Commuting - I can't find the motivation to get up before dawn to commute in the winter :-(

I would need to get up pre-dawn to ride my bike 1:15 to the office where it would still be dark when I get there. Every day when I'm sitting at my desk staring out the window around noon, I keep saying that I'm going to ride my bike to work tomorrow. But when my alarm goes off @ 4 AM, it's freezing cold (40's) and dark outside and I just cannot motivate myself to get out of bed, much less ride to work. :( Summer-time is a totally different story when it's nice and warm even during the nights and the days are long. :)

So how do you guys motivate yourselves to get out of bed? I really could use the exercise, but it's just so damn cold and dark! This gives me even more respect for our Navy SEALS who train in the ocean in this weather. The cold weather really is a demoralizer.

Dude, you live in LA. I used to hitch hike to SoCal to get out of the cold. Put on some mittens and a windbreaker, and ride. I'm not from Manitoba, either, I'm from Tennessee.

I've long since banished the psychological distinction between light and dark, something that I find very easy to do in the city. Now it's just a matter of the cold and some decent clothing takes care of that.

I also can't stand the feeling of watching cyclists whip by the bus while I sit, stuck in a traffic jam with no real control over my movement.

Best advice that I can give you is to develop a reward mechanism and stick rigidly with it. Think of something that you would really like, of a modest price, and buy it for yourself if you manage to commute for a week.

There's girls out commuting already when you are just waking up, doesn't that make you feel like a wimp? C'mon man, stop being a momma's boy and grow a pair.

I would need to get up pre-dawn to ride my bike 1:15 to the office where it would still be dark when I get there. Every day when I'm sitting at my desk staring out the window around noon, I keep saying that I'm going to ride my bike to work tomorrow. But when my alarm goes off @ 4 AM, it's freezing cold (40's) and dark outside and I just cannot motivate myself to get out of bed, much less ride to work. :( Summer-time is a totally different story when it's nice and warm even during the nights and the days are long. :)

So how do you guys motivate yourselves to get out of bed? I really could use the exercise, but it's just so damn cold and dark! This gives me even more respect for our Navy SEALS who train in the ocean in this weather. The cold weather really is a demoralizer.

Cold? Forgive me if I have little sympathy. Perhaps it would motivate you if I told you to change your custom user title to something more appropriate, based on your post, like "Live lazy, die wimpy" ?

I don't like getting out of the warm bed either. I have to remember that I have **NEVER** wished I drove when I rode, and always wish I had ridden when I drive.

It's tough to remember that when the bed is warm and the wind is howling. But dude, some of use do it when it's -10*F out, you can manage it at 40.

Not to sound cliche, but "just do it" don't think about it. I passed the hump when I decided to think in terms of the bike as the NORMAL way I get to work, and the car as a crutch I use when I am very sick or have to run long errands or carry heavy stuff.

man up!

I love it when it's 15F out. It has been 40F in the AM lately and it is too warm for me.
As for the dark, my eyes are overly sensitive to light and I have wonderful night vision. Thus, night is a great time to ride. Except for oncoming traffic.

I motivate myself easily since I love riding. Plus, we have one family car. I would rather leave it with my wife and son so she can run errunds.

Driving is much more of a hassle for me than riding. It is only a five mile trip each way, so driving is not as practical as it would be on a longer commute. Besides, I have to fix breakfast for my daughter and walk her to the school bus stop.

Paul

It's only 1 minute of pain. Just getting out of bed, out the door is hard...the rest is easy. I know that once this threshold is crossed It'll be good. But it's still hard to do. Kinda like being born, you're all warm in the womb then some friggin Dr. is smacking you on the a$$. Rude awakening. Charlie
PS: We had rain and 40's this AM in Baltimore, I thought it was balmy. it's all what you get use to. I'm from LA and remember shivering as a child when the temps dropped below 50.

It's only 1 minute of pain. Just getting out of bed, out the door is hard...the rest is easy.

