Ridefreemc

I enjoy reading about each of your "adventures" when commuting to and fro. There is a lot of variety in equipment, routes, weather, and options and I often contrast your stories with what I do - looking for ways to expand or improve my experience (and simply to enjoy reading about what others do). That said, I'm curious about the various options each of you have/take each day. Feel free to change the format of what I've put down, but here is what I do on my 4.5 mile commute to work:

4.5 miles each way
West-central Florida (great weather most days: hot summers, cool winters - not many unrideable days):

Plan A - 55% - drive vehicle/cage/4,200 lbs
Plan B - 40% - ride my lovely Salsa Vaya (90%) or Mezzo folder (10%)
Plan C - 3% - take the bus + walk (3.5 miles bus + 0.8 walk)
Plan D - 1% - ride motorcycle
Plan E - >1% - bus/bike in and bike home
Plan F - >1% - walk the whole way in (did that once)/bus home (one day I got taken to work in a boat by the Florida Marine Patrol - that was cool - and part of the job, not trouble!)

I have many options and this keeps things interesting. Also, I am appreciative of these options and my closeness to work (I planned that).

cplager

Hi,

Why not up the motorcycle and lower the car?

Ridefreemc

Not sure. All that gear (helmet, oots, gloves, armored jacket, etc.) can be a pain. Also, I usually reserve the Ducati for long trips - 7,000 to Newfoundland (2010), 6,000 to Nova Scotia (2007), 3,000 to New York and Michigan (2012), 1,500 from Texas (2011), 400 for breakfast at home/lunch in Daytona Beach/dinner at home (whenever I can)!

Steely Dan

i live roughly 13 miles from work as the crow flies. my cycle route is a little bit longer at ~15 miles. and i don't own a car, so driving ain't an option for me.

• Plan A - 45% - ride my road bike - when the weather abides, nothing beats a road bike.

• Plan B - 40% - ride my hybrid - when the weather doesn't abide, disc brakes, fenders, wider/studded tires, and an IGH are nice features to have.

• Plan C - 10% - ride my folder - when i have after work commitments, i ride my folder so that i can fold it up and take it indoors with me at my destination instead of leaving one of my full-size bikes out on the street for the ravenous thieves of the city to eat up.

• Plan D - 5% - ride the train - when i'm feeling ill or when some other life issue just makes cycling the less ideal choice.

• Plan E - <1% - ride the train in the morning with my folding kayak / kayak home after work - this one is quite rare, as it takes almost 3 hours to kayak back home on the river, but it sure is a fun way to commute!

nashvillwill

Plan A- Devise a way to not HAVE to go to work. 0%
Plan B- Ride my hybrid. 90%
Plan C- Drive 8%
Plan D- Ride my backup bike 2%
Plan E- Have my wife drive me 0%
Plan F- Call the President. Air Force One. 0%

droy45

Plan A- Just drive in my car 11 miles 20%
Plan B- Ride my MTB (commuter build up) 70%
Plan C- Ride my 10 spd road bike (hard on neck and arms) 2%
Plan E- Have wife drive me if she needs car 8%
Plan F- Stay home 0%

Ridefreemc

This plus all the bikes I need would satisfy me for sure, but I work so that I can ride. When you figure this Plan A out, plus bikes - call me.

Coastal Cruiser

I can relate to you, Ridefreemc. I have been self-powering my 3.5 mile commute for the last two years and recently I finally sold my long-unused car. I, too, employ a number of options to get from A to B, or from A to B to C. Because I work at a grocery store, I usually combine my work commute with some light grocery shopping, hence my heavy knockabout bike outfitted with panniers. I like the way you break down your trips.

Plan A - 65% - ride my Huffy All Pro 3 speed. <1% of the time I ride my backup Diamondback mtb.
Plan B - 10% - skate to work via longboard.
Plan C - 10% - catch a ride with my wife when I'm feeling sick or there's freezing rain/bus home.
Plan D - 5% - take the bus. This often reverts to A or B at the last minute, since the buses in my area are notoriously late.
Plan E - 5% - drive the honda if my wife doesn't need it.

The only options worth choosing most of the time are A or B. Skating can be treacherous and exhausting, but it is also exhilarating. I would skate to work more often, but there isn't a shower there and I always end up soaked in sweat if it's warmer than 70 degrees. Skating makes me appreciate how much easier (and faster) it is on the bike. Changing my routine like this keeps the journey interesting and prevents me taking it for granted.

I'd love to have a fleet of beautiful bikes for all occasions in the future, but for now I rather like my $30 utilitarian all-purpose road bike. I'm pretty sure I would take any form of self-powered transportation to work if I could. Turbo-stilts? Yeah, I'd do that. Unicycle? Sure, why not. Roller blades?... Well, no. I wouldn't do that.

