+50




Suddenly I don't feel so strange.

Did that one last week. During the summer, I use the Blazer for trips where I need something fast, need something too big to bother trying to strap it on the rack, or when I just have to have air conditioning, (fairly often when overnight lows can be in the 90s) but that still leaves a lot of bike trips since nothing in town is more than four miles from home. As a result, a full tank of gas can last a month or more, and as fast as the prices change, that can be a huge difference. When I got gas last week, there was a bit of sticker shock as I realized how little my $20 was going to get.

I remember getting change from $20 on 15 gallons of gas, a pack of name brand cigarettes and a large drink. I shouldn't be old enough for that.

I don't know if it counts since its like a 5 minute bike ride but you've ridden to work in full combat gear in 120f heat while balancing your rifle

Yep,
Wives don't like that. They anticipate the money you are not spending on gas as new shoe shopping money.

Guilty as charged, car total mess fuji clean as a whistle

... when half way thru the ride you wonder why you're sweating that much and then remember reading about the 110F heat advisory.

... when same day everybody at work asks you if you have water

... when you remember on the way back you need to take a detour to Home Depot and it feels like 125F when you pass the line of cars with AC running

When you set up a separate bank account just so you can save up money for a new set of commuter wheels...

You have the Bike Forums; Commuting section set as your home page. And your 33 mile RT is not long enough so you take the long way to the office. And you take the route that is all uphill...going and coming. :0

Ride safe,

Jeff

I did this a few weeks ago and I was really missing my morning bike ride into work.

I had to make a quick trip to my workplace last night (I thought I forgot to close a window and it was bugging me all evening). So we hopped in the car (which hadn't been started in a week). My bf had to remind me not to turn at a certain dead end street that I usually bike down that leads to a shortcut right of way for walkers and bikes. I had to take the car route instead.

Jeff, how do you net gain elevation on both your ride to and from work?

... You can find yourself on Google Earth, apparently. I can not...

...you constantly try to scan behind you with your mirror when out for a walk.

... you shower at the office five days a week.

... the only girls you want to talk to are the ones you meet at bike-racks (and of course the only thing you can think to talk about is bikes).

... finding out that a girl owns/drives a car is a turn-off.

... one room in the house/apartment is named "the bike room".

... you have a bike trainer, but it never gets used because you honestly spend enough time out riding.

... you think about moving closer to work, but decide against it because that would make the commute shorter.

... you haven't owned a car or a bus/train-pass for several years. realizing this makes you smile.

... you need to attend a formal event and realize that all of your outerwear is florescent.

... someone from building maintenance asks to borrow a hex-key.

... you have a daily or weekly scheduled rotation for charging lights (and cameras).

... you keep a battery charger at work.

... you live in an apartment/condo/flat and invite your neighbor (with two cars) to use your parking space, just so it looks like someone lives there.

... your garage is re-purposed for something that has nothing to do with cars (studio, workshop, office).

... your ex-wife tells you she bought a car... and you just start laughing. then a few months later, she says you were right (although, she rides buses, not bikes)

... someone asks you for directions via car, and you have no idea.

... you drop off formal traffic complaints at the police station, and the cop behind the desk knows your name.

... you have a youtube channel with videos of your commutes (and people start subscribing to it).

... you've ever spent more than an hour researching and deciding on bicycle lights.

... you do your grocery shopping with pannier bags. or a trailer.

... you have bike locks already there, waiting for you.

... you get upset because someone parked their bike in your spot. if this happens regularly, it encourages you to wake up 30 minutes earlier.

... bicycle parking (or lack thereof) strongly influences where you shop and eat.

... you'll take a less desirable job because it has more desirable bike parking and showers.

... traveling for business, you try to find a way to take your bike. you get depressed that you'll have to rent a car while you're out of town for a few days.

... normally there are 20-30 bikes parked at the office... but the weather is bad and your bike is the only one there.

... outside of cycling social networks, people refer to you as "the bike guy", or something to that effect.

... cycling issues are the only thing you really care about in local politics. or not-so-local politics.

If you stopped by the DMV on the way home from work to renew your license, and you took your photo visibly sweaty & wearing your high-viz jersey.

I bought my girlfriend a new bike for our anniversary and she's been commuting roughly 40k a day (round trip) for the past several weeks and loving it.

I have to get my spot; the wheelbender at work has slots too narrow for my fenders, so the end is the only place I can lock up properly.

... and you have a justification for having a special parking spot (or limited subset of available spots) that is yours

... when you finally wrestle YOUR car from your 16 yo consummate cager of a daughter, you still try to shift and brake from the steering wheel....

I've done that more times than I care to remember. It gets to be so second nature to check that rearview that even when it's not there, there's the urge to check it. Or to try and do a shoulder check.

Hehehee, you guys are cracking me up! This is fun.

You call out on your left when you pass people in the hallway/grocery store.

Your afternoon break consists of a 16oz glass of water and an endurolyte..

You understand what the phrase "being doored" is all about...by experience...

You long to be ticketed for speeding on your bike, just for the bragging rights...

You realize that even if the country goes to hell in a hand-basket you still have your bike...

You have a commuter bag for every occasion ...

You wash cycling shorts and jerseys more often than any other clothes you have...

You always ask the Mormon guys how they manage to look so good in a shirt and tie after a long days ride...

I had a good streak going last month of 3 perfect commuter weeks and then had to drive to work. I missed my turn off because I was headed toward the MUP turn off further on and had to go out to the next light and add another mile on to my drive. That was when I realized bike commuting had become more normal than driving.

Definitely agree with that one! Just had to suffer driving to work for a week.....

How about you know you are a hard core commuter when you are forced to drive to work and you spend most of your time looking out the window at the other cyclists and saying to yourself "Here's the 1st trail crossing......that's where I would take the highway.....and thats the hill climb....etc......".

While knock wood I don't know from experience I do know what it means to be doored so I make sure that I do not ride in the door zone. Just the other week I'd wished that there'd been a cop around to give me a ticket for speeding, wouldn't have minded if it would have been possible to get a picture being handed the ticket or of the radar gone display showing the speed. And my laundry does usually consist more of cycling related gear than it does non-cycling related gear.

I did a count the other day and I found out that I actually have more cycling socks than non-cycling socks.

......every room in your apartment is known as 'the bike room'

......the only piece of furniture you own, besides a bed, is a stool to sit on while fixing your bikes

i have schwinn spinner that is gathering dust because it hasn't been used in a long, long time, and i keep the low paying job i have because it is near the bike trail and i can bring my bike inside with me while i'm sitting and working