The cost of gas has finally frustrated me. I spent 56 bucks filling up my 4 Runner yesterday. I have no intention of getting rid of it, It’s just too convenient when I need the size and capability that it offers. I am however considering commuting by bike a couple of times a week (14 miles each way). So here are my questions:
What are some other common commuting distances, and how often do you do it?
What kind of bathroom facilities do you have available? There is no shower at my office, but the bathroom is private.
Does anyone have any helpful tips for getting cleaned up with no shower?
Everyday rain or shine,year round ,5 hilly miles going in dark almost year round,we do have a shower but rarely use it,i take clothes in on a rear rack,have extras at work. Lights/lights make sure your seen i have blinking lights pointed ever direction,i have a air horn, I would just wash up,but it depends where you live,i get pretty sweaty even in the AM ride.
Welcome to the dark side! Once you start commuting by bike, you can’t stop. My coldest commute this past year was about -25C through the ice and snow. You just start to get addicted to it!
For your questions, my commute now is only about 13km round trip, done 5 days per week every week except in January. Previously, when I lived in Vancouver, it was year round and about 30km round trip.
Bathroom facilities here are public, but a stall works fine for changing. I just hang up all my gear in my office or throw it in a hidden corner. No showers. I just bike slower to work in the morning (helps that it’s usually cooler) and use baby wipes plus deodorant to clean up. No complaints, including from my wife when she occasionally comes by, and she’d definitely say something! Just make sure you hit the hot spots (i.e. sweaty areas). I usually wait for about 15 minutes to change/clean-up to allow a cool-down. On days when I swim, I clean up at the pool and change into my work clothes (about a 2 minute bike from my office).
Tons of info out there on the internet. Roadbikereview has a dedicated forum to commuting too.
The cost of gas has finally frustrated me. I spent 56 bucks filling up my 4 Runner yesterday. I have no intention of getting rid of it, It’s just too convenient when I need the size and capability that it offers. I am however considering commuting by bike a couple of times a week (14 miles each way). So here are my questions:
What are some other common commuting distances, and how often do you do it? My one way distance varies between 8 to 25 miles depending on my route and I try to commute a minimum of 3 days a week.
What kind of bathroom facilities do you have available? There is no shower at my office, but the bathroom is private. I have a fitness center in my building so I have ready access to a shower.
Does anyone have any helpful tips for getting cleaned up with no shower? Without a shower there is no way I could do ride to work, I sweat and smell way too bad once I am finished.
Why is there aways an ass in every post. Maybe he can get the membership and use it on days he drives to and from work as to build up his strength. Maybe it has a pool so he can swim as well afterwork. Maybe he just feels like it would be a better investment rather than paying the high price of gas, polluting the environment and getting fit as well.
It would be clever if I was already a member of that gym, which I am. If I wasn’t I could always quit my current gym and switch. sometimes all it takes is a little creativity.
I commute about 15 miles to work about 3 times per week. It works out really well, schedule-wise. My car commute is about 30 minutes, and my morning bike commute is about 45. My after work bike commute can be anywhere from 45 mins. to 3 hours, depending on what type of workout I’m doing.
When I commute, I get 60 minutes of “free training time”, based on the 60 minutes I don’t have to be driving.
I keep spare work clothes in a file cabinet in my office, and I simply “clean-up” with a paper towel, comb, and some deodorant.
What are some other common commuting distances, and how often do you do it? 28mi roundtrip. I aim for at least once a week based on my schedule. (Between work and grad-school, it’s tough at times though)
What kind of bathroom facilities do you have available? No shower available aside from the one in the CEO’s office. I’ve actually gotten permission to use this, but haven’t had the chance yet.
Does anyone have any helpful tips for getting cleaned up with no shower? Just use baby wipes and deodorant (and cologne if you use it) and change in the stall.
26 miles one way for me…only do it once a week right now. After my last race of the year, I will start doing it 3 times a week.
Since I only bike once a week, I take clothes the day before, along with lunch. I use the morning ride as recovery and afternoon as race pace, so I ride my tri bike.
No showers at my current office, use to have them at the old office, but we moved about 3 months ago. I do what I like to call the “camping” shower. I bring a towel and wash cloth with my clothes the day before. Wet down the wash cloth, use it to get a good wipe down, wash out cloth, repeat as needed, towel off, put on clothes. I sweat alot, and so far no complaints from cube mates about smelling!
I am also a dedicated commuter… my round trip is 50k so endup doing around 12000k per year… cool.
My work doesn’t have shower facilities either… sometimes I join a gym for a month to have showers but is expenive just to have a shower.
Best advice I can give is live with it… it is worth it. Use it as a protest… if they want you to smell good they will install a shower! (but until then, a basin and a towel is enough).
Here are some other tips if have accumulated…
Monday is my ‘bring in the clothes for a week’ day. And Friday is ‘take the dirty clothes back’ This means that most days I only have to cycle with a small fnny pack or camelback type thang… saves your back and lets you concentrate on training.
One guy adopts the rule of “easy in, hard back” that way he isn’t so sweaty at work. Personally I am a hard in hard back guy (ooer)
Leave locks at work. No sense in dragging locks around with you
Be seen. Invest in high powered lights and loads of reflective stuff.
Look out for a swimming pool on the commute. I have a swimming pool near work and so bike to the pool, swim, shower and then easy bike the rest of the way to work
I wear suits at work… so I leave my suits there and get them dry cleaned at a place near work.
Eat breakfast at work.
Keep some tools at work
I use a mountain bike for winter, and my tri bike for summer. /when the clocks change so do my bikes
Waterproof sock are fantastic!
I use a cheap mountain bike that has a 2year guarantee on it… helps keep the costs down. But don’t think it will be cheap… I spend loads on parts and wheels just because I ride such a big amount annually.
run in occassionally… for me the distance is great during my marathon training.
never bike without at least two spare tubes.
vary the route… spice of life and all that!.. sometimes i add an extra 20k on the route in to get a better training ride.
use gadgets… last summer i had a crash due to poor road conditions… i used my mobile phone camera to take pictures of the road etc and my polar 710i had my speed recorded ofthe crash… i used the information to successfully make a claim against the council and got a new helmet and hadlebars out of it (and rightly so)
phew… i am sure there are more tips but am tipped out at the moment.
27.5 miles one way, and I do it twice a week but only every other week. I have to use a mtn bike because the roads are too dangerous, so I ride on the towpath by the river. So it takes me close to 2 hrs each way. I carry my work clothes in a small backpack along with whatever else I need.
No showers, I just towel off in the men’s room and apply deodorant. Never got any complaints.
Thanks to you for considering this option and double thanks to you all who are already commuting by bike. Using a bicycle in place of a petro powered vehicle is one of the single biggest positive impacts you can make on this planet; the benefits are too numerous and connected to even list.
Very good advice here too.
I bicycle commute an avg. of four times a week during the dry season; closer to two a week during the rainy months. I finally decided the safety risks of dark, wet, urban riding weren’t worth it once I was responsible for kids at home.
My commute is only four miles each way over a slight climb coming in to work. I don’t ride hard enough to sweat bullets but in my long distance touring days, I kept a bottle of dilute witch hazel or isopropanol in my panniers for post ride wipe down if there was no shower nearby. Non scented baby wipes are excellent (my wife calls that a “Mom bath” as in new mom with a toddler and infant and no one to spell her for an actual shower until dad gets home). I also keep some spare clothes at the office hanging behind the door and in a file cabinet.
Private bathroom at work? You are golden.
Thanks again for giving it a shot. You will fall in love with the bike commute.