Biking to work?

[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 , 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

[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.