National Ride your Bike to Work week

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Hyde
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Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:39 am
Location: Los Angeles=Hills, Smog

by Hyde

Anyone do it? Did mine this morning...70 miles. I had never done it just because I would have to get up so early but a couple of us talked the boss into giving us a little time to make it somewhat reasonable. I had to leave the house a 5:00 instead of 3:00 :lol:

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drjones96
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Location: Wichita, KS

by drjones96

I did some commuting last year. A normal drive to work takes me 30 minutes (Give or take 5 min). I made it to work on my bike in 45min one day last year but it could have just been one of those fluke deals (caught the light's just right). Every other time it took me almost an hour. Not bad if you really think about it. I burned no gas and all it cost me was a little sweat, a little grief from motorists, and 30 minutes of sleep time.

With the price of gas escalating I've been considering doing some more riding to work.

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Chiho
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Joined: Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:01 pm
Location: US/Japan

by Chiho

Yeah, I have been riding to work at least once per week (21 miles each way). I either have a busy but wide-shouldered highway (about 1000 feet of climbing on the ride, so a little over 1 hour) or I can ride singletrack most of the way (which takes me about 2 hours). I will sometimes drive to work, ride home on singletrack, and them come out the next day on the highway on my road bike. I just wish they would take better care of the road: tons of glass, and I inevitably puncture at least once a week on that road.

I also started working at a local coffeehouse 2X per week, and I always ride my fixie to that job. It is only 15 minutes each way, up to an hour if I decide to do the country loop. I may quit the 1st job so that I can ride to work every day. I enjoy it so much more, and feel pretty stupid that I waste 50 minutes of each day in the car when I hvae to drive to work.

I just wish that our government would wake up and make cycling a safer alternative, instead of forcing our behavoir to be so auto-centric. Almost nobody commutes by bicycle around here, even though the weather is generally agreeable, and there is are 7 bike shops that serve a population of 70,000 in this town!

mzagorski
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by mzagorski

I commute every day and have never owned a car.. so for me it's national bike to work LIFE ( so far). Worst i did was 70 miles (to and from work) when I lived further away every day of the week for 6 weeks, no rest. Still trained on weekends too and threw in one 112 mile races. I got pretty skinny... lol. Now it's only 3 miles each way in Hawaiian sunshine.

biky
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by biky

mzagorski wrote:I commute every day and have never owned a car.. so for me it's national bike to work LIFE ( so far).


same here!
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strobbekoen
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by strobbekoen

I don't even have a driver's license :wink:

mzagorski
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by mzagorski

I don't even have a driver's license


Me neither.. Too busy working or training and no time to go and get it so far...

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Warblade
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Location: Seattle, Wa
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by Warblade

mzagorski wrote:
I don't even have a driver's license


Me neither.. Too busy working or training and no time to go and get it so far...


Mike I know you are a coach, and are an incredibly talented racer, but do you have another job?
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BmanX
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Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:31 pm

by BmanX

I rode twice this week. The ride is exactly 30km so I was able to get in a good 120km for the two days. It was the first commute of the year and I was a bit sore riding the next day since I have not been doing a ton of riding.

I just ride tempo to work and try to beat the time on the way home. Good way to get in some quality seat time.

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Skunk
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Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 7:23 am
Location: bay area

by Skunk

If I commuted on bike to work it would only be 4 miles each way and I'd have to deal with probably 10 lights and countless moronic drivers. I've thought about it but it's not worth it for me.

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Hyde
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Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:39 am
Location: Los Angeles=Hills, Smog

by Hyde

I hear ya Skunk! I got a ride back into Santa Monica this afternoon & rode back the 22 miles or whatever it is back to Highland Park. Santa Monica Blvd was a nasty bike ride in the afternoon. Got cut off at least twice & nearly run over not to mention the amount of stops for lights & people sitting in the bike lanes, what little bike lanes there were.... Anyhow, about 90-100 miles today on the bike. All in all It was fun :wink:

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jalapeno
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by jalapeno

Skunk wrote:If I commuted on bike to work it would only be 4 miles each way and I'd have to deal with probably 10 lights and countless moronic drivers. I've thought about it but it's not worth it for me.


but aren't those 10 sets of lights even more annoying in the car, and on such a short jopurney your environmental impact from driving is much bigeer per mile than on a long run.
re moronic drivers... same whole world over, I learnt to ride defensively and protect my space on the road.
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Hyde
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Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 4:39 am
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by Hyde

I hear ya, I'm a bit rusty in rush hour traffic though. When I was younger I'd commute all the time & didn't mind at all. What really got me was the fixie dude I came across wearing no helmet. That dude probably does this every day. :shock:

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