Here's an "any one else do this" thread for ya:

When I get into work I'm in sort of a post-ride daze. After a few miles of focusing on not getting hit by a car and not hitting an ice-patch and all the other sundry concerns that come with commuting in a city my mind tends to not be completely 'on'. So in the elevator or the lobby or the kitchen I have trouble with 1. Coming up with chat for my co-workers and 2. Fully pronouncing the words I do attempt to say.

Them: "How was that ride? Pretty cold eh?"
Me: "Yfmrotsobad"

Them: "Wow, you rode in today?"
Me: "uh, umm...sh...uh...yes?"

Them: "How as your weekend?!?"
Me: *Blinking Stare with no synapses behind it*

Don't get me wrong. I'm all over the socializing 5 minutes later, but does anyone else have the decompression period where you go from 'cycling-mind' to 'person-mind'?

Not so much, I'm in worse shape when I drive. Except that in the winter time if someone tries to talk to me for the first 5 minutes, I really can't because my lips won't move right. I can't even talk well enough for me to understand myself.

I can talk, but my problem is that since it is getting really cold now, when I first get in, my nose is running like i stole and old woman's purse. So I am sniffing and trying not to get snot to run down my face. So i dont like to talk to people when I first get in.

I don't ride when there's ice or even a good chance of ice (went down pretty hard last year), but other than that, hell yes. I like to push myself pretty hard in the last bit of the commute, so generally when I arrive I'm not capable of anything more than gulping down air and cooling off. When people try and talk to me I give one word responses. In the summer I'll stand outside and chug ice water, in the winter I just remove a layer or two and stand outside. After five or ten minutes the adrenaline goes down and I can function again.

I bring my bike up the stairs and have my office key out and ready before I open the door into the main hallway. It's then about fifteen feet to my office door, which I lock behind me to decompress, cool down, and change clothes. I take no chances with having to interact with anybody at all immediately after I ride.

That decompression period has been good for me... it gets work out of my mind when I bike home. When going to work, I use the shower time to switch into work mode.

I'm in early enough that there isn't anyone around to speak with. Good thing, because I'm non-verbal until after a shower and some coffee.

Once towards the end of a longish commute/training ride, some guy in a car did something stupid and I yelled what I thought was a clever and biting riposte. What came out was "Hey, ufhgthgah ghhwlthe hiiierrrr!

I'm sure the guy thought I was crazy or drunk or both.

I guess I'm the opposite, especially when my commute was long-ish. The endorphines were usually flowing and I'd talk to damn near anyone.

My commute is pretty short these days, so it doesn't matter much.

I don't have command of my inside voice for a few minutes when I arrive. Must be fun for the checkers and tellers when I make en route stops. I know my wife loves that when I get home.

Well, as long as you can at least exert an inside vocabulary rather than a traffic jammer one, the volume shouldn't be soooo bad...

The vocabulary has never been an issue (nothing life-threatening happens in the house much), just the volume.

I have no problem talking when I arrive at work. It's the stupid questions that drive me crazy:

1. Rode your bike today, huh? (As I am in full biking gear and pushing my bike towards my office).
2. Cold out there today? (asked on a day where the forecast low was 10F and the forecast high was 25F).
3. You riding home in the dark? (Asked at 6:00PM as I am in full biking gear with lights on pushing my bike towards the door on a day when the sun went down at 4:20PM).

I mean if you want to have a conversation, at least start with a non-obvious opening question/statement!

Maybe I am just getting old...

Yup. Same here. I got used to that.

I get in a bit earlier before most coworkers get in. The truth is that even when I'm tired after the ride I seem to have more energy that anyone else in the morning anyway, but yeah getting any coherent sentences out during first few minutes is not always easy. So not much talking in the morning. But yeah, I need some decompression time, mainly to cool off, dry off, change my clothes. I'm not fortunate enough to have showers so I just was off a bit, 10-15 minutes and I'm ready to face the day.

A.

I find myself more wide awake (even though I work overnights) when I get into work. If I sound incoherent I don't know about it. For the most part, people stopped asking me if I rode in. Though I did get that "you rode your bike in that" question when their was 2 inches of snow and 25mph gusts two days ago.

Ditto here. I get off the bike and the endorphins are flowing and I'm way to friendly and bubbly to complete strangers, making lame attempts to talk to everyone as if they really want to hear from me, and from the looks I get back it's obvious they're trying to figure out why this weirdo is babbling away as if he were their best friend.

I wear earphones and listen to podcasts on my way in. I just leave the earphones in and if anyone tries to make conversation I point to my ears and shake my head.

Along the lines of stupid questions, my favorite is when it's raining.

Moron: "Hey it's raining, did you get wet?"

Me: "No, I dodge the raindrops".

Up until now, I got into the office and immediately disappeared into a closet where I changed and cleaned up. I left the bike in there, then went to the bathroom to finish getting cleaned up. By the time I was done I was conversational.

I'm in the transition from one work location to another. The new location won't have such posh accommodations for my bike; it'll stay outside. But the new site has showers. Again, though, I think I'll have that period of time to pull myself together before I have to get all social.

What you're describing sounds like hypoglycemia, and would be worth discussing with your doctor.

Or an endorphine buzz. Enjoy it, I do.

Double post.

Our socializing is by instant message and email for the most part. Not a problem.

Sorry, no.
I am perfectly coherent. Well... as coherent as usual.
Cooldowns are a good thing.

Y'know, that's not terrible advice. A lot of times I wind up missing breakfast until I get in because I wake up latish. I'm gonna put down a decent breakfast tomorrow morning and see if that affects it.

You know, I bet it will! But that breakfast will only be part of the solution. I found this problem --and yes, this has happened to me-- goes away as soon as you focus on it. These days I stop at cart at the corner and pick up $3.50 worth of coffee and donuts just before I get to the office. Of course I dont' eat it until I'm at my desk, but the mental effort of smiling and saying "good morning!" to the foodcart man and anyone whom might be waiting in line there is enough to render me more or less polite. I'm sure I'd get the same result by singing a verse of "Yellow Submarine" on the last block of my ride.

___

But whatever it takes, I make sure not to repeat what happened a few years ago, at this time of year... I was getting off my bike in front of the office and a pretty girl comes walking out the door I'm about to go in, and I'm standing there, completely slack jawed, totally spaced out look in my eye, and she says "hi!" and I'm I'm standing there, completely slack jawed, totally spaced out look in my eye, and I try to say something, and she's gone, and dammit, I was still standing there, completely slack jawed, totally spaced out look in my eye.