Commuting priorities? Distance, scenery or safety?
05-03-17, 11:35 AM
#51
Mad bike riding scientist
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 27,342
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
Mentioned: 152 Post(s)
Tagged: 1 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6200 Post(s)
Liked 4,202 Times
in
2,358 Posts
Basically, it depends. I have 599 routes I can ride to or from work. Some are quick, some are warm (important in the winter), some are cool (important in the summer), some are out of the way and some involve a 30 mile detour and some involve mountain biking. Sometimes I just take another route to avoid boredom. Most of the time, however, I take two routes...the summer and winter routes. Some I just take to explore.
Don't be afraid to take something different, although I would suggest exploration is best done after work. Bosses are usually less forgiving about getting to work late than spouses are.
Don't be afraid to take something different, although I would suggest exploration is best done after work. Bosses are usually less forgiving about getting to work late than spouses are.
__________________
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
05-03-17, 12:42 PM
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 526
Bikes: 2015 Redline Conquest Elite; 2014 Fuji Tahoe 1.1 27.5er; 2006 Scott Speedster S30 (sold); 2001 Specialized S-Works CX; 1990 Trek 750 (sold); 1999 Bianchi Volpe; 1988 Bianchi Campione D'Italia.
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 131 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
When I started I prioritized speed and minimizing distance. Was on major thoroughfares and miserable. Now I take much quieter streets and/or ride the gravel path atop the levee. Like my commute much better now. Went from about 20mi r/t to 24. Totally worth the extra 2 miles each way.
05-03-17, 12:43 PM
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 526
Bikes: 2015 Redline Conquest Elite; 2014 Fuji Tahoe 1.1 27.5er; 2006 Scott Speedster S30 (sold); 2001 Specialized S-Works CX; 1990 Trek 750 (sold); 1999 Bianchi Volpe; 1988 Bianchi Campione D'Italia.
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 131 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
05-03-17, 12:55 PM
#55
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 5,971
Bikes: 2015 Charge Plug, 2007 Dahon Boardwalk, 1997 Nishiki Blazer, 1984 Nishiki International, 2006 Felt F65, 1989 Dahon Getaway V
Mentioned: 54 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1364 Post(s)
Liked 1,676 Times
in
827 Posts
05-03-17, 01:15 PM
#56
born again cyclist
though my wife's insistence on a timely home arrival is mostly due to the fact that we have a 1 year old and a 2 year old that demand an immense amount of parental attention at that particular time of day.
taking the long way home is not in the cards for me these days.
Last edited by Steely Dan; 05-03-17 at 01:37 PM.
05-03-17, 02:03 PM
#57
Heck on Wheels
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: USA Midwest
Posts: 1,055
Bikes: In Signature
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 206 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times
in
3 Posts
One of my peeves here is that the street sweepers seem to avoid the bike lanes. This means that some roads without lanes or with sharrows are safer than those with bike lanes.
__________________
"I had a great ride this morning, except for that part about winding up at work."
Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
"I had a great ride this morning, except for that part about winding up at work."
Bikes so far: 2011 Felt Z85, 80's Raleigh Sovereign (USA), 91 Bianchi Peregrine, 91 Austro-Daimler Pathfinder, 90's Trek 730 Multitrack, STOLEN: 80 Schwinn Voyageur (Japan)
05-03-17, 05:27 PM
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 7,384
Mentioned: 49 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 800 Post(s)
Liked 218 Times
in
171 Posts
Commuting priorities? Distance, scenery or safety?
To prevent boredom on the Road, I have posted:
I'm very motivated by novelty, and stymied by boredom on a bike, but I do have the motivation of commuting to work. I have found that when I drive my frequent, decades-old routes I often notice things I had not seen before. I think it’s because I can look around at more than just the road surface when driving.
So when the commute [route] is getting too familiar, I just raise my head higher and look over a wider field of view….
So when the commute [route] is getting too familiar, I just raise my head higher and look over a wider field of view….
A local BFsubscriber @rholland1951 who contributes hundreds of photographs to the local Metro Boston thread from the same 11-mile long MUP he rides, once commented something like that just the lighting / time of day / day of the year makes the ride “different.” So too does the direction, one way, or the reverse
I’m going to add sounds, as well as sights and lights, to a prescription for boredom.
Hah! In that case, don't forget smells. There are days...
rod
rod
Excellent! I suppose we could add touch, such as the breeze, temperature sensitivity...
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
…
- temperature (thermoception)
- kinesthetic sense (proprioception)
- pain (nociception)
- balance (equilibrioception)
- vibration (mechanoreception)
(road surfaces) - and various internal stimuli (e.g. the different chemoreceptors for detecting salt and carbon dioxide concentrations in the blood).
(hunger, thirst, fatigue)
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 05-03-17 at 08:10 PM.
05-03-17, 10:01 PM
#59
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sacramento, CA
Posts: 526
Bikes: 2015 Redline Conquest Elite; 2014 Fuji Tahoe 1.1 27.5er; 2006 Scott Speedster S30 (sold); 2001 Specialized S-Works CX; 1990 Trek 750 (sold); 1999 Bianchi Volpe; 1988 Bianchi Campione D'Italia.
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 131 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
05-05-17, 08:09 AM
#60
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Stephenville TX
Posts: 3,697
Bikes: 2010 Trek 7100
Mentioned: 6 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 697 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 3 Times
in
3 Posts
A few views from the commute. I was in a bit of a hurry to get to a martial arts class, so I just got the shots I could manage one-handed until the big hill where I could justify a quick water break.
05-06-17, 10:02 PM
#61
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 137
Bikes: CAAD 9 Tiagra, DaVinci Madrid, DaVinci Oslo, CAAD 10 (one day)
Mentioned: 1 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 6 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
But I maintain, if there is a main road and a bike lane parallel to each other, I don't see why a cyclist would ride on the main road.
05-08-17, 09:29 AM
#62
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 17
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times
in
0 Posts
Along part of my commute there is a multi use path that runs parallel to the main road, I never ride on it. For 3 reasons; it's a sidewalk, it twists and turns, and it's far more hilly than the road. Plus it's clogged with recreational cyclists and runners.
05-08-17, 06:02 PM
#63
Senior Member
Thread Starter
I debated "speed vs safety", but very quickly concluded that I would rather go more slowly and have to negotiate a few pedestrians (probably less than 20-30 on any one day) than take the risks associated with the open road. Bus vs Bike? No thanks!
John
05-09-17, 11:24 PM
#64
Senior Member
on a commute i don't care much for scenery, but for me it's a 15mi hilly city route or 22mi flattish MUP route. Traffic is negligible since there are sharrows/bike lanes/shoulders along either route, but the hilly city route has lines of cars that are fun to pass...
