A commuting success

One of the befits of commuting is losing weight. I lost 20 pounds. This is the deal I ride about 1 hour a day commuting into work that burns about 645 calories a day and I ride 5 days a week that is a total of 3225 calories. Daily I eat around 2500 calories. So during week I burn 1.29 days of calories, so who needs to diet.

However the real success story is the a cool blog is "Large Fella on a Bike" about a guy that weight over 400 pounds and has dropped half of it ride a bake and changing his diet. http://istanbultea.typepad.com/largefellaonabike/

Commuting in the Netherlands

I visited the Netherland in Fall of 2007 commuting by bike is a big deal as you can see. This is a College parking lot by Amsterdam. This is our bike parking in Portland. Yes it is sad.

It in the Bag

Ok you have the bike but how am I going to get my junk to work well its in the bag. there are alot of neat bags and racks out there. I went with the messager bag because of I ride the bus some of the way home. The bag is easy throw on my shoulder and to hook on my bike I just put the handle over the head rest.

In my bag I have a commuter my clothes for work lunch bike tools all in the bag. the bag cost about $40. hanging it on my head rest keeps it out of the rain and in the draft behind the seat. This is a eddy bauer messager bag and it works great.

My short ride into work.

This is the route I ride when I carpool with my wife to work. This is a lot of city traffic.

my long ride into work

Below is my long way into work. This route looks like the long way around the barn, but it there is less traffic. About 1/3 of the ride is a bike path called Springwater Trail.
Which is a old railroad converted into a bike path.

Getting a Recumbent

What if I want to get a Recumbent? Where do I get one? What kind should I get? Well these are great questions. let me answer some of them.

If you read any of the reviews on the net, or go to any of the bike shops they will push you to the hi end bikes telling you get what you pay for. Well some of that is true however 90 percent of the bike frames come from China and a lot of the wheel sets and parts also.

So get one off the Internet for half the price is not a bad option. the brand I got is a recumbentUSA at the following link http://www.recumbentusa.com/rebi20.html and it has worked out well. I have added a rack and fenders to the bike and did some tuning on the bike. If you buy it online you will have to do this.

However I didn't buy my bike direct from recumbentusa. I bought it off craigslist. which is another great way to buy a Recumbent. The guy who bought the bike first found out he was too big for the bike after spending 100's on it at a local bike shop. The bike sold online for about 800 and I bought it for 500 after checking it out. A bike like this in a bike shop is around 1200. So there are some deals out there, However here are a few things you want to review.

1. Buy online is OK.
2. Look around for the bike model so you can try it out.
3. Check the size of the bike, not all sizes fits all.
4. Bike should be under 35 lbs
5. How are you going to use the bike? Are you going to take it on the Bus will it fit?
6. How will you transport it?

there is a number of recumbent types you need to review also happy hunting.

Some of the benefits from commuting

I have been commuting by bike for about 15 years about 12 years in So Cal. and 3 years in Portland Oregon a lot more rain. Below are the benefits.

• I lost over 15 pounds
• you get to know you community better.
• you save money.
• you save the earth.

My Ride

This is my Recumbent I ride this bike into work 22 miles a day. This is a cheap internet bike a recumbentusa bike it cost about 700 dollars, but I like it and I have been riding it two years.