Name: David Weber
Location: Austin, Texas USA
Started bike commuting: 1987-93, 2007-today
Commute distance (one way): 10 miles

Describe your commute: My ride takes me from the outskirts of Austin into the North end of town. Austin has some hills, but my ride is relatively smooth. It’s nice that my office is at about 700 feet higher altitude than home, so I have a nice, mostly downhill, ride home in the hot central Texas afternoons.

The route is a mix of suburbs and light industrial area. I cross a couple of highways, around a hospital, through three school zones, over a railroad track, and into a commercial (mall/office park) area where my office is. I count myself very fortunate these days since my office building has a small fitness center with showers. From May through about October, the Austin weather makes that a blessing.

When I started bike commuting in the 80s, it was purely for economic reasons. I was a poor college kid with two jobs and no car. These days, I made the decision to get back on the bike even though it’s no longer an economic imperative and even with a cracked vertebra (hence the recumbent). Life is too short to spend it wrapped up in a cocoon.

Describe your bike and accessories: Catrike Road with Cargo Monster and SRAM Dual-Drive (effective 81 speed). Since the Catrike sits so low to the ground, I have mounted dual aluminum flagpoles with a PlanetBike SuperFlash on each as well as Nite Ize Spokelit wheel lights on each wheel, an obnoxious Cateye rear light and a pair of generic Chinese OEM 1W LED flashlights on the front.

I probably put out enough light to cause headaches in every direction. It makes me feel safe since I’m too low to make eye contact with most cars. I want to make absolutely sure they can see me since I can’t always see their faces to tell which way they’re going to zig.

Since I can no longer sit on a diamond-frame bike for any length of time without further injury to my back, the recumbent was my only choice. I resisted for a while, but eventually the desire to get back on a bike again overcame my hesitance at riding this “weird contraption.” The Cargo Monster extension makes it even weirder looking, but it means I can carry a couple of changes of clothes and my laptop with me to work and still have capacity to spare if I need to pick up groceries on the way home.

What bit of advice would you like to share with new bike commuters?: The right time to ride is now. The right time to ride is *always* now. It may be the wrong time because of weather, distance, or a myriad of other reasons, but if you just get out and ride, a lot of that falls away.

Also, don’t think you have to live in a “bicycle-friendly” city to be able to ride to work. I commuted in Houston, which was not rated bicycle-friendly and now I commute in Austin, which is. I actually preferred the commute in Houston. Even though Austin has more bike trails and more bike lanes, Houston was large and flat and straight. That meant the cars in Houston could see me from a LONG way away (no curves, no hills). There was more traffic in Houston as well, but the roads had a lot more room for the cars to move around me. Big cities have their own advantages – even without a lot of bicycle infrastructure.

Finally, someone else said it better, but it bears repeating: Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t ride every day. Start gradually, ride when it works best for you and do it because you enjoy it.