I just bought a mountain bike from my boss, and am trying to get back into riding after not doing so for many years.  I'm kind of kicking around the idea of riding the bike to work as I get back into things.  It's mostly about fitness, I've been trying to improve my health (lose weight) and have done a lot to improve my diet--in a lifestyle way--and need to add meaningful exercise regularly.  Commuting a few days a week by bike seems like it would be a good way to do it.

I can do most of the commute on trails to keep off the road, but once you get past the houses the trails end and there is about 1.7 miles of two-lane road with no shoulder or bike lanes.  I work next to a couple small mines, so there is a fair amount of rock and cement truck traffic.  We get a lot of road bikers out our way, but with the truck traffic it's always seemed pretty dangerous.

For those that do this sort of riding, is this type of road pose too much of a hazard to really make it worthwhile?  Is it better to die of a heart attack at 50 or get mushed by a gravel truck at 41?

It's always a risk these days with folks glued to their phones

Two miles on a two lane road keep me from riding my bike to work. Bleary-eyed drivers at 6am fucking with their phone and coffee...no, thanks.

Is getting killed worth it?  NO!

I tried for a while but, there was one stretch where three lanes merged into two and there was always an asshole that tried to sneak in at the last second, bike lane be dammed.

Well that confirms what my gut was telling me, I'll stick to riding the bike trails after work.  We have a lot of pretty good trails around here; the river trail is close to my place.  It has some pretty brutal ruts in the asphalt but there's no risk of car traffic.  There are tons of dirt trails all over the valley that I'd like to try as well.

I'll be the odd man out and tell you to start exploring. Are there other options? Is the road really that bad? (You say there are road bikers on it...?)

I used to ride to work (my current office makes that non-viable). At first, I was on some sketchy roads. But over time, you find other paths. You skip through neighborhoods. You find a trail you didn't know existed. Etc, etc.

At the very least, take a look at Garmin's heat mapping for the area. (I don't know if anyone else does something similar, but with Garmin, what it shows is where people are riding. Make an account with Garmin Connect, and then make a course. Often times, where people ride is NOT on the designated bike paths)

You may be screwed. Or you may add a mile and be safer.

Definitely not a terrible suggestion, but it's like Thunderdome (or something)... one way in, one way out.  There's only one paved road and it's the most direct route.  I've actually become pretty good at finding alternate routes by car because the traffic on the main roads are so bad, but they keep filling in the back road areas with new housing.  

I did see a dirt bike off the west end of our site the other day, and looking at Google Maps there is an ATV and a single track back there that gets pretty close to our fence line.  So, I could cut up into the neighborhood on the last road in, then spaghetti through there to get an access to the ATV trail without going through someone's yard.  That would get me to the ATV trail.  It looks like about a mile of ATV trail to the fence line, where I'd have to go through the barbed wire fence and probably hike the bike through the sagebrush to our nearest site road (about 1k feet), then the last mile or so on the site roads.  Fortunately on the site roads it would be either flat or downhill.    It's doable, but not ideal.

It might be worth checking out some time for fun to see how doable it is, but I'm not going to be optimistic.

I don't think Garmin will have data for our area, it says it's only for select major cities and we're far enough out, but I'll have to look into it.

Garmin Varia gets people way out of the way. Won’t help when a truck kicks up a softball sized rock, but at least they’ll see you first.

$500+ for a Wahoo and the Varia is rough, but it changed my commute.

Anyone riding on a road should read "The Art Of Cycling: Staying Safe On Urban Streets" by Robert Hurst, even if you ride in the middle of nowhere. Lots of great tips and insights about staying alive.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762790059?tag=arfcom00-20

I ride on the road a lot, I seldom ride alone. 3-6 is the perfect size group to be seen and not cause much of a problem. Two lanes and no shoulder is always the worst. Also add that you’re much slower on a mountain bike.
Good luck op

Maybe OP can find a group to ride to work with?

The other problem with riding to and from work is you are forced to do it at certain times. And that might be sunup or sundown at some times. People just can't see well and might not even see you.

Rain. Snow. Wind. It all happens and can surprise you.

Lots of accidents with fatalities from bikers going to work and crowding roads with sleepy, distracted drivers.

What about walking a half hour at work at lunch? Walking to lunch?

The Varia is a pretty neat gadget, with radar.  I'll have to keep that in mind.



Sounds like a good read, I will check it out.




I often walk during the day at work or at lunch.  We've got a couple miles of gravel roads on our site, so it's easy to pick a loop.  I've thought about taking the bike to work and just doing the loops to get used to riding on gravel again, and the site is built on a hill there is a couple hundred feet of elevation change on the site.

I have thought about the weather, and about all we get is awful wind and sunshine.  It rains and snows very little but I know from my motorcycle days I think 39 degrees was about my cutoff before my hands (in gloves) couldn't handle it.  There are definitely days the wind picks up and it would be downright unpleasant, and now with all the construction it's dust storms too.



Unfortunately no, it's a small site of less than 20 people.  I'm probably the closest at just under 10 miles, we probably have a few around 15 miles, and some people are like 50 miles from work.  It would be a great idea but it's just too far for most and so far I only know one other person that rides a bicycle at work (my boss), but he does mountain biking on trails on the weekends.  We're going to be moving our site, it'll be almost 40 miles for me--some people will have a 100 mile one-way commute!

I think for now I'm going to stick to riding the bike trails here.  There is a paved river trail about a mile from my house, and the trail is at least 35 miles long.  I just have to do it after work and not save the time with commuting.  I think the road is too dangerous, I keep hoping the city will extend the bike trails but I doubt that will happen until our site is all houses.  I would also like trying to do some actual mountain bike trails on the weekends, and there are a ton in Utah.

I'm not going to advocate for whether or not you should ride on the road in question, but I'll say that even just riding across our smallish to mediumish town I get multiple people trying to kill me with their cars each day on my way home.  That was until I got a really bright headlight for night riding, that happens to have a flashing setting that I use in the daytime.  Not a single car has pulled out in front of me when the light has been on.

Not sure if it helps your situation.

I'll also add that a 10 mile commute on a mountain bike will be no minor feat.

That would turn into close to an hour long slog for me -- no thanks      -- I can average 16mph or so on road bike as long as there arent many stops, so i guess that would put it in the 40 minute range which is not bad ---  but im considerably slower on the MTB


I'd rather have some fun on the trails OP