Interestingly, with all the strange crap I do, there is one thing I do that repeatedly gets baffled looks from all those around me. They are horrified when I say it, and there is often a low whisper of “…why?”

I commute by bike.

Now, after you have picked your chin up off the floor, let me make a couple things clear. I have a car, and do drive. In fact, I like taking the top down, and heading to Santa Barbara on a beautiful Saturday. But on a regular day, I hop on my bike to make the trek to my office and back.

I know that in some ways I’m in a position that allows me to do this. First off, I own my company. So, when I show up at the office in biking clothes, and immediately head in to change and get ready for the day, my employees get to just chalk it up on their “things my eccentric boss does” list. I also live under 2 miles from my office, and have a parking lot at the office where I can leave my car. This way I have it to get to all my meetings during the day. And lastly, facilitating this commuting style is the fact that The Giant has both a motorcycle and a car, so after I ride my bike home at night, if I need a vehicle for some reason, one is there.

But what I’ve found is that Los Angeles is surprisingly bikeable. If you take the time to look for the streets which are wide, or have good sidewalks, you can get nearly anywhere in about the time it takes to drive. I ride from my office (West Hollywood) to Venice sometimes after work to visit friends. Turns out, the actual distance is only 11 miles. Doing a “fast casual” biking (~13-14 mph), with traffic stops included, it takes me about an hour. That’s about 10 minutes longer than it would take in my car at that time of day.

But the best part is the routine commute. 2 miles each way from my house to the office and back. 10-15 minutes in the morning and in the evening when I’m not available to the world. No rolling calls, no answering emails, no making appointments, no contact. For that short period of time to start my day, I can be alone with my thoughts and my body, just enjoying the morning air. I arrive at the office far more focused, and far more calm.

No all of us bikers are crazy, anti-car, environmentalist, hippie, self-righteous wackos. Some of us just enjoy it.