commuting by bike

[bruno]

good point, but man o man!! i'd have to take the LONG way if my commute was only a mile or two!!! my 22 mile r/t isn't long enough most days. i generally do a lot of joyriding as well.

[glasscrank]

I work part-time at four different locations. Two days a week is a 50 mile
round trip. One day a week is a 30 mile round trip. One to two days a
week (depending on the needs of the shop) is a 60 mile round trip. On
Wed. the commute is about a mile round trip.

Living in Los Angeles I can commute all year round. However, when it
rains, I whimp out and take the bus. It's funny that it takes longer to
commute by bus than by bike. Commuting by bike in LA isn't for everyone
though. With all the cars and uninformed drivers, it's not the best biking
town.

[Dan_E_Boye]

I commute to school, about 25 miles round trip.  My schedule varies with the term but it will be 5 days a week this coming term.  If it's icy I take the bus.

I have the heaviest gloves REI sells and I still get frozen fingers when it's below freezing.  I tried mittens and still the same.  How do those of you where it gets really cold keep your hands warm?  I've wondered if some heavy wool gloves with a water proof mitten shell would do the trick.  I've never seen the mitten shell though.

[bruno]

for cold hands--MITTENS. i have some from a place called ragged mountain made in new hampshire. real thick fleece with windproof heavy-duty shell. i have the coldest hands on the planet and these keep me warm here in the northeast. i've ridden when it's 2 below and my hands were ok.

real heavy wool or fleece mitts are the way to go. look for dachstein wool if they still make 'em.

[bdouglas]

I wholeheartedly agree with Bruno's advice.

To keep your hands truly warm -

1. Shell (leather or other windproof layer)
2. Fleece (sheep or plastic)
3. Mittens

Just test run the gloves to make sure that you've got room and mobility for shifting and breaking!

I live in Montana and bicycle commute year-round, and have found Acorn's sheep fleece mittens to keep my hands warm in majorly negative numbers.


............................
Happy bicycling,

Becky Douglas
Outreach and Education Coordinator
Adventure Cycling Association

[no-name]

I've got it easy, 1.5 miles each way.  with trips home for lunch I average
6 miles a day round trip.  I ride in snow, ice , and wind (if you don't
ride in the wind in Wyoming, you don't ride much in Wyoming).  I will
drive on the rare rainy day or when I have business taking me out of
town, and will curse it the whole time.

Drive Your Bike.

Matt in Cody

[bigringer]

I definately agree about the mittens to keep your hands warm.  one tip about shifting with mittens, twist grip.  I commuted 30 miles every day in the winter on aln old department store huffy for about five years.  I finally had to retire it when the shifters finally broke one day when it was about zero. after allready upgrading to xt brakes and a good set of wheels it was time to build a new bike.  I think I cried when I threw that bike in the dumpster.

[canalligators]

Try riding partway.  At my previous job I lived 22 miles away; I drove far enough to ride the last 8 miles.  At my new job, I'll be driving 23 and cycling 11, instead of driving 31.

It stretches your gasoline and gives you a workout, without spending four hours a day riding and changing clothes.

[boonebikeguy]

I live in Boone Nc (NOW) , but two summers ago I lived 25.1 miles from Boone (In Creston NC)...so I would ride 25.1 miles to work, and then 25.1 miles home after work. I worked five days a week. Thats over 250 miles in commuting alone, on weekends I'd ride other training bike another 80-100miles the weekend. I used to ride much more in Texas, but I was actually racing for two teams then...so I never considered the benefits beyond what I took for granted. I loved that summer because i felt mentally and physically balanced. Once you burn out..it takes so much time to simply remember that riding is for fun not work.So I think FORCED commuting would be a wonderful thingy. MAKE people ride the bike once a week and I can garuntee you sh*t like divorce rates, depression, manic anxieties and blood pressures would drop like a rock.

