alt Hacker News> Commuting to work in peak hour, zipping past all the gridlocked traffic on the motorway (filtering is/was legal) and then cresting over the Auckland harbour bridge on a sunny day... Absolute bliss.
Former motorcycle commuter here. The risks while commuting in a motorcycle in urban traffic (at least in the US), are significantly higher than riding for pleasure. I found that untenable after a while and resorted to the bus/train, and saved motorcycling for the weekend.
Everyone's tolerance is different of course, but after a week of lane splitting commuting I didn't feel like riding the backroads. It took the joy out of it for me.
I'm in total agreement with you. I was young and had a greater tolerance for risk than I do now.
I don't know what it's like in your city, but when I was riding my commute would be 20 minutes door-to-door versus driving/public transport that would easily take over an hour for the same journey. As someone who's perpetually late, that sort of time saving also skews your judgement of risk.