Commuting by bike?

My commute goes the other way, but you have three main options:

1. Out the Burke Gilman to Kenmore (Seattle Super Supplements), over Juanita Hill, through downtown Kirkland to Bellevue Way (fastest, most climbing, lots of cars and glass on the road)

2. Leave the Burke Gilman at the Bothell (Wayne) Golf Course, go right over the hill and continue, runs into 98th in Juanita (slightly less vigorous climb, wider shoulder)

3. Take the trail all the way out to Redmond Town Center, leave the BGT and take the road/trail over the hill past Microsoft, the trail ends in Kirkland by the park & ride (more miles, one moderately long climb but no traffic until you get to KIrkland).

If it were me, I'd probably take the shortest, steepest route over Juanita Hill in daylight/good weather, and the longest route all the way out on the BGT in dark/bad weather.

Edited to add: I would guess the distance from my house (near Lake Forest Park Towne Center) to be 16 miles the long way, maybe 12 the short way.

Greg~

Great thanks for the tip.

Chris

Any distance guesses? or route suggestions greatly appreciated!

Chris.
Be sure to check out this Gmaps mileage/pedometer program . Read the usage instructions in the lower left corner before beginning. Good luck with your route.

Hey~

Thanks alot for the google link. Like any ride I expect to tinker w/ it over and over again, get quasi-lost once or twice, then get where I'm going. This way I can tinker from the comfort of my own desk...wait, thats not as fun is it...

Sheispiste~


Hey, twas great to meet you up at crystal fest, thanks for the great link, to googoo maps, pedometer.

GregL~

I took option #2 outlined above, worked out great.  18.01 miles door to door, 1:25 min great ride all and all, i deff. can get used to it

Many thanks to both of you...

Chris

But does commuting by bike actually save any money?

My Giant OCR3 cost me about $500 two years ago, and I've spent at least $500 since then on tires, brakes, lights, a new wheel ( :), etc, etc.

My commute is about 7 miles one way, 14 miles roundtrip. If I average four or five days a week on the bike, I biked about 416 days, or 6000 miles. So the cost of the bike has been about 16 cents per mile.

My shiny new (to me) '99 Impreza RS gets about 24 mpg around town, maybe slightly better if I stop enjoying it so much. I paid $8000 for the car with 96k on it and hope to drive it at least 80,000 miles. So the total cost of the car is 10 cents + 13.7 cents = 23.7 cents per mile.

If the car lasts to 250k, the cost is 5.2+13.7 cents = 19 cents per mile, at current gas prices.

Now, the Impreza isn't the most fuel efficient car on the planet. A Golf TDI would blow the bike out of the water.

Bike commuting isn't cheap. I should take the bus. But the bike also gives me some exercise. Guess it's a wash.

Oops, I forgot about insurance. But I also forgot about bike shoes, cleats, helmets, and hospital bills.

Has anybody else done a similar calculation? Is a more expensive bike actually cheaper in the long run?

One could also argue that I'd buy the car anyway for skiing and other fun stuff, and hence the car's more realistic cost is that of gas money alone. Or at least the cost of the car should be divided by two. The bike, on the other hand, was bought entirely for purposes of commuting, as I don't enjoy it enough to ride it for fun. In this case, the bike costs as much as the car. Darn!