I‘m in a city in Europe and I don’t own a car. I commute by bike. It’s around 11 km from home and it takes me around 40 minutes.

I don’t care if it rains or snows. I always carry a set of waterproof pants and raincoat in my bike pack; helmet keeps my head mostly dry. At work I have a complete spare set of clothes which I almost never actually use.

In winter it gets to a few degrees Celsius below zero but I never had any problems with temperature. The exercise keeps me warm.

In some rare occasions (this winter for example) it snows a lot and at some point the bike lanes become unusable. Then I have to take the public transport.

My bike was expensive. It has all the bells and whistles: hydraulic disk brakes, lights with dynamo, hub gear, belt drive, luggage rack. You can probably get a cheaper one and you don’t really need all those treats.

But I had very little problems over the years and had do almost zero maintenance. I also always carry a minimal set of tools in a pouch attached to the chassis, in case I have to patch a tyre.

The exercise and freedom of biking makes me arrive to places happy and full of energy. I usually listen to audiobooks, podcasts or music on the way so it’s fun and I usually look forward to it.