That's the strategy I used in college. I made an effort not to think of what I was going to do all day, I just said "All you need to do is to go get in the shower." If I thought of it as the end of being nice and warm in bed, I wouldn't want to get up. By limiting my vision I managed to take one step after another and get going.

There's girls out commuting already when you are just waking up, doesn't that make you feel like a wimp? C'mon man, stop being a momma's boy and grow a pair.


+1. My wife commutes all through winter up here. Her record so far is -25c (-13f). On top of that, up here at 52 degrees north, the sun doesn't rise till after 8am and sets before 5pm. Oh yeah, and to top it all off, the first 15 minutes of her 45 minute commute are all downhill, which makes it REALLY cold.

first, get everything ready the night before. tires should be pumped, water bottle filled, etc. lay out all your clothes so when you get up to take that morning pee, you'll see everything layed out all ready. get dressed immeditately (before eating breakfast). it's a bit harder to wimp out if you're already dressed. next, don't waste time - just be all business, grab the bike, and head out. for me it's like jumping into cold water - best to do it quickly and get the shock over with. good luck.

When I began commuting last year, it was 20 degrees outside. It wasn't so bad then.

Y'all are STUDS. I can barely get out of bed to drive a car to work sometimes.

I feel you regarding the dark. I'm luckying tho in the fact that I have "semi flex hours."
But buck up, the days are getting longer now!

Edit: oh yeah, and buy some thin wool layers, you'll be fine!

You are right on, the biggest obstacle is getting dressed, once you are dressed it is too hard to wimp out. +30degF, 15mph headwind.

Dude, you live in LA. I used to hitch hike to SoCal to get out of the cold. Put on some mittens and a windbreaker, and ride. I'm not from Manitoba, either, I'm from Tennessee.

I am from Manitoba, and believe me, you guys don't know what cold is. Right now it is -2, but last year at this time we had -30 and 50CM of snow. I expect it to cool off by Saturday. It should be around - 10 - 15.

I motivate myself by buying a new magazine every week I ride to work. I am in chicago so it's a bit colder here than there.

If my 4'2" self can do it so can you.

Try going to bed wearing all your clothes, that way it is easier to get up in the morning. Personally when I bike in the winter I like to wear my hunting camo gear, so the night before I go biking I wear it all, even the orange vest. I get some weird looks, some people point and laugh, but joke is on them, I'm the one getting healthier!

I am from Manitoba, and believe me, you guys don't know what cold is. Right now it is -2, but last year at this time we had -30 and 50CM of snow. I expect it to cool off by Saturday. It should be around - 10 - 15.


Temps are relative to whatever you are used to. Heck, when I was a kid in Washington State we had a very cold arctic blast. I had the pleasure of riding in -35F daytime temps for a couple of days.

Hmmm...my conversion site says that = -37.2C. I'm thinking that is incorrect. odd

Try going to bed wearing all your clothes, that way it is easier to get up in the morning. Personally when I bike in the winter I like to wear my hunting camo gear, so the night before I go biking I wear it all, even the orange vest. I get some weird looks, some people point and laugh, but joke is on them, I'm the one getting healthier!

LOL!

Awesome username. Dare I ask what is shaved? No....nevermind

Y'all are STUDS. I can barely get out of bed to drive a car to work sometimes.

+1

I've taken to lunch hour training this winter.

I slept in this morning again. In fact, I was even a couple of hours late driving to work today. It's nice that my boss is on vacation. :D

It's the morning darkness that really gets me. If it's bright and sunny out but still cold outside (50 - 60 degrees), I'll go for a ride. I was thinking of getting a lightbox (http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/lighting.html) and setting it to gradually turn on 1/2 to 1 hour before I get up in the morning so I'll think it's late morning. Anyone try these?

Email me at freedom_003@hotmail.com and I'll send you a pic.

