Bike To Work Day1
Today will be my first official day of commuting from work. I rode it on Saturday as a trial. But today is the first official day. I'm halving it this week. Which means that I drove in this morning with my bike and will ride home then ride in tomorrow morning and drive home tomorrow afternoon and so on for the rest of the week. It was going to be yesterday but the weather forecast wasn't looking good for the afternoon. (BTW how do y'all handle adverse weather conditions). I'm uber excited. I've got to hydrate like it's my job today!!
You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, and rest when you know that it was 100% effort that you gave --win or lose.
-Gordie Howe
Way way cool!! This Friday I hope to do the bike and bus to work...Just a 4 hour shift. Below is a posting I did last year on my first bike and bus experience.
Thought I would share about my experiment (adventure) riding my bike to work. First time I've done this. I rode my bike about 2 miles to the local bus stop. Bus was a little late. If it was 10 minutes later I would have rode back home and then drove to work. I was afraid I couldn't get on...Other people had the same idea...Bike and ride. There were two people with bikes at the stop. The bus has room for 3 bikes in front and 1 bike in the handicapped area. If your bike gets put in the handicapped area and a handicapped person gets on, you will be bumped!! I had someone help me put the bike in the front of the bus, paid my $1.25 (will look into a ticket book) and off we went.
Nothing exciting happened on the ride. Tried to read, but instead just rested and vegetated. It's been a while since I've been on a bus...Reminded me of Europe in some ways. There were some bad smells...not real bad...just noticeable. It looked like about 80% of the riders were people who didn't have cars. The other 20% rode for convenience and comfort. A lot of college students. It was about a 10 mile ride...Got to my stop and grabbed my bike and off I went. It was about a mile to my post (I'm a security guard at a medical facility). I had an uneventful day at work...4 hour shift...Got off at 2:30 pm. It was warm here in California today (hottest day of the year so far)...Between 83-85 degrees. I melted a little. My relief was late so I hustled back to the bus station and caught my bus by about 30 seconds!! Otherwise it would have been a 45 minute wait for the next one...Bus stations aren't too clean or safe. I try to plan ahead (have all my ducks lined up in a row), but still you need to be ready for the unexpected. I try to have back up plans for something like this. Got on the bus home (3/4 full). Sat near a woman with behavioral (mental) issues...Not really what I needed since I have to deal with these types of people all day long at work. She quieted down and I melted in my seat. The rides and work were taking their toll on me...I'm not in the greatest of shape. Was thinking of stopping at the local high school on my way home to watch a girls' softball game...but declined. Wanted to get home and crash. Made it home...Drank some OJ, 6 oz of Pepsi and some water. Crashed on the floor and in front of the TV for a while.
Will I do it again?...Yeah, I plan to. If gasoline goes up to $5.00 I think I'll do it a lot more. I think I'll only be a fair weather rider...Between 65-90 degrees is my limit...And only 1/2 day shifts. I have to walk several miles at work so that gets me tired, too. I won't ride on smoggy days. Both my heart attacks occured on smoggy days...Not good for my heart or lungs. It was fun...Some work, but I enjoyed it. My wife calls me Scamp...Like the children's book...His big adventure. That's it...Thanks for reading. Brian
Thought I would share about my experiment (adventure) riding my bike to work. First time I've done this. I rode my bike about 2 miles to the local bus stop. Bus was a little late. If it was 10 minutes later I would have rode back home and then drove to work. I was afraid I couldn't get on...Other people had the same idea...Bike and ride. There were two people with bikes at the stop. The bus has room for 3 bikes in front and 1 bike in the handicapped area. If your bike gets put in the handicapped area and a handicapped person gets on, you will be bumped!! I had someone help me put the bike in the front of the bus, paid my $1.25 (will look into a ticket book) and off we went.
Nothing exciting happened on the ride. Tried to read, but instead just rested and vegetated. It's been a while since I've been on a bus...Reminded me of Europe in some ways. There were some bad smells...not real bad...just noticeable. It looked like about 80% of the riders were people who didn't have cars. The other 20% rode for convenience and comfort. A lot of college students. It was about a 10 mile ride...Got to my stop and grabbed my bike and off I went. It was about a mile to my post (I'm a security guard at a medical facility). I had an uneventful day at work...4 hour shift...Got off at 2:30 pm. It was warm here in California today (hottest day of the year so far)...Between 83-85 degrees. I melted a little. My relief was late so I hustled back to the bus station and caught my bus by about 30 seconds!! Otherwise it would have been a 45 minute wait for the next one...Bus stations aren't too clean or safe. I try to plan ahead (have all my ducks lined up in a row), but still you need to be ready for the unexpected. I try to have back up plans for something like this. Got on the bus home (3/4 full). Sat near a woman with behavioral (mental) issues...Not really what I needed since I have to deal with these types of people all day long at work. She quieted down and I melted in my seat. The rides and work were taking their toll on me...I'm not in the greatest of shape. Was thinking of stopping at the local high school on my way home to watch a girls' softball game...but declined. Wanted to get home and crash. Made it home...Drank some OJ, 6 oz of Pepsi and some water. Crashed on the floor and in front of the TV for a while.
