doc0c

So in the choice between "saving the earth" and being able to spend time with family, you'd pick saving the earth. Go hug a tree now, you've earned it.

Stealthammer

I use to do 90-120 miles each way on the SoCal freeways as a daily commute on a very heavily cafe'd Yamaha SR500, and I'd be splitting the lanes doing 40-60+mph while the normal traffic was bumper-to-bumper at <20-30mph. I actually enjoyed it very much for about three years, then I looked for work closer to home.

cooker

Except he only gets to sleep there, not "live" there.
Unfortunately he's doing neither. Part of the reason "the country" is so far from the city, is because we've paved so much of it for cars. Urban sprawl is all about the automobile.

Roody

logic much?

And actually, I have no interest whatsoever in "saving the earth." I am however very interested in saving my grandson. At the rate we're going, the Earth won't be as nice for him as it was for me.

Roody

You can't do that in Indiana, can you? I think most states (other than Cal. and a few others) do not permit lane splitting by mitorcycles?

nubcake

I would sometimes drive over 120 miles each way but it was in a company vehicle with fuel paid. It still was exhausting because I would be working 10ish hour days on top of it and had no energy for family time. Sometimes it was great because I would only be 5-10 miles from home but generally I was around an hour away from home. I installed elevators so the job site would change regularly.

I lasted at that job for just over a year before I had enough and quit chasing money and went back into working in bike shops. Now my commute is 7 miles RT and I have not drove into work once this year and it feels great. I should have done this sooner.

Stealthammer

Yeah, that would get me ticketed pretty quickly here, but I can ride all day without a helmet. Go figure....

Ekdog

What a rude, hateful, ignorant statement! How about actually thinking for once in your life and engaging in an intelligent conversation instead of insulting someone who is obviously superior to you both morally and intellectually?

Lamplight

For about 2.5 years I commuted roughly 20 miles each way. It was a pretty drive on a very low traffic highway to a much smaller town, but it still got old to me quickly. My next job involved a ~32 mile commute into Nashville just ahead of rush hour in the morning, and in the thick of it in the evening. It was miserable. The job wasn't bad at all, but I hated the commute so much that when I job closer to home became available I immediately accepted it and began bike commuting. Obviously a lot of people don't mind doing it, but I don't think I could tolerate driving 60+ miles every day just to get to and from a job. I'd be willing to take a large pay cut to avoid it, in fact.

cooker

I drive a car to work about once a year, and I curse the whole time that I'm stuck behind other people going their pace, instead of biking at my pace.

Cyclepup

I wasn't a super commuter but I did commute 72-miles each way when I was working in Santa Monica, CA. That went on for 7-years and it was exhausting, both mentally and emotionally. I am SO glad that's behind me now!

Dahon.Steve

Wow. That was dangerous. You're a very lucky person someone didn't make a mistake.

There was a horrible motorcycle accident last month about a mile from me. I know this has nothing to do with the post. When the city completed the last stop of the lightrail, they also reconstructed the road next to it making it faster! I rode my bike there and it was amusing at the time because the road goes down hill and there's a fun dip just before hitting a traffic light. I quickly realized the danger because of cars turing in your lane at the traffic light. As a result, I stopped going full speed into that downhill dip because there were too many things that could go wrong.

Last month a 21 year old motorcyclist was going 50 mph down that dip when an elderly woman moved out of the parking and onto the road. His body hit full speed into the passenger door and the bike flipped behind a guard rail. If these road planners had only left the street as it was instead of making it a 50 mph in a 25 mph residential street that boy would still be alive.

ReptilesBlade 

This is all the things wrong with our country.

I had a job for a few years where I had to travel 30 miles one way, roughly 45 minutes, because I could not find better closer to home and believe me I tried! Never, ever effing again!

Roody

Another thing we haven't mentioned--How many extra hours do these super commuters have to work just to pay for the commute. I wouldn't be surprised if they work 8 extra hours every week to earn the money for those long commutes. And this is on top of the hours they spend actually on the road.

Suburban

I'm not willing to spend more than half an hour commuting. I've never applied for a job that was that far away.

cooker

I have a 5 mile each way bike commute and I'm still overweight. Soon my office is being relocated to another building and I will have a 7 mile commute. I hope that helps!

Roody

Probably won't help unless you eat a little less.

Stealthammer

Ah yes, the joys of youth and being ignorant of one's mortality.....

MattFoley

Last summer I was temporarily working at an offsite location that was a 24 mile commute each way, including a stretch of toll road. I rode my bike about 2-3x a week, but the days I drove were absolute hell. The drive out was actually fast, at about 35 minutes, but the drive home regularly took over an hour and about made me cry every time. My regular commute is 12 miles and I do it by bike 3-4x a week and usually ride my motorcycle the other days...by car it takes maybe 30 minutes (an hour by bike) and that's about the limit to my sanity. I have coworkers that do an hour each way, every day (for like a 15 mile commute!) and they have to get in super early and either leave early or stay late. Eff that.

Also, my fiancé and I share one car that gets good mileage, but driving my normal commute costs almost $5 a day in gas alone...I don't know how people who commute with an SUV 40 miles or whatever each day afford the gas, but it seems like that's roughly the same as flushing your money down the toilet.

Dahon.Steve

I joined weight watchers last two weeks ago and I'm finally losing weight. Your commute will be far more effective with a proper diet, one that allows you to lose weight. If you like to eat burgers, fries and soda, you'll never lose weight.

cooker

I know, but I've always enjoyed exercise a lot more than dieting!

Roody

Me too. Fat and Fit Forever!

zephyr

Here in the southern california megalopolis, some of my co-workers participate in van pools for long haul commutes (40 to 60 miles each way). Each vanpool member pays roughly $60-$80 per month depending on the number of people in the vanpool. My employer pays the gasoline and toll road costs for the vanpool. I am guessing this costs my employer at least $200 per week per vanpool. Somehow they get some of this back in the form of tax rebates for encouraging van pools. In reality those state or fed tax rebates and subsidies by my employer are encouraging and facilitating a lot of people to live in very distant communities. Are subsidized vanpools part of the problem or part of the solution? I don't think my tax money should subsidize someone else's super long haul van commute. I don't take subsidies for my daily bike commute, even though there is some red-tape wrapped bike commute expense reimbursement that was passed a few years ago.

Roody

I don't like subsidizing somebody's absurdly long commute either. But what I really hate is the direct subsidies that governments pay to corporations for parking structures at their facilities. As a taxpayer I help pay for parking towers that I will never use.

This is supposedly to "bring jobs to the region." Thses companies successfully blackmail and extort cash strapped local and state governments to pay for their employee parking. In my city we just gave a big tax break to an insurance company--and also deviated from our city plan to let them build a parking garage on beautiful riverrfront land.

gerv 

Subsidies? What about two or three wars to bolster your influence over oil supplies?