately-for living, not cycling. If you walked to work you would allow enough time and put on weather appropriate clothing, comfortable shoes and carry some money to buy a coffee along the way.
When you got to the office, you would likely have a place to hang your coat and perhaps a better pair of shoes in your desk drawer. I tend to think of biking to work as if I am walking, only I am on a bike; I wear pretty much the same clothes and go at a comfortable pace that doesn't make me sweat so much.
Since comfort is a function of humidity, temperature and air movement, I find that the speed of the bike actually cools me off. In winter, I dress a little lighter than I would for walking to compensate for the fact that I am working a bit harder. Go with the flow.
Ride at a comfortable pace; it's not a road race. If I am in a crowded bike lane at rush hour, I just relax and bike with everyone else; besides, there is safety in numbers in cycling. I get passed by young people in a hurry all the time, but who cares. Get a simple bike, not too fancy.
A lot of people recommend the Dutch style bikes where you sit totally upright; I prefer something a bit lighter and am riding a sort of urban hybrid right now. However my daughter rides this a long way to work and she is perfectly happy. I have a pannier so that I don't have to wear a backpack (and keep a rain suit in it) and a rearview mirror on the end of my handlebar, and don't know how I ever lived without it.
Consider an e-bike. They are getting better and more affordable, and in really hot or hilly cities they can make all the difference. Just don't get one so big and fancy and fast that you are scaring all the people on bikes. I am thinking of getting one of these from Maxwell that you can barely tell is an e-bike. Consider a folding bike.
Many people who do not have a safe place to park their bike get folders. I love the Strida, but there are all kinds of them now. Not all landlords are folder-friendly; when TreeHugger was owned by Discovery and I took my Strida to New York, they would not let me carry it up in the elevator. Perhaps this is changing. Join a bike-share. Then you don't have to worry about parking and locking; most plans have annual memberships. If you wear a helmet, get one that really ventilates well.
