$4 per gallon - great reason to start biking to work

I'm thinking about starting to ride to work myself. Even with my situation (riding home at 1 AM), it's still a powerful way to beat some of the high cost of commuting. $37.25 to fill my tank today and it's only going to get worse!

Max, you'll be pleased to know that I'm trying to figure out which days might be good to run to work (7 miles). Would be great training for my marathon.

That's an excellent point!

I WISH I could bike to work.. well I *could*... but work is 30+ miles away from my home. I would need quite awhile to get to and from. Plus I guess it wouldn't help in the winter unless I could put skis on my tires... hehe.

Trying to talk hubby into trading in one of our gas-guzzlers for a more fuel-efficient car. So far he isn't biting.

~ Adrienne

Edited by AdrienneP 2005-08-31 1:53 PM

I've only done it once and had some major mechanical issues on the way home.  Once I get the bike fixed, I'll be back to riding to work 3-4 times/week.  It wasn't bad at all. Just posted a couple of pictures of me with all my reflective stuff on.  It doesn't mix well with the flash but I guess that's the point.

Edited by Lookingtoride 2005-08-31 3:56 PM

I'd love to bike to work--but I have a 45 mile drive. It's a long one...Now if I could just talk my boss into letting me only work a few hours a day, it might work

You think there would be public transportation between two major cities in Ohio, but no...

I'm going to try and commute, but no one I work with has to work around an exercise schedule, maybe I can convince them they need to start training for tris!

Edited by alreed 2005-08-31 3:58 PM

Renee- you have an excellent idea of keeping nearly a week's worth of clothes at work in a locker.  I need to deifnitely consider bike commuting to work!  There's no reason why Is houldn't- we have showers and locker rooms at work, and I live about 17 miles (one way) from work- that's perfect.  Only thing is having to deal with traffic in the evenings where I live

Hey Lookingtoride, where did you get your reflective stuff to put on your bike? I need to get some for mine for a 24 hr ride I'm doing in October. I have the headlights, taillight, helmet light, mini lights for the bike, and reflective vest, but I still need the reflective stuff to put on my bike.

I got it at our local bike store.  It was next to the reflectors and lights.  It's on a sheet and you just peel off what you need.   The reflections from the back of the bike are from the bag I use to carry my clothes.  Pretty cool little bag.  http://www.twowheelgear.com

Thanks for the info. I'll have to check out my local LBS.

I've been biking to work for the past month and it's great! I drive once a week to bring work clothes and stash them, then I bike the rest. I usually do the driving on Monday which is the day after my long bike ride. And the thing is, the regular 20 miles a day (10 miles each way) is really affecting my speed!

Of course about 1 week into the biking to work experience, I was a catalyst (NOT the cause) for a car accident. (o:

Dana

I have a long drive too! I'm SOOOO depressed. I've seriously been thinking about biking in, but I just don't want to risk it on the (county) highways I would have to ride on. $3.25 was the highest I saw today on the way home.

What am I going to DO? Has anyone heard if there's any relief in sight?!??!?!?

3.50 for regular is starting to pop up in the greater NY area.

Yeah...you'll end up trashing me at Gasparilla. Maybe I need to start training?

I'm trying to do all of my errands on the MTB with my son in his bike trailer. Went to work to get my check, then to the bank, then to the post office. Luckily, I only work about 2 miles from home. :-)
We have a Honda Civic which gets good gas mileage. The Buick Rendezvous is sitting as much as possible.
I also have a motorcycle which gets about 50mph.
Nothing cheaper than pedal power though!

C'mon people..get out there and DO IT!

Unlike the wacky boycott emails floating around, biking to work can be your personal way to make a statement, save money, and get "free" training time. The more people who bike, the more companies make accomodations for bikers, cities make bike lanes, etc. etc.

I ride 2 days a week currently, and I'm considering making it 4-5. My commute is 35 miles round trip, so if I do 5 days a week I'd better find a half IM to sign up for so I can use the training volume for something!

Anybody up for a challenge?

Count me in!  I plan on commuting into work on Tuesday morning.

I'm in. Here's what I wrote in my blog. Thanks for the ideas everyone!

Now for the MASTER PLAN (freakin' genius if you ask me): All the buzz about gas prices and riding to work has gotten me to thinking (scary I know). It is 3.4 miles from my apt. to work (not much I know, one good thing about living in a fairly small city). First off, I can cut out my trips home for lunch and bring my lunch to work. This will also allow me to get caught up on my book reading and magazine reading (Sports magazines, ASCE, WEAT, Texas Techsan, etc.), pay bills, whatever. So that's 34 miles there. Now, I would like to be able to ride my bike to work everyday, but with swimming on Mon., Wed. and several Fridays, I just really can't ride to work those days because with losing daylight, I don't think it will be safe riding home from the pool at night through "that" part of town (it's about 10 miles from the pool and about 3 miles through some shady areas). Not so much that I'm worried about the type of people (okay, yeah I am), but their driving scares me. So, it's a no go on those days. But, I can ride to work on Tues/Thurs. So, now I'm cutting out 47.6 miles per week, 190 miles per month. Taking Renee's suggestion, I will bring clothes for Tues./Thurs., as well as bring food for my lunches and snacks on Monday when I drive, then take stuff home on Friday...this way I don't have to carry so much stuff with me on the bike. I know, I know, not really saving a lot of money on gas, but it's not so much the saving money as it is making a statement. We as a nation have to start conserving and finding other ways of doing things. Plus, I honestly think this will be good for me, get things done during the lunch hour rather than vegging in front of the TV, get some added exercise a couple days a week, etc. If I could ride everyday I would, but just can't with swimming. Actually, I might rethink my thinking on that as well. Eric rides/runs from the pool sometimes at night and he lives near me, perhaps I can check to see which routes he takes and if he thinks they are safe. Anyways, Master Plan as of now: Bike Tues/Thurs. and skip lunch drives home.

I've finally decided that, once I get some slicks for my mountain bike (hopefully some time this week), that I'm going to start riding to/from work, 6 miles each way, 3 gallons gas/week. It's not much, but a start. It'll definitely be a challenge - I work at 6:00am so I'd have to leave home by at least 5:30am to be safe, and I've only got about 1.5 hours between work and class, so the turn around between work and school will be tough. That said, it'll probably help knock the final few pounds I've been wanting to lose off my gut. Now it's just a matter of actually doing it.Steve

Ok I have a confession.  I was really pumped about commuting to work on my bike.  However, I did not do it last week.  And...I won't have my bike for a week (it's getting painted- can't wait!!!) so I guess I'll be commuting the week after next?  I don't know why I keep finding excuses- I have my mt. bike that I could ride, although I don't think I'd enjoy riding it to work!