Hey folks, self explanatory question, I hope. What do you think are the biggest barriers to getting started commuting or running errands by bike. I know the infrastructure is one, but what specifically would you say are the barriers? How did you overcome them?
Edit: I was supper motivated by the awesome responses here that I did an analysis of them.
Check it out if you’d like:
[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T-J8AqbjfYRs207h6yCTOK2-3iu8N7lMkjbV99NiSRo/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1T-J8AqbjfYRs207h6yCTOK2-3iu8N7lMkjbV99NiSRo/edit?usp=sharing)
by DazzlingBasket4848
43 Comments
Just getting out there for the first time. For me, it’s all about routine.
Deciding personally that you’re happy being ever so slightly less than totally comfortable for the duration of your commute.
Get over it by getting over it.
Getting on the bike and doing the first ride is the hardest part. Too much planning and what ifs quickly disappear
The winter months and rough weather days tend to be the most difficult. Keep riding and you will acclimate and learn lots of little tricks to adjust to weather exposure. Riding gets easier the more you do it
Theft, or the perceived risk of theft is a big one for me. I still take my bike for errands (commuting is easy because I just bring it into my office) but will check up on it very frequently. I’ve dealt with it by getting an angle-grinder resistant lock but still won’t let my bike out of sight for very long.
for me, it’s the bad drivers in my area during rush hour. it’s always worse in my mind than reality, and I’m getting more asssertive. I did almost get hit by an old man in an SUV making an illegal turn but luckily I saw him and swerved out of the way.
After street safety I think rampant bike theft is the biggest barrier.
Getting the logistics dialed in.
Knowing which pieces of gear and other items to use for what weather and trip purposes and having it all ready to go.
Once this stuff becomes routine and getting ready to go is streamlined, biking short distances can become simpler than driving them with very little, if any, sacrifice in time.
For me, it was the unknown. Where do I ride? what if I get a flat? How do I do XYZ? When you’re totally new, everything seems monumental and daunting.
And now that I’m on my 5th year car-free, the only barrier is wind. Haha
The overall routine (clothes, sweat management, food, etc). It gets easier once you have it locked down, but it is never easier than hoping in a car and driving to work.That being said, I will take the bike to work 9 times out of 10.
Biggest barrier is probably normalizing the reality that you are sharing the road with multi-ton deathmachines driven by….probably…sober and attentive humans.
Having a good setup/plan for when you arrive.
Most places don’t have showers, and people are very afraid of being sweaty when they get to work.
Do you already ride? First few rides your butt will hurt. It isn’t the bike (probably), it isn’t the saddle (probably), but it is just how it goes. People buy a cushy saddle and then give up. But you gotta fight through the early butt pain. It gets better.
Assuming you’ve figured out how to shower and change when you get there (which are practical problems), I agree with all the others who said doing it the first time.
For me, that was a big mental hurdle: I’d never biked that far and I had some big hills I’d never tried to get over before.
Once I got my first ride under my belt, the physicality of it got easier and easier as I got into better shape (this happened pretty quickly) and I very soon decided I’d bike in to work as often as possible.
I think doing it consistently was the hardest part. Sure, I could ride in once and feel great, maybe even twice a week. But 5 days every week? That was a challenge.
There’s a first time for everything. First practice route, first way to and from, first bad interaction with a car, first flat, first mechanical issue, first bad weather.
With those things come experience and lessons to be learned. It’s a fun process and don’t let it discourage you but let it teach you.
Years ago, my first flat took forever to change, my fingers were all busted up trying to seat the tire, and my shitty pump was worse than an asthmatic trying to breathe. Worst part was the pinch flat that happened a few miles later, resulting from the tube being seated improperly. Got me home eventually though. I definitely learned what tools to have, how to patch a tire and carry at least two tubes. Fast forward to now, I can change a tube in less than 10 minutes, in the rain and dark, with only a small headlight to help. Got a way better pump too.
Fitness. Anyplace with even slight hills is a deal breaker for most new cyclists.
Mine was just in general getting used to riding on the roads near me and route planning what I feel like is a reasonably safe route through suburban neighborhoods and industrial parks.
After that it was setting a goal (for me it was one year without taking the car to the office no matter what) so I would just keep doing it until it became normal.
Keep your head on a swivel and ride with confidence. Take the lane if you have to. It beats being buzzed on a tight road
Start with short trips on pretty days, plan your route and be over prepared. As you continue your trips get longer and you learn what gear is really necessary. Pick the easiest errand you have and add more as you get comfortable. The hardest part IMO is the mindset, we tend to think about things from a car perspective and you have to shift that. I was a non vehicle owner for 5 years and I commuted everywhere by bike. Take your time and build your confidence and competence
For me it was finding the safe routes. It took some trial and error and some careful exploring before I found them, but once I did everything smoothed out considerably.
