I’ve been commuting to the office on the BART train for a few years now. This is pretty painless except I drive a mile to the station, then pay $16 a day to park. Recently, they stopped selling reserved parking at the station by my house. They’re apparently tearing up the whole parking lot and building 750 units of housing and 50,000 square feet of commercial property. This roughly coincided with me going back to the office five days a week, so I suddenly need a new way to get to the train.
My first thought was to simply drive to another station. I tried this for a few days, going to the MacArthur station, which only costs $4 a day to park in the new garage. But that added 5-10 minutes of driving in each direction, and another 10-15 minutes of train time each way, which seemed silly. I also tried renting Lime scooters. They are all over the neighborhood, and cost maybe $4 a trip. They’re pretty quick, but after one or two trips, I knew it was when, not if. They’re pretty shaky, and I could easily see getting taken out by a pothole, of which there are many in West Oakland.
I bought a bike when RTO started in 2023, a very nice Cannondale Topstone, with thoughts that I’d ride to the Berkeley office a few days a week. I’ve honestly rode that bike exactly three times since I bought it, and none of them actual commutes. I rode it to the train a few times last month to see what my problem was, other than general laziness. I think the issue is that it’s a gravel bike with drop handlebars, and it’s entirely the wrong stance and geometry for a quick ride to work on the streets with a laptop backpack on.
I also still have the bike I bought in 2005, a Dahon Boardwalk folding bike. I think I’ve rode this bike maybe twice since I broke my arm on it in 2009. That bike has a more upright stance, but it’s also very wobbly and weird, top-heavy with tiny wheels, and it really needs a complete overhaul from sitting for 20 years. So I could pay $400 to redo a bike I don’t really like and bought for $300. Or I contemplated switching the handlebars on the Topstone, which would also require switching brakes and shifters, and I’m maybe $500 in on a project I might not like. Or I could just buy another bike.
So I did. I went to REI and picked up a Cannondale Quick CX 3. It’s a great hybrid bike, with a more upright stance and flat handlebars. It’s a very lightweight alloy frame, and pretty well equipped with the latest hardware. It has hydraulic disc brakes, which are new to me. There’s eight speeds, with a decent range for the city. The front fork has a suspension on it, but also has a quick-locking lever for when I don’t want it. Tires are grippy, but not too fat. There’s a phone mount on the stem, but otherwise the bike is all analog. And I love the color, which they call Rally Red. My Topstone is a matte stealth bomber black, which is cool. But the red is a nice contrast.
I’ve rode the new bike to the train every day last week, and it’s pretty much flawless. I had some fretting with the u-lock mount, how to keep it on the bike as I rode without making a ton of knocking noise. (I got a velcro holster thing that seems to work.) We have BikeLink lockers at the train station, which are secure enough for the day, and I u-lock it to the inside of the locker, too. It’s pretty ideal when it’s 70 and sunny out. What will it be like when it isn’t 70 and sunny? That’s a TBD.
I also went out a few times over the weekend. I’ve got 40-some miles on the bike already. I don’t know if I’m going to become a Bike Person. I can’t do spandex. I’m not anti-car enough. I’m definitely not in shape. I’ll have to work on that last one.
I also need to avoid any more gear acquisition. Work paid for the bike via our gym/fitness subsidy, which is nice. But I now spend too much time browsing forums, wondering if some new-fangled carbon fiber cargo rack will make my life complete. I need to cut that out, and just ride.