Every. Day. Ride #49 with Dylan

Tell us a little about yourself?

Hi, I’m Dylan! I live in San Francisco and I’ve been commuting here since 2012. I started a website called www.BikeToEverything.com in 2018 when I was in a room full of people who drove cars barely 2 miles to get to that said room. I was surprised, and began asking people why they didn’t ride a bike. The answers are what led me to writing about ways to solve people’s bike commute blockers and to inspire and motivate more people to use their bike more for everyday transportation. I’ve been sharing my love of bicycles ever since!

How and when did you get into riding?

The story starts with my grandparents who loved to ride bikes and go on bike trips. My mom continued with that tradition, going on cross country bike trips before I was born, and when I was a kid we would go on long road trips in our VW Vanagon with bikes on the hitch so we could ride wherever we ended up.

I took it for granted how bicycles were a normal part of life. Growing up in Dallas, Texas we mostly drove around, but riding bicycles was always an option and a way to recreate nearby. When I was a kid, a rail trail  was completed near our house called the Katy Trail which we could use to not only have fun but to bike commute to some nearby places safely! Downtown Dallas was less than 30 minutes by bike along the car-free Katy Trail.

At 16 I started to drive, and I’ll be honest, I mostly forgot about biking. I would still do it for fun, but not for utility. When I went to college faraway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was my mom who encouraged me to take a bike. Actually it was more like “Well you have to have a bicycle there!”

I used the bike a few times the first year, but it mostly rotted away on the bike racks outside my dorm, frozen over with icicles during the winter. It wasn’t until the end of college when I began to realize how useful the bike really was to get around campus. The forcing function for that, unfortunately, was a foot injury I sustained. I wasn’t able to walk at first, and when I could walk, I couldn’t walk very far. However, my foot on the pedal was painless and I could ride my bike as far as I wanted. This helped me realize how useful the bike was as I zipped around Ann Arbor faster than ever, never waiting for the bus.

In the frigid winters of Michigan the bicycle ironically proved even more useful! As a walkable college town, Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan had the resources to plow and salt the sidewalks just as fast as the roads (if not faster), and waiting for the bus in the cold was way worse than just riding my bicycle straight to my destination! Although there’s more wind chill when biking, after a few minutes your body warms up more and counteracts all except the chilliest days.

This is literally my Trek 4500 bike frozen over after a storm of freezing rain. At least I had the forethought to bring my seat inside. I didn’t yet use u-locks.

By the end of college I was scouring the internet for the best bikeable places to live. San Francisco scored high, and it was in line with my job opportunities, so here I came.

I took my mediocre hybrid bike and drove it all the way to San Francisco. My bike was slow and clunky, and I wish I had exchanged it earlier for something more efficient and faster. Nowadays I try to start people on the most efficient bike we can find so they can feel at ease. I ride cruiser bikes when I want to chill, but they’re tougher for longer commutes. In 2026, I still have the same bike I bought used in 2016 at Columbus Cyclery, plus a few upgrades for sure. And most importantly, I have a secure locking system including the angle grinder resistant Litelok X1 to prevent theft while still biking anywhere and everywhere in San Francisco.

What are the best and worst things about riding?

The Best:

·       Freedom to get around whenever I want without any concern about rush hour traffic

·       Joy & Happiness as the wind breezes past my face and I feel mother nature

·       Wealth from not spending my money on rideshare, gas, insurance, and other car expenses that definitely add up quickly!!

·       Health from having daily exercise baked into my day and routine. I don’t have to worry about accidentally not moving my body.

The worst:

·       Concern about getting my bike stolen. Fortunately the Litelok X1 series has helped me worry less about that!

·       Needing to take off all my accessories so they don’t get stolen either. That’s why I have locking bike lights, a seat lock, and wheel locks!

·       Lifting weights or working out a lot and then realizing I’m too sore for a bike ride, but since bike riding is my way of commuting I still have to do it. Probably still good for the bloodflow     😀Using an e-bike sometimes helps here.

·       The loud, dangerous cars that are sometimes nearby.

Tell us about your most memorable ride to date?

I went on a multi-day self-supported bike camping ride with my mom from Pittsburgh to Washington DC riding the GAP trail and the C&O Towpath. It was so amazing having 300 miles of car free bike path with campsites right along the trail to enjoy! I would definitely do it again.

What’s the best piece of riding advice you’ve ever been given?

These days I’m the one dishing out advice, and it’s advice I’ve collected from so many sources over so long that I don’t remember the specifics. That being said, here are some important things that come to mind!

