Biking to work?

[trigurl]

Has anyone started riding to work with the gas prices going up??? it went up 6 cents within 2 hours this morning here. I am thinking about it, its probably close to 20 miles to work for me tho.

[bouncybouncy]

are you kidding???? it is $2.59 here! I am soooo disgusted :mad: and there is just to option to ride to work where i am...my fiancee refuses to allow and besides it is just too risky even with a weapon :eek: ....as you mentioned in another thread (a big congrats by the way...and good luck on your century!!!) half/half commute is better than all by car!

the way i look at it is - if i commute to work my excersice is accomplished for the day...i am much happier and feel better about myself and my environment!

i do have something to look forward to we are moving :D :D :D to a more cycle friendly environment and my other half is hopefully (icon of crossing fingers inserted here) going to work from home and we will be looking for a house with the thought of me commuting by 2 wheels :p i am soooooo excited!!!!

[Blueberry]

2nd post here - woo hoo! This is such an awesome forum! I've really enjoyed reading others' posts here - you are an awesome group of women!!

I commute back and forth (at the moment) between 2 cities 2+ hours apart. I'm one place half of the week and another place the other half. In one city I work at home, so no commute. In the other, I live about 8.5 miles from work, but have to wear a suit to work and there is no shower. It's at the coast, so it's about 85 degrees with 100% humidity by 8AM. I haven't figured out how to look presentable for clients with no shower available. Any thoughts?

I did ride home one day (DH needed the car, so he dropped me and my bike off in the AM). Unfortunately, he can't do this every day since he normally works at home so it's way out of his way! I did get some funny look at the office, though :) Lots of "you'll get run over" (nope, not yet), "you'll have heat stroke" (nope - I know what I'm doing" and "you can't ride on those roads" (why not, I do it all the time!). Tee hee - I love opening minds!

Back to gas prices - though I haven't been biking to work, I am now biking to the store a significant portion of the time for groceries, etc. Good for me and doesn't use gas! Speaking of which, anyone tried the Arkel Utility Basket? I've had good experiences with their other products, but haven't yet ordered this one. My T42's aren't quite the ticket for hauling lots of food....

[Geonz]

Boing! Ours is $2.75 - glad I filled up when it was "just" $2.48. So the 15 miles a day I don't drive would be half a gallon at 30 mpg... buck and a quarter a day not incompletely combusted.
It *seems* that I'm seeing more cycles as the school year starts. Hope so! The more of us, the more power :-)

[bikerchick68]

It's up to $3 here now... disgusting... and no end in sight.

I commute once a week only as I need my car often... and the boss pays for my gas! It's 20.2 miles each way with 2000 ft climbing tho, so a great training ride!

If I didn't need a vehicle for work, I'd ride every other day...

[trigurl]

we will be at $3.00 soon! I have a lot of hills to ride is the only reason I am wishy washy about it, we have a shower at work so I could use that. I would just have to get up earlier :( I have a zoo at my house so everyone has to be dealt with in the mornings, maybe they will have to get over that!

My b/f doesn't work near me or dropping me off would be a good idea, he has a company truck :D

I may give it a try tomorrow, we are having storms in the afternoons tho, I would hate to get caught in one, I also take the bank deposit after work, I guess I could go through the drive thru at the bank on a bike.

I could add more miles after work to keep the mileage up! heck, I have almost talked myself into it :p

[DeniseGoldberg]

I commute to work by bike 2 to 3 days a week during the good daylight months. I know there are many gals out there who commute year-round, but I commute on some roads with pretty heavy traffic, and I'm more comfortable in daylight.

My commute is 18 miles one way, and I usually take a slightly longer route home. So 40 miles 2 or 3 days a week plus decent length weekend rides makes me happy. Oh, and if thunderstorms are predicted, I usually wimp out and drive in.

I belong to the health club at the Marriott across the street from my office - so my commute in ends there with a shower before work. I'm pretty lucky to have that, no hassle with rinsing off in the rest room in the office... It sounds like you'll have a similar situation.

Why not start with 1 commute a week, and then increase to 2 or 3 days if it makes sense for you?

--- Denise

[Kristin6]

Has anyone started riding to work with the gas prices going up??? it went up 6 cents within 2 hours this morning here. I am thinking about it, its probably close to 20 miles to work for me tho.

How many miles do you typically put in per week? 20 each way may be doable if your used to riding lots. I had a friend who was commuting 40 each way. Its a kind of long commute though.

At my last job, I worked 8 miles away from home (Downers Grove, IL), over wide, decent streets, through nice neighborhoods. Riding to work was great. AND there was a SHOWER at the office. They had a whole gym actually.

Today I work in a far more rural area (Peoria, IL), but the ride to work would take me down congested streets with no shoulders, through major construction, past "crack" row, and by stores that are frequently robbed at gunpoint, accross a heavily trafficed bridge to an office with no showers, no gym, and no closets. No thanks. I'm not sure I'd look good with the butch cut I'd need to have, and I know I wouldn't smell good with just fresh wipes. :)

I'll just go broke instead!

[trigurl]

OK this is coming from someone who was afraid to ride on the parkway here (less traffic) in March! I am now not worried about the traffic :D , there are lots of back roads I can take, my main problem is the hills, that is why I thought about driving 1/2 way, so I could avoid some of them, they aren't little! I ride them all the time but I am not real fast over them and it would take me a while to get to work, that means getting up earlier :( My gym is about 1/2 way so I thought about parking there and biking, I could come back and get some weight training in and some running/swimming. (my P/T wants me to try swimming again)

Hey, maybe if I try 1/2 way I will realize that the full ride won't be a problem! I tend to push myself like that, I don't ride real fast but I can go a long time - anyone have that "I will ride just to the top of the hill" only to see the drop and think it would be cool to go down? forget the ride back up!

[DeniseGoldberg]

My gym is about 1/2 way so I thought about parking there and biking, I could come back and get some weight training in and some running/swimming. (my P/T wants me to try swimming again)


That sounds like a great way to get started with commuting. And being able to fit your weight training in on the way home is a plus!

--- Denise

[ladyjai]

In the other, I live about 8.5 miles from work, but have to wear a suit to work and there is no shower. It's at the coast, so it's about 85 degrees with 100% humidity by 8AM. I haven't figured out how to look presentable for clients with no shower available. Any thoughts?


If they have a bathroom and running water, it would work. You'd need to likely keep a hair dryer on hand, though. I don't have showers here, but the way I ride and with the monsoon humidity here, I'm generally a mini-rain cloud in the mornings. I wash my face, and rinse my arms and legs, neck, etc. I've noticed that some gals use baby wipes. (I also shower before I ride, so it seems to be mostly a "clean" sweat, i.e. not stinky if you get it off.

My biggest problem is my hair. It's decently long and thick, and usually is still rather wet. I don't like hair dryers, so I just leave it down and it dries by lunchtime and I usually pull it back then. I have to let it dry out, or my hair will start smelling funny. :rolleyes:

I commute 10.5 miles one way every day. If I'm really running late, I can take the short-cut and cut off 2 miles, but I rarely use that, and am usually just a little late. :o . I can't imagine not commuting. If I have a stressful day at work, I just ride harder on the way home and when I arrive, I'm usually quite cheerful. It wakes me up in the morning when I don't want to get up. It's just.. nice.

Of course, now my newest concern is school-zones. They're almost as scary as the main roads I'm avoiding by passing by them! :eek: Now I'm seeing why many commuters use Washington, which of course will be torn up for the next 5 years while they build the Light Rail all at once :rolleyes:

[Trek420]

I'm trying to be more consistent about riding 1-2 days a week. It's an easy way to rack up the miles.

But my commute is short, 2 miles to BART one way and tend to get off a stop or two early on the way back for a longer ride.

I already take BART to work, rarely drive in but drove today since I overslept the alarm, yikes.

As an experiment I drove the route that if I ever wanted or had to bike all the way in I thought I would use.

Hmmmm, skirts the area that local police call "the kill zone", no real way around (90th st, East 14th). The streets are wide with little traffic but I would not ride all the way in.

[ladyjai]

tri, go for it! Once you get it in your system, you'll want to go the full route :D

[Blueberry]

My biggest problem is my hair. It's decently long and thick, and usually is still rather wet. I don't like hair dryers, so I just leave it down and it dries by lunchtime and I usually pull it back then. I have to let it dry out, or my hair will start smelling funny. :rolleyes:


Fortunately, I don't have that problem! LOL! My hair would probably be the easiest part - it's super short as I have no patience for hair dryers or other hair thingies anymore. I could probably get by with sticking my head under the sink, towel drying and geling. That's about what I usually do anyway. I know what you mean, though. Mine used to still be wet at night when I'd finally take it out of a pony tail - sometimes it did smell a little funky :p

Can you really get all the sweat off with a washcloth in a sink? I've always been a little hesitatant because of the - ahem - crotch area. Seems that area really needs running water after a ride of any length - even 8.5 miles as I sweat a lot (embarassing, I know).

