[monaghanboy]

I bike everyday to work in the South Bay, Silicon Valley area. Everyone I talk to here can't imagine life without a car, but I haven't had any issues; lots of bike paths here, and all groceries and the gym are just minutes away.

Sometimes when it rains I carpool, and I see how annoyed and irate most drivers get when commuting. So I don't regret not owning a car.

The downside is not being easily able to take day trips, so I still might buy one some day.

[dbaupp]

I also lived in the South Bay and found ZipCar and/or renting a car for day, weekend and even week long trips worked fine (which one is cheaper depends on your age and whether you can get a discount through your employer or whatever). There was enough "Neighborhood" rental places around to be easily accessible by bike. A weekend was on the order of $60-180, and so even doing this every weekend only adds up to $3k-9k per year.

[kurthr]

Which freeways do you cross under/over? How do you do it safely?

I'd happily ride on trails or small streets (and have) , but most of the regular commute riders I know do ~30mi rt a day... most of them doing it more than 5 yearrs have been in an injury accident. Maybe cyclists talk about accidents more than divers, but the percentage certainly seems higher.

[avitzurel]

I live in SJ and work in Menlo Park.

My direct door-to-door commute is 19mi. Takes me about 50-55 minutes. None of it is on bike paths.

I take Foothill from the cupertino border all the way to menlo Park.

I can also go into cupertino and take the bike path to the edge of the 101 (close to the PA airport).

If you want to make it longer, you can take Stevens Canyon to Foothill. This makes the commute 30mi but also less traffic and much more challenging to ride.

I would say on average I commute to work about 3 days a week during the summer. I just don't like commuting back in the dark during the winter.

In terms of accidents, I've had none. I had 2 close calls over the course of 3 years. One was a complete jerk and one was due to the sun angle (something you need to be aware of as a cyclist too).

Bay Area is really awesome for riding to work. Foothill is busy but also gets a lot of rider traffic so drivers tend to be more patient.

I also find that a lot of it is up to you, some riders ride like the road belongs to them.

[CalRobert]

The bay area was a weird dichotomy to me. I used to live in Berkeley and work in Newark. I'd bart to Fremont, then cycle the last five miles. I got screamed at and swerved at by jerks in brodozers on a routine basis.

Once I was able to avoid the south bay life became far more pleasant.

[rconti]

There are multiple bike bridges/undercrossings across 237. 101 has bike bridges just south of 237, another in Palo Alto (which I use every day), and another up between Willow and Marsh roads in Menlo Park, then another in Belmont. There's also a 101 undercrossing that is seasonal, just south of the bike bridge in Palo Alto.

Those are just the areas I know.

It is truly an amazing place to ride. Generally flat, very nice weather. Even in the rain I don't mind the ride, but I have to wear waterproof shoes, and I bought waterproof pants and a jacket.

[monaghanboy]

fremont ave., stevens creek trail, sunnyvale saratoga, homestead, and stevens creek blvd. are what I frequent most. I'm never on the road (going somewhere on my bike) for more than 25 minutes.

for safety, i guess i just try to follow the rules of the road (i'm not perfect though, coming from a background of not knowing how to drive).

I've never had an issue with general QoL while reading, people generally seem pretty considerate.

[gregcoombe]

Same here, I've biked to work pretty much every day since I moved to South Bay (except for rainy days, I'm not hardcore).

I'm lucky because there is a nice trail that I can ride on for the majority of my ride. But it's a little sad that the South Bay has so many built-in advantages for bike commuting (good weather year-round, mostly flat) but so little good bike infrastructure.

At least these guys are trying: https://bikesiliconvalley.org/