·       Be intentional when you cross railroad tracks or any edge (like grass to sidewalk), cross the line at least at 45 degrees, but perpendicular at 90 degrees is the safest!

·       Shift down BEFORE the hill slows you down. You don’t want to grind your gears. This is assuming you have a classic derailleur drivetrain. With an internal shifter hub it doesn’t matter.

·       Practice mounting and dismounting smoothly, it really helps your enjoyment.

·       Don’t ride in the door zone.

How do you keep your bikes secure at home and on the go?

Well this is a loaded question! At home, the best place for bicycles is inside: safe from the elements, safe from thieves, and easy to work on for little fixes and improvements!

If you need to store your bikes in a garage, basement, bike room, or anywhere else you should really consider locking it up to something seriously immovable. Unfortunately thieves can often find their way into these places if they really want to. One time I had a bike stolen from a garage when it was locked to a bracket that was drilled into the wooden wall. The thieves drilled out the bracket and took the bike, lock, and all. I’ve previously locked a chain lock to something immovable and then I u-lock to the chain if I need more distance. Since you are using a lock at home, you can get a heavier lock that can keep your bike more secure.

When on the go, I prefer my Litelok X1 series locks since they have the best balance of weight, security, and price. Why do you think I’m writing this here for Litelok? 😄

And very important to also lock the rest of your bike components!! I’ve written all sorts of locking content about locking your wheels, seat, and even lights. These components are extremely inconvenient to be stolen and are easy to lock up.

Share your best tips to help others keep their bikes safe?

As I said above, locking all your bike components is super important to both not get your wheels and seat stolen, but also to help thieves just not mess with your bike. If a thief does somehow steal your bike, they probably need to spend hours trying to break into all your other locks and then replacing a locking skewer with a quick release skewer. That sounds inconvenient for them, and another reason for them to not mess with your bicycle.

Another tip for locking out and about: make sure the bike rack you’re locking to is secure and not moving. If you’re locking up for a while, maybe make sure the bolts drilled into the concrete are flat/rounded and not just a bolt someone can drill out.

If you do lock in a garage in a high theft area, make sure to make your garage tougher to break into:

1.     If there’s a keyhole on the front of your garage, remove the connection to the manual override. Thieves can pick that lock and pull the manual override (this is how bikes got stolen from my garage)

2.     Reinforce the little grates that are on some garages to let airflow in. These can sometimes be unscrewed from the outside, and that enables a thief to reach in and attempt to pull the manual override with a long hook or tool.

3.     Remove the plastic tab from the manual override string and untie any knots. You want the string hanging freely with no way to “catch” it if thieves do somehow get a hook or tool inside.

4.     If you have a garage keypad, keep it secure:

1.     Look around you before you punch in the garage code to make sure no one is watching! Simple, but if you’re not paying attention someone can literally walk by and look.

2.     Change your code every year or so. If you have the same code for years, you’ll be able to tell what the code is just by looking at the wear over time on the numbers of the keypad. If you see this, change your code!

Some of these suggestions are non-standard and unfortunately make the manual override a little more annoying for you to engage yourself, but let’s be honest that’s a rare occurrence and it’s better to keep your garage secure.

When someone asks what kit you recommend, you say?

I want my bike commutes to be as easy and convenient as driving a car. Cars have a key fob to lock with the press of a button, a trunk to carry all the things you want, and lights that turn on with the car. Of course a bicycle is not the same, but I recommend people recreate those conveniences as best as possible, which makes the barrier to taking your bike on an errand or commute much lower!

1.     Total bike security to keep your bike safe and lock with just a U-lock

2.     A bike rack to hook bags onto, a big Ortlieb bag to latch onto the bike rack (or some other kind of bag for your rack. Some convert into backpacks for easy use once you lock your bike!)

3.     Locking lights or something else easy to remove

4.     I have a phone mount too for loading directions

I don’t wear any special clothing or have any extra butt padding during my commute rides. The only thing I have to worry about there is tucking my right pant leg into my sock or rolling it up to avoid it getting caught in the drivetrain…but really I always forget at least once so all my pants have a little bit of bike grease on them, it’s a right of passage.

What’s on your riding bucket list?

I’ve been wanting to do more long distance riding in California that includes some bike camping. This year I’ve been making those dreams come true by doing some overnights at China Camp State Park, Coyote Hills Regional Park, and Point Pinole Regional Shoreline. Samuel P Taylor State Park is on my list in the future.

Farther away, I want to do a few more rides in Europe. A friend of mine rode across the Netherlands which looked absolutely beautiful. And I rode a portion of the Loire Valley bike trail in France a while back. I want to go finish that ride and make it to the ocean!