# My experiences commuting to work



## Neolithic (Mar 24, 2015)

After getting into cycling last summer I've finally moved up to commuting to work.

The major push for me to want to commute to work is my father. He rode to work nearly every day for almost 30 years. So, in short, I was shamed into my desire to ride.

The major obstacles are the 9.5 miles (one way) going through downtown (and traffic) or 13.5 miles on the beltway (better bike lanes). Next, it's all downhill from home to work which means it's all uphill from work to home (approx. 700ft over 2 miles), at the hottest part of the day, with a common prevailing headwind in the late afternoon/early evening. And lots of other petty excuses to complain about.

But I got a rack for my bike, a bag and a bungee net to hold a change of clothes, and resolved to wake up rather early to give myself plenty of time should I not ride as fast as I believe or if I get a flat, etc. I also found that the traffic issue through downtown wasn't nearly as bad as I feared at the times I was riding.

My first runs were about 40 minutes to work and 50 minutes home. After 2 months I'm down to about 35 minutes to work and 45 minutes home.

I haven't been on my bike every day to work due to the occasional errand, a vacation in the middle, and a couple of days of 104+ heat. But it has been a great change and I often look forward (on some small level) to going to work.


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

Keep up the good work.

When I started, it was downhill with a tailwind going to work, uphill with a headwind coming home. Sun in my eyes both ways.

Had the opportunity to transfer to another branch. I took it in part because it would be headwind and sun at my back going to work, tailwind and sun at my back coming home. Flat both ways too.

Keep that in mind for your next move--either residence or workplace.


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

Dammit just when I have a nice batch of petty excuses at my disposal, somebody comes along and renders them moot. 700' in two miles?! Yikes. 

Although I'm a bit envious b/c I need some climbing to get me ready for the upcoming mtb race, and my commute is a whopping 300' in 16 miles. 

The looming race did get my butt out there this morning- haven't ridden in a week (life, weather, lack of sleep, travel etc.) I was whiny and exhausted, got on the bike almost 30min late, but the weather was outstanding and I was 8min faster than usual, even on the knobbies. And I got to work on time. :thumbsup:

Funny how most of the battle is mental.


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## Neolithic (Mar 24, 2015)

I hear ya about the mental battle! That's why I'm actually grateful that it's downhill to work and uphill home. I can get to work quicker and with less effort (and less likely to need a shower). But for that climb home I have no excuse but to granny gear it up and spin away. I'm 9.5 miles from home and there's only one way to get there (that my pride will allow). I have a sneaking suspicion my wife would like me to call to get picked up so she'd feel a little better about her not getting out to exercise as much as she would like. Pride works in mysterious ways. 

And for my weekend rides with my friends that uphill requirement has paid off. I'm the mountain goat of the group.

Lastly, I've got to admit I lied to y'all on the numbers. The big hill is a bit over 450 over 2.5 miles. The 700 comes from the total ascension my phone records that includes the gentle rollers I cover as I follow the river through town. I keep forgetting that while the valley averages out to be rather flat my phone makes all sorts of little calculations on my behalf.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Damn, that sounds like the perfect commute. 9.5 miles each way, with the climbs on the way home. 



> for that climb home I have no excuse but to granny gear it up and spin away.


Or you could put it in the big ring and hammer your brains out ;-)

Well, maybe some days.

Good work there. My daily commuting is a great boon to health - mental as well as physical.


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

_ I have a sneaking suspicion my wife would like me to call to get picked up so she'd feel a little better about her not getting out to exercise as much as she would like_

The marital dynamic can be funny. I get a bit jealous when my husband gets more trail mileage in than I do. He hates training on the road, but for me, it's necessary. Also, he doesn't *need* to train for races as hard. He adds a few extra laps here and there, and still beats me, whereas I could ride all day/every day and just do _okay._


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## Flexnuphill (May 20, 2013)

I realized a while back that I have a great place to ride. The days I'm 'life' tired and I really don't want to ride to work I get on my bike, ride a quarter mile and forget all about my whining. I have developed several routes to work over the years I use them depending on the weather, my energy level and/or mood. 
We bought a new house and moved recently. When we started looking at properties, and without a prior discussion, my wife made it a point only to look at properties within a 10 mile radius of my work, we bought a nice place 4 miles away.... she's a keeper.


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## SauronHimself (Nov 21, 2012)

I recently started riding to work since I got a new position within my company. I was previously on a compressed shift, so it wouldn't have been feasible to do a bike commute when I was already working 0600-1830. Now that I work M-F 0800-1700 I have the time.


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## shoemakerpom2010 (Apr 25, 2011)

I look forward to my ride now 2 times a week in one office and the other 3 days I bring the bike with me to my other office and ride at lunch....


