Help a new biker with bad fitness to become a bike commuter I am interested in biking [and always has been] and I want to start biking lot more for fun. It's been long time since I biked when I was in high school and I lost touch. At this point of time, my fitness is terrible and please don't ask about my stamina. I want to fix that by biking to my office which is close to 8 miles from my home. That's a long distance for me to start covering from the day one so I am planning to take it in phases. First, I want to start biking to nearest public transit [a mile] and keep increasing from there. I need some guidance so that I don't cause more trouble than good to myself.


What is a reasonably priced bike that I can buy [first/second hand] that can make it easy for me to bike? I want to be able to bike on that in trails or parks as well so I am thinking of a mountain bike.
How much distance should I start biking on day one and how fast should I increase that distance so that I can bike to my office without using any public transit?
What sort of care should be taken to ride in cold weather [-1 C] and during night time?
What other suggestions would you like to give a new biker?


Thanks for taking time to read and respond!
Others have answered other parts of your question satisfactorily, but I can't recommend Craigslist highly enough for purchasing your first bike.

You can find cheap used bikes anywhere from $50–$200. It doesn't have to be perfect — it just has to be in a reasonable state of repair. Don't spend $1,000 on a bike before you 1) know you're going to stick with cycling, and 2) know what you want out of a bike. Getting a cheap one off Craigslist lets you figure out both at a very low cost.