Getting started Commuting - The Gear

It's been a couple of months since I wrote my first piece and really started committing to commuting (that sounds like a bumper sticker, except for your bike).

While I haven't been as successful as I was hoping, it still takes a very conscious effort to make commuting by bike possible. And what I've found is that the more you commute the more you find what you need to make this lifestyle change.

I think for a lot of people (myself included) there is just so much to pre-plan to commute and if you are like me, this takes time that I feel every day I have less and less of. But the thing to remember is that this is time for yourself, it's adding time to your life, and in many cases, if I hadn't chosen the bike over the car that would've been the only time that day I gave myself 30 minutes of physical activity. They say two birds one stone right!

One thing I figured out early on was gear. I'm extremely analytical so I think about details, like how am I going to carry my yoga mat and water bottle to class. Let's also be honest the ladies love bags and I'm no different. Not only was I in search of a functional bag but something fun, stylish and screams of my personality. I'm a fan of a company called Lolë. They make everything from puffy jackets, swimwear, athleisure pieces, and BAGS. And there she was the perfect match of function and style; the Lily Bag. It retails for about $140, but it was completely worth the spend. You can carry your yoga mat, two water bottles, computer, toiletries and it comes with a shoe bag.

 

Next was the lock. Again I like to go for both function and style and I had the perfect one already in my stash. The Knog Party Frank lock; it's flexible and can fit in a variety of places. They, of course, come in some of the most fun colors which are a bonus if you want to look stylish while commuting.

And finally, let's talk about the bike or bikes. As a committed cyclist, I happen to have a good arsenal of bikes. When I started commuting I focused on riding to the ride, which meant that I was riding my full suspension mountain bike most often. That doesn't translate well when riding to yoga, the grocery store and to meet friends. So I've switched things up a bit. If I ride to meet friends I'm typically with my husband so we grab the cruiser bikes. But when I'm on my own I've flipped between my hardtail mountain bike and my gravel bike. They are both really sturdy and especially my hardtail mountain bike puts me in a more upright position that I feel most comfortable with. I'll admit I'm not awesome at taking selfies while commuting so you'll have to excuse my bikes in the wild photos. But the point is, whatever you feel most comfortable on or have access to is the best bike to get started.

The other reason I have been choosing one of these two bikes is because when you see that opportunity to take the dirt on the way home, I'm prepared and while it might take me a bit longer to get home I can tap into a small portion of my happy place that I might not have otherwise had that day.

Hardtail MTB

My Gravel Grinding Queen

Happy Commuting!

Cheers,
Aimee