... does your job even have a definite starting time? A lot of people are supposed to come in and work eight hours, but which eight is up to them.

When I used to drive in to work, there would be a number of variables I wouldn't be able to control for. I stop on the way in for coffee, and sometimes I'd have to hunt for parking. The freeway could feel like a hot knife through butter, or it might feel more like a salmon's last journey up stream. Pretty often, my thoughts would be something like "****, I'm going to be late."

But when I bike in, I get here when I get here. This morning I tried a slightly different route, stopped to enjoy a bagel on the way in, and noticed that the hills are shrinking a little bit every week. I was a whopping two minutes late; I made it to the bike racks at 8:30 when I'm normally at my desk.

Has anybody else noticed the same thing?

I'm tech support and have a set schedule I have to adhere to... I'm in the office every day at 7:45am so I can get ready to start my shift at 8:00am. Biking or driving has never made a difference really at when I show up. On the very rare occasion I do drive, I'm never late.

I always get to work on time. It's called responsibility.

I'm not sure I follow your question. Are you saying that by biking you don't care as much or that you find your arrival times to be more consistent?

Our office opens at 8:00. Some people get here earlier, some people later. Most folks are in by 8:30 and I try to arrive by then. No one would say anything directly if I started showing up at 9:00 but there would be comments. I know because people grumble about other people consistently taking too much liberty with their start time.

None of it matters too much if you're doing your job but I have staff that really do need to be in the office by 8:30. If I start showing up later it sets a bad example. I also like to leave at a decent hour so I can be with my family. From that standpoint getting to work late and leaving late is undesirable.

Anyway I actually got into work a little early today. And I do find that by biking I'm less susceptible to being delayed by traffic problems.

Both.

We have "core hours" of 10 - 4, and so long as people are here between these ( when meetings are scheduled ), it isn't very important when people come or go. We need to be here for eight hours, and to be productive. I like to come in between 8 and 8:30, which balances my "not a morning person" -ness against my desire to get out at a reasonable time. When I used to drive, I would let things like freeway traffic stress me out.

I usually make it here at the same time whether I drive or cycle, but trying to make that happen in a car is much more stressful. Occasionally, traffic is especially foul, and I would come in ten minutes later than I planned. On the bike, I get up a little earlier than normal ( because the commute is up hill ) and know I have some time to spare; I also know that traffic and parking issues can't slow me down much. So I don't stress about making it in on time.

It must be nice to have such a flexible schedule!

I'm really tired of having scheduled break and lunch.

I generally fall into the "put in eight hours w/o a definite starting time" camp. I am to be in by around 9, though I often end up running a little late. Not a problem, though.

As for stress, cycling to work is faster than taking metro in my case, so my time pressures are less, which affords me and extra half hour or so of sleep each day.

Core hours are 09:00 - 15:00, and I usually start at 07:00.
Being salaried means that I don't have a set schedule. I work until my work is done. Sometimes that's 7 hours and I go home "early". Sometimes it all hits the fan and I'm at the office until late in the evening.

I'm always early, more so when I drive. Although when I drive I'm not in a hurry, I take the back roads (my bike route) because it's more scenic and almost no traffic. When I ride my bike I'm in a bit of a hurry, I've gotta beat 47 minutes (my new record this morning). I've got to beat that hill, or set a higher avg speed. My bike ride home is much more relaxed as I tend to stretch it out for a longer ride sometimes.

We have core hours here too. 9:30-3:30 are "core hours" and you must be in the office during those hours. However, lately I have an 8am meeting every day, so I need to be in by 8am at the latest.

I live a 10-12 minute ride, 35 minute walk, 10 minute bus, or 7 minute car ride from the office, so I don't have a LOT of problems getting in on time. Worst case scenario is I ask my husband to drive me because I'm really late (and/or it's really bad weather).

