Your ticket to ride.

It's that time of year again: Bike to Work Week is happening in cities everywhere. And finally, you're ready to give it a shot. You've thought about it long and hard, and this is it, you're going to give it a go. Wise choice!

Your body, your mind, your bank account, and your municipality will all thank you. And despite what you've undoubtedly heard other drivers say about cyclists, they will thank you, too, because you represent One Less Car on the roads in front of them. You're not willing to pay through the nose to park your car every day, and even with the price of oil scraping rock bottom, the price at the pumps is still exhorbitant. The cost of taking transit is not exactly easy on the pocket, either, and it leaves you at the mercy of outages, delays, and the occasional out and out fail. Once you've finally caught the bus you're hoping for, you're crammed into a tight space with a bunch of strangers and potential predators. What fun.

Mike McArthur via the CBC

And then you see those hipster kids out there on their bikes, smiling like they haven't a care in the world. It's not just kids, either. All sorts of people are riding these days, and if they can do it, so can you. And you're ready. It's time.

You probably have an old ten speed

or a mountain bike

sitting in the garage or in the basement. Drag it out. Pump up the tires, grease the chain and hop on. And before you take up the commuting challenge, give it a test run.  If you're really going to commit yourself to a new way of life, it's important that you're comfortable and well prepared, and naturally, it starts with what you're riding. 

The Guardian: In defense of MAMILS

You've surely seen a lot of middle aged men in lycra (M.A.M.I.L.s) out on the roads, specially during this time of year, and you've seen your fair share of mountain bikes out and about, too. Both of those types of bike has a specific purpose, and while they're ideally suited for the task at hand, they might not make the best commuting bike. But it isn't always necessary to spend a lot of money before you've given it a go. The most important thing to consider when you're planning to commute is your comfort. So dig the bike out of the garage or the basement, and give it a spin. Does it still fit you?

If you've an old mountain bike kicking about, it probably has knobby tires, which are ideally suited for climbing steep dirt trails, but they're noisy, and pretty heavy, too. That means that you will be spending more energy moving the bike than you have to. You might want to consider changing the wide, knobby tires on your mountian bike to a slimmer pair of slicks, to decrease your rolling resistance. Because why work any harder than you have to? 

And speaking of workloads: backpacks are the bane of easy commuting. There are a few items you will want to consider purchasing to simplify your ride, and chief amongst them is a rack, if your bike doesn't have it, along with a good bag. 

So many times I've heard people say "Oh I couldn't ride to work! I'd be too sweaty when I got there!" Two things: first of all, many buildings have a gym or a shower room for employees, but even if there isn't a shower available, you can always do a simple wipe down should you find your ride a vigorous one. And most people drive less than five kilometers, so after a few weeks, you won't even break out a sweat. But also (and second) leaving a little early and taking it easy on the way to the job will take the edge off. And packing your belongings into a bag instead of hauling them on your back will eliminate the soaked and sweaty back issue. Plus, and this is huge: backpacks will multiply your discomfort, especially if you've not ridden much for a good few years. Failing that, you can do what lovely Katie Poon (of I Fucking Love Fitness fame) does: haul your week's worth of clothes to work on Monday, and bring it all back again on Friday. That way, all but two of your ten rides that week will be comfortable. And it is a great strategy if you're riding a high end road bike which won't take a rack. But most bikes do, and many clever commuters take advantage of them.

A favourite: my waterproof laptop bag.

The other items you'll want are fenders, or at least you definitely will want them if you're a Vancouverite. And although a little fender over your back wheel will protect your butt fromt that tell-tale black stripe up your back, they do have several short comings. Soon as I started riding in a group in the off season, somebody politely requested that I get a set of courtesy fenders. That's a long fender with a mud flap attached at the end of it, so that the end of the flap is just a few inches off the ground. 

Bea Bike's rusty front fender and trusty mud flap.

The reason for this is that the water sprays up from the wheel much like a lovely rooster tail, and unless you're sporting a full fender and flap, that spray will end up in the eyes of whomsoever is directly behind you. And the faster you're moving, the harder and higher it sprays. The same is true of the front wheel, which means that if you're riding to work in a pair of shoes or some clothes you actually like when it starts to rain, then your front fender and mud flap will protect everything from the dirty water spraying up from the road.

Bell and folded Abus lock

You will of course want a lock. Do not rely on a cable lock, except perhaps to lock a nice saddle to your frame, (though even then, I prefer a bike chain.) No. Cable locks are an invitation to bike thieves. A U-lock is fairly effective, and the heftier it is, the more protection it provides. I like the Abus folding lock, cause it's sturdy, but not too weighty. Bea bike, the Amsterdam Royale already weighs sixty pounds before panniers, so every little bit helps.

