I'm pretty into biking. I live in Portland, OR, bike as my primary mode of transport (I don't have a car), am sorta involved in the biking and urbanism communities here, read Bike Portland almost every day, think about bike infrastructure and urbanism whenever I visit new cities, have submitted pro-biking testimony, watched more YouTube videos about biking and urbanism than I'd like to admit, spent more time researching e-bikes and bike locks than I'd care to admit, etc etc.

I've been wanting to write up some thoughts on biking for a while but haven't pulled the trigger yet. I'd like to start by just spitballing some stuff in bullet point format here. Maybe I'll write posts in the future.

• The thing that most attracts me to biking is the safety. There's debate about whether biking is actually safer than driving. Per-mile, the statistics seem to indicate that biking is less safe, but proponents will turn around and point out that once you start biking you won't be traveling distances that are as long.
  
  Anyway, I'm an "interested but concerned" rider who only rides on infrastructure like greenways, protected bike lanes, and off-road paths and I'm pretty confident that I am a fair amount safer doing this than if I were to live a car-centric lifestyle.
• Cost is probably the second most attractive thing about biking to me. Mr. Money Mustache has a fun post on this topic: Get Rich With... Bikes.
  
  One important point is that people tend to underestimate the cost of cars. In particular, they don't weigh things like gas, repairs, insurance, fees and parking enough. With those things considered, driving gets very expensive.
  
  OTOH, to be able to bike you'll need to live somewhere that is dense enough, has good enough bike infrastructure, weather, etc etc. to justify biking. There aren't a lot of good options for this if you're in the US, and you'll probably have to pay more for housing to be somewhere that is bikeable. I'm happy with Portland.
• I really like the exercise-induced mood boost that biking provides. It's a little less now that I have an e-bike, but it's still pretty notable and important.
• The act of biking is also fun. I think this is a separate point from the point about the mood boost that persists after the ride.
• There are probably some decent health benefits. I know they're supposed to be quite large for regular biking and other forms of active transit like walking, but I'm not sure how much the pedal-assist from the e-bike cuts in to this. My guess is that it's pretty comparable to walking, and decently large.
• Weather isn't too big a deal.
  • For maybe a few weeks of the year it's uncomfortably hot, but when I'm riding I find that the wind is enough to make me comfortably cool whenever it's under, say, 100 degrees. The problem is when I have to stop at a stop light or something and don't benefit from this wind. That's tough, but it's also relatively brief.
  • The cold is fine. Just bundle up and dress appropriately. I've never really understood people's issue with the cold. If you're dressed appropriately you won't actually be cold, so I think the issue is that either they're not dressed appropriately or don't like the inconvenience of bundling up. I too don't like the inconvenience of bundling up; it's a notable cost of biking vs driving.
  • The rain is a little more annoying. A rain coat, rain pants, boots and a ski mask basically solve that problem, although sometimes it's annoying if the wind blows rain in my eyes.
  • Overall I will often just avoid biking on days where the weather is bad enough to be annoying, and this is fine with me.
• The possibility of bike theft is... because I'm weird... almost a positive. I spent a ton of time doing my research and arrived at a setup that I'm pretty happy with. When I lock my bike up I'm confident that it will be safe, and that gives me a sense of pride and joy that makes me happy. Like I said, I'm weird.
  • For my primary u-lock I have a chemical Skunklock. Every other lock can be cut through in a matter of minutes with an angle grinder. The chemical Skunklock, well, it can also but cut through in a matter of minutes, but like a skunk, it will spray you with nasty chemicals that will make you vomit and ruin your angle grinder (and your shirt). There isn't good data available to determine how much of a deterrent this actually is, but I'm pretty optimistic.
  • For my secondary u-lock, which I use in my apartment complex's bike room and when I want to be extra safe when I'm going out, I have the carbon Skunklock. This one doesn't spray you but it is fancy enough to screw up the discs of an angle grinder such that you have to be prepared with and be willing to use up a bunch of discs. I feel like a lot of thieves either won't be prepared or will give up after a few discs break.
  • Based off of the advice of TheBestBikeLock.com, to secure my wheels, saddle, seat post, handlebars, fenders, and back rack, I use hexlox. Basically, they are little magnetic things that fit into hex nuts such that a hex wrench can't fit into the hex nut and unscrew it. Brilliant. A little pricey, but I love the feeling that everything is pretty safe.
  • In the past, before I got my e-bike, my approach was to get cheap hybrid bikes that I don't really mind getting stolen. At least not too much. That worked pretty well for me.
  • For a lot of people the possibility of bike theft is a huge problem though. It'd be nice if cities and law enforcement were able to solve this problem.
• Biking does sometimes take meaningfully more time than driving. Most places I could get to within 20 minutes or so which is fast enough that I don't really care about time savings, but some destinations are 45 minutes or so away by bike, and it'd be nice if the commute wasn't as long.
• My girlfriend isn't as eager to bike as I am, especially in bad weather. This sometimes leads to us not going out when we otherwise would if we had a car, but it isn't a big deal. She doesn't like going out too often and I usually don't mind staying in when that's her preference.
• Groceries aren't an issue. I live one block away from a grocery store and walk there. I can carry maybe $150 worth of groceries without much of a problem. I also have two panniers on my bike that can also carry maybe $150 worth of groceries if I want to go to a different grocery store. I could also get them delivered.
• Similarly, shopping more generally isn't an issue. I order pretty much everything online and for in person stuff the panniers are usually sufficient.
• The thing about not owning a car is that you still have easy access to cars. Primarily through ride share. There are times when, for whatever reason, I want to use a car as my mode of transport, and then I'll just call an Uber. For something like a trip to the Oregon Coast we can always rent a car.
• The bike infrastructure in Portland is pretty solid but there are parts of Portland that aren't really accessible for an "interested but concerned" rider like me to get to. It's a little annoying, but honestly, not that annoying. I usually just avoid those parts of town and I don't think I'm missing out on much. When I have a stronger reason to go there I'll either take a bus or an Uber and it's fine.
• I don't love the idea of biking at night when it's dark. Somehow I rarely finding myself needing to do this. I guess I'm almost always home by 9pm or so. Huh, I didn't realize that until writing this. Anyway, since it happens infrequently, when I do need to bike at night I just accept it as being "in my safety budget". I also have strong lights, a reflective helmet, and a reflective vest.
• There's been some "human-level" encounters I have when biking that you just wouldn't really have when you're in a car. Sometimes I'll pass someone I know and wave. I've stopped at lemonade stands a few times. It's fun.
• With my e-bike, sweat isn't really an issue. It was before the e-bike though, and that was annoying. What was especially bad is when I'd wear my backpack. My back would get soaked. Then I learned that panniers are a thing.
• When I've lived in other cities (Gainesville, Vegas, and Culver City), bike parking was pretty terrible. There often wouldn't even be a pole or something that I could lock my bike to near my destination and I'd have to walk around in search of something. In Portland, the bike parking is fantastic. There's racks everywhere.
• I get a sort of warm and fuzzy feeling when I bike, like I'm doing something good for the world. Like I'm cooperating in a game theoretic sense. I'm not sure how much I actually endorse those feelings, but hey, I'll take it.