In my case biking is the most reliable way to get to work. Driving is out of question: too crazy and too expensive to park in Manhattan. Subways suck and are unreliable. I usually get in at least 30 mins early so I have the time to clean up.

I'm usually on time, give or take 5 minutes, and this morning I woke up at the time I'd need to leave if I was driving, took a quick shower, got dressed, and was only 2 minutes late for work Living close to work is the best!

Can come and go when I please pretty much, as long as the work gets done on time. Either way I am always in work within a 10 minute time period because cycling is, for the most part, predictable when it comes to timing it. If I took public transport and missed the train that'd be me late by 20 minutes - and that is if the next one is on time / I can get on.

I definitely find that biking commute time is much more predictable than either public transit or driving. I have almost no dependence on traffic or late trains. The only variables are flat tires (relatively rare), wind and how strong my legs feel.

Absolutely. I can predict my arrival time with 5 minute precision.

No set hours as long as I am available at my core office hours. I don't see why cycling in would mean time is no longer an equation. Part of the commute equation is time of arrival. Otherwise it be leisure travel.

The elapse time of cycling will be longer due to having the need to first lock up my bike, walk into the office, drop my stuff, gather my change of clothes, walk over to the change room, perform body cleansing, put on office attire and walk back to my cubicle. This alone can add 10mins. If I shower it will be even longer.

As oppose to park the car, click the remote to lock up the car while walking to my office and plop myself into my chair. Actually one of my car self-locks after it detects me walking away with the key fob. So that err... saved 2 seconds of my time. And unlocks itself when I am within 4-5ft. And that new fandangled START button negates having to get the key into the steering column to start it too. Them lazy conveniences! What's next? automatically shift gears for me too?!

As am I. But 'm usually in before 5:30am when the rest of my crew wander in around 10.

When I was working I was always 15 minutes early. Not because I believe "being early is being on time" and "being on time is being late". I always felt it was a courtesy so my coworkers could fill me in on the day and unwind a bit (I was third shift). A lot of my coworkers were their exactly on time or close to 10 minutes late. I'd still fill them in on the evening events, but it got annoying staying a little later when i'm ready to go home. Don't have to worry about that anymore.

I was having a bit of a hard time putting my finger on exactly what was going through my head this morning ... but I think you've come pretty close.

In my case, the time of arrival isn't handed down to me from on high, but I do prefer to get here at 8:30, and kick myself when I'm late. The car will get me to work more quickly, on average, but there's a lot less I can control, and I stress more over being late because of it. On the bike, so long as I leave on time ( and avoid a flat or an accident ), I know exactly when I'm going to arrive, so I don't worry about it. And that makes the commute as close as it could possibly be to a leisure ride.

Our core hours are about 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, but I'm and early riser, plus I like to ride early in the AM. I used to arrive as early as 6:00 AM, but now it's near 7:00 AM. Fortunately my work is flexible, so I always can get started on something for the most part, at my convenience.

Unfortunately, the majority of the work load occurs around noon til 5:00PM, when I'm at an energy low. Again, I can work-shift and plod through those hours, take a nap, and work hard til about 9:00 PM when I take a train home. (I used to take an 8 PM train, allowing me to get to bed and then up earlier).

I'm a bit embarrased to tell people I'm at work from 7 AM until 9 PM, but it is nice to do that early morning commute and have the ability to vary my workload according to my energy levels. The train ride (with my bike) is very relaxing. I also have the opportunity to kick back (within reason) and do some amusing things like posting, etc. when my energy level is low.

I'm not a workaholic, but I can cite the workaholic's prayer: "Thank God it's Monday."

My schedule, and everyone else's at my job, has a set time to be there, determined by management. There's been some talk that, in the future, all of out schedules will be computer-generated, based on the needs of the store. When they announce the imminence of that, I start looking for other work.

Miss start time on your schedule more than three times in three months and you get written up.

I'm always early, since it gives me ample time to park the bike, put away my outerwear, and cool down from the commute.