Be happier: ride your bike to work!

photo credit: Marco Gomes

This is, depending on what your source is, Bike to Work Month, and we’re in the midst of Bike to Work Week, and again depending on your source, either today or tomorrow is Bike to Work Day.

Despite the confusion, there’s obviously a great deal of merit to the idea of getting a car off the road, lightening traffic congestion, and getting some exercise in the process. Even if you don’t normally drive, riding a bike can be a whole lot more fun than taking the bus or train.

(I work from home, but have been trying to ride my bike to do quick errands – like stopping by the post office or bank – more often this week.)

The great thing about riding a bike to work is that it can be an opportunity to enjoy your surroundings, notice details in your town you may not have noticed before, and probably even arrive to work more refreshed and energized than if you just sat in traffic getting frustrated at people who don’t know how to merge. (Uh, why don’t people know how to merge, anyway?)

Of course there are logistical difficulties for some people: their commute is simply too long for practical bike commuting, or they’re not physically able, or there are no safe routes, or they have no facilities for freshening up when they arrive at work. (Although if the latter reason is holding you back, it’s worth considering riding slowly enough to stay cool and/or freshening up using a moistened washcloth over the sink in your workplace’s bathroom.)

Struggling with other logistics? Quite a few sites have tips, like the ones in the Berkeley Daily Planet:

Forget the car roads and find the bike roads. Try the routes recommended on the bike map for your area.

Use transit as a back-up to your bike travels. If you get tired, hop on a bus or BART for part of the journey. If you can add a bicycle component to your commute, you will probably find yourself wanting to ride more and more over time.

I can attest, from previous experiences commuting by bike, that the route I drove in a car was not usually the best route for riding a bike, so that’s a good, not necessarily obvious tip. And certainly mixing biking and public transit makes the commute easier if it’s a particularly long trek (assuming there’s at least some public transit along the way).

Do you bike to work, even occasionally? What other tips can you suggest?