Schwinnrider

I've been on this forum for several years, and I've noticed a trend.

This is the commuting forum. Commuting is generally defined to be the act of travelling from one's residence to one's place of work or study. So, when you ride your bike to work or school---that's "bike commuting".

When you ride your bike to do your shopping, that's not commuting. That's running an errand.


Riding to the Obama inauguration, a wedding, or a friend's house is not commuting. It may be still considered running an errand, but it's not commuting. After all, if we drove to those places we wouldn't call it car commuting. Driving to work or school is car commuting, though. So is taking mass transit.

So would it kill people to post threads like "Riding your bike to X location" instead of "Bike commute to X location"? That is a more accurate description of the act.

I like riding my bike, but there's no need to label every single ride. Sometimes a ride is just a ride.

vtjim

People will say you're picking nits, but I agree with you.

TuckertonRR

Finally!!!! someone said it! Thank You!!

bigbadwimp

Change the title of this forum to "Commuting & Doing-Errands-On-Your-Bike"

jdmitch

Wouldn't that just make it "Utility Cycling"...

However, admittedly, the Utility Cycling forum leans a bit more towards Cargo Cycling... but that's not what the BF forums descriptions has it described as...

pawn

I call BS on this one. Anywhere you go that serves a purpose is commuting...as in "I commuted to the grocery store to run a few errands by bike, because otherwise I would have driven my car." Or, "I commuted to the Obama inauguration by bike, because otherwise I would have driven my car...or perhaps commuted by bus or train."

Really though, anywhere you go on bike could be considered a commute if there is a definite endpoint at where you will be off bike doing something for a little while, only to get back on bike and ride home.

Everyone has their definitions.

dipy911

I agree! I commute to one store! I also commute to the Taco Bell, it's by the store.

Commuting definition:
3: to travel back and forth regularly (as between a suburb and a city)

lil brown bat

Lance Armstrong had a purpose in mind (winning the Tour de France) when he rode up Alpe d'Huez. Was he commuting?

The average suburban family has a purpose in mind (recreation and spending time together) when they take a spin on the local MUP. Are they commuting?

Someone who rides a bike for exercise has a purpose in mind (fitness). Are they commuting?

I agree with OP. "Commuting" has a meaning. I don't mind that there are a lot of utility cycling posts in this forum, because they have so much in common in terms of gear, riding environment and other issues, but it's not too much to ask that people not label it "commuting" every time they get on a bicycle to go somewhere.

apricissimus 

Commuting is going to work, and coming back.

I'm not against other (related) topics being discussed in this forum, but yeah, "commuting" to a wedding, or the inauguration does sound a bit silly.

TuckertonRR

Note the key word. every trip outside your house is NOT a "commute". A "trip", yes. Perhaps even a journey, or an adventure. But not a commute.

Now, if Omaba was being innaugurated *every day*, or on a *regular basis*, and you went there regularly, then YES, it would be a "commute". But, it's a one-off event, which doesn't make it a "commute".

d2create

I ride my bike to work.
I ride my bike to the store.
I ride my bike out in the country on weekends.

I drive my car to work.
I drive my car to the store.
I drive my car to grandma's house out in the country.

Why make everything so complicated?

Schwinnrider

So people can't commute by car? That's what you're implying. That would be news to me.

I call BS on your BS call. If you work at the grocery store, then you commute there. Otherwise you just go shopping, and the mode of travel is irrelevant.

As another poster said, commuting implies a trip which is repeated. Obama isn't inaugurated every day. Unless one is a busy wedding singer, one doesn't go to weddings everyday. Therefore, one does not commute to either of those.

If I ride my bike to the trail, ride on the trail, and then ride back---did I commute to the trail? Not unless I worked there. No, I just rode my bike. By your definition, the bicycle leg of a triathlon is a commute to the marathon leg. LOL

well biked

Who gives a crap what you call it. One of the most satisfying things to do on a bike, in my opinion, is to run errands. Go get a haircut, go to the store, the bank, the post office, etc. Hey, I got other places to go besides just work. And I call the bike I do it all on my commuter bike. But wait, my current commuter bike is actually a touring bike. I'm all screwed up.

Popeyecahn

Folks this is Bike Forums, silly debates are not an option.

Carry on.

JeffS

And some of them are wrong. Yours for example.

PurpleK

Yeah, I also found the commuting reference for nonwork/study trips to be annoying, and in my view incorrect.

AlmostTrick

I stop and do errands while riding to/from work just to confound the people defining the words.

stevemtbr

I'm training when I ride, so what if I end up at work when I'm done? Or back home? We'll just call it fast commuting.

Roody

Most of the online dictionaries define commute as a trip between home and work. Of course there are commuter students at colleges also.

But within the cycling community, "commuter" has a more specific sociological definition. Commuters tend to have a certain attitude, and to use identifiable clothing, gear and bikes. In some ways, I am always a commuter--even when I'm watching TV in the evening--because it's a group in which I claim membership. This is similar to saying that I'm always an American, or I'm always a Methodist. And a nudist is a nudist even when he's wearing clothes.

Hydrated

Seems to fit this debate.

CliftonGK1

I'm going to ride my utility bike on a charity ride, stop at work for a while, and hit up the grocery store on my way home. To cover all my bases, I'm gonna race some guys on the MUP, too.

dwilbur3

lol!

BroadSTPhilly

Call it what you wanna call it I'm a m#@@$@#$ bikaholic.

Seriously OP you are right but who cares?

no motor?

This works for me, even if some of the commuting I do is to my girlfriends for the weekend. Or am I touring when I do that?

jdmitch

Nice...

Just avoid doing so on a fixie... then you might start some people foaming at the mouth...