I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions, but one thing I did promise my self was making sure I rode my bike more than I did last year. My first commute of the year will be tomorrow to my office. I’m really looking forward to it and take all the steps to prepare my stuff for my maiden voyage.

1. Charge battery pack for lights
2. Have change of clothes picked out
3. Check over my bike and make sure its in good working order.
4. Pack tube, pump and water bottle
5. Get all my hygiene stuff packed
6. Set my alarm!

So that’s about it, I’m thinking of getting into this wool stuff that Russ Roca so avidly supports. I also like the classy/vintage style commuter bikes that I’m seeing more through people’s comments and emails that we get. I may just have to slowly convert one of the bikes into something that sorta accentuates the Russ Roca-ish style of bikes. I’ll start off by saving up for a Brooks saddle…

Wish me luck!

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If so, click over to MtnBikeRiders.com where I posted a video showing you how to adjust/tune a Shimano rear derailleur.

Click HERE to watch it.

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Kevin Saunders of KGS Bikes in San Antonio, Texas sent us a link to his Flickr photo gallery of what he describes as “the ultimate commuter bike”. Built around a Co-Motion “Americano” frameset and featuring exclusive Campagnolo Comp Triple components, Rolf tandem wheels and a beautiful Brooks Swallow saddle, this bike isn’t for the faint of heart (or light of wallet).

Check out this beauty:

And for even more photos of this bike and the other dream machines that KGS Bikes puts together, visit their Flickr photostream.

If you’re ready for a commuter bike like this one, be sure you’ve got a VERY secure place to park it wherever you go. And remember, even a dream machine like this is cheaper and more reliable than a car!

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Forwarded to me by a friend of the East Coast Greenway, and appearing in their newsletter:

Click on the below link to take part in a brief signage survey developed by the East Coast Greenway.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=_2bdmAJQR4_2f7OrJANA0wbg2Q_3d_3d

This survey will provide preliminary data that will help us to get a proper hearing from the national committee now considering changes to our bicycle route, roadway, and trail signage. If you can spare 12 minutes to fill it out, you will have done much to help this important process. Thanks!

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We had quite a year of riding…and our “club” of Bikecommuters.com readers who are also Bikejournal.com users posted some big numbers in our inaugural year.

As you can see from the sidebar (just below the links to our Interbike 2008 coverage), Bikecommuters.com/Bikejournal.com “club” members posted 41796 miles, saving $7592.94 in gasoline costs and preventing the release of 45975.6 lbs. of C02 into the atmosphere. All this from a group of 39 members…with only a dozen or so who regularly post their mileage to the club page!!! Bravo to each and every one of you!

The club leader this year was Alan Field (user “Fatall”) of Melbourne, Australia, who posted a whopping 4604 miles for 2008. For Bikecommuters.com staff members, our own Russ Roca handily led the pack, coming in at #5. Former staff member Lance Lowry came in at #7, I came in at #10, Moe was at #12 and former staff member Jeff Rossini rounded things out at #14.

Posting miles is a lot of fun, and we like to showcase our combined efforts on the sidebar there. If you are a Bikejournal.com user, please consider joining our “club” (search for “www.bikecommuters.com” in the club search area). If you’re NOT a Bikejournal.com user, please consider that…it’s free for a basic membership and it is a great way to log your ride particulars and meet new cyclists in your area.

Happy riding in 2009!

A note about the gasoline savings: Normally, when I update our club stats (done periodically throughout the year…approximately once a month), I use the current average U.S. gasoline price as published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on their Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update page. For the year-end tally, I used their averaged gasoline price for the entire year of 2008, which is posted at their Short Term Energy Outlook page. In all of these calculations (gas savings and C02 emissions), we use an average mileage rate of 18 MPG…

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2008 was a memorable year for Bike Commuters. With gasoline soaring over 4 bucks per gallon, the bicycle was suddenly a very viable and affordable form of transportation. Being Bike Commuters has its ups (mostly) and downs; we learned that a lot of you ride for fitness, the environment, stress relief and mostly because it is just too darn fun.

We also had a few stories of Bike Commuters being hit by cars (Jack’s own wife was a victim of an SUV), falls due to distraction, (doooh!) and one of bike commuter’s worst nightmare: Having you bike stolen.

We also reviewed a ton of stuff and we were part of the 2nd Urban Bicycle Commuter Expo , organized by our friends from CICLE.ORG, and the Tampa Bay area Bicycle Bash by the Bay put on by Southwest Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD).

I also had the chance to be one of the first bloggers to actually ride the IV-1, a bike that can be made of recyclable parts.

We also received a lot of Bike Commuter Profiles, although I had to bribe some of you with stickers! It was great to put faces with names and to spread some “Internet Celebrity” among our fellow commuters.

2008 was also the year that Cargo Bikes made an impact. Jack and I went with Xtracycle’s Freeradical; in fact, Jack nicknamed his the Recycletron 1000.

We also want to thank YOU, our loyal readers. We love your comments, opinions, bike commuter profiles, guest articles, guest reviews, how to’s and your generosity by supporting our site sponsors.

We hope that 2009 will be a great year for Bike Commuters; for those of us who are not Winter Warriors, I hope that as soon as the snow melts you will be back on the bike because we DO make a difference.

The BikeCommuters.com crew: Moe, RL, Jack, Russ and Priscilla

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Some of you may have noticed that the crew here at Bikecommuters.com doesn’t write too much about bicycle commuting in winter…with most of the staff in balmy southern California and myself in SW Florida, we don’t get too much experience riding in the cold.

Nevertheless, we have complete and undying respect for those brave souls out there who commute year-round…through snow, ice and freezing rain, bitter winds and chilly temperatures. Last year, we offered a couple of photographs of some of our favorite “winter warriors”. You can check them out by clicking here.

Reader James Haygood sent in a great photo for us to share with the rest of our readers. He took this photo from his hotel room overlooking Lake Michigan in Chicago:

Click here for the full-size version

That’s an awesome sight…ice and snow is no deterrent for these hardcore cyclers!!!

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Ok, I just had a Michael Jackson moment when trying to come up with a clever opener for this post. I did a review of 3 bicycle mirrors on Epicurean Cyclist that a lot of readers might be interested in. As a bike commuter, it’s important that we’re always aware of our surroundings and mirrors are a great way to do that.

Check out the full comparison here.

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The BikeCommuters.com crew want to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas!

We want to thank all of you for reading, commenting, emailing your profiles and reviews and for the great camaraderie.

Moe, RL, Jack, Russ and Priscilla.

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I got the following email from faithful reader Jared Fitzgibbon:

“Now that the bottom has fallen out of the economy, Obama and his team are talking about infrastructure investments as a way to dig ourselves out. The change.gov website has a form where people can submit ideas about it. I went on a minute ago and added my own wish for cycling infrastructure. Lanes, signs, public education, routes, all that. I think if we’re going to be rebuilding infrastructure, now is the perfect time to make our voices heard as cyclists.

I’m not affiliated w/ the change.gov team in any way but I think if you and all of us readers were to submit our ideas to this site, we could really see some fantastic changes in our cities, towns, and roads all over the country. Regardless of political affiliation, this is a great moment for all of us to tell the new President what we want.”

Here are a couple of places we can let our thoughts be known and our voices heard:
http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/promote_bicycle_transportation_3

http://www.change.org/ideas/view/increase_use_of_bicycles

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