Will I do it again?...Yeah, I plan to. If gasoline goes up to $5.00 I think I'll do it a lot more. I think I'll only be a fair weather rider...Between 65-90 degrees is my limit...And only 1/2 day shifts. I have to walk several miles at work so that gets me tired, too. I won't ride on smoggy days. Both my heart attacks occured on smoggy days...Not good for my heart or lungs. It was fun...Some work, but I enjoyed it. My wife calls me Scamp...Like the children's book...His big adventure. That's it...Thanks for reading. Brian
Saw the below in Bicycling Magazine...
Bike Commuting For Dave Kingsbury, the trip to the office is as much a reason to work as the paycheck. ByJoe Lindsey Tags:Bike commuting
Comments
(0)
COMMUTING: Minimize Your Pollution Exposure FEATURE: The Road I Didn't Know Most people judge a good commute by how smoothly it passes. My friend Dave Kingsbury uses different measures: seeing the pasqueflowers bloom one switchback higher on the trail each day in the spring, or having calm water for the canoe portion of the trip. Colorado's Front Range has long been home to people who, like Dave, choose to live in the natural beauty of the foothills. But the price they pay for living in paradise is a hideous commute to work in Denver or Boulder. Dave's 26-mile drive involves a precipitous descent on partly unpaved mountain roads, and then a crawl across Boulder in heavy traffic to nearby Gunbarrel, where he's a cognitive anthropologist for advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky. One way, it's easily 45 minutes in good weather and more than an hour of white-knuckle driving in bad. But Dave doesn't drive; at least, not often.
Instead of drudgery, each commute is an adventure. He's linked together dozens of routes to and from work, all the while relishing the way clouds get bright, puffy edges on cold mornings or the sight of 70 elk running through a field, moments he chronicles in a blog (themongoliachronicles.typepad.com). "It brings a level of intimacy I'm not sure how you'd get otherwise," he says. Last year, to capture spring, he took a photo every morning in May of the same meadow.
Dave's been commuting by bike (or skis) at least three days a week, year-round, since he moved to the foothills west of Boulder in 1990. And while advocates love to make the case for bike commuting by listing its many benefits--improving health, saving money and helping the environment, for example--those weren't the reasons Dave decided to start commuting by bike. "It was a sanity thing," he says. Eighteen years and four jobs later, it still is.
Life at CP+B is the typical big-agency routine: long hours, lots of stress. Shimano is a client, as are Volkswagen North America and Burger King. "This place is insane," Dave says. "It goes 24/7." Ad agency work, like most jobs, involves frustrating setbacks: plans change, projects get killed, months of hard work are lost. "You can work your ass off on something and there are a hundred factors you can't control," he says. Riding's simplicity counters that: "You pedal and you get there."
Commuting, for Dave, is a filter that diffuses life's trials, large and small. "I'll go through 12 different states of mind on the ride," he says. "By the time I get home, I'm in a very different place." One night, he arrived home to find his wife, Shenna, "ready to kill someone" after an afternoon of watching two neighbor kids and their own two-year-old, Quinn. "I walked in, cracked a beer and took Quinn up to the bath for an hour," he says. "That's heaven. If I'd driven, I couldn't do that. I'd still be stressed from work."
Sometimes, the commute dispels stress through sheer effort. After particularly rough days, Dave often finds himself charging across town at top speed for no reason; he has plenty of time to catch the bus he uses for part of his ride home. Most of the time, though, the trip is slower paced, with deliberate meanders--to a meadow filled with flowers, or a rocky outcrop where he can watch the sunset. He also devises more creative journeys, like the canoe-and-bike commute he calls the Canute.
Dave admits that his commute can be a source of stress sometimes--dressing properly for subzero days, for example--but even these experiences give him perspective. Office politics, a challenge at many workplaces, are "just annoying," he says. "But double flatting and pushing my bike home through 5 inches of snow, that's hard."
The Canute is a hybrid commute--Dave Kingsbury rides to Gross Reservoir, paddles his bike across in a canoe and then descends Flagstaff Mountain to Boulder. It started as a lark with a friend who lives on the other side of the reservoir. "Christian can get lost in a paper bag, so I'd describe a place to meet for the ride and he wouldn't show up," says Dave. But Christian owned a canoe (the S.S. Bottomrider, which nearly sank on its maiden Canute) and they could meet a****er's edge. It's now a treasured routine, with a new boat (the Winona Ride-her).