For me it was figuring out what clothes to wear for certain temperatures, especially balancing warmth vs sweat. I started in September 2022 so I only had a few months of warmer weather before 6 months of Portland-area rains and winter came.
For me, the biggest logistical hurdle is managing what I’m able to carry in my backpack on my way to work. Even packing a slightly bulkier lunch (and squeezing it into my bag) along will all my other crap can make the difference between an annoying/awkward commute and a comfortable one.
The first rainy days. Before you realize that you are waterproof.
Willpower. Leaving the car keys at home and just heading out. I’m 18 years into being a year round commuter and it feels great.
Building up the gear. I live in a very rainy place and it took a while to decide “okay I’m going to ride rain or shine.” I had to get a nice jacket, gloves, shoe covers, etc. Now it’s only deep snow or ice packed on roads that makes me choose to ride the bus instead.
Most people have an old bicycle from a few years/decades back, so the first few rides (test-ride or otherwise) will be plagued with mechanical problems (most commonly tires or inner-tube, then chain).
For me, it was letting go of the safety of having my car with me.
I like the warmth and dryness of my car on a rainy day. I like the speed at which my car can get me to my kids’ school if the nurse calls. I like that I can transport more people/things in my car.
Here’s what I realized–i don’t have to commute by bike every day. I drive in the rain. I drive when my kids seem off or when they are just returning to school from a sickness that’s later a few days. I drive if my kids need to get to practice directly after school and I have to tote a friend or two and maybe some sports equipment.
I commute by bike most of the time. But I made myself ok with also driving some of the time. The hardest part for me was realizing that it doesn’t have to be just my bike 100% of the time.
Not knowing much about bikes. I’m in that boat myself. I’ve been doing it for a few years and some maintenance negligence left me walking home yesterday.
Spring is here so now is the time. Have a change of clothes. Figure out what you need as you go. Gear and appeal can be figured out as you go. Don’t go too overboard on gear you really don’t need a lot. And just do it. “I shall not fear, fear is the mind killer. Fear is that tiny death that pulls us to the car…”
preparing to push past the paparazzi on your way out the door. maybe now you can finally sympathize with the hard lives of the rich and famous.
Honestly your thoughts, your thoughts about it being hard. You just have to go out there and once you experience it you’ll realize it’s actually not that difficult to do.
It’s a bunch of little stuff that gets taken care of with routine, as others have said. The small points of route navigation (sometimes how to deal with a specific busy intersection or whatever), making sure you don’t forget your gear, charge you light batteries, etc. It’ll be an intentional exercise for a week or two, but it’ll start to become second nature after that.
I still wake up often trying to give myself reasons I can’t ride that day, but I never regret it by end of the first mile.
You are the only barrier. You can take the long way. You can ride in the rain. You can change at work. You can ride slower. You can climb that hill. You can ride in the snow. You can leave early. You can leave clothes at work. You can leave deodorant at your desk. You can change in the washroom. You can just ride in your regular clothes. You can do it. You are the only barrier.
Have fun. Smile big.
Unless you live in the middle of a town or city and you don’t have a car, owning a car as a bike commuter is deadly. It’s deadly because driving is easy, quick, and it’s comfortable.
Cycling is none of those things. You can make it *easier*, *quicker*, and *comfortable*…-er, but you’re never going to get to a point in which a bike trumps a car on those three key things.
Being OK with that is perhaps the hardest thing about the whole concept of bike commuting.
There are going to be days where you show up at your destination sweating buckets because of the heat, days where you turn up dripping wet from the rain, days where you simply can’t be bothered, days where you’re too tired. Days where – as long as you have that car in your driveway/carpark/garage – the lure of that ease, speed, and comfort will creep into your mind.
Did no one say buying a bike? It took like 4 months before my bike adopted me
Leaving the house when it’s raining. Everything after that is awesome.
The cold dark mornings are toughest for me
Finding a route that won’t kill you.
Getting on the bike. The rest is pretty straightforward
For me it was the planing. 16 miles at best, with infrastructure varying from real good to non existent. Test off road parts, test shortcuts, check legality etc. I mixed an old tourist map Google satellite view and Google maps.
At the end it needed a completely different route compared to car / bus commuting. It’s optimised for time and safety and pass between mountains with no actual roads just paths.
I believe it’s about “making it fun”. Anyone used to doing everything in their car might find the switch hard, they’re used to minimum effort and faster commutes. Switching to a bicycle might seem hard at first but in time once you find what makes it worth it, it becomes effortless. To me it was a number of things:
– Music: My earbuds made my commutes not only better but actually fun, to the point where I look for an excuse to ride
– Time: Cars might be faster, but when you live in a city where a turtle is faster than a car because of traffic, you will find that in average you might actually be saving time
– Health: No puzzles here, I felt MUCH healthier commuting to work on my bike. I genuinely arrived there energetic and when I went back home I wasn’t as tired as I used to be coming back in my car
– Savings: I can’t begin to explain how much I’ve saved on gas, car parts, and everything else car-related