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## marc7654 (Jun 24, 2014)

I've got to respect anyone that starts commuting with a long ride each way and lack of bike friendly streets. Props to Neolithic and all of you with those longer commutes.

I started commuting to work about 2 years ago with a fairly short 3 mile commute to the office on bike paths/lanes with a convenient shower available and indoor bike parking. Without that fairly short ride and the extra conveniences to start with I'm not sure I would have ever started riding. I've gone from 200lb to 180lb and kept it off as well as lowered the blood pressure, drugs help too but the riding may make them unnecessary soon.

The Wife had been after me for a while, to run or ride or walk to something to get my a$$ off the couch. We both got new Giant road bikes, Defy/Avail, and ride most weekends for fun and exercise. 16 to 30 miles are the usual weekend ride.

Recently the office moved, now I've got 5+ miles to commute each way and no shower at the work end. Lucky the mornings have been cool this year but I do miss the shower. A change of cloths and fresh deodorant keeps my colleagues from complaining. But without the easy start 2 years ago I'd probably never have attempted a 5 mile commute to the office. The 10 mile total also gives me about 500 feet up hill every day.

Others at work are now closer to the new office and inspired to ride in too but the lack of shower is holding them back. My boss is actually trying to work a deal with a near by office that has a shower.


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

It's motivation to ride more, knowing I've got the cheap, modern gym downstairs. Today I ran outside for the first time (during lunch)- came in 30min early and took 1-1/2hrs for lunch. Just enough time for a 45min jog, cool down and quick shower. Didn't have enough time this morning to bike in.

The somewhat flexible time + bike commute + gym are really the best parts of this job.


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## kjdhawkhill (Jan 29, 2011)

Neolithic said:


> The major obstacles are the 9.5 miles (one way) going through downtown (and traffic) or 13.5 miles on the beltway (better bike lanes).


Thats a perfect distance to commute. Enough to feel like a workout if you want, but short enough to make it an easy spin if you want. 



brucew said:


> I took it in part because it would be headwind and sun at my back going to work, tailwind and sun at my back coming home. Flat both ways too.
> 
> Keep that in mind for your next move--either residence or workplace.


Priorities are important. I hope the transfer/position change was also a professional plus.



JCavilia said:


> My daily commuting is a great boon to health - mental as well as physical.


It really is the best way to start the day. That, or a bloody mary with a beef jerky straw… For whatever reason, the second option is frowned upon at my place of employment. 

I have 21-22 mile ride which is too long for my parenting duties to do too often, but this morning I made sure to get a newish rider to commute with me. Three miles to his place, mostly on the way to work. It was a slow ride by my standards, but he was trying and kept moving forward so it was fine. Got to work and the wife told me I had a sick kid… so I'm playing hooky with






this guy. Sister's fishing pole was apparently a requirement for that chair.


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

kjdhawkhill said:


> Priorities are important. I hope the transfer/position change was also a professional plus.


It was over the top. The commute is just icing on the cake. 

I went from one branch staffed by stodgy, entrenched bureaucrats, to another that had recently cleaned house and was becoming focused on customer service and neighborhood involvement.

Five years later, we won Public Library of the Year 2015 out of over 400 public libraries in our region.

Plus, I get to take turns pulling this thing around for outreach programs. (And yes, that's one of my commuter bikes.)


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## pmf (Feb 23, 2004)




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## kjdhawkhill (Jan 29, 2011)

brucew said:


> Plus, I get to take turns pulling this thing around for outreach programs. (And yes, that's one of my commuter bikes.)


I don't mind pulling a load… I'm trying to see the gearing on that thing… 28x30? 

The important thing is the smile that says, "I'm getting paid to do this, and that makes me a pro cyclist."


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

kjdhawkhill said:


> I don't mind pulling a load… I'm trying to see the gearing on that thing… 28x30?
> 
> The important thing is the smile that says, "I'm getting paid to do this, and that makes me a pro cyclist."


Typical 105 triple up front (50/39/30) with an Ultegra 6700 12-23 out back.

That particular day, the smile was saying, "Look Ma! I'm a parade float!"

I'm standing not because of towing the load (the BikesAtWork trailer rolls nice) but because that makes it easier to stay upright and clipped-in at 2 MPH. My average speed for 2.46 miles was 3.77 MPH, which includes the ride from the library to the parade start, then back again after the fair.










This being RBR and all, it's important to note that although my bike and I are violating at least a dozen of The Rules that day, my helmet is correctly clipped to the stem and draped over the bars.

Although you're right, since I'm being paid, anything I do is PRO.


