Got a new job - but there are downsides

NFMC

I was made redundant earlier in the summer and I've just got a new job. Woo-hoo!

The old job was OK but boring and the new one is slightly better paid and definitely appears more interesting and rewarding. So, that's the good stuff.

The bad bit is the old job was an easy-ish 6 mile commute with showers and lockers at the office. The new job is about 12 miles with no showers and nowhere 'official' to lock the bike (even though it's a new-ish office block on the outskirts of Manchester...why don't planners/architects think of these things???).

The 12 miles isn't going to kill me but to cycle means going through central Manchester and a commute of one hour or, in the car, I can whizz around the M60 in probably 20 mins (without traffic). Mind you, with traffic my guess is that it's going to be much the same door-to-door.

I don't want to get in the habit of driving but my fear is that I'm going to fall into exactly that trap.

So...my thinking is that I have to cycle almost immediately and use it as a target to get rid of the summer tummy I've developed. Second week in and I need to be riding!

linsen

to use an old cliche - on yer bike!!!

My commute is 12 miles, I don't do it every day but the traffic is so bad at key times now I might just as well, so i am going to see what I can do to leave my teaching job at work and pedal home as often as I can!

batch78

You've been redundant all summer and developed a tummy :shock:

I'm very disappointed, an immediate recce run is required followed by constant commuting, up and at 'em.

On a serious note, congrats on the new job and hope it all works out for you

chuckcork

My last job was 14 miles each way, lock bike to railings in the street and no shower change area, just the toilet. Do a search here there is plenty of advice on how to cope with such a ride.

As for architects not thinking of such things, first office I worked in here, looked at the plans of the building shown online by the building owner as part of his sales, he showed pre-planning drawings with showers, in construction however they simply disappeared. The cycle parking provided in the huge carpark that was never anywhere near full was to lock your bike to a lamppost, and that was at the rear of the building, Employees were forbidden to lock up bikes out the front! Frankly it was a crap job in a crap building, I was glad to walk out of the place.

As for why they aren't provided generally? I worked for a firm of architects in Surbiton for 6 and a half years, the cycle facilities provided there consisted of changing in the toilets, and locking your bike to something in a stairwell, after bikes were being vandalised and stolen while being locked in the car park.

For the directors, any lack of facilities was our problem, they all drove cars in. Any suggestions I would make as to why people could cycle in received patronising comments along the lines of 'easy for you', or 'you don't understand', when half of the staff probably lived closer to work that I did!

Unless it was a specific requirement of a client brief, and a client would be sacrificing valuable parking space for cycle stands, and leasable floor space for changing rooms/showers + lockers; or a particular requirement from planners, then cycling is below most architects radar, they generally aim to drive a more expensive car than their colleagues at director level and bikes are childrens toys for the staff who can be safely ignored. Their clients drive expensive cars, the people the buildings are being sold to and who are signing the leases drive expensive cars, but the poeple who don't matter don't, so who cares if they cn't lock their bike up?

Until firms looking to lease buildings/office space make an issue of it, which I think will only be when they are forced to do so through requirements of Green Travel Plans, or the difficulty of emplying staff in congested area with no parking, and the feeedback on the need for showers forces change on building owners and what they prescribe in their developments, this situation will not be changed.

Bikerbaboon

Sell your car.... spend money form the car sale to get a new shiny bike.
Job done no more guilt over driveing to work.

girv73

NFMC, just do it (tm)(r)(c)(etc)

You'll hate yourself for driving in, especially when you see other cyclists, and it's hard to get started cycling again if you get used to driving. Same thing happened to me and I ended up driving for years.

Take some time at work and recce bike lockup places.

Regarding showering, it's entirely possible to get washed up with just a sinkful of water in the loos. I'm don't know the layout of your office - would it be possible to convert a toliet to a shower or retrofit a shower into a toilet room? That's what we have here, though it was designed that way from the start.

biondino

If you're clean, and your bike gear is clean, then you won't pong during the working day, so even if you are a bit sweaty and can't shower, fresh clothes will do fine for rendering you socially acceptable. So try and make sure you have enough cycling tops etc., or that you can do regular enough washes to avoid having to reuse dirty kit.

soy_sauce

biondino wrote:

If you're clean, and your bike gear is clean, then you won't pong during the working day, so even if you are a bit sweaty and can't shower, fresh clothes will do fine for rendering you socially acceptable. So try and make sure you have enough cycling tops etc., or that you can do regular enough washes to avoid having to reuse dirty kit.

I will second that. that what i do but to be fair, i only need to commute 2.5miles each way.

fonty1978

Where would your commute go from and to? I only ask cos i got very worried when i first started commuting due to picking the wrong route, is there a bike then train option available at all? If so you could start exploring quieter routes until you find the perfect route...

NFMC

Thanks for all the pointers.

The 'problem' with the commute is that it's an office just by the M60 motorway which means - for me - that it will be much quicker to drive than to cycle. When previous jobs were in the city-centre the fact that the journey was equal or quicker by bike made it a no-brainer. Now, when it's raining or when I'm being lazy, I know that I'm going to consider the car much more favourably.

I'll definitely be cycling as soon as I figure out what's what. I start a week-on-Monday so the first thing I'll be doing is figuring out whether I can commandeer the toilets every morning.

Other points...

I would be lying if I said the tiummy only developed in the summer. It's been there many years...it's just got worse! I had to look after two young kids whilst the Mrs went to work which meant next to no time for cycling.

And I totally agree about the lack of foresight about showers/lockers at offices. I would force all employers to provide these facilities. Far cheaper and far more effective than any cycle lanes to encourage cycle commuting.

Thanks all!!!

biondino

Fundamentally, you don't HAVE to commit to cycling every day.

The way I decide how to commute is to look at a) the weather and b) my evening plans. If it's raining in the morning I usually don't cycle, and if it's freezing or very windy I'll probably not cycle either. Also, if I am going out in the evening in town, or there's likely to be a lot of booze involved, then I won't cycle. This way I end up cycling 3, maybe 4 days most weeks, and it suits me fine as I have a relatively excellent train-based commute on my off days (on which I can do essential reading for work).

I fully understand the temptation of not cycling, especially in winter, but if you set out the rules in a similar way to me, then you shouldn't end up straying too far from the righteous path.

batch78

If you're clean

But if your dirty get yourself over to the procyclistchat.org forum :twisted: