Vancity Bike Share to Daily Commuter - My evolution as a bicyclist

My evolution to full on bike commuter started on a lark. On June 26, 2007 late at night when I should have been sleeping, I noticed that my friend Richard Eriksson had signed up for one of the 2007 Vancity Bike Share bicycles (you had the bike free for two weeks and then you had to pass it on to somebody else with the bikes being donated to charity at the end). So I thought to myself, why not? At the very least I could take some fun photos with Richard and have an interesting shared experience.

It was a gradual progression. The Bike Share bike was heavy, and had no lights (but our summer daylight hours are so long, lights weren't necessary) and I discovered luckily (having done no research about my route!) my commute was very easy even for an unfit cyclist like myself. Basically flat and "only" 5 km.

And I have always joked that I am "location challenged", which is at least partially true as I found myself getting lost on the first couple of times out. And missing the bike path signs which I still maintain are too hard to find for the occasional cyclist.

But still I persisted and I really enjoyed cruising around in the big red bike from the Bike Share program.

What to do after I gave the big red bike back? I decided to dust off my old Villiger commuting bicycle which I had had for 10 years without riding more than about a dozen times. I took my Villiger to the local bike shop, who inflated the tires and did some basic tuneups and off I went.

Soon I was bicycling three times a week and then it was every day except if it rained and now it's every day even if it's raining (not sure when the small 'e' epiphany occurred that biking in the rain is fun if you are prepared for it, more on this in a future blog post!)! And I can now see the pleasures of a longer commute and envision a time where I could do 10 or more km one way if that's what my commute required!

Looking back on it (and my blog posts about it at the time), I am still not sure why I am the only person out of my friends who were participants in the Bike Share who commutes regularly (Richard doesn't but I am trying to get him into it, haha!).

My guess is that it's three factors: 

First my commute is easy. Only one hill at the end of the day and short at 5 km.

Second my commute is primarily on official bike paths and very lightly traveled roads which is great by North American standards. Unfortunately if you look around the world, Vancouver bike paths are lousy by European standards (I have ridden in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Friedrichshafen and Bremen recently and their bike paths are much more commuter friendly than even the best ones in Vancouver!)

Third, my Viliger Silvretta Bicycle with its 24 gears, fenders, bell, chain guard and  dynamo hub driven lights front and back is really a commuter's dream bicycle in many ways. Standard features for a European bike but pretty radical for Canada until very recently. Most people I see commuting to work are using road bikes of some sort including fixies or mountain bikes without lights! Great for weekends but not so great to carry your stuff to work and be stable and be seen!

What's the story of your conversion into a regular commuter ? What bicycle do you use for your commute? Leave a comment or twitter rtanglao or blog about it!