khuon

... temporarily...

After weeks of it just sitting in the garage, I hung up my bike in my office. Since the beginning of November, I haven't had more than two days in a row when I've been home. I've been travelling all over the place and the days I am home were spent doing things with my wife. I've barely had any time to ride. This month, I will be home all of five days total and that's just long enough on weekends for me to wash clothes and repack for my next trip. This situation does not look like it will be improving much in the near future and although I've always done a lot of travel for my job in the past, it's starting to get excessive. Maybe I need to find a new job.

Does anyone else fight this battle? What are your solutions? I've been trying to save up for a travel bike but something else keeps forcing me to dip into those funds. I'm not so sure I want to fly my bike given the kind of damage my normal checked luggage has seen. I have contemplated renting bikes though.

roadfix

Yes, you need to find a new job. Cycling should be an important part of your life after your family.
I've finally made up my mind to sell one of our small businesses after all these years of not being able to ride as often as I would have liked to. This will give me an extra day off and hopefully even full weekends in which I'll be able to take occasional short multi-day bike tours. I often wish I worked for someone else.....I have not had a vacation since the early 90's...

LordOpie

That's what I did. Having less money is a pain and women use me for sex and move on cuz I can't afford to keep 'em, but I rode 4x in the past week and am riding tonight and tomorrow before the next snow fall

If you're in a location long enough, bring a bike, otherwise the renting idea sounds a good one, cuz then you only need to bring your pedals and saddle instead of the whole thing.

LordOpie

I know this makes me sound old, but I'm totally disease free and want to stay that way... so I've become more selective.

I agree money without time is like marriage without sex.

timmhaan

i have many days when it seems like everything is conspiring to keep me away from my beloved bike. i'm trying to get up early at least twice a week to get some riding in before work, but it's real hard for me to wake up and get going at 5:00am.

afterwork it seems like my time gets filled up somehow and the weekends are even worse. the best option for me is early mornings. easier said than done though.

shmanz

In Joe Friel's book, the cyclist's training bible, he states that scrificing sleep to ride is a very negative thing. It only drains you quicker and doesn't give proper time to recover. You may want to rethink the whole early thing.

*Thanks for the book tip guys*
Daniel

khuon

Yeah. I agree. If I have access to the bike then I can usually get in a nice ride early morning or early evening since I work from home on the days I am at home. However, it's being in the same place with the bike that's the problem.

timmhaan

i need to get that book. so many people refer to it. but, yes, i usually get 7-8 hours a night of sleep. it's just the schedule is pushed back so late sometimes (late for riding) that it's just easier for me in the morning. it's only a matter of getting used to it.

H23

my two cent:

If its your job that holds you back and there is no end in sight, then by all means, get rid of the job. I don't even travel, and I am working to change mine for the same reason as you: after work, no time left to do anything but rushed errands.

I suppose there are some technological solutions such as S and S couplers for you, but it sounds like you are just away more than you want to be.

kgatwork

How about commuting to work? Kill 2 birds with one stone.

lsits

Yeah, you could ride down the hall from your bedroom to your office.

roadfix

Dang!...that's a good one!

khuon

Been there... done that. That commute is dangerous! I have two cats.

Avalanche325

Isn't that a redundant statement?

Avalanche325

khuon,

What kind of work do you do? I have had jobs that require constant travel. That was great when I was single, but I wouldn't do it now. Now I have a job that requires me and my wife to move every 18 months to 2 years. But at least I come home to my wife every night. We have to live in apts, so nothing is perfect. But, after about three more years of it, I will semi-retire. So it is worth it to us.

If your job requires you to be constantly away from your family and doesn't provide enough money to buy another bike, is it worth it? You might be suprised if you look hard enough that you can make a change and improve on both aspects.
It is hard to look at things and imagine yourself doing something other than what you already do. I made a change from one area to another in the same general field. I cut my work hours in half and tripled my income at the same time. So, look outside that box. There may be other opportunities. I know it is a lot easier to say than do. But, give it a try.

Tell us what you do. Maybe The Fixer is really Bill Gates or Donald Trump and can help you out.

