Riding your bike to work in the suburbs can be done. I've been doing it for years, and I'm not drinking my meals from a straw or pissing through a tube. So, if you're thinking about it, you might want to heed a few hard-learned lessons:
- Hardly anybody rides a bike in the 'burbs during commute hours. So, like any foreign substance, the host organism is going to want to expel you. Keep your head on a swivel and ride defensively.
- Turn the Ipod off - next to your eyes, your ears are your most important asset in avoiding the soccer mom who wants to embed her Escalade's grill logo into your forehead.
- Bury your ego and get a bike that affords some visibility and stability. Road bikes keep your head down too far and the wheels are too thin. Visibility from a mountain bike isn't much better. Get a multitrack with old-fashioned handlebars. Yes, you'll look like an old man or woman, but you will be able to see what's around you, like the testosterone-laden teenager squealing around the corner and into your backside.
- Get a mirror and use it. Otherwise, while you turn your head to see what's behind you, Grandma's Buick Century will cross into your lane and squash you flatter than the pantsload marinating in her Depends.
- Helmet technology is getting better every year. Throw away your helmet if it is more than five years old and get a new one. It will fit better and protect your precious cabeza from impact with the school bus whose driver is distractedly telling little Johnny to shut his piehole.
- Come up with a route that avoids major highways and uses trails and sidewalks as much as possible. You won't go as fast, but trails and sidewalks are rarely used in the daytime.