And a simple, handy, and inexpensive addition to your cockpit is a bell. Some people just use their voices, calling out "On your left," as they approach another cyclist, or a pedestrian, to overtake them from behind. One well known local whistles a simple little riff instead. I love that, cause it's friendly, and effective - more so than shouting - and it's always well received. I would do it myself, except I can't really whistle, at least not well enough to get the job done!

One last thing before you set out: lights. You don't want to be out after dark without a decent set of lights on your bike.

It's summer now, or at least it is up here in the northern hemisphere (!) so you won't often need to use them, but it's still a good idea to have lights on hand. Some people ride with their lights switched on all of the time, (and those that do inevitably seem to have the front light permanently set to the worst possible epileptic strobe) but most of us just use them when the weather's inclement, or once the sun has gone down. But even if you rarely need them this time of year it's great to have them, just in case you want to catch the late show with friends.

K. So you're ready to rock'n'roll. You've given the bike a test ride, so you know it's tuned and running smoothly. You've got a rack, bag, fenders, lock, bell and lights and now all that's left is to give it a go. You've likely driven or taken transit to work for years, and so you know the way like the back of your hand, but sit might still be a good idea to take some time to test ride your route. The roads you've always chosen as the most efficient way to travel in a car are probably not the same, best choice for when you're on your bike.

There's a distinct subset of cyclists who don't like bicycle infrastructure, believing instead that since we're vehicles, we simply need to act like vehicles, and all will be well. While it's true that as vehicles we have every right to be on the road with all of the other vehicles, a cyclist doesn't have thousands of pounds of steel round them to protect them in the event of an accident, so we need to take extra precautions in order to stay safe.

Still. There may be times when you'll choose to ride with traffic on a road without cycle-specific infrastructure. When you do, it's important to be visible and predictable. You are entitled to half a lane wherever you are, and a motorist is obliged to give you a meter's clearance when they pass you.

Also, there are instances where you are entitled to take the entire lane. For example, if you are riding down a hill and are moving at the speed of traffic, it is better to take the lane than to ride too close to the edge of the road, where you have less room to manoever should you need to dodge something in the road. Motorists will generally give you as much room as you take for yourself. So if you are riding in traffic, make sure you ride a foot or two from the edge of the curb so that motorists will give you your half lane minimum when they pass. If you ride right on the very edge of the lane, motorists will be tempted to speed to overtake you within the lane, leaving you in a situation where you are in tight quarters at high speed - a recipe for disaster. So be confident and take your place on the road.

But more and more, there are alternatives to travelling in traffic. When you're planning your route, keep in mind the bike infrastructure in your area.  Most common, though at the same time, the least protective of the options are Bike Routes.

These are simply roads with bike pictures painted on the asphalt, and bike route signs posted along the way. Generally they also have reduced speed limits, though only a percentage of motorists actually abide by the limits. And it's not generally a large percentage of them, either. It's important that you remember to always give yourself three feet of distance from parked cars, too, because you don't want to win the door prize.

Most cyclists also drive, and so of course we don't want to annoy the drivers we are sharing the roads with. But if you do ride right beside parked cars in an effort to stay out of the flow of traffic, sooner or later you will be doored, and if you either swerve out into traffic to avoid hitting the door, or get thrown out into traffic by getting hit by the door, the end result is nasty. You do have the right to safe passage on the roads, and so don't be afraid to take the lane and stay out of the door zone, even if it means that traffic has to slow to go around you. But then, on a route like that, traffic is supposed to be moving slowly, for safety's sake, so don't cave to pressure to ride right next to parked cars to allow traffic to move faster. Motorists can always use thoroughfares if they need to speed. And they will. But more and more, a cyclist has options which give them the freedom to move safely, bypassing those busy streets.

The Burrard St bridge infrastructure was a long time coming, and even so, it was resoundley rejected the first time the city tried to install a bike lane on it. But we cyclists persisted in cycling, and the city eventually figured out how to accomodate us, so that now the bridge is the most used piece of bicycling infrastructure in the city.

And if you take a look online, you will find a route planning website which will allow you to make the best use of your city's cycling infrastructure.

We're lucky here in Vancouver to have some excellent infrastructure, with long routes of protected, separated bike lanes that allow a cyclist to travel safely through some of the busiest neighbourhoods in the city.

But it didn't just happen. It took a community of cyclists all determined to live a better lifestyle, and undaunted in the face of the loud opposition of people in denial of the unsustainability of the car-centric city. Chances are that wherever you are, your municipality has embraced cycling to some extent, because the benefits to the municipality of establishing that sort of infrastructure are well documented and undeniable. Get on it. Make use of it. Not only will your life look and feel better, but at the same time, you will be contributing to creating a beautiful, sustainable, liveable community. You'll glad you did.