Each day I commute in Boone I see the red faced uptight locals and the floridiots that have invaded Boone. They drive like there literally is no tomorrow. I wonder what their lives must be like, being angry uptight and in a f-ing hurry everywhere they go. As you can see I don't like humans very much at all to begin with, but you HAVE to live on this planet with them especially if you are one. I just think people live FOR their cars and ipods and stupid cellphones. We don't talk to our children, we text them (rolling eyes). I bet if people just commuted ONCE a month things would change, much less twice or three times a month. Civility, manners and plain ol just treating others nicely has vanished. Instead it is a freakin nascar race everywhere people go. And if people have to slow down for two seconds, the red in the face shouting and clenched fist tells me they really love life. My favorites are the people who drive like mad hatters and reckless yet have a 'JESUS' sticker or a 'FISH' emblem on their car.

I love them the most.Vote for me and I will force americans to ride a bike!!! Tyranny works!

Anyway [/rantoff]

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

This message was edited by boonebikeguy on 6-6-07 @ 5:39 AM

[boonebikeguy]

Big Ringer.

Man WHY would you throw a bike away? You can re-fit a frame with new or even the same level of components you wore out! SHAAAAAAAAAMMME on you sir !=-). May the Belgian cycling God be merciful when his retribution for this cardinal sin is exacted upon you! [/big pointy fingered surmmon]. But all kidding aside. Man never never never never throw a frame away because a shifter is broken!

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

This message was edited by boonebikeguy on 6-6-07 @ 5:52 AM

[bruno]

i agree with boone! ipods are evil (so are tv's). they will turn you into a lemming. and along with the jesus people, the one's who amuse me are the prius (or any other hybrid) drivers who get mad at bikes. hardeeharhar!!!!

but boone's right. what kinda life do those folks gave anyway. i can't imagine what it'd be like to take a car everywhere ya go.

i don't wanna sound like an asshole though.

happy everything to everybody!!!

[boonebikeguy]

Yeah Bruno I am pretty negative...but can you blame me?

I want to love people but I love my dog more. I try to keep my mouth shut and middle fingers on my bike when I encounter the WONDERFUL lil people that take time to say something smart or honk at me on my commutes. Commuting is supposed to make you feel better not make your blood pressure rise. I too want happy everything to people but man as i get older the more I figure out that people are more bad than good.

Bad thing is I will use an Ipod say tro store my music. But I don't use it like everywhere I go. Don't even have one right now. Cellphones? I have a tracphone I use to simply communicate with people. it is not attached to my ear. Teles? SUCK only good for ewatching bike races, ocassional news and maybe Family guy once in a while. That's it. I lived in North texas for four years without cable and used my tele just to watch VHS movies and taped bike races.

I guess my largest concern is that 23% of people in our nation as an average can be considered OBESE. 20% of children in this nation ARE obese or overwieght. 35% of our entire nation is completely out of shape. We are becomming slugs. So I plead with people to walk, or ride or even walk to a bus stop and get the F out of that coffin you call a prius. Cars are necessary I agree and only an idiot would say otherwise, but they are not your life. Yeah I am a nut for riding and strange, but at least my last thoughts of this world will not be who should i text while I am driving 120 kiles an hour and neglected to see the guy in front of me JAM on his brakes because his coffee spilt on his pants and he dropped his cellphone. Commuting is a wonderful thing...too bad it is a dying practice apparently.That goes for me too.

"Love is a river where crazy people drown"--Kyrgyz proverb

[WetDogRider]

I Don't have the back-bone to ride to work and back on my little 11 mile ride . I guess I'm to anal about my appearance at work in my prison uniform (LOL) , and sweating like a pig from the ride . . . I prefer to ride after work , or weekends and go for the gusto then .

[bogiesan]

Boise ID
Round trip about 12 miles.
Tour Easy with fairing is good everyday except the 5-15 snow or ice
days each year.
The office building has showers but I don't really need them. On the
rare days I work up a sweat on the way in I will duck over the YMCA.

I am also very fortunate to have a closet where I can hand a week's
clothing.

david boise ID

go, ristretto, FCP/AE
"Read the manual."

[icemanbb]

I started commuting a little over a year ago.  A short 3.5 mile commute(one-way) but the hills keep it interesting.  I rode the bike except when rode conditions (ice/snow) reduced the useable road surface to where I wasn't willing to risk it with the cars and trucks.  The coldest morning last winter was -6°F.  Wasn't bad. I agree about use of mittens in colder weather.  A glove liner worn as a first layer helps too.