I am lucky to live 10 miles (9.82 to be exact) from my job, which is located just outside of lovely, busy, Princeton, NJ. My commute is rather pleasant, with the only scary part being the 1/4 mi or so I have to travel on a four-lane state highway before turning onto a road that goes to the heart of town. I pass through the town of Princeton, taking in the smell of coffee from Small World Coffeehouse and pancakes on the griddle at PJs Pancake House on my right, and the sights of the beautiful, old University buildings on my left. After I pass out of town, my ride follows a moderately busy road that passes old (200+ years) homes, including Drumthwacket, the home of the Governor of New Jersey. Then I turn down a lightly populated country road with moderate traffic to get to my office, which is located on 100 beautiful acres of old farmland. My commute is beautiful and not too dangerous except for the occasional absent-minded motorist, by whom I tend to get guttered. The roads are in overall good condition, with just a few patches of broken pavement that I've come to anticipate so I know when to swerve out of the way. There are ten traffic lights, three left and three right turns. It is moderately hilly as well, more so on the way home than on the way in, so I can get a good workout if I want to by dropping gears and cranking hard, then going home to a nice hot shower.
I am 29 years old and enjoy all things outdoors. I have been biking for 10 years now, mountain and road. I primarily enjoy and excel at mountain biking and cycle year round. I bought a road bike two years ago and LOVE it. I sometimes wish I could bike for a living, but in reality I am an assistant to two wonderful Ph.D. policy researchers and they don't mind that I wear my flip-flops to work on a daily basis.
None so far, except that I love the improvement to a) my overall cycling ability and aerobic capacity, and b) my rear view.
So glad to be part of a community of commuters, you'd think that living where I do, so close to lots of large companies and a big town, I'd meet more bike commuters, but so far, not a ONE. With the price of gas on the rise (as of this writing on 9/2/05, it is $3.19/gl for regular gas), perhaps I will start a trend!