I start commuting on the first day of Bike-To-Work week
 

Thanks to the encouragement and spirit of the people in this forum, I’ve decided to start cycle commuting. I’m so excited! The first day of Bike-To-Work week will be my first day of commuting. I can’t cycle the entire 33 miles because a freeway blocks the middle of the route. I’ll cycle 13 miles and take a bus for the next 20.

A restaurant near the bus stop has gaven me permission to park my car in their lot all week. I’ll drive there on Monday (with the bike in the car), use the car as a bike locker and changing room, then drive the car home on Friday. This way I’ll get to cycle commute the 13 miles to the bus stop and back, 4 out of 5 days. I’ll decrease the car mileage by 300 miles a week and increase my cycle miles over 100 miles per week.

Everything’s all set, I even have a clothes line strung in the car for airing my cycle clothes while I’m at work. I’m pretty sure I can do the entire week right away, but we’ll see. I’ll report back here to let you all know.

Congrats! Let us know how it goes!

Great news, Mike! I'm glad you worked out an arrangement instead of just saying that it's too much trouble. You will soon enjoy the benefits of commuting by bike.

If you drink coffee, get some at the restaurant as a way of thanking them.

Good Idea. It's a little country place – very friendly. If they are open early enough, I think I’ll stop in for tea before I change. They will probably let me change and freshen up in their restroom.

Mike,

Good plan and enjoy the ride. The first couple of days might be rough if you don't already ride a fair amount, but hang in there and it will get to be the best part of your day. Let us know how it goes.

Nice plan! I like the community involvement aspect. For the bus ride, remember to bring a book or other reading. That's my favorite part of bus riding: Getting to read.

way to go man. you're going to feel great and look great. let us know how it all goes.

My favorite part of the bus ride (back when I worked an hour from home) was getting to sleep :). Depends on what the bus ride is like. Mine was a commuter, it picked me up, made two other stops, then hopped on the highway for half an hour and stopped at the subway (where I got off, although I didn't take the subway). So half an hour of a nice snooze while the bus crawled through traffic. Repeat on the way home.

I’ve ridden a lot so I don’t think that the distance will be a problem. Lately I’ve had trouble squeezing the exercise time in (another reason to start commuting). The level I’m at right now is where I can ride 30- 40 miles without feeling very tired at all. I will have to get up at 4 am so that will take some adjustment. If I get to bed early enough I should feel OK. By Wednesday, I should have no trouble going to sleep early.

For the bus, I figure to read or sleep in the morning and eat my GORP in the afternoon. It’s a 30 minute ride with almost no stops in a touring coach type bus so It’s pretty comfortable.

Thanks to everyone for all your encouragement. I’ll post on Monday or Tuesday and give you an update.

Well, Monday was the first day of Bike-To-Work week and the first day of my commute.

I took a test ride on Sunday – riding the 13.5 miles to the bus stop and 13.5 back. Going was about 12 minutes faster than the return because it is more down hill and I slowed down as time went on. :)

I had the car all ready with bike, gear, even a clothes line strung in the back; drove it to the bus stop and cycled home after work.

The first 2 miles of my route is in town, and I had to go around the main road because of the weekday rush hour. After that, my ride is a beautiful trip through the rolling Pa farmland. The wild honeysuckle is in bloom so I would periodically ride through a cloud of beautiful scents that are never noticed in a car.

The bus ran late and it took longer than I thought to get changed and ready to ride. As a result I started later than expected. I didn’t want to be late for supper so I really pushed! Cut 10 minutes of off Sundays return trip, and made it home just in time for supper. The ride to the bus stop this morning started cool but I soon warmed up. My legs were a little tird form the previous day. The sun came up and it was a beautiful morning. My shoe clip broke. I have others at home but I’m afraid that I’ll have to drive home or I’ll be late for supper if I try riding with one and a half legs. I think I’ll take a quick ride around home after I fix the shoe and have supper.

Wednesday, I’ll drive to the bus stop and cycle home. A couple glitches, but so far – so good!

There's always a couple glitches. On day 2 of my commute I had my first flat. Haven't had another since, and it's been almost a month.

Sounds like you're off to a great start!

Yea for you! :beer:

Thank You , Thank You.
It’s great to get all the support from you. The cagers just think that I’m goofy.

BTW – I was going to drive home yesterday because of a broken shoe cleat. It was a gorgeous day so I called my wife and found out that she was going to be late too. “Yippee! Pedal time!” Rode in this morning too. I thought that I might be feeling tired by now, but so far I feel great!