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

Books on wheels!!! How awesome. Pro indeed!
_
I have a sneaking suspicion my wife would like me to call to get picked up so she'd feel a little better about her not getting out to exercise as much as she would like. Pride works in mysterious ways. _

Monday night, got a flat on the way home, and was in a hurry, so I called my husband. He answered the phone saying, "I know why you're calling me!" :blush2:

Hoping to do my 3rd r/t of the week tomorrow (Mon/Wed/Fri.) Weather's incredible, you can feel a bit of the fall crispness now. I'm finally starting to feel like I'm in better shape, even my upper body (riding the singlespeed will do that!)

But it's not enough training for the big race, and John's got the busted knee, so we're canceling. Oh well. But I'm thrilled to be biking regularly.


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## Mr Pink57 (Mar 30, 2011)

I used to have a 13.5mi commute one-way but it was on a MUP the entire way which was really cool. Now my commute is 1 miles one-way so as you can imagine things have changed considerably.

The real nice part of all this is my car is used about once a week vs every single day. A tank of gas will last about a month, since the driving is on weekend and is usually at events further away that I am unable to get there in a reasonable amount of time for. But most if not all things I do in the city(Minneapolis/St.Paul) I will bike to.

I guess I've become care-lite?


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## Christine (Jul 23, 2005)

Got my monthly train ticket for September this morning. I'm secretly hoping that, someday, I can save the $300/month or so (train + subway unlimited monthlies) and ride exclusively. It's like a bucket list thing, but seems pretty ambitious at this point.


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## runningman10000 (Dec 11, 2014)

You guys are motivating me! My shop moved about 3 mile closer to home about a month ago. It means my ride would be on 1 road for about 9.5 miles. Its a really busy 4 lane road but I believe it has side walks all the way.Is that better than ytrying ot ride on the road? BruceW is that Rochster, Mi? I would be riding down Van **** from 26 mile to 19 mile if your familiar. I have a lot a questions, where would be a good place to start? The RBR search function? jcavalia you have a lot a great posts about commuting! I might do the ride on a weekend to scheck it out first. I have a Roubaix as a road bike and a Crosstrail that I could use as the commuter. I should do it a couple days a week anyways, I'm going to try before the weather changes to much here in SE Mi.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

runningman10000 said:


> You guys are motivating me! My shop moved about 3 mile closer to home about a month ago. It means my ride would be on 1 road for about 9.5 miles. Its a really busy 4 lane road but I believe it has side walks all the way.Is that better than ytrying ot ride on the road? BruceW is that Rochster, Mi? I would be riding down Van **** from 26 mile to 19 mile if your familiar. I have a lot a questions, where would be a good place to start? The RBR search function? jcavalia you have a lot a great posts about commuting! I might do the ride on a weekend to scheck it out first. I have a Roubaix as a road bike and a Crosstrail that I could use as the commuter. I should do it a couple days a week anyways, I'm going to try before the weather changes to much here in SE Mi.



Bruce is in Rochester, New York (if you click on a poster's name, you can access profile information).

Whether the road or the side path is preferable depends on lots of factors. I don't know your area, but from a quick look on Googlemaps saellite view they look like pretty wide side paths, separated from the road. They may really be the functional equivalent of multi-use trails, and might be quite suitable for much of the way, especially if there isn't a lot of pedestrian traffic. 

I think testing it out on a weekend is a good idea. good luck.


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

runningman10000 said:


> BruceW is that Rochster, Mi?


Nope. That would be Rochester, NY, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Or as we like to think of it, on the North Coast.



runningman10000 said:


> I'm going to try before the weather changes to much here in SE Mi.


Weather doesn't have to stop you.


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## ibericb (Oct 28, 2014)

brucew said:


> ...Weather doesn't have to stop you.


We really need a video of one of your wnter commutes. It would be good for broad education.

You are such a badass!


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## runningman10000 (Dec 11, 2014)

Thanks Bruce, jcavalia pointed that out to me about personel info. That picture is awesome! I loved that type a weather as a runner but as I've gotten older I just dont have it in me to deal with it anymore. Good stuff!


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## brucew (Jun 3, 2006)

runningman10000 said:


> I loved that type a weather as a runner but as I've gotten older I just dont have it in me to deal with it anymore.


To each their own, of course. But how young do you think I am? 

HINT: I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard Kennedy was shot.


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## wgscott (Jul 14, 2013)

brucew said:


> To each their own, of course. But how young do you think I am?
> 
> HINT: I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard Kennedy was shot.


That's good news. With all the conspiracy theories, pretty soon we will all need an alibi.


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## RRRoubaix (Aug 27, 2008)

brucew said:


> Nope. That would be Rochester, NY, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Or as we like to think of it, on the North Coast.
> 
> 
> 
> Weather doesn't have to stop you.


I love that picture.
Much respect, Bruce!!


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