This is the final post in the Quick Tips for Bike Commuting. So far in the series I have covered what kind of bike you need for bike commuting, steps for safely getting to and from work, what kind of facilities do you have at work, and how do you get your stuff to work. The question is now where else can I ride? There are many people who start bike commuting and realize how much they enjoy traveling by bike, that they set out on an adventure.
Rethink your daily transportation options, beyond commuting to work. I currently have 3 bikes and am always talking to my wife about the benefit of this one or that one. I also have three cars and am finally at the point that I am thinking about getting rid of one of them. It has sat in the driveway and not been driven much if at all for better part of a year or more. My wife has even said that the commuter bike should be my third car – meaning that I have put more miles on it this past year than I did the car. She would rather see us put more money into the commuter bike than into that car! I have enjoyed reading the blog Car Free Days from start to finish and they talked about how they started going car free certain days of the week and eventually car free. They have gone from 4 cars to none. Their entire family has ridden the Pacific Crest Bike tour.
Bike touring would be a dream of mine. I think it would be a great adventure. The website Bike Overnights– Don’t wait to go Cross Country. Bike Overnights encourages people to take advantage of shorter trips and to take overnight trips near home. On the website people post about the different overnight adventures as inspiration. One aspect of the site that I really like is the first overnight page. It covers many of the basics for traveling by bike. The resources includes a great collection of information like packing lists and links to active forums to ask questions of other people who travel by bike.
Just one example of some of the amazing photography on the Give a Bike blog.
One of my goals for 2014 is to do some bike touring this year. I think I might attempt do ride Skyline drive with my father acting as a shuttle for the trip. I would also like to attempt to tour along either the New River Trail Park or maybe the Great Allegheny Passage (Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD).
Once you have conquered a bike tour, the sky’s the limit! What about cross country travel? Many times people undertake an adventure such as this to raise money for a charity or multiple charities. I would want to encourage you to take the time to read the Give a Bike blog It is about a couple who traveled through all 50 states. The photography through out the blog will certainly inspire you and the writing will most definitely have you laughing and cheering them on.
Where will your bike take you?
This is the final part of my Quick Tips for Bike Commuting series. You can find the table of contents post here.
Disciple Cycle 