Friday was the annual Bike to Work Day in Seattle. It’s part of a Bike to Work Month program that last year saw 7,500 local cyclists pedal more than a million miles. This year WebJunction fielded a team of 12 bike commuters willing to brave the iffy Seattle weather on two wheels. Early 2008 reports show a record setting pace across the entire contest.

A few of us at the office are year-round bike commuters, a few ride when the weather is good and time allows, and the remainder on team BikeJunction are using this month to try bike commuting for the first time. Not surprisingly we report varied reasons for participating:

• Fitness
• The sheer joy of it
• Traffic Congestion
• So we can eat ice cream
• Gas Prices (!)
• The environment
• Bragging rights
• And more…

By now you are probably wondering what this has to do with the stuff I normally write about on BlogJunction. Well, since I’m a community dork, it’s fairly easy to tie everything to community. Even with our different riding motivations, skill levels, and experience, we’ve developed into a small but vibrant commuting community. We support each other, offer route tips, provide encouragement about big hills or bad weather, and act as sounding board for major life decisions—like new bike purchases.

When you look at our support roles, it’s easy to see our group of bike commuters isn’t much different than any other community. We have information needs and interpersonal needs and depend on real human interaction (virtual or f2f) to help us through those needs.

I’ve noticed cyclists are especially drawn to community. In our spare time my wife and I blog quite a bit about our family cycling activities. I can tell you first hand that cyclists are avid online community engagers. I’m not sure the bonding need comes from the bike-versus-car thing, the gear culture, or what (though that would be a great paper. Anyone?). Whatever it is, it’s strong.

I’ll be interested to see how the BikeJunction community matures after this “official” bike month. Will we still feel like a community in the fall when the rain returns and our numbers decrease? Will the remaining members stick together?

My guess is we’ll rise and fall somewhat like a “conference community.” At conference time (ie, the peak bike commute months), we’ll be strong and vibrant, with our numbers and activity fading during the off months. Come spring we’ll probably ramp up all over around the remaing “core.” That’s my five-minute theory, anyway. I’ll keep you posted on how it shakes out.

Do we have any WebJunction members who bike commute with others in your branch, office, or neighborhood? Have you seen the cycling community angle up close? I’d love to hear about it.