*confused*

I'm assuming you are male. Hopefully, it is either your head or legs. :p

It's the morning darkness that really gets me. If it's bright and sunny out but still cold outside (50 - 60 degrees), I'll go for a ride.
At the risk of stating the obvious - GET A LIGHT! I run a 10W headlight whenever it's dark so I can see and be seen. I'm upgrading to a HID system within a couple of weeks, which will turn night into day... You can do the same.

that is my email address. Can a mod please remove it ASAP.

-35F...

Hmmm...my conversion site says that = -37.2C. I'm thinking that is incorrect. odd

Nope, that's about right. F and C converge at -40; -40C = -40F

Yer studly for riding down there. I went to school at Michigan Tech, and we had a week where it never got above about -35*F. I once started out to the parking lot (200 ft away) to get something out of my car; I went out about 50 feet, and had to go back for a balaclava; my face was already in pain.

If you stay in bed, after you wake up, you can talk yourself out of anything. The trick is to get OUT of bed, before you have the chance to start dreading the rest of the day. I also make it easy on myself to lay out the bikewear and backpack the night before, so all I have to do is stumble in and put it on - no decisions necessary. If I play it right, I'm on my way, before I've really given it much thought. Lately, I've even been able to cut out a little earlier and get in a couple bonus miles.

The (relative) cold, though - it really is just a mental block, more than any real physical one. You get used to it, then you come to appreciate it, then you relish it.

I believe in what I call "natural awakening". Meaning that I don't use any alarm clocks or radios to wake me up. By leaving my window blinds open I've found that I will naturally wake up about 30 - 45 minutes before dawn. Of course, I also have to go to bed at a decent hour every night so I get enough sleep. I've found that I require about 7 1/2 hours a night.

So in the winter time I go to bed about 10 - 10:30 and wake up around 6ish. I lie in bed for another 15 minutes or so while listening to the weather report. When I get up I still have another half -hour until dawn so I slowly assemble my needs for the day - bike clothes, work clothes, breakfast, lunch.

I might toss down a glass of OJ or cocoa and check the headlines in the paper. Then I swing my pack on and head for the bike. By now the sun will have been up for 5 - 10 minutes and it is no longer dark.

I've found that doing the morning commute entirely in daylight works well for me. It doesn't seem as cheerless as it does it the dark. I can better see any patchy ice. And most important I get a full complement of sunshine to start my day - vital if you think you may be suffering from Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD.

I believe in what I call "natural awakening". Meaning that I don't use any alarm clocks or radios to wake me up. By leaving my window blinds open I've found that I will naturally wake up about 30 - 45 minutes before dawn.

So in the winter time I go to bed about 10 - 10:30 and wake up around 6ish.


snicker. where in north america are you living that dawn comes at 7 am in the dead of winter? even smooshed up against the border as i am, it's more like 8:30 here. anyway, i think the op said he has to be at work well before then, so it might not be a method that works for him.

i'm the opposite of the people whose key is to set everything out the night before. if i do that, it's a gilt-edged bet that i'll find myself inside my car. for me assembling my ride stuff through the first 30 minutes of the morning or so really helps my brain to boot up into 'ride to work' mode. i kind of do it in the spaces between the other obligatory morning behaviours: get up, turn on coffee machine, locate pair of jeans to put into bag, call kid, locate socks, call kid, toss in a few apples, pour coffee, call kid, put on tights . . .

i always have that enforced wait-period between getting up and getting out, so if everything's already done i always find my mind slips back into 'ride to work? what ride to work? what bike?' while i'm waiting for my kid to surface and the coffee to brew.

snicker. where in north america are you living that dawn comes at 7 am in the dead of winter? even smooshed up against the border as i am, it's more like 8:30 here.

I guess it depends on where you are located in relation to the reference meridian of your time zone. If you are on the very western edge of a time zone then the sunrise is going to be very late ...

Here are the sunrise/sunset times next week for DC. So the first 10 days of the January are the latest sunrise. Beginning the 11th I'm going to have to start getting up earlier :).

