I was born and raised in Southwestern Minnesota where the landscape is littered with wind farms. I have grown a huge dislike for riding in the wind but it’s something I’ve learned to live with.

I don't particularly like hills, but I see them more as a challenge than a nuisance.

Temperature typically doesn’t bother me... I can dress for most conditions.

I won't ride in cold rain, (below 45F) but warm rain can add a new adventure.

But the worst part of the commute is pulling myself out of bed an hour sooner than I would need to if I drove my car to work. I stressed myself out last night because I didn’t get to bed as soon as I should have for my plan to get up early to commute; it took me a long time to fall asleep and I didn’t sleep very well. Once I get on my bike all is well… but it is a challenge to get there!

I know exactly what you mean. Riding to work for me means getting up before the sun and leaving my wife alone in our warm, way too comfortable bed. A couple things I do to make it better is packing my bag for the morning the night before and having my clothes layed out for me. Also I set the timer on the coffee maker so I can roll out of bed and satisfy my chemical addiction.

But your right, Once I'm on the bike, and over that first hill, it all fades away.

Man, I'm with you. For me however is just a bit better though, just because I'm only almost 7 miles away from work, that's 1/2 hr commute which allows me to wake up not too early.
Since I use my commute as a work-out some days, I force myself to get up earlier just because I want to put those extra miles by taking the long way to work, stretching it sometimes up to 16 miles w/o compromising my 8:30 am entrance.
But soon we'll start the summer hours, we'll have to start 7:30 am (!). which will make it harder to get out of bed, then again I can always leave the longest route for after work.
The pain is just getting passed that natural lethargy of the morning, once over that little "hill" everything is fine.
Corsaire

Hi,
when I commute by bike, I have to leave by 6 AM. I am always glad I did, but getting out the door on time can be real hard.
By midsummer I find myself leaving later, and riding harder than I should midweek, just to have a that couple extra minutes.

I have the exact opposite experience. I so much love riding to work that I jump out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off, eager to hit the road, also knowing the earlier I go the less traffic there will be and the light timings are better.

When driving I struggled to get out of bed on time, wrongly thinking I could always make up the time by leaving later and getting less of rush hour. Less exercise made it harder to get consistenly good sleep as well.

Al

I know what you mean. I live in Holland - wind wind wind wind WIND!!!!!!!

AAARRRGGH!

7 AM?? 7 AM???
I envy you.
Today was my first commute and I had to wake up at 3:30 in order to arrive at 6:00. I was about 15 minutes early though, so next time I'll leave at 3:40 or so, and once conditioned maybe I can leave as late as 4:00 - 4:15, but 7:00??
If I didn't love my job I'd look for a new one.

The worst part of the commute is arriving at work.

Yep! You got me there... I guess I was dead wrong!!

I took the caffeine out of my diet. It sucked for the first week or so, but after that, I found waking up much easier.

Now, the hard part of my commute is wind on the way home. Of course, the hardest thing of all is sitting around waiting for the tendinitis in my Achilles tendon to heal. I'll take my 5:00 AM wake up call anyday over that!

Ahahahaha! I live in new york city. I can wake up LATER cause it's faster by bike than anything else. Suckers.

My friend from manhattan claims its faster to get around by subway (that is his excuse not to cycle commute) I believe they are wrong, but who am I to argue with them as I don't live there.

Al

It depends on how fast you go and if you catch a train. Technically yes, if you get into the station and catch a train immediately, you're faster by subway. But that's just going up and down in manhattan. In most cases, it's pretty much tied.
If I take the subway into queens from brooklyn, my train routes into manhattan first then I transfer to a train traveling to queens from there. I can cut straight across brooklyn and get there by bike.

The worst part of the commute- actually getting to work!

Maybe if the cyclist and subway rider were standing at the entrance to the subway station. But with walking time, waiting time, oh-damn-my-Metro-card-is-empty time thrown in, I think the cyclist would win.

It doesn't hurt to teave time to fix a flat and get stuck a a couple of slow lights.

pj7: What time do you go to bed?

I will sound the theme here that I put on another thread: Do any of you guys have small children? I just accept whatever sleep I can get with grateful thanks to Providence. This talk of 'what time I have to get up' makes me

Don't be jealous, but I can stay in bed longer when I commute by bike. If there's too much snow and ice on the roads in Jan and Feb (and March this year) I ride the bus/subway and it takes me 40 minutes to get to work. Now it only takes me 20 by bike.

Right on MarcusBandito!! I ditto your comments. I also gave up caffeine last October, but since starting commuting last week (usually 32-34 degrees at 6:30 when I leave) I started mixng decaf with caf to get a little kick to get me over those hills. But I agree - After a week without caffeine I had no problems awakening - I'd jump out of bed. now that I am slightly on again, I wake up bleary-eyed!!
Have a great Day
Rick

london uk

door to desk 1 hour by public transport if there are no delays (no delays - bwah ha ha ha ha)

BUT

door to desk (including s3 at work) 1 hour by bike at a leisurely pace

Yes, living in a big city sucks in some ways but I do laugh at all those stressed out commuters.

jnbacon,

Have your cycled in both manhattan and phoenix? If so just curious how you compare the two. My guess is that one must dymanically deal with far more moving and stationary obsticals in M, but can better work with traffic flow and ride like a vehicle vs. dealing with high speed cars in P where it is harder to ride and get treated like a vehicle. A different kind of mindset, but likely more relaxing in P

Al

When I did the first commute of the season last Fri (see pics in long commute thread), I found that where the Lachine canal bike path passed under streets there was about 12" of soft wet ice. At other places where there was ice over the path and I had to detour over the grass, the ground was so soft I had to use my bottom granny gear to keep moving. I will not be commuting again until the ice has melted and the water has drained away.

[QUOTE=Rixtory]Right on MarcusBandito!! I ditto your comments. I also gave up caffeine last October, but since starting commuting last week (usually 32-34 degrees at 6:30 when I leave) I started mixng decaf with caf to get a little kick to get me over those hills. But I agree - After a week without caffeine I had no problems awakening - I'd jump out of bed. now that I am slightly on again, I wake up bleary-eyed!!


Coffee is a tough one for me. I have no illusions about the fact I'm addicted, but the one cup I have in the morning is kind of a ritual I don't want to break. When I have taken long bike tours or backpacking trips I have given it up but I always come back to wanting that cup first thing in the morning.

Coffee is actually good for bikers. Releases caffeine into the system, allowing the body to release fat into the bloodstream, giving you that extra surge of energy, specially on long rides.
Corsaire