The ride in: Dark, cold & uphill.

The ride home: Light, not so cold & 4 miles worth of downhill excitement!

Both equally. The ride in is cooler and feels great to be out and living first thing in the morning. Good descent on the way in. The ride home...well I'm headed home to the family...plus I get a chance to crush the climb on the way home.

It's out there, waiting for me now....shhhhh....you can hear it.....it's waiting....

I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who can hear my commute calling me throughout the day. I also can hear my bikes beckoning me from the garage as I lay in bed at 4:00AM debating how long I can sleep in and still make it to work on time. :)

Even now as I sit here and type this, I can hear my bike tempting me behind my shoulder (it's parked five feet from my chair):

[whispering] "come on, get changed and let's ditch this place...let's go! what are you doing sitting here and wasting away..."

I've obviously got problems. :rolleyes:

i said the ride home, but after reading all the posts here, i gotta say they're equally good.
i am usually not completely awake for my morning ride, and i get to work all sweaty... (no shower :( ) at least in the afternoon i am on my way home and don't have to sit at a computer unless i want to...

Boy! You picked the wrong place to work...and live ;)

That's just crazy.

Both, In the afternoon I can see better than at midnight. But then again I have the roads to my self at midnight. So They are both fun in they own ways.

Ride home. It's mostly downhill, and I'm going home. Although I love summer/fall mornings in cool air, dodging sprinklers when the air is clear and crisp and the sun's just coming over the horizon.

I miss summer...

Different every day.

The ride home in winter, the ride in all other seasons. So both.

Winter mornings are into prevailing winds, my hips get sore, and its depressing dark.
Winter evenings often have a tailwind, I have more energy, and its evening dark.
"Summer" mornings are on a faster bike, rif-raf is still in bed, and the sunrise, mist on the river, and morning air are intoxicating.
"Summer" evenings are hot, muggy, the rif-raf is about and bored, and I usually have to mow the lawn.

I'm torn.

The terrain is the same both ways... 1/3 up, 1/3 flat, 1/3 down

I'd have to go with the morning. My legs are fresher, traffic is much lighter no matter what time I leave, and the air seems fresher. The earlier I get out the door the more I enjoy it. Unfortunately, I'm not a morning person so this is difficult.

In the evening (especially if I can't get out before 5:30) traffic is really bad - meaning I have to worry more about the stopped cars and whether I can get past them.

The ride in is generally more enjoyable... 800 feet elevation drop from home to work, and going home is against the wind and 800 ft elevation gain. Half of that gain is in the last 2 miles.

The best part of the downhill ride into work is if I'm running late it's easy to push hard. :)

Hell, I probably live near where cyccommute works, and work near where he lives! Sure is good exercise, though. :) :)

Depends on my mood, the weather, and the wind.

My morning ride is all downhill, with very little traffic (I ride before the rush hour since I start early) and in the dark (I love night riding). My afternoon ride is all uphill with more traffic (although still not rush hour, heh heh) and I'm pretty tired on the way back. So I guess I prefer the morning ride most of the time. But they're pretty hard to compare and I do like them both.

Don't let those morons ruin it for you, bikedaddy! Just get determined not to get upset about it. Those suckers shouldn't have that kind of power over you, so don't give it to them. Laugh at the idiots: it sucks to be them.

Ride in-downhill early in the morning. Minimum work, in the dark, no cars.

Ride home - uphill in the afternoon. Maximum work, starting to get dark, lost of cars.

But hey, I'm RIDING!

On the ride in, I have to leave the comfort of my warm house, outdoors, where it's usually 35-45 degrees and often raining. On the ride home, I relish this encounter with the elements but on the ride in, my body just not quite prepared for the cold, at least not until about two miles into my ride.

I’ll second the drivers are less ******bags in the AM which is why I generally like time of commute the best. On the way home I could take a nice MUP to avoid the cars but it is 5-10 miles out of my way (depends on where I am at in the city.)

My feelings exactly. Plus on the way in you actually see people. As for the Will Smith movie they're filming on the Bklyn Bridge — yeah, thanks, Will. Like I don't know what a mass evacuation from Manhattan looks like already.

The ride in is usually better; it's dark out (I would rather ride in the dark), usually a tailwind or no wind, less traffic, downhill. On the way back it's the opposite of each of those. However, there are sometimes some redeeming features of the ride home, so I had to vote "different daily". Also I have learned to not let the riding conditions get me down (back when I did, I didn't ride much in the winter) so I just listen to my radio and spin until I'm home, regardless of wind gusts, icy hills, close passes, etc.

Yup, we all need to indulge in the sport of moron-spotting. See how big of an idiot you can spot on the way in. Yelling at cyclists bumps up the score, as does talking on a phone while driving, eating/drinking while driving, pulling stupid traffic manuvers, make up your own stuff.

If you catch up to them you can thank them for the extra points!

The way home is technically downhill but usually has nasty NW headwinds and is in the dark. I don't mind the dark but there's something about a brisk morning with bright early sunshine.

They both have their ups and downs (har har...)

Totally.

Both:

in is uphill, cooler, somewhat less traffic
out is downhill, warmer, more traffic
but either way I'M ON MY BIKE & RIDING!

My favorite commutes are the ones I RIDE, come hell or high water, cold or rain, just so I'm cycling to work
(the best minutes of my day and the only time that consistently permits me to feel like it's really my own experience outside in the world...head, heart and body get to be here now...)

I ride in while the JAM's are still asleep, so the streets are all mine and I go quite a bit longer route. On the way home I usually just go straight home (in a hurry), but occationally I get to do a longer route on my way home also.

oh yeah - forgot about those summer afternoon storms and winds. Maybe I'll have to revise. How about "Which is more predictable?" Definitely the morning...

I like the ride home because I am totally focused on beating the hills. The ride to work is downhill - the whole thing pretty much. Not much of a challenge. Sometimes just to enjoy it more, I take the long way home.

I can go home two routes - one is short - 3.5 kilometers and straight up. The other is longer, about 10 kilometer with only one bad hill. (it is the bad one on the other ride too - there is no avoiding it)

The bicycle commute home is better for me, since my commute goes past 5 schools. My morning commute deals with a lot of soccermoms try to get the little one to class and then get themselves to the workplace, plus having the regular commuters as well. The evening rush hour going home is a breeze compared to the road dodge ball in the morning.