Commuting - My first commute!

Well today was my first commute. I had been post poning the entire week because it was raining and i had no headlight. So i picked one up on wednesday and yesterday i couldn't ride because i had school and work right after and i would have been late so Thursday is my driving day :( . Anyways i've been antsy to ride and weather.com said there was going to be t-showers all day today so i was bummed but when i woke up, i saw blue sky and i was like Eff it, im going to ride and if it rains whatever. So i started going on my 12mi. commute, and wow im out of shape. I free ride alot but its all downhill so very little pedaling, got tired the first 3 miles and started to feel really drained so i stopped a bit, then continued. My eyes were killing me and i think it was because i didnt have glasses or the smog.. or a combination. I finished up my ride and got to the office, locked up the bike, changed and situated myself... 20 minutes later it started raining, went to my bike and brought it into the office and then it started POURING. so lucky. I made the ride there in about 45 minutes, 15 minutes more than it takes me to drive..i was impressed even though i took a 5 minute break before releasing my breakfast onto the street. The commute home was better, didnt stop and i made it back in 40 minutes. No problems with traffic, my gears are skipping though when i get out of the saddle and put some power through the pedals so my starts were slow. Made it home in 35 minutes and i wasnt going quick at all. Then, 20 minutes later again, it started to POUR. All in all, a very good day, now i just need to wear glasses. :)

Good start!

Congratulations and welcome to the Happy Healthy Commuting MuthaF*ckas club! You will be glad to know that with regular commuting, you will get faster, become more attractive, eat pie whenever you want and become the envy of everyone you know for the incredible amount of attention you receive from the opposite sex.

Keek it up man, it gets easyer.

Great stufff !
'Addiction' phase comes shortly after the 'this is killing me' phase,
so stick with it
Make sure you have patch kit and spare link. I usually dont eat anything
sustantial before the commute or I probably would be doing a little impromptu
road annointing :eek: :eek: . Eat when you arrive.
Be safe !

Good for you. It gets easier pretty quickly.

rain on your first commute day is a very auspicious sign. you have been doused by the bike gods- oooh it's going to be good commuting for you. :D

... and become the envy of everyone you know for the incredible amount of attention you receive from the opposite sex.

Wait...how much commuting until this happens?

Writing as a fellow LA commuter, one thing you will realize quickly is that we are darned lucky. Compared to just most people (as you will notice in these threads), we have it easy when it comes to weather. And LA traffic is so bad that it is hugely satisfying to travel about without a car. The only real downside is that most LA drivers are bad - really bad - so you have to be a fairly alert rider.

Keep at it. After these few storms, it will be back to perfect weather.

Congratulations on your commute.

As to weather, I take a rather perverse satisfaction in riding in conditions that most people find miserable to experience simply walking from their front door to their driveway. Think about it that way and perhaps a bit of rain won't seem so daunting. :D

Wait...how much commuting until this happens?
It's already happened. You just haven't noticed it yet cuz you're so focused on riding. ;)

well the rain wasnt what bugged me, its the fact that i have no rain gear so i would have arrived to work totally drenched.. but i was saved by the commuting gods because i swear to you guys, 20 minutes after i arrived at work and at home, it started to pour. I guess ill skimp on the heavy breakfast, ithink thats what made my stomach feel like disposing itself onto the pavement. Thanks for the words though, i sure did enjoy not using up gas and only taking 10 minutes longer than it would have when driving.

Toki, where do you commute from/to?

well the rain wasnt what bugged me, its the fact that i have no rain gear so i would have arrived to work totally drenched...<clip>. I guess ill skimp on the heavy breakfast, ithink thats what made my stomach feel like disposing itself onto the pavement.
I have a couple sets of raingear. I leave one at the office and one at home. That way, I don't ever have to carry any unless I am wearing it. Even on rainy days, it is seldom that rain is falling during the commute time. The only thing I don't like is if I get drenched, my shoes are not dry by the next day. Yuck.

As for food, I always eat before I leave. I am often busy the moment I walk in the door so if I don't eat before, I have a very unpleasant morning. You should be okay. Just don't push yourself so hard on the ride. I prefer to ride hard on the way home. It helps get the stress out of my system, too.



Toki, where do you commute from/to?
I live near LAX and work in Santa Monica. It is less than 15 miles round trip which is considerably shorter than yours, but I will sometimes add miles here and there if I have time. The cool thing is that north/south traffic on the Westside is heavy and the 405 is a nightmare so I can generally get door-to-door just as quickly as if I drove if not faster. And for a while, parking was a nightmare at our office so I was able to smile whenever people talked about spending "literally 10-15 minutes looking for parking" or having to park "a mile away".

The rough part is that most of the roads I ride are not really made to support that kind of rush hour traffic. After multiple "door clips" (just catching the edge of the door), SUV/pickup buzzes, rights hooks, and one accident (which is a fun little story all my itself), I ride much more assertively. But it means I have to be much more alert. In the evenings, I usually work late so traffic is not as bad and much less stressful.