It was 7:30 a.m. on a humid Monday, and David Muller, a doctor and asuburban bike commuter, was sweating his way to work. As he rode alongthe George Washington Bridge and into Manhattan, Dr. Muller, 44, seemedindifferent to the low roar of rush-hour traffic. He was halfway fromTeaneck — where he lives — to Mount Sinai Medical Center — where he works — and was happy to be on his bicycle.“It’s free, it’s good for the environment, good for your health,” hesaid, beads of sweat collecting under his helmet and underneath hisbackpack, about 5 miles into his 12-mile ride. “And it’s a littledangerous, so you get a little thrill at the beginning and the end ofeach day.” He also gets satisfaction from beating cars across thebridge. “I love it,” he said.Five minutes later, anothercommuter pedaled along. Henry Minnerop, a partner in a Manhattan lawfirm and “70-plus” years old, said he drives each day — year round — toEnglewood Cliffs, and then bikes about 12 miles into Midtown. “I parkmy bike in the garage I used to use when I drove in,” he said beforeriding off. “There’s a gym in my office. I shower and come out lookinglike a lawyer.”Once limited to dense urban environments, bikecommuting has found a small but devoted following in the New York Citysuburbs. While there have been no formal studies of the trend,transportation experts and cycling advocates say the number of suburbanbike commuters is growing. “Anecdotally, we’re seeing anincrease,” said Lisa Daglian, a spokeswoman for the New YorkMetropolitan Transportation Council, a regional planning organization.Companies are increasingly offering amenities like bicycle racks andshowers, she said. In 2006, fewer than 1 percent of all commuters in the Hudson Valley, northern New Jersey, Long Island and Connecticut biked, according to the Census Bureau’syearly American Community Survey and the Connecticut Department ofTransportation. That number was up slightly in some areas from 2005,but barely more than the survey’s margin of error.Nevertheless,transportation experts predict interest will continue to expand outfrom New York City, where an estimated 131,000 people bike to work eachday. “Most bike commuters are intracounty,” said Wiley Norvell ofTransportation Alternatives, a bike advocacy group in New York Citythat tracks commuting patterns. “But bike commuting trends aredefinitely growing, interborough and between counties.” Whilesome cite the environment and rising gasoline prices as reasons tobike, most suburban cycling commuters say they do it more to getoutdoors, to get moving and to make the daily commute a little moreenjoyable.“Going into the city, it’s drudgery,” said Tom Begg,43, of Glen Rock, who began riding to work this year. A consultant anda triathlete, he is one of a group of hard-core bike commuters whogather between 5 and 6 a.m. each day outside a car wash in Ridgewood tomake the approximately 25-mile ride into New York City. One ofthe longest bike commutes belongs to Phil Riggio of Darien, Conn., whorides to and from his Midtown office three times a week. Mr. Riggio, atechnology trader at Cantor Fitzgerald, began making the 40-mile,two-hour trip in March, shortly after his office moved to Manhattanfrom Darien. Taking the train left “no time to exercise,” he said. “I just thought I’d combine the workout time and the commuting time.” Hesaid his co-workers were either very encouraging or think his commuteis crazy. "The reaction is always one extreme or the other," Mr. Riggiosaid.Robyn Guimont also rides to work. Three times a week shepacks her backpack with a change of clothes, lunch and her laptop andrides seven miles from Glastonbury, Conn., to downtown Hartford. Heroffice provides a bike rack in its garage. “I am a 54-year-oldwoman who has a husband and two grown kids, a full-time job and a houseto maintain,” she wrote in an e-mail message. “So I always tell people,i
www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/27RBikeNJ.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin