What have you learned from commuting?

Being assertive is not only a confidence booster, but a survival tactic at times. Y'all have covered all the bases for me. I'm glad that I have good bike handling skills from mountain biking, and they've gotten better from riding in traffic.

I haven't commuted on my bike since Tuesday due to after work commitments, but this afternoon, I'm riding my Coda home! Tomorrow I think I'll drive the Luna to work for a change.

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Originally Posted by run it, ride it

transport trucks will suck you off-balance in the best of times. Always keep an eye out for those monsters.

How do you girls deal with transports at highway speeds? Sometimes they can't move over and I lose control of my handlebars no matter how tight I'm holding on. It's not a matter of if but when I'm going to crash, and I sure hope it's not into one of those eighteen wheels.

I'll take the weather of commuting; bring on the rain, sleet, snow. I'll take on the traffic, the horns, the gestures, the cat-calls. But those trucks scare me.

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Uh, Run it; slow down when you hear them coming. That does sound terrifying.
I can't imagine being THAT close to large speeding vehicles. It's bad enough at low speed.

Actually, today I tried speeding up when they came past, and it made a world of difference. The more momentum I have, the less they shake me. On the way home I had a nasty headwind and heard one SCREAMING up behind me--I bailed onto the gravel out of instinct and nearly wiped out.

I used to take my old metal clunker to work and had no trouble with the big trucks--but couldn't make it up the big hills. New bike is super light, and I'm not that heavy either. Good for hills, bad for trucks.

Unfortunately there is no alternate route to work and the highway I take is a major travel route for transports traveling between 80-110km/h (50-70mph) with barely 6" of pavement past the white line in some places (we don't have paved shoulders in Ontario. It's just gravel).

Sounds pretty dangerous when it's all in writing. But I still feel WAY safer out on the highway than I do riding in a city.

So, obviously you need a few jars of coins to get a middle weight :-)

THe known, one-at-a-time hazards are a lot less stressful than the constant barrage in the city. College towns are so nice!

If I were to commute to my job it would be a 40 mile round trip. Not such a long ride, but after 20 miles of a morning ride...what do you do about needing a shower? Changing clothes? I haven't seen this question posed and am really curious. Do your workplaces have shower facilities and how would you pack a change of clothing? Enlighten me please? :confused:

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Originally Posted by conster

If I were to commute to my job it would be a 40 mile round trip. Not such a long ride, but after 20 miles of a morning ride...what do you do about needing a shower? Changing clothes? I haven't seen this question posed and am really curious. Do your workplaces have shower facilities and how would you pack a change of clothing? Enlighten me please? :confused:

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this might help:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=commuting

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Originally Posted by conster

If I were to commute to my job it would be a 40 mile round trip. Not such a long ride, but after 20 miles of a morning ride...what do you do about needing a shower? Changing clothes? I haven't seen this question posed and am really curious. Do your workplaces have shower facilities and how would you pack a change of clothing? Enlighten me please? :confused:

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My office provides a commuter shower with a clothing rack to hang clothes. They also have an indoor bike rack in the lobby. It's wonderful. My commute is 14 miles each way, and it would be difficult to do it without a shower at work and a place to keep my clothes.

Many offices actually do have dormant showers, so it might be worth asking. Some health clubs have reduced memberships that allow shower use. Baby wipes also come in handy for cleanup, just get the unscented, otherwise you'll smell like a baby all day (which is fine for some, but in my line of work might be distracting)

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Originally Posted by CorsairMac

this might help:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...ight=commuting

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I DO thank you for the teamestrogen site. It had lots of great ideas and I may have the opportunity to put them to use. Thanks for taking the time to post a reply for me. :)

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Originally Posted by tulip

. Baby wipes also come in handy for cleanup, just get the unscented, otherwise you'll smell like a baby all day (which is fine for some, but in my line of work might be distracting)

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I have not found any unscented babywipes... What brand do you get? I can't stand any perfume in stuff like that.

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Originally Posted by withm

I have not found any unscented babywipes... What brand do you get? I can't stand any perfume in stuff like that.

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I don't--I have a shower at work. But I've heard of them, so I assumed they were out there. Seventh Generation probably has some for a price, but I don't know about the other brands.

Huggies sell unscented baby wipes that you can get in many mainstream stores. The Rite-Aid near my office has them, so they can't be that obscure. They have aloe in them, so you might be bummed if you don't like that.