Let's get this guy back on his bike.

roadfix

My thoughts exactly.....

slvoid

I thought you biked to work?

foehn

Naaaah, two cats is nothin'. It's only reeeely dangerous when you run a hallway filled with two large dogs, two cats, a cat-box(covered, about 18" high) and many, many small toys and toy parts such as those teeny, vicious legos, matchbox cars and jacks.

Makes me shudder to think of it. . .

khuon

Hahaha... you guys are great. I tend to describe myself as a network architect/engineer. Right now I work for a software company that makes network routing software which gets embedded into routers, switches, load balancers, database servers, etc... anything that needs to be aware of the underlying network topology either in a passive or active mode. My current role is that of a "multifunction" trainer/short-term professional service/consultant. Our company is still pretty small and even though we've been around a while, we still tend to describe ourselves as a startup thus we require our people to perform many roles. Currently I am the only person doing this role although previously in the past, our CTO has stepped in to help. And oftentimes, I find myself backing up our CTO in some of her duties as well. This requires a lot of travel since our customers are everywhere. And since there's only one of me, I'm having to service each new account in serial which essentially blocks out most of my time with nonstop travel. Anyways, it's not as bad as it seems. I get to go to all sorts of interesting places although that sometimes makes it sad because in many of those places, I'd like to enjoy my off-hours on a bike as opposed to sitting in a hotel room staring at a TV. Maybe I should propose to my company that they supply me with personal transportation via a travel-bike.

kgatwork

khuon: How about cross training with rollerblades? Easy to pack and almost as fast.

Roody

Of course we're all going to tell you to quit your job--and we're probably right. But it does sound like you enjoy it. Maybe your company needs to rethink their personnel policies though--they probably burn out employees pretty fast. Since you can't ride much, I hope you find time to walk, run, lift, ski or whatever. Have you ever asked clients about recreational opportunities (other than hookers) when you are out there? Seems like there would be guys with extra bikes who would love to take you out riding. It would be a blast to ride in all different cities.

HigherGround

It's been said before, but no one every lays on their death bed and wishes they had worked more. There's definitely something to be said for not letting it over run your quality of life.

55/Rad

Merton and Tom Likas - who'd a thunk?

Seriously, I spent years working on the road catching planes EVERY Sunday and Friday night. Averaged 8 days at home for 5 years with the wife and 2 kids. It was tough. Riding was the furthest thing from my mind.

Things are better now as they will eventually be for you too. Keep pluggin'.

55/Rad

khuon

There were a couple of times when I was fortunate enough to be able to just drive to meet some of our customers and I brought my bike along. One of our customers is in the Portland area and a couple of their employees are also cyclists so it was great to be able to not only ride after work but to also ride with someone too. That was one of my favourite customer site visits. Additionally, I do have some coworkers who are cyclists too. Our two main offices are in Mountain View, CA and Ann Arbor, MI. One of the guys in Ann Arbor who I've been a longtime friend with purchased a brand new Serotta Legend last year and relegated his old Cannondale R500 to that of backup bike. He's promised it to me anytime I visit Ann Arbor. I rode it to the company picnic the last time I was there. It's slightly large but was fine for rides under 50 miles. So Ann Arbor is not a problem... but other places are. Sadly the former situation is the exception. My last two big trips were to Ottawa, Canada and Bangalore, India for example and I was bikeless. Although to be honest, I'm not so sure I would have been out biking in those two places though. Ottawa was mighty cold and piled high with snow (gave up a lot of that kind of biking after I moved away from Grand Forks, ND) and Bangalore was just a little crazy trafficwise. Plus the polution was horrible. Walking was bad enough... I can't imagine breathing in all that crap while on a bike. Hopefully, if I do go the travel bike route, I can experience a little better cycling environments. I keep edging our salesguys to find customers in Tuscany.

khuon

Thanks. I doubt I'll be able to totally escape business travel. It's really the nature of my particular field and industry. I work in a very global environment. Even without such things as customer visits, I'm involved in a lot of standards bodies and industry forums that have meetings all over the world. However, I have considered changing careers to something slower paced. The problem is that I would also drastically have to overhaul my life (mainly due to the change in financial situation) and I'm not so sure I'm ready to do that yet.