I did my first bike commute this morning. I'll check the actual distance on my way home, but I think it's a little under 3 miles. It's funny, I frequently bring my bike on the car and ride at lunch, but I never made the step to actual bike commuting until today. Forecast is for a week of warm (for the season) weather, and my knee pain is at a tolerable level; so I figure this was as good a time as any to start. That and my wife has been giving me crap about not riding to work.
My first impressions are: beautiful, peaceful, awesome! I should have started doing this long ago.
I am hoping to start commuting also when it warms up and stops snowing - Google says 7 miles each way for me. Do you guys wear rain gear and commute or just when it is nice out?
OP - how long it take you to commute in the mornings? do you get up extra early too?
Welcome to the club! Bike commuting is a much better way to start and end the workday. I find myself actually looking forward to my commute instead of dreading it. And going to work is something I can actually look forward to since it involves a ride.
Your second impressions will be it's addicting, "A little rain's not that bad" "I rode at 35 degrees so I can ride 32..." repeat until you get to the single digits, "I can go for X weeks without taking my car"
Welcome Shrubeck. I'm a noob when it comes to commuting myself. Been at it for about 2mos now -about 6.5mi each way. It's now become my favorite part of my workday. Unfortunately, my job responsibilities sometimes require that I have my car for hauling stuff around or attending meetings in other locales but I still ride in 3 or 4x per week. I hate the days I can't ride in. I also track my miles over on greenlightride.com. There's an "mtbr forum commuters" team.
Sweet! Nice work. It was only a matter of time, sounds like :lol:
I'd say that everyone on here rides through varying degrees of nastiness and weather-related suffering, based on a largely individualized scale of risk and misery. And the longer you do it, the more of both you are willing to tolerate.
It's 4:09 I've got about an hour to go and I've started almost exclusively thinking of how much I'm going to enjoy my commute home. You don't get that driving a car. Well maybe if you just got a new Lamborghini for your birthday or something.
I just got back from a lunch ride, and in a couple hours I get to ride home. Three rides in a day, I'll take it. Even if two of them are short and they're all on the road... This week should be easy, but we'll see how committed I am when we have less than ideal weather. I've come close to starting in the past, but I think what made the difference this time is I figured out I could stash several days worth of clothes at work. That way I only have to carry my lunch in a pack, not dress clothes.
wj4play: It took me 10 minutes this morning. It's mostly downhill from home, so I can make decent time without working up a sweat. Depending on lights, it takes me 6-10 minutes to drive it. I wake up like 2.5 hours before work anyway, so that won't be affected.
First commute for me today too, at least first in years and at my current job. About 6 years ago, at a totally different job in a different state I rode in a handful of times in the summer, and i rode to school/library a lot in grad school. But I've been at my current job for two and a half years now and always thought about riding, finally did it today. Previously I would have had to cross a two-mile long bridge on a 55 mph two lane highway with no shoulder (often in the dark), but finally moved to the same side of the bridge as my place of employment. 8 miles in today on my SS 29'er, took a little under an hour. this should improve substantially as i get in better shape. mapped out my ride home and it's gonna be 7.5 miles with a good bit less main road/highway riding, already looking forward to it (it's also a good 25 degrees warmer than it was this morning).
plan is to ride twice next week, three times the week after, and then pretty much full time after that (I alternate 4 and 5 day workweeks). not yet sure how i'll handle heavy rain, but i got some ideas. im sure there will be days where exceptions apply, but trying to be as hardcore as i can. cold shouldn't really be an issue... i have plenty of ski gear that keeps me comfortable to about -20, so i should be able to grab pieces of that to wear as needed. switched to flat pedals on the bike so i could wear heavy winter boots when needed.
Just started commuting recently myself. I have a short 5 mile uphill (only a 1,000 foot climb) ride to my work.
I'm the type that sleeps in the morning till the last second, with just enough time for a shower, and lunch fixing.
Used to get to work still a little tired, and wishing I was back in bed. Now I'm wide eyed and ready to go when I get to work. Way better than coffee in the morning.
I wish my commute was shorter. 16 miles for me one way but the school I work at was flooded a few days before the start of the school year. So the locker room I would shower and change in before work are still completely torn apart so I can't even commute if I wanted to Hopefully by the spring I will be able to again, I bought a Chrome bag just so I could commute regularly.
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