I'd like to try commuting, but...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

BSG - The hills in Northern IL are loooooong slow inclines, they appear flat until you're on them and then your thighs explode about halfway up.

Yes we have some of those several mile long inclines around here too. My thighs used to 'explode' halfway up them too....but after a couple years of fairly average type riding in our pretty hilly areas, I have little trouble with them now, simply because my leg muscles have gotten stronger. As Tulip says, "The hills will get easier ONLY if you ride them. Otherwise, they'll stay hard."
I'm 55 and I've only been riding for three years, never having been involved with any exercise at all before that. I also have some respiratory limitations. Hey, if I can do it on my 30 lb. steel bike, anyone can.

[canonsue]

For now, I am doing the drive part way, bike part way. My commute is 25 miles each way with a 10 mile killer hill. Once, I ride more, I will bike down the hill and to work and then take the bus back.

However, for now, I just park at any public parking lot. Last time, I rode, I parked in the Home Depot lot which was 7 miles away.

-Sue

[Heifzilla]

For now, I am doing the drive part way, bike part way. My commute is 25 miles each way with a 10 mile killer hill. Once, I ride more, I will bike down the hill and to work and then take the bus back.

However, for now, I just park at any public parking lot. Last time, I rode, I parked in the Home Depot lot which was 7 miles away.

-Sue

I know I am sounding like I am making excuses, but there really isn't anywhere for me to be able to park and ride like that. I'm pretty rural, so when you find is clumps of areas where there are stores and stuff. So, for example, there is a Jewel (grocery store) in town wherw I live (opposite way of my commute of course) and then there are a couple of gas stations, and then nothing. Once I get within a mile of work, there's another Jewel (it's on the big semi-truck road though). So basically, I work in the town where there is shopping, but if I drove there to park, I'd be passing my place of employment, so what's the point of biking?

And, regarding hills. Pax has it right...looooooong slow inclines (and there really are some actual hills, too!) I know that the only way to get used to them is ride them, and I don't go out of my way to avoid them. I wish I could And BSG, my bike weighs 34 pounds (or very close...I know for sure it is over 30 lbs) right now (one small bag under the seat but no racks) and I am what is so "adorably" called an athena I still need to add a rack and some sort of bag to haul my clothes. Or I just use my messenger bag, which is ok but I don't know if I'd be able to deal with it for a 12 mile commute.

Tulip, I can clean out the shower, but I am just not comfortable with the idea of showering at work. We have one bathroom for almost 15 employees and I wouldn't feel comfortable hijacking it for 20 minutes or whatever. Plus, my boss is freaky about water usage. We're on a well and septic and he won't even allow us to use towels in the cage for every animal because we'd have to do too many loads of laundry and that would over stress the septic field. We have HE front loaders that are 10 gallons a load and we are limited to 2-3 loads per day. If we have more laundry we have to wait until the next day to do it (or sneak a load in if we can). I would rather just clean up with babywipes and avoid the drama. The only issue I can see is my helmet head. How does everyone deal with that?

[Eden]

Interestingly enough when I started cycling a lot I grew my hair - pony tails are just so much less messy looking on me than helmet hair......

Would a fun cap (I'm thinking something like the little round cloth style ones or newsboy type - not baseball) or buff style head wrap be acceptable at work? A head wrap even with somewhat messy hair (in fact spiky gelled hair could be even better) sticking up out of the top could be cute.

[OakLeaf]

I get where you're coming from - I live in a rural area too, and although I can commute to work with a minimum of "bad" roads, it's only because of where my gym is located. Most of the other places I'd like to be able to ride to (stores, post office) can't be accessed except by taking roads that I wouldn't even consider bicycling on. (Very heavy traffic, no shoulder, narrow even for cars, frequent car accidents.)

WRT helmet hair, could you wash your hair in the sink? That would also help you cool down and stop sweating. (If that's an issue for you; it sure is for me.)

[Becky]

Well, I'm probably not the best person to ask about hair.....seeing as I chopped it all off about a month after I started bike commuting

When it was longer, I kept a spray bottle of water, some hair goop, and a cheap blow dryer at work. Wet it down, goop it up, and blow dry. Now I just dampen it, brush out the "helmet wrinkles", let it air dry, and add some pomade after it's dry.

Do you have a place to stash toiletries, a pair of shoes, spare underwear and socks, etc.? (You might have answered this already- sorry!) I keep duplicates of all of my normal toiletries in a file drawer at my desk- less stuff to carry or forget!

[newfsmith]

I would encourage you to actually try commuting. I commuted 8.5 miles to my job (also as a vet tech) for 8 years. My route was suburban with moderately heavy traffic in places. I had one surface crossing of a 6 lane road. I also commuted year round, and often was coming home at 9 or 10 pm.

I found vet teching to be very well suited to bike commuting, after all I was just changing into scrubs when I got to work. While I didn't shower when I got to work in the summer, I did hose my head off in the treatment room tub. After you've held a couple dogs with ear infections, you don't smell fresh anymore anyway. None of my co-workers or boss ever objected. I was usually the first one there in the morning, and often the last to leave at night. Morning rides got me energised for the day, evening trips let me de-stress.

The big investment to make is (as already pointed out) in lighting. A couple of Planet Bike Superflashes on your rack will do nicely, one flashing, one steady. On my handlebars I use a Princeton Tec Switchback 2 backed up with an Eos on my helmet. Helmet lights make you much more visible at intersections, looking left & right warns traffic from side streets that you exist. In the winter invest in at least a front studded tire to help control skidding. Rear tires don't need studs for traction.

This is my route. It does have some short hills. Where it goes through the wildlife sanctuary (large wooded section) the road is narrow 2 lane with no shoulders to speak of. Unfortunately, that is used a lot as a cut-thru to I-95 so there is a lot of 40-55 mph traffic even though it is posted for 30.
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