About the bike...

I have both a road bike and a mountain bike, but when it came to deciding which to use for commuting, the mountain bike won easily for a couple of reasons:

1. The road bike doesn't do well on the gravel/mud section of my commute.

2. The road bike has clipless pedals on it, while my mountain bike has regular pedals with Power Grips (more on this later).

3. The mountain bike seemed more comfortable and easy use as an all-around commuting/errand bike.

My mountain bike is an old Trek 930 with a cro-moly frame and rock shox fork. I left the knobby tires on it. My commute is short enough that tire rolling resistance isn't really a big deal. Plus, I like the traction on the gravel portion of my ride.

The bike had no fenders when I decided to start using it for commuting. The front fender was a cheap addition ($10) and does a great job of reducing tire spray. I already had the back rack lying around, so adding that and the bag on back was a useful addition.

I expected the rack and bag to handle the tire spray from the back tire, but my first commute when the gravel road was muddy resulted in the roostertail mud stains up the butt and back anyway. I purchased two mud guards for $2 each to solve this problem. I put one just in front of the back tire, and mounted the other to the bike rack under the bag. Hopefully the extra few inches of protection will prevent roostertail in the future. I'll have to let you know after the next muddy commute.

I mentioned the pedals earlier. Because I am commuting in my work clothes, and try to use my bike for other short errands whenever I can, I needed to have pedals that could accomodate regular shoes.

I had put Power Grips on my mountain bike years ago, and they actually work really well for commuting.

I am starting to experience cold feet and ankles now that the weather is getting colder. At some point, I expect to have to start wearing boots or booties of some kind, and carry my work shoes in my bag.

Another issue which could have put the kybosh on this bike commuting thing for me was the inability to carry two mugs of coffee (one for me and one for a co-worker). I solved this by mounting two water bottle holders on the handlebar.

The headlight is nothing fancy ($16). It runs on 3 AAA batteries. The brightness is OK for my purposes. I primarily got it so I could be seen better, since I have street lights for most of my commute. I also have a red blinking taillight that makes me feel much better when riding on the two lane highway after dark.

Is it perfect? No. It's a work in progress. I plan to get some rear pannier bags so that I can carry more to and from work. This bike is pretty darn old, too. My local bike shop guy keeps it running, but he suggests that, after commuting on this through the winter, I consider a new bike in the spring. If I can make this bike commuting thing part of my lifestyle, then I think I may just do that.