ItsJustMe

11 mile route (unless it's really nice out, then I go the long way and make it 15)

A: ride (90%)
B: drive (if I have errands or something that I must make and are too far or involve picking up large/heavy items)

There are no other options. I ride unless I have a specific reason not to. If I'm feeling sick then I don't go to work. I may work from home on those days.

agent pombero

Plan A: Not go to work = 0%
Plan B: Take two stinky ass Trimet buses = 1%
Plan C: Ride my bike to work = 99%

charbucks

Hmm... I think I'm a lot more variable than most of you. 10 km route.

A) Work from home (20%)
B) Surly LHT (40% in summer, 50% in winter)
C) Beater bike to train (30% in summer, 0% in winter)
D) Walk/Bus to train (10% in summer, 30% in winter)
E) car2go home from work (combined with D) <1 %

I'm looking at getting a Brompton so I can add even more combinations of bike/bus/train/car2go.

tdsherman325

3.5 mi each way:

Plan A: Ride in the morning, ride home for lunch, ride back to work, ride home again - 14 mi total - 5%
Plan B: Drive car in the morning, drive home for lunch, ride bike back to work, ride home - 7 mi total - 95%
Plan C: Just drive the car - <1%

Plan A seldom happens because I am a snooze button junkie. Plus, it's not hugely easy to ride home, eat, and still have enough time left to ride back inside of an hour. I used to just eat @ work but now I've gotten used to going home to eat lunch with my wife every day & I miss her and the baby if I don't.

The only times I drive all day are when it's raining, a rare occurrence here in the desert.

Ridefreemc

What an industrious and creative bunch of commuters - and with a good sense of humor! Longboarding 3.5 miles sounds like a heck of a workout Coastal Cruiser. Agent Pombero has a good Plan A, but at 0% it sounds like just a dream.

The times I ride the bus I have to keep quiet that I have a car as an option. I mentioned that to another bus rider one day and she looked at me as if I was the crazy one - "you mean you have a car and you still take the bus, what are you, crazy?" Depends on the day, but mostly Yep!

alexaschwanden

See if you can just bike to work every week IMHO.

scroca

Plan A - 100% - ride my bike to work and back
Plan B - 100% - decline the offer of a ride home and ride my bike back

Ridefreemc

That I do, or better on average. Just not every day.

treadtread

Plan A: Ride to work - 90%
Plan B: Work from home - 5%
Plan C: Drive - 5%

On a 6 mile round trip in the Bay area suburbs, I don't really have other options (though there is potentially a bus I could take). Never tried to hoof it, though it would be a nice walk. Don't have the time though.
Plan A is my fastest option by far - I have to take 101 if I drive and in rush hour, I can take 10-25 minutes one way, including parking ( bike takes ~12 and accompanies me to my office). Driving is only on days when I have to drop my wife somewhere on the way, or maybe meet her at lunch.

I drove in one day when a team lunch was planned - figured I could help ferry colleagues. At lunch time, I couldn't find my car in the parking lot was the target of a lot of jokes that day!

erig007

Plan A: ride a camel, elephant, donkey, horse, cow, zebra, ostrich, chicken - 0%
Plan B: drive a space shuttle, submarine, deltaplane, fighter jet, helicopter, jetpack, dragster, supertanker, caravan, flying car, tank, kid's trike, starship enterprise - 0%
Plan C: ride my wife - 0%
Plan D: ride a skateboard, roller-blade, ski, plastic bag, kite-surf, cardboard car, hoverboard, harry potter's broomstick, aladdin's carpet, circus' cannonball, E.T's bike - 0%
Plan E: hitchhike, steal a car, near death experience's fly, mushrooms, beam me up Scotty - 0%
Plan F: superhero' costume - 0% (requires some fine tuning)
Plan G: U.F.O - 1% (I'm sure it happened)
Plan H: ride my bike - 99%

zacster

Plan A: NYC Subway 75%
Plan B: Ride my bike 20%
Plan C: Drive to the other office in New Jersey 4% or as little as possible.
Plan D: Work from home 1%
Plan E: Lie on the beach 0% but this is my preferred spot.

sbslider

I used to ride my longboard 5.5 Miles to work fairly regularly, like 1-2 per month. Tons of fun, and I could do it in just 10-15 longer than riding my bike. Since I have gotten my new bike, the longboards have been gathering dust. Need to get on to them again . . .

Why not rollerblade? Someone in my office does it regularly.

As far as my habits go,
ride 95%
drive 5% when the surf is good, or it is really raining. Hoping this percentage will increase soon because the surf is good.

Mark Stone

• A - Drive Car 33%
• B - Drive Car Halfway or so and ride bike the rest of the way 33%
• C - Ride Bike to Bus stop and transit the rest of the way 33%
• D - Walk and Bus 33%
• E - Ride bike the whole trip 0%

Total: 133%. I'm clearly aging too fast. I probably should have paid more attention in math - - Total distance is 34 miles round trip