Re-commuting
 

I know this is the third thread I'm posting in (less than) three days, but commuting is important to me. It has been important to me for about 3 years now I think.

A little intel on how it started out...
About three and a half years ago I came across this forum, and had some serious time put into the commuting section. After gathering enough information, I decided to take the plunge, so I jumped in. I initially did a round trip to work for two times a week, riding on a 1986 Raleigh Marathon. I loved the bike to bits, and it worked great, but it just wasn't fast enough. So after about half a year of riding the old, steel bike to work I came across an affordable Tiagra equipped Giant OCR. It was a lot newer than the Raleigh, and I liked it from the moment I looked at it. I didn't even take a test ride on it, I was sold. The bike was sold. We were sold.
I then lived 25km away from the office, which was pretty doable. I started riding during spring and liked it so much that I rode a bit more than I did on the Raleigh. In the end I was riding 4 days a week, and used one day a week to bring my laundry in and out of the office, using public transport to get home and to the office. It was a great time.
Then all of a sudden I got offered a promotion. I wanted to move along the food chain of the company, so I couldn't say no. It involved a company car, but I was placed at a client of our company, which is nearly 50km away from home. That's twice the distance I used to ride each day.

A few days ago I decided my life quality has been depreciating. After some thinking, and rethinking, and re-rethinking, I decided I should ride to work more often. I want to do this again for at least twice a week.

Last thread I posted was my route to work. I was so thrilled that I couldn't not share it with you guys. It's 45km of asfalt, no cobblestones at all. Most of the route goes through some of the nicest surroundings of the urban area I live and work in. During my first ride into the office I was stunned by the amazing scenery, which I didn't even realize we had until I took the ride. I missed that for about 6, maybe even 7 months now.

The thread before last thread, I posted on how to bring my gear to work. I totally forgot how to commute by bike, which made me lots less creative in transporting my clothes and such to work. I mounted an old rear rack and some old panniers on my Giant, and it didn't even look that bad. Even though I kind of like the looks of it, I'm taking it off tomorrow, and put it on top of a shelf for when I do need it, now is just not that time. I want to travel as light and fast as possible, so I'm leaving as much as possible home.

Tomorrow I will ride the car to work. Even though I love my VW Golf Variant, it's just too environmentally unfriendly to ride it each day. It's fast, which I love, but it's just not very clean.
Tomorrow I will leave a large bag of clothes, towels, deodorant and other stuff at work, so I won't have to take that with me on the bike. I'll leave it under my desk at the 10th floor. So when I come in I need to go to the 10th floor first, then back down to the 1st floor to take a shower. Initially I was worried about the responses of people disliking my smell. I didn't really think about their liking my courage and dedication to ride the bike to work. Thankfully I'm in therapy right now for my low self esteem :)

Anyway, I am starting again, and I think I will be posting in the 2011 mileage thread as well. Let's see who I can still beat there ;)

Watch out guys, I'm back on the road!

(Seriously... This thread isn't really about anything except for me having lost it for a while, and getting "Back on the Brooks" ;) )

Congrats on getting back into the saddle again, you sound psyched.

Do it!

Go for it! I'm trying to commute my full commute at least twice this week (only <9 miles each way).

Thanks guys. I actually am psyched. The weather forecasts for the upcoming days have been changed, looks a lot better now :)

Found out today that we have two different kinds of lockers. One locker takes 50ct, which isn't refundable at opening it. The other takes €2, but that is refundable at opening, so I've decided to stuff my gear into a €2-locker so it doesn't cost me a fortune in the long run.

I actually am getting a bit nervous now :D

Welcome back. I would go through some serious withdrawal if I had to stop bike commuting. My office is moving to a new location in the fall, increasing my daily commuting from about 22 miles to 30 miles round trip, and I'm actually looking forward to the extra mileage.

dude thanks for sharing. make as many posts as you like. we can always skip over them if we're not interested.

So it's the night before and I'm feeling a bit scared now. Not sure why, but I'm sure it will be loads of fun in the morning.

Shouldn't forget the earplugs for my phone, so at least I can listen to some music while riding.

Two minor quibbles, if I may...

As you may have heard, fresh sweat should have no odor. Certainly you should not be skanking out your co-workers after ~20 miles on the bike. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do, just saying is all...

This one is somewhat less subjective: you are doing yourself an active disservice if you ride a bicycle while plugged into an iPod. It isn't the wisest thing one could do. I hope you didn't.

H

Don't be scared about anything. Like most of us, I bet once you get 3-4 pedals into your commute, you'll already be enjoying it!

Depends on what you wear, and what you eat, not just the last time you shower.
Some of us are lucky to sweat less, some are more lucky that if they shower right before their sweat isn't so bad.
Others are not that lucky.

The only thing you can do is shower (or at least ho shower) right before, and wear wool or silk or cotton, none of which will smell much (maybe the cotton), artificial "high tech" fabrics can reek after only 20 minutes of sweating.

THanks for the responses guys, I appreciate it :)
I've not been riding for a while. To be honest I haven't been working out at all lately. So there is some garbage that needs to leave my body which is a bit smelly. In a week or two that will be solved (yes, I've been there before).

I wasn't entirely clear on the music listening. I never ride with two plugs (I only wear the right one), and only when on a dedicated bike path where are no cars. I also make sure that the volume is low enough to hear what is going on around me. It was nice to hear the news on the radio this morning, instead of not knowing what is going on in the world until I come home and turn on the news.
I actually was, but before I left town it started drizzling. About 30km into the ride it stopped for 5 minutes and then started again. Just before I arrived at work it stopped, about 10 minutes to go... The riding wind actually dried my shirt a bit :)
Even though it was wet, it did cool me down a bit which is a good thing. I actually enjoyed the ride.