weltyed
05-08-2004, 06:26 AM
well, i have to say commuting was fun. 25 miles each way was pretty long for me, especially with no showers at work and a suit dress code.
wednesday i drove in with my bike and biking accessories. i also brought a suit, shoes, some baby wipes (which we will get to in a moment), deodorant, and some extra hair gel. i threw a slick on the rear of my mountain bike, but kept the semislick on the front. after work a coworker, who used to race roadie, brought her bike in and rode 1/2 way home with me. there were more cars than i thought, but everything went well. at the 1/2 mark we stopped and chatted a while, she headed back and i headed home. the DPRT was nice that time of day, but i only stayed on it for a short while. still not sure if i wanna take a 700C bike on that limestone. anyway, i hit milwaukee road, a two lane busy highway at that time of day. the drivers were pretty nice. i got up to about 32mph, so traffic wasn't so much "whizzing by." i had to make a left turn off the highway onto a country road. i had no problem, but could see where that might get dangerous. the rest of the 10 mile ride was cake. the best part was riding by a long line of cars, realizing i would have been in that and would still have to get my riding in.
the next day was even better. after getting over the shock of waking up so early, i hit the shower, then the road by 5:10. almost no traffic at that time of day. my cheap planet bike headlight was enough, and the blinking taillight seemed to warn cars behind me. the trails were smooth, but once on the hilly road i noticed a large change in temp. the valleys were about 10 degrees cooler than the crests. milwaukee was nearly barren. i hit the DPRT again and saw my first jogger. once i got back to the road i saw my first biker. the wind picked up to about 10mph, but i was fine. 25 miles and 90 minutes, 16 seconds later i was at my car. stowed my bike in the car, cooled down on the way into the building, found a secluded rest room, wiped down, took a bird bath, and used the baby wipes. they smelled like finger paint. anyone know of anything better? i couldnt find the old spice wipes...anyway, i changed into my suit, greased my armpits, did my hair, and started the work day.
after 2 hours, i started to get a headache. some ibupro helped, but the pain creeped back after lunch. i have been fighting something for a few weeks, so i just thought it might be that.
aside from the headache and having to work, i truly enjoyed it. dunno when, or if, i will try a ride in and back home on the same day. i would like to commute at least once a week. we will see how it goes.
thanks for all the help, tips, and tricks!!!
one more thing i found funny:
that night i was watching the news and they were doing a package on the price of gas. in the chicago area it is over $2/gal for mid grade. they talked about the impending $3/gal and how people were dealing with it. one guy just complained. one guy used a vespa. another couple in an SUV joked, "how am i gonna deal with rising gas prices? start riding a bike, i guess." they cut to a volvo dealer who talked about how consumers are looking for better mileage cars. "there are those who still want large cars, or high performance sports cars, so we still cater to them." he continued to talk about how they are trying to make engines more efficient, you should take your car to the dealer for routine maintenance, get scheduled oil changes, blah blah blah...
the entire time, just over his right shoulder, there was a bike on a showroom roof rack.
wednesday i drove in with my bike and biking accessories. i also brought a suit, shoes, some baby wipes (which we will get to in a moment), deodorant, and some extra hair gel. i threw a slick on the rear of my mountain bike, but kept the semislick on the front. after work a coworker, who used to race roadie, brought her bike in and rode 1/2 way home with me. there were more cars than i thought, but everything went well. at the 1/2 mark we stopped and chatted a while, she headed back and i headed home. the DPRT was nice that time of day, but i only stayed on it for a short while. still not sure if i wanna take a 700C bike on that limestone. anyway, i hit milwaukee road, a two lane busy highway at that time of day. the drivers were pretty nice. i got up to about 32mph, so traffic wasn't so much "whizzing by." i had to make a left turn off the highway onto a country road. i had no problem, but could see where that might get dangerous. the rest of the 10 mile ride was cake. the best part was riding by a long line of cars, realizing i would have been in that and would still have to get my riding in.
the next day was even better. after getting over the shock of waking up so early, i hit the shower, then the road by 5:10. almost no traffic at that time of day. my cheap planet bike headlight was enough, and the blinking taillight seemed to warn cars behind me. the trails were smooth, but once on the hilly road i noticed a large change in temp. the valleys were about 10 degrees cooler than the crests. milwaukee was nearly barren. i hit the DPRT again and saw my first jogger. once i got back to the road i saw my first biker. the wind picked up to about 10mph, but i was fine. 25 miles and 90 minutes, 16 seconds later i was at my car. stowed my bike in the car, cooled down on the way into the building, found a secluded rest room, wiped down, took a bird bath, and used the baby wipes. they smelled like finger paint. anyone know of anything better? i couldnt find the old spice wipes...anyway, i changed into my suit, greased my armpits, did my hair, and started the work day.
after 2 hours, i started to get a headache. some ibupro helped, but the pain creeped back after lunch. i have been fighting something for a few weeks, so i just thought it might be that.
aside from the headache and having to work, i truly enjoyed it. dunno when, or if, i will try a ride in and back home on the same day. i would like to commute at least once a week. we will see how it goes.
thanks for all the help, tips, and tricks!!!
one more thing i found funny:
that night i was watching the news and they were doing a package on the price of gas. in the chicago area it is over $2/gal for mid grade. they talked about the impending $3/gal and how people were dealing with it. one guy just complained. one guy used a vespa. another couple in an SUV joked, "how am i gonna deal with rising gas prices? start riding a bike, i guess." they cut to a volvo dealer who talked about how consumers are looking for better mileage cars. "there are those who still want large cars, or high performance sports cars, so we still cater to them." he continued to talk about how they are trying to make engines more efficient, you should take your car to the dealer for routine maintenance, get scheduled oil changes, blah blah blah...
the entire time, just over his right shoulder, there was a bike on a showroom roof rack.