bmthom.gis

I also have a "work bike" - even if I commuted in by bike I will grab that to go do errands or just to get out because it doesn't have any bags or stuff to steal on it, it's upright and has in IGH. It's at home right now...I rebuilt the headset the other night and haven't brought it back in (when I do, I'll probably ride the 12 miles and hitch a ride home with the better half)

Artkansas 

Early in my career I did. I was a Utility Worker B at Hughes Aircraft. My job was to move boxes and parts from point A to point B by whatever means necessary. Sometimes, point B was at the location on the far side of Los Angeles International Airport. It was a 20 minute ride. But due to Hughes Aircraft's enormous parking lots, it was a 40 minute drive. So my bike was seen as super speedy.

The best part was that the company also had truck drivers who would take a day to get a part over to the other site. They hated me. I made them look bad. They called the union stewards on me so often for working out of my job, that I had to carry a copy of my job description with me when I rode, to prove to the steward that I was just doing my job.

Ironically, if they wanted to bust me for working out of my job, all they had to do was come to my desk and see that I also maintained a large parts bank and disassembled Telescopic Sight Units.

Finally, they got me one day. I had just gotten promoted to being a full technician. They were delivering a huge stone test bench and asked me to come over and help them. We got the test bench mounted in its frame. Then they saw me walk back over to my test bench and resume work. That set them off. They called the union steward. He found that I had been promoted, and as such wasn't working out of my job, but that I had been when I went over to help the truck drivers. Busted!, However, since they had asked me to help, no infraction had been comitted.

lasauge 

Yes and yes. At present I work in a bike shop where part of my job is to test ride bikes to verify that repairs have been properly completed, or that newly built bikes are ready for the sales floor. My previous work didn't involve bikes but a few times I did get paid for my time (and mileage!) when I rode to other stores for meetings as part of the workday.

Artkansas 

In one of my more recent jobs, on of my tasks was to make sure that the ads on the Jumbotron at the local sports arena played during the Arkansas Twister's games. I got to ride from our company to the sports area. I parked my bike on the guard rail next to the team buses. Then I rode home after the game.

At that job I also kept a spare bike. It was a Giant Stiletto chopper, shown below. I rode it around inside and in the parking lot to blow off steam. We kept it parked where customers could see it because they would want to ride it, and we let them.

rumrunn6

I did that for a while, while I was recuperating from an achilles strain. I had a lunchtime walking routine which turned into running but then had to use a bike, cuz running was outand I read biking was a great compliment/therapy for that type of sports injury. eventually, that turned into bike commuting. anyway it was really fun to extend my range by using a bike. of course once I started bike commuting I only walked at lunch cuz I was getting my fill of biking (in & out)

Jim from Boston

Biking DURING work

My year-round cycling is nearly totally intertwined with my commuting to work; even my long-distance rides are usually an extended commute on a Saturday. I have a great job, with reasonable flexibility, but it's very busy, and as noted above, I may work (non-continuously) from about 5 AM to 11 PM.

Due to a previous cycling injury, I’m very sore from from extended sitting by about 4 PM so I tend to take a long break in the late afternoon. My choice is to recline on my side, or ride my bike, which I can still do comfortably.

Previously I had replied to the thread “Describe your Commute,” under Amenities:

k_strict

I used to ride for JJs too! I was one of the only women who did it for more than a few blocks, and at the Arizona store I was the only person to deliver only by bike (car got totaled...). It is a great workout, great fun, and excellent money if you get the right shifts. In AZ I would average 20 - 40 miles a day, in 0 - 6 mile sprints. When they still tracked delivery drivers by average delivery time, I was always among the top drivers because biking was so much faster in traffic.



My current job occasionally involves traveling offsite for meetings. My employer keeps a few beaters in fair working condition, but none of them fit me. I just make sure to ride to work that day if I want to ride.

jfowler85

I keep my bike in an unused triage room at the er in which I work; after my shift I ride it through the halls down to the locker room where I change...does that count?

TenSpeedV2

Very cool!!! I hear that there is one female rider and she is the only one on a bike at one of the local stores but that is unconfirmed. Our manager likes to keep us close for the quick blasts onto campus (right across the street) because we are so much faster. I timed myself once to the library on wet roads with lights. 1:26. Finals week was fun, and I can't wait until it comes around again after this semester.

k_strict

I am not sure what your carry setup is, but I bet a "real" cyclist with racks and grocery-getter panniers could blow most other guys out of the water during super busy times like finals by just being able to efficiently carry and organize a bunch of bags. Got 10 bags going to the same location? No problem. Not that the other guys aren't in shape or fast, but in my experience, most are young and vain about looking cool on the bike. My old coworkers didn't want to mess up the look of their bikes with racks and things (I didn't either, if I am honest). Digging around in your giant messenger bag is just inefficient and smashes the bags. I used a structured soccer backpack that kept the bags in better shape, but a rack would have been so much smarter.