Jan 1, 2006 7:27 AM 4:57 PM
Jan 11, 2006 7:26 AM 5:06 PM

Where in north america are you living that dawn comes at 7 am in the dead of winter? Anyway, i think the op said he has to be at work well before then, so it might not be a method that works for him.
Here in L.A. (http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/USCA0090.html), sunrise was at 6:59 AM and sunset is at 4:53 PM. However, I need to be at the office by 6 AM so it doesn't matter.

I have always been a night person. In college I would go to bed at 3 AM. Now I need to get up at 5 AM (4 AM if I want to ride to work). What an ungodly time of day to be out in my underwear on a bicycle. I don't mind going for a ride in the evening that turns into night. Since we went back to standard time, my (few) after-work rides have been like that. Leave when it's light out, come back when it's dark out.

Oh well, let's see how fast I break, or not even attempt, my New Year's Resolution: get up at 4 AM and ride to work every day.

If it was 40F when I woke up in the morning, rising to a "cold 50-60" during the day, you'd hear the whoop of joy all the way over in Southern California.

And remember. it will be daylight when you ride home.

1st, the days ARE getting longer.

2nd, Only your attitude needs a change. Riding in the dark can be very cool. Very mysterious. Enjoy it.

3rd, Get brighter lights for your bike.

The hardest part is waking up and climbing out of bed. I sympathize, but I've done it in the past. You can too.

Ya gotta get up and go to work . . . right?
So hop on your bike (after putting something warm on) and go!
After a few minutes you'll warm up and feel like a hero when you get there. Repeat the process a few times and you'll actually look forward to it.

Geez, one of the selling points of moving to Santa Fe for me was that the average high winter temps only went down to the low 40s. Cold my arse!

Your temp converter is right on. One of the more interesting math problems I've set for myself was to calculate the temperature at which Centigrade and Fahrenheit coincide: it's -40
That is -40C = -40F. Fascinating, what?

Your temp converter is right on. One of the more interesting math problems I've set for myself was to calculate the temperature at which Centigrade and Fahrenheit coincide: it's -40
That is -40C = -40F. Fascinating, what?
F = 9/5 * C + 32
C = (F - 32) * 5/9

9/5 * N + 32 = (N - 32) * 5/9
9/5 * N + 32 = 5/9 * N - 32 * 5/9
9/5 * N - 5/9 * N = - 32 * 5/9 - 32
81/45 * N - 25 / 45 * N = -800/45 - 1440/45
56/45 * N = -2240/45
56N = -2240
N = -40

I believe this was junior high math. :rolleyes:

And instead of thinking it's 50*F, but rather 10*C doesn't do any good for motivation. The temperature number keeps getting smaller! Maybe in Kelvin: 283.15*K. There, now I feel warm and toasty. :D

I guess it depends on where you are located in relation to the reference meridian of your time zone. If you are on the very western edge of a time zone then the sunrise is going to be very late ...

i never thought of that aspect of it (but i know why not. nothing east of those mountains REALLY exists). my entire grasp of the concepts involved is based on the certain knowledge that we didn't have none of this 8-hours-of-daylight foolishment down there near the tropic of capricorn.


Here in L.A., sunrise was at 6:59 AM and sunset is at 4:53 PM.

wow. i didn't think the difference was that stark up here, since i'm about as south as you can get in canada. but we haven't seen a pre-8-am dawn for months, and sunset happens at about 4:30. not that any of that will help you.


What an ungodly time of day to be out in my underwear on a bicycle.

you're not kidding. or in spike milligan's words: 'it wasn't fair. who invented early?' however, from one confirmed night-owl to another, there IS a kind of surreal wonderfulness about being out and getting a headstart on your day at that hour, if you can manage it. i rarely do, but when it does happen something about it makes all the leftover time at the end of the day feel like free hours. my rule of thumb is: the earlier i have to get up, the more buffer time i try to give myself to ease into it. it's counter-intuitive to those unnatural mutated types who can get up and go, but for me it's only partly about the amount of sleep. the rest of it is about the amount of wake-up time.

