Finally I tried commuting to work via bicycle. Always thought of doing it but never did. My bike was solely for recreational activities, trail biking, uphill trails and weekend rides.
But today I rode my bicycle to work, and it was a very nice and cool experience. It only took me more or less 20 minutes for a 6 kilometer ride. If I drive, it will take me about 45 minutes or more from my home to office. By public transport, it is about 1 hour to 1 hr and 30 mins. Distance is quite short, but a lot of time is wasted on heavy traffic and stop lights for the multiple intersections you have to pass thru. Thus the longer commute time on public transport or by driving a car.
I had a lot of excuses then of not riding my bicycle to work. Below are a few.
1. I do not have a commuter bike that suits the city. (I own a Mountain bike)
2. I cannot be sweaty and smelly coming in to the office.
3. What if it rains?
4. It can be dangerous with all the crazy and un-courteous drivers out there.
5. I hate waking up early.
But I finally set aside these lame excuses and had my first Bike to Work day, and it was great!
It doesn't matter what bike you have, as long as it is in good condition then you are set to go.
Make sure you are wearing comfortable clothes and pace your cycling to avoid sweating too much. Then, just be ready with a change of clothes to freshen up. To avoid accidents and the dangers of riding around the city, you just have to be extra careful and respect everyone using the road. In other words share the road and don't act as if you are the only person on the road and respect everyone be it public transport, motorcycle, fellow cyclist and pedestrians.Waking up early has its advantages too. When you make up early, you tend be energized and not feeling lazy when you get up. You'll arrive at the office early and improve on your productivity.
On my way to the office, I observed there were about 30 bike commuters too on my route. Not sure if all of them are going to offices but I think most of them have blue collar jobs. Good for them, they don't really need to worry about coming in to the office sweaty and smelling. Biking is a passion, it doesn't discriminate anyone. It is a cheap and fun alternative form of transport, and we hope that more people will join the bandwagon and that even the local government will support this bike to work scheme.
The biggest concern now about bike commuting is safety. Problem with Filipino drivers is that they always want to be ahead of others and has complete disregard for traffic rules. Most motorist do not have road courtesy and discipline. Worse, they have total lack of respect for bike commuters. It is not just the motorist, but the pedestrians too do not respect cyclist. I do not know why but that seems to be the culture of Filipinos, they just seem to disregard cyclist. Sad. But as a biker for quite some time now, you get to know how to deal with this and developed a skill for quick decision making and intuitive awareness on the road. A unique skill for cyclist.
I always had reservations of riding a bike to work because of parking too. Where to put my bike? Never realized that we have bike racks in our building and designated parking area for bicycles. Its also a good thing that we have showers in our office. Most establishments in the city do not support bike commuting hence the lack of facilities for cyclist. It is great that our company supports alternative transport. Hooray!
What is even great is that there are quite a number of bike commuters in our office and this also because it is being promoted by our Bike Club. A brotherhood of cyclist.
As a biking enthusiast, and with most cyclist, we have a passion for biking. We want to ride our bicycles, not just for fun and recreation but for the love of riding our bikes. We want to ride our bicycles because we are passionate about cycling. Because we want to promote alternative transport. We want to ride our bicycles to work because it is practical, because it is a cheap mode of transport, because it is fun, because we enjoy biking, because we love cycling and because we can!
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