Steely Dan

In america, we all know that the automobile rules our landscape. the vast majority of people in this country commute by automobile, either alone or in a carpool. then there is a much smaller, but still significant minority that commute via public transit. i consider those two modes to be the conventional means of commuting as together they make up the vast majority of the US commuting picture.

and then there are us weirdos, the "bike commuters" and "walk to workers" and so forth. i'd assume that anyone reading this sub-forum commutes by bike at least some of the time. my question, does anyone else commute to work by other unconventional means as well - walking, jogging, swimming, windsurfing, helicopter, cross country skiing, kayaking, etc.?


i'm a daily bike commuter for the most part, but i occasionally kayak home from work for the sake of variety. i have a folding kayak made by Folbot that fits into a backpack. in the morning i'll hope on the el with it and ride the train up to my job in evanston, and then after work i head over to the north shore channel, set up my boat, and paddle back to my home in downtown chicago. the 13 mile journey takes just under 3 hours, which is why i only do it every once in a while, but it sure is a fun and unique way to unwind on my way home from work.

Sundance89

ahh... You must invest in a video camera. That's very cool. But I can easily predict this thread going downhill from your post. Where does one go from here? ... Unless someone commutes on a camel or skydives in to work.

KonAaron Snake 

Commuting by kayak? That sounds really, really cool. I'd love to hear the challenges that offers and the silly little things you need to do to make it possible (where do you store laptops and cell phones? Clothes, etc.?).

kegoguinness

Folding kayak. Just awesome. So do you gussy it up with needless crap like all us bikeys do? You know, cork tape on the paddle handles, Dinotte headlight on the bow, a Showers Pass spray skirt with reflective piping, titanium hull ?

tjspiel

I've jogged and X-Country skied. A coworker has roller-skied a few times and I've seen bladers and unicyclists.

Not commuting but my brother went to his wedding reception from the church via dogsled.

JPprivate

Wow!! I ride along the channel pretty much every morning, I gotta keep an eye out for you

M. Rhoten

I'm working up to running to work, but now I kind of wish my employer and house were closer to the water. Have to think about that one!

CptjohnC

I jumped out of an airplane to get to work a few times, in a prior life ;-)

groovestew

That's pretty cool, Steely Dan. I've seen people longboarding it on the MUTs in the morning as I'm cycling to work. I assumed they were commuting. I'm pretty impressed with how fast a person can go on one of those long boards.

mihlbach

I've skateboarded to work, but not for years.
I'd like to unicycle to work, but haven't yet.
I used to ride a BMX bike to work...thats cycling but a bit different considering it allowed me to talk a route involving drops, gaps, and other obstacles that would have been impossible to navigate with a larger wheeled bike.


I know people who have ridden horseback to work.
I know a guy who regularly drove his lawnmower to work (his job was not mowing) and later an electric golf cart.

trekker pete

The best I can do is list a fair variety of vehicles.

Car
truck
motorcycle
motorhome
bicycle

Steely Dan

it's not as complicated as it at first may seem. i don't carry a laptop with me on my commutes (whether by bike or by kayak, it's too much dead weight). as for clothes and shoes and cell phone and other things that don't get along well with water, i use a simple dry bag that i picked up at REI for like 10 bucks.





nah, i keep it as simple as i can for weight reasons, kinda like my bikes. "simple and clean" is my mantra. i've got good paddling gloves, so need for tape on the stick. for lights, i use a simple LED headlamp. my trip home on the river is all flat water, so there's no need for spray skirts or anything like that (though i do own one for when i'm out on the lake). and the hull is a material called hypalon, which is a rubber infused nylon. metals of any kind would not be suitable for the hull of a folding kayak because you need a watertight fabric that can be folded.





if you look for me along the channel in the mornings, you won't find me, as i'm only out there after work in the late afternoon/early evening.