If you spend a lot of money on good rear and front lights as well as back up lights and reflective material then you will want to commute before sunrise to make the money spent worth it. ;) At least that is how it worked for me- in Oct/Nov I started leaving earlier for work just to be able to use my lights.

Al

sounds like you have problems with motivation towards your job, too. maybe a change of attitude/lifestyle of sorts?

hey man, we should trade locations for winter. When I leave the house in the mornings, it's dark. When I come home, it's dark.

Yes, I had to adjust to that. I spent most of my life in hawaii where the days would be around 13 hours in the summer, and around 10 hours during the winter. And it was WAY warmer.

go get that motivation!!!

edit: this might make you feel a little more grateful for your situation/whatevs:

More Current Conditions
Feels Like: 39° Dewpoint: 43°
Barometer: 29.22 in and steady Wind: ESE 7 mph
Humidity: 100% Sunrise: 7:51 am
Visibility: 16.09 mi Sunset: 4:36 pm

it's like 3:25 right now :( but hey, the days ARE getting longer. That was one thing that motivated me this solstice :)

I slept in this morning again. In fact, I was even a couple of hours late driving to work today. It's nice that my boss is on vacation. :D

It's the morning darkness that really gets me. If it's bright and sunny out but still cold outside (50 - 60 degrees), I'll go for a ride. I was thinking of getting a lightbox (http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/lighting.html) and setting it to gradually turn on 1/2 to 1 hour before I get up in the morning so I'll think it's late morning. Anyone try these?

Try going to bed early enough to get a good nights sleep by the time you are need to get up.

My alarm shattered my sleep this morning and I wake up to find the ground wet, dark, and a freezing cold 43*. Oh hell no! I think I'll stick to cycling in the afternoon & evenings after work. Mornings are only for one thing - sleeping. My hat's off to those of you who can get up before dawn and ride your bikes to work year-round. I'm going to wait until summer when it's 70* and sunny in the morning to do that again. :p

43F is cold? huh?

You aren't even below the freezing mark yet. Californians are so odd :p
Y'all keep moving out here. At least it makes the coat manufacturers happy.

*****....at least you can see the sun when it's up. Try moving to the land of perpetual overcast, the pnw. :(

My alarm shattered my sleep this morning and I wake up to find the ground wet, dark, and a freezing cold 43*. Oh hell no! I think I'll stick to cycling in the afternoon & evenings after work. Mornings are only for one thing - sleeping. My hat's off to those of you who can get up before dawn and ride your bikes to work year-round. I'm going to wait until summer when it's 70* and sunny in the morning to do that again. :p




Sell the dayum BIKE!

I like riding when it's cold (yes, 40 is cold for me, too) in the morning. But I can empathize with you. I tried riding in the 4 o'clock hour once and my body just isn't awake at that time.

allo allo
another Winnipeg-er here.... 40F is too hot, even!!
i'll bike until it gets supercold.... -35c or something... as long as skin is completely covered you're fine....
i leave the house at 5:45am to get to work... not much traffic...... not much light either...
i get motivated because our transit scheduling sucks... and i'm too impatient to wait....
i don't want to drive, because that defeats the purpose of commuting...

Mac: sell your car!!! then you'll have no problem being motivated......
keep trying though!!

Jimmi

I don't like getting out of the warm bed either. I have to remember that I have **NEVER** wished I drove when I rode, and always wish I had ridden when I drive.

It's tough to remember that when the bed is warm and the wind is howling. But dude, some of use do it when it's -10*F out, you can manage it at 40.

Not to sound cliche, but "just do it" don't think about it. I passed the hump when I decided to think in terms of the bike as the NORMAL way I get to work, and the car as a crutch I use when I am very sick or have to run long errands or carry heavy stuff.

I aggree with itsjustme, I have the same situation. The key is don't do allot of thinking about it. Set everything up the night before so you just get up and go. Tell yourself that you'll be glad you did it once you get out there. About 90-95% of the time you will. It's when you stop and think about it that it will be a wash.