My First Time

BridlingtonBiker

Commuted for the first time on Friday. I work in an office which is normally shirt and tie dress code but fridays are a dress down days so I took jeans and a T shirt to work on Thursday so I didn't have to carry a backpack.

Its 15 miles each way but i took a little detour on the way home to avoid some nasty looking rain clouds. So the home journey came to 25 miles.

53 minutes to get to work in a head wind all the way and 1 hour 26 to get home. Quite pleased but quite tired by the end.

Definately a good way to get to work so long as it stays dry.

PS saved around £3.30 in fuel and spent around £5 in food due to being so hungry lol

richVSrich

nice one!

welcome to the world of commuting by bike! how regular is that going to be? (15 miles is pretty decent each way i think..)

bakerstreet

BridlingtonBiker wrote:

Commuted for the first time on Friday. I work in an office which is normally shirt and tie dress code but fridays are a dress down days so I took jeans and a T shirt to work on Thursday so I didn't have to carry a backpack.

Its 15 miles each way but i took a little detour on the way home to avoid some nasty looking rain clouds. So the home journey came to 25 miles.

53 minutes to get to work in a head wind all the way and 1 hour 26 to get home. Quite pleased but quite tired by the end.

definitely a good way to get to work so long as it stays dry.

PS saved around £3.30 in fuel and spent around £5 in food due to being so hungry lol

You will get quicker too. I actually have an exel and I take nhote of every journey I do on te bike that I would normally don in the car and calculate how much I have saved and keep a running total.

I shall celebrate when I have paid the bike off I think I have saved approximately £100 in diesel since October of last year.

BridlingtonBiker

Realistically it'll just be fridays. There's no method of getting washed at work so commuting in a shirt and tie would be a nightmare. Wouldn't really want to carry a backpack either.

phillipjohnson

There will probably be a few suggestions on here, but what I tend to do is have a towel, wet wipes and deodorant in my desk at work.

If you wipe down with the wet wipes then the sweat goes on the wet wipes. A wipe down with the towel takes off the wet wipe residue... because this isn't sweat I find I can use the towel for a couple of weeks before switching it for a fresh one.

I also keep spare everything at work... a few shirts, a pair of trouser, boxer shorts, socks, an older pair of work shoes etc... just folded in my drawer.. that way I don't have to always carry them in with me.

If you are happy just riding in on Friday then thats cool. If you fancy another day or two in the week as well thought there are options even without showers.

BridlingtonBiker

Cheers for that it could be worth a thought

bakerstreet

phillipjohnson wrote:

There will probably be a few suggestions on here, but what I tend to do is have a towel, wet wipes and deodorant in my desk at work.

If you wipe down with the wet wipes then the sweat goes on the wet wipes. A wipe down with the towel takes off the wet wipe residue... because this isn't sweat I find I can use the towel for a couple of weeks before switching it for a fresh one.

I also keep spare everything at work... a few shirts, a pair of trouser, boxer shorts, socks, an older pair of work shoes etc... just folded in my drawer.. that way I don't have to always carry them in with me.

If you are happy just riding in on Friday then thats cool. If you fancy another day or two in the week as well thought there are options even without showers.

I was doing that too. I also used to keep a flannel at work too. Sports/microfibre towels are good too if you are short of space.

Because of the amount of stuff that I kept at work, I managed to squeeze everything into a 25L rucksack and all I was taking was my lunch and a few bits.

BridlingtonBiker

I've just been told work have been getting quotes to have a shower fitted in an old toilet away from the main toilets. Might be able to commute more than once a week.

fnegroni

BridlingtonBiker wrote:

definitely a good way to get to work so long as it stays dry.

Don't know your commuting route, but most commutes in the South East of England are dry, despite what people might think.

My record for the last two years shows very few wet commutes (don't remember off the top of my head right now, but we are talking a couple dozen perhaps per year.

And very few I get drenched, mostly just wet feet if I didn't bother with overshoes (which I rarely do now anyway).