One day last July, I joined Dave for the return leg of the Canute. We rode through Boulder, chatting. Conversation turned sparse on the 45-minute climb up Flagstaff Mountain. Just past the summit, a summer squall dumped rain. We took shelter in a thicket of brush as Dave snapped photos of the water cascading down the road. When the rain lightened, we continued on to the water, packed the bikes in the canoe, a disassembly that Dave now has down to a science, and paddled off. At the center of the reservoir, we took a break and I pulled two bottles of beer out of my pack. He produced a sandwich he'd brought as a similar surprise. We were alone on the lake; the only sound was a distant airliner passing overhead. We finished the beer and picked up our paddles. It would be getting dark soon.
Bike Commuting For Dave Kingsbury, the trip to the office is as much a reason to work as the paycheck. ByJoe Lindsey Tags:Bike commuting
Comments
(0)
COMMUTING: Minimize Your Pollution Exposure FEATURE: The Road I Didn't Know Most people judge a good commute by how smoothly it passes. My friend Dave Kingsbury uses different measures: seeing the pasqueflowers bloom one switchback higher on the trail each day in the spring, or having calm water for the canoe portion of the trip. Colorado's Front Range has long been home to people who, like Dave, choose to live in the natural beauty of the foothills. But the price they pay for living in paradise is a hideous commute to work in Denver or Boulder. Dave's 26-mile drive involves a precipitous descent on partly unpaved mountain roads, and then a crawl across Boulder in heavy traffic to nearby Gunbarrel, where he's a cognitive anthropologist for advertising firm Crispin Porter + Bogusky. One way, it's easily 45 minutes in good weather and more than an hour of white-knuckle driving in bad. But Dave doesn't drive; at least, not often.
Instead of drudgery, each commute is an adventure. He's linked together dozens of routes to and from work, all the while relishing the way clouds get bright, puffy edges on cold mornings or the sight of 70 elk running through a field, moments he chronicles in a blog (themongoliachronicles.typepad.com). "It brings a level of intimacy I'm not sure how you'd get otherwise," he says. Last year, to capture spring, he took a photo every morning in May of the same meadow.
Dave's been commuting by bike (or skis) at least three days a week, year-round, since he moved to the foothills west of Boulder in 1990. And while advocates love to make the case for bike commuting by listing its many benefits--improving health, saving money and helping the environment, for example--those weren't the reasons Dave decided to start commuting by bike. "It was a sanity thing," he says. Eighteen years and four jobs later, it still is.
Life at CP+B is the typical big-agency routine: long hours, lots of stress. Shimano is a client, as are Volkswagen North America and Burger King. "This place is insane," Dave says. "It goes 24/7." Ad agency work, like most jobs, involves frustrating setbacks: plans change, projects get killed, months of hard work are lost. "You can work your ass off on something and there are a hundred factors you can't control," he says. Riding's simplicity counters that: "You pedal and you get there."
Commuting, for Dave, is a filter that diffuses life's trials, large and small. "I'll go through 12 different states of mind on the ride," he says. "By the time I get home, I'm in a very different place." One night, he arrived home to find his wife, Shenna, "ready to kill someone" after an afternoon of watching two neighbor kids and their own two-year-old, Quinn. "I walked in, cracked a beer and took Quinn up to the bath for an hour," he says. "That's heaven. If I'd driven, I couldn't do that. I'd still be stressed from work."
Sometimes, the commute dispels stress through sheer effort. After particularly rough days, Dave often finds himself charging across town at top speed for no reason; he has plenty of time to catch the bus he uses for part of his ride home. Most of the time, though, the trip is slower paced, with deliberate meanders--to a meadow filled with flowers, or a rocky outcrop where he can watch the sunset. He also devises more creative journeys, like the canoe-and-bike commute he calls the Canute.
Dave admits that his commute can be a source of stress sometimes--dressing properly for subzero days, for example--but even these experiences give him perspective. Office politics, a challenge at many workplaces, are "just annoying," he says. "But double flatting and pushing my bike home through 5 inches of snow, that's hard."
The Canute Banish boredom by taking the long way home.
The Canute is a hybrid commute--Dave Kingsbury rides to Gross Reservoir, paddles his bike across in a canoe and then descends Flagstaff Mountain to Boulder. It started as a lark with a friend who lives on the other side of the reservoir. "Christian can get lost in a paper bag, so I'd describe a place to meet for the ride and he wouldn't show up," says Dave. But Christian owned a canoe (the S.S. Bottomrider, which nearly sank on its maiden Canute) and they could meet a****er's edge. It's now a treasured routine, with a new boat (the Winona Ride-her).
