Tales of Glory from PayScale's Bikers

May 31, 2012

"And so it ends… in a drizzle," began Captain Kaylyn's last-day email address to PayScale's 26 Bike to Work Month participants. Yes, it is a drizzly day here in Seattle, but many PayScalers rode in nonetheless. Rain is unlikely to stop us. In fact, when asked about their fondest memories after a month of biking to work, riding in the rain often topped the lists of PayScale's intrepid bike commuters.

The Good, The Bad, The Really Amazingly Bad

We had some good weather days, we had some bad weather days – and then we had some torrential, windy downpours that left Seattle-ites staring at the sky wondering "How is this much rainfall possible?" Apparently, though, that much rain is really fun to ride in.

From Emmett, a lead software developer, "Highlight moment? Getting caught in [last] Monday's downpour with nowhere to hide. Ride between the drops."

Do You Know What You're Worth?

And David, one of our data gurus, wrote, "Same freak downpour as Emmett, with the addition of the fact that I was riding up Third Avenue with no hands looking up at the sky, like in The Shawshank Redemption, with people cheering me on from a bus stop."

Happy, Healthy, Well

Other riders mention more typical things, like fresh air and increased lung capacity.

Adam, our senior tech progam manager, says that the Bike to Work Month changed his life three years ago and now he bikes in as long as it isn't snowing or pouring rain. That seems reasonable. His highlight moment? "Having an argument with a guy at the bus stop about how bicycles have the right ride on the sidewalk." (Turns out that they do here in Seattle.)

From Zach in sales, "One day, I was riding across the bridge on a crisp blue sky morning at 5 a.m. and I asked myself, 'Why the hell don’t I do this more often?'" He claims that he has way more energy during the days when he rides in (and this is hard to imagine because Zach is already a bit on the energetic side). His downside is that the commute takes longer on two wheels.

Zach admits that he doesn't really look forward to his early-morning bike commute but has fun once he's in the saddle. And, that there are other perks, as seen in the photo he took this morning, looking back at Bellevue from Seattle, across Lake Washington. Pretty fantastic.