rykoala

My goal this week was to commute all 5 days. Monday and Tuesday were great but yesterday and today I had to take the car in to work instead because of my job duties. Yesterday I was too tired to bike as I only got about 3 hours of sleep, due to having to be on call 24/7 this week. This morning I had to haul butt down to my office to fix servers at 4:30 in the morning. I usually get here at 7am. I just stayed.

Does anyone else have jobs that make it hard to commute full time? Its getting frustrating. I hate driving my gas guzzler!

opel70

Yep, I'm in the same boat (make that "car"). The summer is the prime time to ride to work, but I work in tech at a school, so the summer is when we actually get most of our work done, and it involves a lot of moving computers / servers from school to school and the District office. I've been lucky if I can ride in twice a week.

Shimpie

Commuting even two days a week can be tough for me sometimes. I'm a field biologist, so I'm outdoors up to three days a week. The outdoors aren't necessarily within a bicycle ride's distance. Sometimes a project is a couple hours drive away. When I finally get a few days in the office to write up reports is when I'll ride to work. However, chopping up the commute makes it difficult to create a routine. It can be a week between commutes. I tend to forget things like charging up the light battery during a winter commute, or a pair of socks for my change of clothes.

-Shimpie

mwbirren

I'm in IT myself, but on the mgmt end of things. Used to be technical, saw my mgr's job, thought it looked like a cake walk, took the plunge into mgmt (had the surgery where they remove half your brain), and the time commitment to the job is even greater than it was before (lotta preparing presentations, faciltating mtgs, performance reviews, etc.). So, I know how it can be tough to ride. I had the same goal this week. But Monday I had a dentist appt in the middle of the day and had to drive. Managed to squeeze in 3 straight days of commuting though. Tomorrow would have made 4, but I ran out of clean clothes to wear. Oh well, guess I'll drive in tomorrow and restock my "work closet".

jfz

I have the same problem. I have made a commitment to commute at least 2 times a week this year and have been doing ok but at times it is tough. I sometimes have appointments accross town and in this weather I would need a shower 3 or 4 times a day (and the same number of outfits!). I just have to be realistic that 2 times a week is reasonable and weeks when I get in more that is a bonus. One week I did 4 times. I have found that keeping everything ready to go the night before, keeping spare parts, tubes and batteries at work and home and keeping spare clothing at work helps a bunch.

Seanholio

Makes me wish I had spent some more time in college; I'd love to be outdoors more.

After getting a bad sunburn on Sunday, I've spent the past four days getting in to work by carpool. This morning, I forgot to pack my underwear. WHile taking my shower, the internal debate was, "Do I dare go without underwear, or do I just wear my biking shorts?" The jury is still out on this, as I "went without" one time previously, and the inconveniences of either option balance out.

pdxcyclist

Problem: I need to drive to appointments, pick up gear, etc. during the work day, and changing in and out of cycling clothes isn't an option.

Solution: I leave my car at work for daytime driving, but bike back and forth to work. Good motivation for riding on rainy days (no choice, the car is at work). On nice Fridays, I can either drive home with the bike on the roof, leave the car at work for the weekend, or get a lift back for the car after riding home.

Probably wouldn't work for everyone, but works well for me.

vrkelley

I hear ya. And there's always the weather factor and bike-maintenance down time. My commute goals are for exercise mostly. So plan B is running on the treadmill for 30 minutes around 10pm. zzzzzzzzzz