A Good Commute

I seem to have an endless supply of energy for shows about fixer uppers, moving to Hawaii, and deciding to love it or list it. Every now and then, particularly when the weather is why-did-I-ever-leave-San-Francisco bad, we load up Zillow and begin peering at houses around various cities. One lesson I've learned over and over again is that one person's bad commute is another person's normal commute.

For example, this is from the well-designed move-to-austin.com site about the nearby Round Rock:

The commute can be AWFUL. See if you can avoid driving to and from Austin on I-35 every day.

I dug a little deeper, which was easy with the estimated commute times map. The commute to Round Rock during rush hour is estimated between 45 and 75 minutes. If you're a suburbanite, this is clearly an awful commute. Here's some anecdotal data:

• My dad's commute was about 15 minutes (six miles)
• My mom's commute is about 15 minutes (six miles; different place)
• My girlfriend's dad's commute is about five minutes (two miles)

My story has been far different. Since heading to Chicago in late 2008, I have rarely seen a 15-minute commute to work.

• Chicago #1: 40 minutes L train (six miles)
• Chicago #2: 40 minutes express bus; 60 minutes regular bus (five miles)
• Little Rock: 20 minutes car (eight miles)
• San Francisco: 50 minutes muni; 25 minutes bicycle (four miles)
• Toronto: 50 minutes TTC; 35 minutes car (seven miles)

From these experiences, my idea of the perfect commute is 20 minutes by bicycle.

What's a good commute? What's an awful commute?

Cycling The Commute

This week marks the fourth month I've had a bicycle in San Francisco. After months of public transit, the occasional cab, and a startling realization of how little I actually move in a day, I headed to Performance Bike in June. I walked out with the second Fuji of my cycling career.

Thanks to the magic of Hipstamatic, here's what it would have looked like in the 1970's —

Early On

Those first few rides were especially difficult. I saved no time at all versus public transit — about 45 minutes for 3.5 miles. I also showed up to the morning meeting with greetings of "Wow, did you swim here?" Fortunately for us all, things have gotten significantly better since then.

Tracking

Recently, with the help of the iPhone Cycling Application Velocio, I've come to expect making it to the office in less than 20 minutes.

The current records are quite a bit better than those 45-minute rides:

• To Office — 16:24
• To Apartment — 14:59

Fun Facts

There are a few things I've picked up cycling in a busy city.

1. Some sidewalks are shared path, meaning that walking and cycling is allowed
2. Some sidewalks will ticket cyclists
3. Pedestrians tend to look right through cyclists while trying to cross the street. When a pedestrian steps in front of you with no time to swerve, you'll both go flying through the air. Really.
4. Sometimes your spokes will break with no visual indication. Sometimes it'll take a week to notice your brakes are rubbing, and it will cost $20 to fix.
5. Riding with the brakes rubbing for a week will shave several minutes off your commute when the problem is fixed.