10 cycle commuting mistakes and how to avoid them

My commute is 21 km, i try to do an average of 5 out of 10 trips by bike each week (the rest by car)  - i cycle a Brompton, the advantage being that if i puncture/mechanical , i can fold her and get on the bus ( route i travel has plentiful bus supply)  - occasionally with a very stiff wind in my face I'll cheat with 10 km of bus use.   The cycle commute is great for fitness, obviously,    but so good for mental health too, especially during the pandemic  -   final note,  i always thought my commute distance would be too long in practical terms to use the Brompton, however, my fitness has increased and now I don't think twice about using it. 

I commute 25 km a day. Only sensible ride - a reasonable entry level road bike. Far faster on the flattish route I've got than a 25 kg electric upright monster. With tough, mediocre tyres one puncture per year. So much fun I get up early to do extra miles in summer (and winter). Clothes? Lycra, what else? Stop in a cul de sac a few hundred metres before work and pull on a pair of trousers and a shirt. Finish changing inside. If this is problematic, sort out your problems. Works great for me.

1. Only when the tyre sidewall decides to split. Las time it happened I rode the last mile on a flat tyre and got a new tyre brought into work and left the bike ready to fit the new tyre at some point during the shift which was done in 10 minutes.

2. No, rarely see anybody else commuting to work when I do

3. Only when the ride to work was a mile and half and with flat pedal cause of workboots.

4. No, I'm not that stupid.

5. Again a no, shortest route home isn't the fastest. I can go faster by going further and the 2.5 mile shorter route is only 7 minutes quicker.

6. No, they stay on year round.

7. Work clothes stay in work and only come home when I take clean in, never the other way round. Been caught out with underwear once or twice but have a bag in my locker with spares in along with a pair of socks, just in case.

8. Lock stays in work, far too heavy to be hauling that to/from work on a daily basis.

9. It has happened but my kit gets hung up when I change before work and wet kit is hung but spread around more to allow air to circulate and dry it. There have been times when kit has felt damp to touch before I put it on but after a few minutes of wearing it it soon feels OK.

10. Been there but I do ride with extra lights so if one goes the other still has charge and I try and keep them on different charge states so one is 100% and the other is 50%.

Forgetting first and foremost that cycling is supposed to be fun and pleasurable (good exercise, social etc) as opposed to hammering between home and work in all weathers, obsessing about reducing the commute time (route, bike weight) and seeing every motorist as a homicidal maniac that wants to kill you (which is pretty true at commuting times), consequently spending money on video cams to gather evidence if they manage to get you.

This article makes bicycling much more complicated than it need be.

Some perspective.

On average a Dutchie will cycle apprx 300 trips per year for 1000km = 3.4km/trip. That's an average though. Many trips are much less and many much more. Almost any trip of less than about 12km round-trip will be taken on a bicycle (or walking + transit) and many people routinely ride much greater distances. Probably 99% of these are in regular street clothes, no helmet or gloves, on basic Dutch Omafiets & Opafiets.

I've often ridden over 50km in jeans & button down shirt. Jeans are completely comfortable on a good upright bicycle. A friend rides from Assen to Gronnengin several days per week - in jeans. School children riding 10km or more is not at all unusual. 

Some Dutch do occasionally ride to work in lycra (and I have done so myself) but this is almost always because they want to get in more of a workout.

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I have ridden all over London (lived in South Kennsington) - in jeans. It is not a problem. Having also begun training rides in London wearing lycra I can say that drivers give much more consideration to me when I'm wearing jeans than when I'm wearing lycra. Lycra & jersey in London seems almost a target for some motorists.

Cycling in London is far more harrowing than anywhere in NL, Scandinavia, Germany or many other countries. London needs better infrastructure.

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This over complicating thing seems an english speaking thing. The only people who do it are Brits, Americans and OZies. Why is this?  

Some additions...