Hmmm...might have to give it a shot next week (the bikes stayed home this week :( Gas prices make driving with them on top of the car a wee bit expensive for me :mad: ). My Yak rack seriously cuts into my mileage and I have a teensey car they won't fit inside.

For my stress level, I'm hoping that this job is a temporary situation - most importantly, it's been seriously getting in the way of my riding :D Until then...

[pkq]

I commuted for a month last year and loved it. My work schedule then went to pot with out of town travel so wasn't able to pull it together for the rest of the year. I was fortunate to have showers available at work. I got lots of comments from the guys about spandex and loud jersey's. They thought my bike was cool. Management was less than thrilled with it but they're too stuffy anyway. When I gain employment again, I hope to commute more.

[bikerchick68]

Can you really get all the sweat off with a washcloth in a sink? I've always been a little hesitatant because of the - ahem - crotch area. Seems that area really needs running water after a ride of any length - even 8.5 miles as I sweat a lot (embarassing, I know).

Baby wipes may be the way to go for you there then... gentle enough but anything that can clean up baby poo has gotta be good! :eek: :D

[Blueberry]

Management was less than thrilled with it but they're too stuffy anyway.

It's really funny - the day I rode home, I had nothing but positive comments from my managing partner. It was my co-workers who thought I was crazy and/or going to get killed.

Of course, I'm not sure how cool the managing partner would think it was if I showed up all sweaty having biked to work...That remains to be seen. :o

If gas prices keep going up, they may have to modify their way of thinking a wee bit :p My co-workers are still driving around in their SUV's, complaining about how much it costs them to fill up the SUV's...

[wabisabi]

A harbinger of things to come---I saw gas for $3.09 here on Sunday--we are usually higher than most places. I work at a university where there is a big bike culture and everyone is encouraged to ride to work, and, for now, I live pretty close. When it is dark and rainy in the winter it is harder to get out at 7:30 in the am., though :o

[Blueberry]

Baby wipes may be the way to go for you there then... gentle enough but anything that can clean up baby poo has gotta be good! :eek: :D

Might have to give that a shot - LOL - you are correct, if it works for baby behinds then...! The other option I had contemplated is those Cottonelle (sp?) wipes - at least they don't smell quite as strong!

Guess I'll have to jump in the deep end on this one - preferably a day I don't have to meet with clients JIC of disaster (which may mean 2-3 weeks from now before I can try).

Thanks for the suggestion!

[Geonz]

COnsider that "JIC" applies to your car, too... those disasters just don't happen that often. You could have a flat tire on the four-wheel blunder, too :-)
When my job went full-time I invested in a big ol' 15-watt light and strung Christmas lights on my basket in back. People slow down' 'cause they just don't know *what* that thing is...

[pkq]

CA in NC, management didn't like the clothing.

I'm seriously considering mounting a hitch on my motorcycle to mount a bike rack to it. People would really think I've lost it with that rig! But at 50 mpg, who could blame me?

[Hetty]

we will be at $3.00 soon!

Is that $3 for a US gallon?
At my local petrol station it is £0.94 per litre of unleaded. There are 3.785 litres in a US gallon which makes my gallon £3.56 or $6.44 per gallon !!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I originally started commuting by bike to lose weight and try to beat the stress of the job, but a big bonus is that I'm saving lots of cash. I think I'd do better with the getting fit part if I stopped spending the money I save on cheese and wine! :rolleyes: :p

[nuthatch]

Is that $3 for a US gallon?
At my local petrol station it is £0.94 per litre of unleaded. There are 3.785 litres in a US gallon which makes my gallon £3.56 or $6.44 per gallon !!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

I originally started commuting by bike to lose weight and try to beat the stress of the job, but a big bonus is that I'm saving lots of cash. I think I'd do better with the getting fit part if I stopped spending the money I save on cheese and wine! :rolleyes: :p

We've got nothing to complain about, do we Hetty? When gas gets up that high here in the US, we will see alot more people on public transport and on their bikes. :rolleyes:

[ladyjai]

When my job went full-time I invested in a big ol' 15-watt light and strung Christmas lights on my basket in back. People slow down' 'cause they just don't know *what* that thing is...

nice idea!!!!!!