I drove to work today. It was heavenly.

My motorized vehicle is an '87 Nissan pickup, usually not considered the lap of luxury. To me, after last week's commutes, it was positively sybaritic.

I made it through Bike-to-Work Week: 10 commutes, about 6 miles each, for a total of 60 miles of bicycle commuting. I figure I spent nearly 8 hours commuting to work. There were definite benefits:

• More involvement with others and with the environment. Cars tend to abstract you from the real world (the better the car, the greater the abstraction). People these days drive with their windows up (for climate control), their stereo on, and, often, a phone on their shoulder. On a bike, you're part of the scene, whether it's enjoying the sun, negotiating a path with joggers and skaters, or catching the splash from a puddle. It's the difference between watching television and being in the show.

• Better aerobic fitness. I was in pretty good shape for an overweight middle-aged man, but I still felt a definite improvement in my overall fitness after a week of cycling. Cycling is less intense than jogging, so you can do it longer. It's easier on the knees, too, assuming you don't get hit by an SUV.

• Weight loss, I suppose, though I have no evidence. Maybe I wasn't supposed to lose weight. The Metro Washington Bike-to-Work web page says, "A five-mile, one-way commute burns 300 calories round trip for a 130 pound woman." So, whoever she was, I hope she appreciates my contribution.

• Some financial savings. With even cheap gas at a buck-and-a-half, you save money when you don't drive. If I could combine bicycling with public transportation and eliminate my family's second car, the savings would be impressive. (On the other hand, my beer and ibuprofen expenses offset some of my gas savings.)

• Hormel-quality hams and shanks.

Also, I'm not so sure it would be good for my employer. I enjoyed my ride to work every day, and I felt a major sense of achievement when I got here. My guess is that most companies would prefer to have their employees arrive at work seeking a sense of achievement.

If I lived closer, or if I were young enough that 12 miles wasn't such a long ride, I'd definitely consider biking to work, though. A number of employees from nearby towns and western suburbs do. I hope I can settle into a routine that lets me bike to work a couple of days a week through the Fall. It's about the only activity makes that me appreciate my truck.

I have a few words of advice for the various constituencies involved in cycling to work.

• Employers: There are good checklists on the Web (e.g. http://www.mwcog.org/commuter/bike2.htm) recommending shower facilities, lockers, secure bike racks, and so forth. The most important thing an employer can do, in my opinion, is choose a convenient location. That's right: location, location, location. A number of O'Reilly's Cambridge employees bicycle to work because the office is within biking distance of their homes. Cycling for them is convenient and economical. (And the company doesn't have to provide a parking space for them!) Also, an office that is near good public transportation gives an employee an alternative to cycling on rotten days. A good location can make it possible for an employee to avoid adding a car to her/his earthly possessions. That's a major financial benefit for some employees.

• Transportation planners: Fix the connections between your pastoral bike paths and the real world. Every bike path I took ended in a bike-hating intersection. When the Jamaica Pond path ends at the Riverway, there is an overpass for cars, but not for bicycles. Cyclists have to jog their bikes across a major commuter road (Route 9/Huntington Ave.) with a cement divider in the middle. The Charles River path ends in the Memorial Drive/Soldiers Field Road/Fresh Pond Parkway free-for-all. The worst, however, is the end of the Soldiers Field Road/Charles River bike path in Brighton. If there is a legal way for a pedestrian or cyclist to negotiate Soldiers Field Road/Western Avenue/Birminghan Parkway, I never found it. So, planners: strap on a helmet and ride to work. When you calm down, plan a little more completely. Until you do, your bike paths are for cyclists with roof racks.

• Road crews: Think about cyclists. I found two places where caps were left off sewer clean-out pipes. These holes are about six inches across, not a problem for cars, but they can kill a cyclist. Little problems, like gravel and road cracks, are big problems for bicycles. Get out of your truck and strap on a helmet, and you'll soon see what I mean.

• Cyclists: If you're going to wear headphones, do the rest of us a favor and sign an organ donor card. Some worthy individuals will soon be thanking you for your contributions.

• Drivers: Where's the fire, Pal?

Bike-to-Work Week ran from May 15-19, 2000. Plan on taking part next year.