1. Oil your chain.
2. No seriously, lubricate that whole drivetrain. The squeeking is driving me nuts.
3. That car/van/bus/truck that you think might turn in on you...is going to turn in on you. Take action.
4. You see that pedestrian with their phone glued to the side of their face? Ditto.
5. See Rule 5 - http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#5
6. Wear what you want. But if you don't have a shower at the other end you're gonna smell bad.
7. Don't cut up your fellow cyclists. Ever.
8. Talk to your fellow cyclists. You don't take the Metro/Underground for a reason.
9. Stop running red lights. Especially at speed. Or something big and heavy will stop you doing it, permanently.
10. Your saddle is at least 30mm too low. Raise it now.
11. Clean your bike. It's filthy.
12. Your cadence is far too high. Change gear and slow it down.
13. Your cadence is far too low. Change gear and speed it up.
14. Construction traffic/tipper trucks are our Kryptonite. Avoid at all costs or they will squash you one day.
15. Trucks & buses are the rocks. Cars are the pebbles. You are the sand. Grind them down.
16. Ride what you want but see rules 1, 2 & 11.
17. Learn the sequence of the lights you have to cross.
18. Buy some lights and put them on your bike.
19. Charge those lights or put new batteries in them.
20. Buy and fit another rear light and see rule 19.

Canal towpaths were not built as dog toilets or for having a walk either.

There has been a lot of active travel money from local authorities put into the waterways.

And for that matter the canals themselves were not built for leisure.

I commute every day without any tools or spares whatsoever and have had to walk home once in 19 years  -and that was because the chain broke due to aaulty manufacture .  Riding a sensible bike and maintaining it properly at home - including making sure the tyre pressures are always OK - goes a long long way to having a dependable bike.

@nicmason

I agree that towpaths should be ridden at considerate speeds, but does anyone actually tow barges any more? I thought the internal combustion engine put the dampeners on that.

IMO stay off the towpaths. They aren't there for speedy cycle commuting. If you cycling on a towpth you should be keeping to a  moderate pace unless there are absolutely no pedestrians about.

Towpaths (clue in the name) where for barges being towed 

"towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge."

Rack + waterproof panniers.

You can easily fit a laptop, U-lock, tools, change of clothes+shoes and arrive at work without a sweaty back. Add some reflective tape to the panniers - make yourself more visible at night.

I carry a "quick" patch kit with me (and a spare tube and mini pump) and have a "slow" kit at work (another spare tube as well) as well as my lezyne mini floor pump, just in case.  Extra spare workshop tools at work too, the ones I have upgraded for home use.  You never know.  And others may welcome your preparedness and knowledge.

Not a user of lycra me, prefer the baggy mountain biker look, but most of it is cycle specific, have to deal with the sweat, the rain and the filth.  Fair bit of hi-viz too.  And are there any "normal" helmets that I can attach my lights to as well?

My work jeans and trainers live at work, plus a T shirt, just in case I forget to pack one in the bag.  (And spare pants and socks if it rains heavily and unexpectedly, if I predict proper rain I put some in my bag too.)  Jumper and coat live at work, my cycle stuff is not really warm in off the bike.

Oh, and leave at least one lock at work too, saves weight on the bike, and you might forget the carry around one.

Most people I encounter on my daily commute (Brussels area, 10 miles each way, hilly) wear lycra.  If you have to ride more than a couple of miles and want to go at a decent clipit's really the only game in town.  I suspect that in Amsterdam most commuters that you see in the center don't ride a longer distance than 2 or 3 km, the long distance guys will be on the outskirts and I'm pretty sure they won't wear their suits when cycling to the office.  But hey, whatever floats your boat.....

The one thing I never carry when commuting is a repair kit, I prefer using a more sturdy set of tyres, mounted tubeless and -touch wood- no flats so far.  When disaster strikes I'll either have to hoof it home or to the office or wait for my bike repair guy to show up (have an insurance package that deal with this sort of thing but I think it might mean a long wait in lousy weather).  I do keep stuff in the office and at home to deal with most issues.

Some of us treat the commute as exercise, not just as transport.

When I go swimming I wear swimming trunks; when I go running I wear running kit; when I play squash i wear squash kit; when I go dancing I wear a tutu.

If I cycle a few hundred metres to the shops I don't bother changing into cycling kit, but any distance that counts as exercise then I wear Lycra.

I don't really give a shit what people do in Amsterdam.

11. Leaving the car at home

If you're more than an hour's ride from work, don't let that stop you from commuting by bike. Drive part of the way, and commute the rest by bike. The beauty of this approach is variety - of distance and of route. You can even look at the wind direction and plan your route accordingly.

@CJSH

If you cycle far enough to need a shower and change of clothes when you get to work, then you may as well wear the most suitable clothes for riding a bike - i.e. lycra.

There's no way I'm making my commute less comfortable for the sake of a few bigots.