This is part of the series on my lazy cycling habits. Currently, it is a draft, and reads like a guide. But that will be changed as I find time.

Draft

OK, let’s see who might be interested in my kind of cycling:

• On and off, you have thought of biking to work or taking public transportation. But it has seemed too onerous, too impractical; or you had tried it, and it had never worked out.
• Currently, you drive a car to work.
• Your commute is either 3-4 km, or all the rest of it can be covered by one form of public transportation. i.e. the short bits are by bike; the long bits, by bus/subway/train.
• You’re not the type of person who would typically do such things!
• Any suggestion of showers-at-work will make you roll your eyes.
• You can change your clothes at work. (Later, I will show you how I minimize my sweating.)
• Your motivation is environmental and/or personal health.
• You don’t mind spending a portion of your car’s costs on making your ride comfortable. Saving money is not your goal, even when it may be an incidental benefit.
• You already know how to bike safely in your target environments, or you will acquire the necessary skills, experience and information from other sources prior to starting this sort of thing.

In brief, this account is written for an average person, not a cyclist, and not an activist. You’re not gonna go protesting up some tower; you’re just trying to make your commute a bit better. Much bike-commuting literature is written by either hardcore cyclists, who focus too much on exercise; or by hardcore activists, who don’t know enough about cycling to re-examine it from a new angle. I bring a different perspective, having observed and examined this particular problem for eight years now.

N.B. most of the author’s commuting experience has been in North America. So there are tacit assumptions.