Surviving the bike commute

I've been using my bike as my primary source of transportation for 3 days now. We've had thunderstorms both days. Remarkably, it's not rained on me yet! Craziness! In theory biking to work and getting ready at work should take less time than getting ready at home and driving to work.  I tend to putz around a lot in the mornings.  I'm hoping that eventually I can get faster on the bike and get my commute down to about 15 minutes and get my locker room routine down to 30 minutes. In just 3 days I've already experienced what seem to end up on all the "tips for bike commuting" types of posts. These survival tips are nothing new, but good to know I fit the commuter norm for experiences.

1.Always wear a helmet and eye protection. Helmet should be self-explanatory. Eye protection...you'd be surprised how much crap gets spit up at your eyes and a bug in the eye while riding a bike is just a bad bad situation. Wear eye-protection.

2. Prepare ahead. If I'm going to get my routine down to about 45 minutes, it's going to take more prep. I'm not a big fan of mornings and any commuter prep that happens in the morning is going to be inefficient. I really have to get good at packing clothes, packing my lunch, and having my bags ready to rock and roll before I go to sleep. Thankfully I have access to showers at work and they provide shampoo, conditioner and body wash. They also provide towels. That really cuts down on what I need to pack!


3. Figure out how to deal with helmet hair. For me it's not so much helmet hair as it is wet, unstyled hair. The locker room is hot and humid and my hair is taking forever to dry. I think a lot of these ideas from Refinery 29 would work!

This girl makes wearing a helmet look so glamorous! I assure you that I just look like a goof ball on wheels.

4. Be prepared for a flat tire. Um...I'm pretty sure I could figure it out again, but I haven't changed a bike tire since undergrad. I'm not too worried since my commute is only about 3.5 miles. I could probably walk the rest of the way to work in about the same time I could change a flat tire. Having a spare tire and repair kit would make biking home a possibility though. Maybe I should prioritize this tip.

5. Get good equipment. I have some Ortlieb Racktime Doubleit pannier bags. I got them super cheap on clymb.com and got a pannier rack too. The price was worth it just to get the pannier rack. I'm not sure I really like the bags though. I like pannier bags better than a backpack. My bags are connected in the middle and there's no shoulder strap. They are awkward to carry down the hall in the apartment and at work. They do fit everything I need though and one side has a rain cover. Handy on these days that threaten me with down pours!

From a health perspective, I'm getting in about 40 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity just from the commute! It's not zapping my energy at all, so once I'm cleared to run again I should be able to keep up my usual routine. I kind of hope that the bike commute will become a sustainable habit in the next couple of car-free weeks.

Here's a post from Leo over at zenhabits. He links to several useful posts on bike commuting if you're interested.

Follow my bike commute fun board on Pinterest!

Something for the environment...

Living in Europe, I think I might be exposed to a little more environmentalism in my every day life than I was at home. In Belgium you will be fined if you do not sort your recyclables form trash! In Dublin, McDonalds has drop boxes for battery recycling. In Portugal there weren't any simple trash bins. Every bin had 4 parts...plastics, glass, cartons and trash. In my house there are toggle switches for every outlet in the house so that even if something is plugged in (such as the stove) the power can be turned off when not in use. We have to turn the hot water heater on and off before and after showering. At the Patagonia store, you can even recycle your clothes. The grocery store prints on your receipt the percentage of your purchase that's Irish grown/raised/produced.

Have you ever calculated your carbon footprint? Your carbon footprint is a representation of the effect your human activites have on the climate based on the amount of greenhouse gas produced. This is measured in units of carbon dioxide. If you want to feel guilty about the way you live try this... http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/index.asp My carbon footprint is rediculously high because of all the air travel I do. (Sorry World)

So, I'm going to stop flying any time soon, I don't have a hybrid car, and I forgot to turn off the hot water heater this morning. I'm pretty sure we have to live our lives without feeling guilty, but we still have to be good stewards and take care of what we've been given. The world happens to be a pretty big thing to take care of! Here are just two things that are worth looking into.

Those curly-q lightbulbs really do save a lot of energy. They aren't that expensive anymore and you can get them in different strengths to match the light output form normal lightbulbs. Plus they last forever or something close!

Tide coldwater detergent is not a hoax! It's got enzymes in it (which are biodegradable) that break up stains in cold water. The enzyme will die (actually they denature) in hot water. In europe it's referred to as biological detergent and it's quite popular. Most brands have a biological version.

Those are the things I can think of for now. I'll keep a list of things I think are worth looking into and you can let me know if you have things you think are worth looking into.

Take care and keep in touch.