TenSpeedV2

Old and still vain here. No racks on any of my bikes that I use to deliver. Most of the time I am on a fixed gear track bike that weighs about 16.5 lbs. Super easy to just hop off and carry it right in the building with me. No time to stop and lock up, just throw it over my shoulder CX style and keep going. I don't think any of the drivers ever take that many orders at one time. I have taken maybe 4 to the same building at one time. I organize them in order in my personal messenger bag (can't stand the bags they use). I put a box in there so that the bags don't get crushed and remain upright. Last bag is always closest to me, so I always know which one is next.

jfowler85

What, exactly, is a real cyclist? Also: 10 bags? 10 small bags I hope. I'm not sure I understand this at all.

Robert C

I used to work as an office equipment technician. It was not uncommon to be parked a long way form the office I was working at. I started carrying my bike in the back of my van and I would ride to different offices. This allowed me to pick a single, cheap, parking spot instead of spending as much of my day looking for parking.

k_strict

Poor word choice. You got me.

What I meant is that a fairly large percentage of the JJs drivers I knew would not ride bikes at all if it was not ridiculously faster than driving. Some, like TenSpeed, specifically seek out a job where they can ride their bikes. Many others only start riding only after they keep getting lapped by bikes, and don't ride outside of work. Or something in-between. It depends.

These paper bags usually carry one or two sub sandwiches. They are pretty small, but people prefer to get their food in a bag that looks relatively unsquished. Most of the time a messenger-type bag is the perfect tool. Lunch rushes would routinely see 6 - 8 bag runs, which would just barely fit in my bag without squishing. During particularly busy times, I wished I had the option to experiment with something bigger.

tcs

Used to have to transit between corporate campuses. If I rode to work, I rode to the other facilities (on the clock). Company mileage reimbursement policy said, 'use of personal vehicle', so I charged mileage.

Papa Tom

>>>>>"When man first set woman on two wheels with a pair of pedals, did he know, I wonder, that he had rent the veil of the harem in twain? A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Typewriter Girl, 1899.<<<<

Have you read "A Social History Of The Bicycle?" Best cycling book I've ever read, but it's out of print now.

cccorlew

I had to go evaluate another college professor at an outlying campus. I bike commute, so I rode to my home campus, then the 15 or so miles to her campus, then back then home. It was a wonderful day. I didn't put in for mileage, but I should have.

https://www.instagram.com/p/0X08tjBE...en-by=cccorlew

RubeRad

This all sounds fun, you guys that get to incorporate biking into your actual work. I'm just one of the joes that rides to work, and (very) occasionally goes out for a recreational ride at lunchtime.

I heard an interesting podcast report on people that work in ebusiness order fulfillment warehouses (Amazon etc), their whole day is trekking around giant warehouses with a smartphone directing you what to gather, and constantly telling you "you have 30 seconds to pick up this product, you have 20 seconds to pick up this product, you have 10 seconds to pick up this product, you should be picking up this product, you are 10 seconds behind when you should have picked up this product..."

Apparently it's common to do that job on rollerblades, but I wonder if any of these places have successfully integrated bikes? You'd have to carefully design aisle widths and intersections if everybody's on a bike, but I bet it could work.

rumrunn6

women are the ultimate motivator ... nice photo btw

Darth Lefty 

I got an unexpected one today. Nice day for it. Can't believe we're getting 70F sunny weather in February.

AstroEng

I bike back and forth between meetings, up to about 2 miles for the furthest places I usually go. The base just put in a new bike path along my most frequent route, which is super awesome. Hopefully they maintain it better than some of the other trails... They are currently looking into getting funds to do some sort of bike share.

jfowler85

Very well, I gotcha.

at_hiker59

Last week I 'biked' into the college president who was walking around the campus. It was 27degrees out. She was impressed that I was so hard core. Paying me to ride is like paying me to breath. Too bad its only a part-time job and I'm off for the summer.

Leo H.

Good to see this isn't too zombified a thread. I just got out of a meeting at our hospital, discussing the idea of how to go about offering bikes for employees to share between buildings around the area. I'm a little surprised, reading this thread, that this isn't a more common practice more places.
Any suggestions and ideas from people who have worked somewhere that offered this transportation option, I'd love to hear from you.
I do understand there's more to this than strikes you when first considering this concept....

bigbenaugust 

Be safe, the JJ bike delivery guy here in Chapel Hill is... "adventurous", let's say.