Things pertaining to bicycle commuting I wish someone had told me instead of having to learn on my own

1. If you're going to use your bicycle for regular commuting and don't have to wear wingtips at work, get yourself a pair of mountain bike shoes, even if you're commuting on a road bike. I'm not talking about hardcore bike shoes, but something you can wear off the bike and walk in comfortably - whatever you do, do not try to pack a pair of cowboy boots in your bag and wear your road shoes with look style pedals, especially if you have to walk across a tiled lobby to get to the bathroom where you change clothes.

While there are a number of options to accomplish this first task, I personally recommend from my own experience Pearl Izumi's X Alp Seeks...
The beauty of these shoes is that they combine the comfort of a high quality running shoe with the benefit of a relatively stiff sole and inset cleat attachments that make cycling more efficient while still allowing you to walk around comfortably.

I know, I know...You're not supposed to walk around that much in your cycling shoes. I know it wears down your cleats, even if they're recessed as they are with mountain bike shoes. I know these things, yet after a semester of commuting with these shoes, I've yet to replace my cleats and the option to use my egg beater pedals (see below) is worth it.


2. What could be more cliche when it comes to riding a bicycle than wearing a messenger bag, especially if that bag is a timbuk2? I found out why it's cliche...it works.

Imagine if you will my first few commutes, riding down the oh so cycle friendly roads of Dallas on an early 80's Panasonic DX-2000 with a bright yellow internal frame day pack filled with cowboy boots, slacks and pressed shirt, trying to look over my shoulder in traffic and then trying not to fall on my rear in the lobby of the office building in my tri shoes with thick plastic look style pedals that caused me to walk like a rookie on ice.

While I knew the backpack idea wasn't going to work over the long run, I was still skeptical of the whole messenger bag idea, could it really be that more comfortable and efficient while staying put on your back while riding through traffic?

Well...yes, actually

I ended up with the timbuk2 brand for 2 reasons: 1 - my wife had always had one since she's from Colorado and that's how they roll up there, and 2 - Marshall's had them on sale for all of 15 bucks and you can't beat that. I've checked on a few occasions since and they still show up from time to time, like so many other things, timing is the key to success.

When it comes to actually riding with the messenger style bag, here's what I've learned - You don't need something that big. I have a medium sized timbuk2 and I can get all the books I need for a day of class, pants, a shirt, and clean underwear, plus a couple of snacks with no problem. The key to getting the clothes in the bag as well as to work without wrinkles is the rolling method. You can't beat the efficiency of sizing and maintaing the wrinkle free appearance of rolled clothes verses folding.

Additionally, a messenger bag does in fact work well when riding, and it will stay in place high on your back, if, and that's a big IF, you use the strategically placed cross strap across your chest and you hike the main strap tight - as in so far up your armpit tight you think you look stupid tight - trust me, you don't look stupid, what looks stupid is the person who doesn't pull the strap tight enough and keeps having to adjust the bag on their back as it moves around because, well, it wasn't strapped tight enough. Also, the tightness puts the bag higher up on your back which is infinitely better than carrying the load on your lower back.

3. Lights - Lights are key to success here. In fact, once I started riding with a light, I actually found that riding in the dark is much more comfortable than riding during daylight. The main reason for this is the fact that bike lights are bright, very bright, and obnoxious, very obnoxious. The kind of obnoxious that if you ever find yourself behind a cyclist in the dark, you will do whatever you need to do to give as much room as you can when you pass in order to avoid eye damage, or, simply turn off the path you're on and take a different route all together, thus leaving the cyclist with the road all to themselves.
Try the Planet bike SuperFlash, I highly recommend it.

There is a catch - batteries. The day you buy a light, or "blinkie" as they're affectionately called in the commuter world, buy a set of spare batteries and put them in your saddlebag, immediately. I know you're tempted to think "it's ok, I'll put some in there before the light needs them replaced," which is understandable, those batteries just don't lend themselves to being real convenient to packing in your saddlebag, all bulky and all. But neglect this recommendation and I can almost guarantee that you'll find yourself waiting outside the local grocery store at 5:55 am with a dim blinkie waiting for the morning shift to open the doors so you can buy a set of double A batteries at the inflated grocery store price just so you can finish your commute without feeling that your life is in peril.

Now that we've covered the rear, let's talk briefly about looking ahead. Here to the left is the Cateye hl-el135. I picked up one of these after I lost count of the cars coming from the other direction turning left in front of me in all lighting situations, and now the Cateye's strobe setting takes care of that problem. Once the ride is done, it clips out easy and it's size makes it convenient for tossing in the bag till you're ready to hit the road again.

That's enough for now, the Dallas Stars are beating the New York Rangers right now and all of the sudden I feel the need to pedal my bike up and down the street, curse the cold mornings right now...soon the vacant 5am Dallas streets will be mine again,


Peanutt