I vary my route quite a bit. My options are a mainly seaside bike path, major highways, smaller roads or a combination of them. All the routes are through urban areas to the fringe of the Melbourne CBD. If I'm in a hurry, my shortest route is 10.5 km (about 6 miles) along a major arterial road with lots of traffic.
I used to commute regularly, mostly over shorter distances. For the last 10 years my bike mostly sat in the garage gathering dust. I got back into cycling about 9 months ago after moving to a work location difficult to get to by public transport. I'm really glad I did. I've lost about 30 lbs (love to lose some more), and I'm really enjoying myself.
I've nothing too dramatic to relate. I just wanted to be the first Australian to register with the database!!