How practical is commuting by bike?

[HJ]

Put a pannier rack on the bike and get some panniers much better than using a rucksack. Failing that get a cargo bike...

 

[Banjo]

I commute a couple of days per week because i like it. I am a partner in a firm of commercial chartered surveyors and so i need to be smart when meeting clients and therefore keep a suit and spare shoes and a tie in the office. At the beginning of the week i take in a clean pressed shirt or two. I take baby wipes and keep a can of deodorant in the office and make sure i shower before i cycle in. Sounds odd but the really pungent smell from sweat comes from older sweat so fresh sweat aint as bad as day old stuff.

Plus one to the above .Showering before you ride, cool down then quick wipedown before putting fresh clothes on and you wont smell.

 

[PrettyboyTim]

Last year I was commuting to work, and dropping my son off to work beforehand. His nursery was about a mile away.

I used a child trailer for my son and a pannier (or two) for my stuff. As the nursery wasn't a long way away, I'd drop him off and then return home, unclip the trailer and head to work. I'd normally wear shorts and a sports shirt, and I'd pack jeans, shirt, pants and a pair of socks in my pannier (we had a casual dress code at work). On the Mondays I'd usually also take a jumper or something that I'd use at work for the rest of the week if I needed it. There were also a pair of shoes and a jacket that lived at work.

I'd always shower before I set off, and although there were showers at work I very rarely used them. I would normally just wait 20 minutes or so until I'd fully cooled down before changing all my clothes. I didn't even bother with the whole babywipe thing and I'd normally just wash my face (to get the salt off). I did interrogate some of my friends at work on a few occasions to see if I was smelly as a result but they were all adamant that I wasn't stinky. Having said that, I don't think I'm a hugely sweaty person anyway.

A few other points:
a) As there wasn't really any dress code at work, nobody would blink at me sitting around at my desk in my gear while I cooled down.
I tended to wear less rather than more on my bike - earlier in the year, I'd often start off the ride feeling pretty cold but warm up as things went along - but crucially it meant that I wouldn't get overly sweaty. If I wasn't sure, I'd just make sure I had something extra packed in my pannier for if I got too cold.
c) The difference in sweat between a backpack and panniers is huge. Use panniers!
d) If the child trailer is too much, you can do the same thing with a child seat - you just need some way to carry your stuff when the child is in it. When I had a child seat rather than a trailer I fitted some lowrider racks onto my front wheel and put my pannier on the front wheel until I'd dropped my son off.
e) Often you can leave the trailer / child seat at the nursery while you go to work if that works out as more convenient.

 

[emulsifier12]

Some fantastic advice. I am tempted to try riding once a week after the holiday. My trip will be 28 miles in total. I might park at a colleagues place which is closer to start off with.

In the car it takes me 30 - 40 minutes to drive the 14 miles. At the moment I can average 14 - 14.5 m/hon the bike which will only take an hour and a bit depending on traffic lights.

I just need to take the plunge and try it out. I don't have panniers yet, will look on ebay for some. Will consult with the swmbo... as I have just finished building up a dawes galaxy project...

 

[GazK]

Bring them to work on one of the days you're using the car. Leave them there. Take them home for cleaning when you drive in the following day. (this is assuming you wear suit whilst at work and couldn't just transport clothes in a ruc-sac)

Slight modification to that plan which worked for me: leave suit & shoes at work, put fresh folded shirt in plastic bag in backpack and take with you each day. Also can of deodorant!

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Ive got 2 kids both at nursery so I know what you mean. Its hard to start off with but gets easier the more you do both in terms of fitness & logistics. I do 2 days commute by bike a week 20 miles per day. Heres my tips:

Bloody Hell - why bother working?? Might as well set up a Direct Debit straight to the Nursery!!

 

[Debian]

Get panniers. You'll need a rack obviously but this doesn't need to be expensive or top of the range. Look out at Lidl or Aldi for the panniers themselves as they're excellent value - I'm still using a set I bought several years ago for a tenner and it's still going strong. It's used heavily as well as I have to transport clothes, laptop, tools, millions of CDs, etc. Initially I thought "bloody hell, I'll never manage to bike all that!", but I soon got used to it and I'm no superhero in the strength department.

Keep spare clothes at the office. I always have at the office a suit, one shirt, one pair of pants and socks and a pair of shoes. The shirt and pants are there for the emergency days when I forget to bring in a set. Always make sure you have at least one full set of clothes at the office at all times, even if it's the shirt and pants you wore yesterday. Then take in a full week's set at the beggining of the week and bring home at the end of the week. If you use the car one or two days a week then that's the ideal time to transport the clothes.

Sweating? Minimise this by not cycling too hard - give yourself plenty of time for the journey and take it easy. Don't wear too many clothes - I always aim to feel cold at the start of the ride, you'll be surprised how soon you warm up even in winter. Finally, you'll probably sweat less as you get fitter - I sweated like the proverbial when I started commuting by bike but now, even though the weather is much warmer I hardly sweat at all if I take it easy and not too much even if I push it.

Try it and see how you get on but don't be too stubborn about it. If you need to use the car on certain days then do so, I do but I do now hate having to use the car - I feel so restricted funnily enough.

Good luck!!!

 

[Debian]

Bear in mind that people now expect you to transport the kitchen sink everywhere because you have a car, the first time you say "sorry, I'm on the bike, that's going to have to wait" then they will have to find another way and you will find that miraculously they no longer need the entire contents of a Pickford's truck taken to and from nursery school every day.

LOL +1

I work at three different sites and when I used the car I was forever being asked "can you just drop this off at [site]?". Funnily enough I'm never even asked now that I use the bike, except sometimes to take the odd envelope, they have miraculously found other means of transportation

 

[HeyWayne]

Cheers folks - looks like I'm on the lookout for some panniers then. More spends!

Debian - you look remarkably like Sheldon dude, anyone ever tell you that?

 

[Debian]

Cheers folks - looks like I'm on the lookout for some panniers then. More spends!

Debian - you look remarkably like Sheldon dude, anyone ever tell you that?

Try Lidl or Aldi as I said.

Sheldon? lol

 

[HeyWayne]

Try Lidl or Aldi as I said.

Sheldon? lol

Do I have to?

It's uncanny:

 

[HeyWayne]

So, if I bought these I'm presuming I need a 'rack' for them to attach to?

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

Do I have to?

It's uncanny:

Pssst - I think his avatar *is* of Sheldon... if not then it is, indeed, uncanny!

 

[g00se]

Thought you meant this Sheldon.... I though... "nothing like him".

 

[Debian]

So, if I bought these I'm presuming I need a 'rack' for them to attach to?

Yes.