One day last July, I joined Dave for the return leg of the Canute. We rode through Boulder, chatting. Conversation turned sparse on the 45-minute climb up Flagstaff Mountain. Just past the summit, a summer squall dumped rain. We took shelter in a thicket of brush as Dave snapped photos of the water cascading down the road. When the rain lightened, we continued on to the water, packed the bikes in the canoe, a disassembly that Dave now has down to a science, and paddled off. At the center of the reservoir, we took a break and I pulled two bottles of beer out of my pack. He produced a sandwich he'd brought as a similar surprise. We were alone on the lake; the only sound was a distant airliner passing overhead. We finished the beer and picked up our paddles. It would be getting dark soon.
Saw one last one...I love that magazine...
Commuter Dude Keith Gates says if he can ride to work, you can, too. ByEmily Furia Tags:Beginning Cycling,Commuting
Comments
(2)
COMMUTING: Booby-Trap Your Bike COMMUTING: Stay Safe in Traffic
Nine years ago, Keith Gates took up cycling because of a guitar. "I threw the strap over my shoulder, looked down and couldn't see the strings," says the 34-year-old systems analyst from Olathe, Kansas, who weighed 245 pounds at the time. "I started Weigh****chers the next week." He also started riding on weekends--once around the block at first, then on a local rec trail. Before long, "weekends just weren't enough," Gates says, so he began riding to work a couple times a week. "Eventually, I realized I hadn't filled my car with gas in three months." The Commuter Dude was born.
Today Gates, who has lost nearly 100 pounds, commutes 22 miles round-trip and is on a mission to help others do the same--by dishing out advice and shooting down excuses at his website, www.commuterdude.com. Here are five of his best tips for getting started.
NO MORE SWEATY BACK
"Messenger bags are great, but if it's 95 degrees outside, you don't want one on your back," says Gates. His canvas Carradice saddlebag (carradice.co.uk) easily attaches to his bike's seatpost with a quick-release.
TAPE YOUR FRAME
The first year Gates commuted, he noticed that "more cars were cutting in front of me as the days got shorter. At first I thought 'What jerks,' but then I realized that they probably couldn't see me." In addition to -using front and rear lights, Gates recommends applying easy-to-remove electrical tape to your frame, then sticking reflective tape to the electrical tape.
USE YOUR EARS
"You can often tell by the pitch of the tires and engine whether or not a driver sees you," Gates says.
AVOID BURNOUT
Commuting can leave you over trained, especially if you also ride on weekends, says Gates. "I used to feel guilty about taking a day off, but we all need a break every once in a while."
JOIN THE CLUBS
"I try to support as many of the local bike clubs as I can," says Gates, who rides with several Kansas City-area groups and uses his website to publicize their advocacy efforts. "You never know what they might be doing that will benefit your riding, even if you don't commute."
COMMUTING: Booby-Trap Your Bike COMMUTING: Stay Safe in Traffic
Commuter Dude Keith Gates says if he can ride to work, you can, too. ByEmily Furia Tags:Beginning Cycling,Commuting
Comments
(2)
COMMUTING: Booby-Trap Your Bike COMMUTING: Stay Safe in Traffic
Nine years ago, Keith Gates took up cycling because of a guitar. "I threw the strap over my shoulder, looked down and couldn't see the strings," says the 34-year-old systems analyst from Olathe, Kansas, who weighed 245 pounds at the time. "I started Weigh****chers the next week." He also started riding on weekends--once around the block at first, then on a local rec trail. Before long, "weekends just weren't enough," Gates says, so he began riding to work a couple times a week. "Eventually, I realized I hadn't filled my car with gas in three months." The Commuter Dude was born.
Today Gates, who has lost nearly 100 pounds, commutes 22 miles round-trip and is on a mission to help others do the same--by dishing out advice and shooting down excuses at his website, www.commuterdude.com. Here are five of his best tips for getting started.
NO MORE SWEATY BACK
"Messenger bags are great, but if it's 95 degrees outside, you don't want one on your back," says Gates. His canvas Carradice saddlebag (carradice.co.uk) easily attaches to his bike's seatpost with a quick-release.
TAPE YOUR FRAME
The first year Gates commuted, he noticed that "more cars were cutting in front of me as the days got shorter. At first I thought 'What jerks,' but then I realized that they probably couldn't see me." In addition to -using front and rear lights, Gates recommends applying easy-to-remove electrical tape to your frame, then sticking reflective tape to the electrical tape.
USE YOUR EARS
"You can often tell by the pitch of the tires and engine whether or not a driver sees you," Gates says.
AVOID BURNOUT
Commuting can leave you over trained, especially if you also ride on weekends, says Gates. "I used to feel guilty about taking a day off, but we all need a break every once in a while."
JOIN THE CLUBS
"I try to support as many of the local bike clubs as I can," says Gates, who rides with several Kansas City-area groups and uses his website to publicize their advocacy efforts. "You never know what they might be doing that will benefit your riding, even if you don't commute."
COMMUTING: Booby-Trap Your Bike COMMUTING: Stay Safe in Traffic
Most Active
Recent Topics
