Author Topic: To bike or not to bike?  (Read 5931 times)

hermoninny

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To bike or not to bike?
« on: June 22, 2014, 09:33:22 PM »
I live 2.7 miles from work.  I've biked it before - it's actually quite pleasant as we have a bike path right by my house that I can follow for most of the way. 

My kids' daycare is 2.7 miles in the exact opposite direction and I cannot bike there for many reasons.  What it really comes down to is that there's just no way for me to make it there to pick the kids up on time after work. I've already adjusted my hours to pick them up as it is.

My husband takes the kids to daycare in the morning.  I drive to work, then drive the 4.4 miles from work to daycare and then the 2.7 miles home. 

I'm thinking about biking to work and then back home before getting the car to pick up kids, assuming I can leave work at 5pm and be home and in the car by 5:35, the absolute last minute I can leave to get the kids signed out on time and avoid late pick-up fees.  It reduce my commute from 9.6 miles to 5.2 per day.

Would you do it? 


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MDM

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2014, 10:27:04 PM »
Depends on whether it would add or relieve stress.  The cycling alone should be a stress reducer.  It seems you should be able to get home and on the way to childcare within 35 minutes.  E.g., allow 5 minutes to "leave work", another 5 minutes to "get home and get on the road", that still leaves 25 minutes to go 2.7 miles: 6.5 MPH would do it, and if you are at all in shape with any decent bike that is easily doable for 2.7 miles.

If there is something that makes the above scenario too optimistic (e.g., you often "can't" leave exactly at 5PM, or there is an often-open drawbridge on your route home, etc.), and the net effect would be added stress - that's the last thing you want just before you pick up your kids.

The choice is yours....good luck!

Eggman111

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2014, 11:00:17 PM »
I bike 4.7 miles (7.6 km) each way to work, and it takes me about 35 minutes including getting ready at each end. My pace is only about 12 mph (20 km/h). I take a bit longer to get ready on days where I need rain gear, but that only adds a few minutes.

You have quite a bit shorter distance, so I don't think you will need to be in a rush to make that time.

I would bike in your situation.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #3 on: June 23, 2014, 07:36:24 AM »
Depends on specifics of your route and how long it takes you to change and get ready, but expect to average about 5-6 minutes per mile when first starting to bike.

lackofstache

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #4 on: June 23, 2014, 08:52:09 AM »
I'd recommend trying it, even if you don't do it everyday, it would help physically & will save a bit of gas and a few miles on the car. If it becomes more stress than it's worth to get there on time, you can always stop. The kids won't be in daycare forever, so if this doesn't work out, maybe it'll be better when they're in school.

hermoninny

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #5 on: June 23, 2014, 09:14:51 AM »
I'd recommend trying it, even if you don't do it everyday, it would help physically & will save a bit of gas and a few miles on the car. If it becomes more stress than it's worth to get there on time, you can always stop. The kids won't be in daycare forever, so if this doesn't work out, maybe it'll be better when they're in school.

That's actually what I was thinking.  We have two years till my oldest starts school, and he'll be at a school directly on my bike commute.  I'm very excited. 

With two small kids, I don't have much free time to exercise.  It was about 50/50 exercise and the little amount of gas savings.  I calculate I'll save about a gallon of gas a week if I did this every day.  So, about $20-$25 a month depending on gas cost (super high in CA).

Thanks for the suggestions, all!!!

GuitarStv

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2014, 09:41:20 AM »
I live 2.7 miles from work.  I've biked it before - it's actually quite pleasant as we have a bike path right by my house that I can follow for most of the way. 

My kids' daycare is 2.7 miles in the exact opposite direction and I cannot bike there for many reasons.  What it really comes down to is that there's just no way for me to make it there to pick the kids up on time after work. I've already adjusted my hours to pick them up as it is.

My husband takes the kids to daycare in the morning.  I drive to work, then drive the 4.4 miles from work to daycare and then the 2.7 miles home. 

I'm thinking about biking to work and then back home before getting the car to pick up kids, assuming I can leave work at 5pm and be home and in the car by 5:35, the absolute last minute I can leave to get the kids signed out on time and avoid late pick-up fees.  It reduce my commute from 9.6 miles to 5.2 per day.

Would you do it? 


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If you get a bike trailer you could bike home, hook up the trailer, and then carry the kids back in the trailer!  You're very close to the daycare and your work, this is totally something doable.

hermoninny

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2014, 10:10:46 AM »

If you get a bike trailer you could bike home, hook up the trailer, and then carry the kids back in the trailer!  You're very close to the daycare and your work, this is totally something doable.

It would really be the best solution, but I just can't see it being feasible.  It's really not safe to bike to daycare.  You have to cross over a major interstate (I-5) and after you do that about .25 miles in, the rest of the way is massively uphill.  Maybe I'm just an uber-scared complainy-pants, but I'm kinda paralyzed with fear about crossing I-5 on bike.  There's just SO much traffic on every cross-over and CA drivers are MEAN.  My daughter's daycare teacher's daughter was actually killed biking over one of the bridges on her way to the library.  Besides all that, with most of the 3 miles being uphill, I don't think I could make it there in time to pick them up before 6pm and not incur late pickup fees.

SnpKraklePhyz

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2014, 10:33:57 AM »
This school year I frequently would ride by bike to and from work, then get in the car and drive to pick up my kids at their after school activities. I would laugh at the inefficiency or whatever but it worked for me.

windawake

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2014, 10:44:32 AM »
How about this for you:

Could your husband bring the trailer to daycare when he drops the kids off in the morning? They store it in a garage or something. Then you bike to work, from work to daycare, and then hook up the trailer at daycare and load the kids in it? That way you don't have to worry about the extra time to stop over at home, and don't have to haul an empty trailer up the hill.

You'll still have to get over the mental hurdle of crossing I-5. I'd suggest doing it a few times before you're planning to pick up the kids via bike to get used to it. Sometimes I similarly get mental blocks about certain things with biking and it's all about just doing it, and then doing it again. My current mental block is against pulling my dog in the trailer 23 miles to my parents' house. Since my car crapped out I'm going to have to get over it soon!

hermoninny

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2014, 11:52:50 AM »
How about this for you:

Could your husband bring the trailer to daycare when he drops the kids off in the morning? They store it in a garage or something. Then you bike to work, from work to daycare, and then hook up the trailer at daycare and load the kids in it? That way you don't have to worry about the extra time to stop over at home, and don't have to haul an empty trailer up the hill.


Hmm...that could be an option, but I'm not sure there's somewhere to store it all day.  They attend daycare run by the school district (though it's privately funded by tuition), so their daycare uses one wing of a public school.  The rest of the school is used by special education programs.  I wonder if there's somewhere my husband could lock it up, like a bike rack.  Hmmm.....

windawake

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2014, 01:20:18 PM »
How about this for you:

Could your husband bring the trailer to daycare when he drops the kids off in the morning? They store it in a garage or something. Then you bike to work, from work to daycare, and then hook up the trailer at daycare and load the kids in it? That way you don't have to worry about the extra time to stop over at home, and don't have to haul an empty trailer up the hill.


Hmm...that could be an option, but I'm not sure there's somewhere to store it all day.  They attend daycare run by the school district (though it's privately funded by tuition), so their daycare uses one wing of a public school.  The rest of the school is used by special education programs.  I wonder if there's somewhere my husband could lock it up, like a bike rack.  Hmmm.....

I lock my bike trailer up to bike racks, poles, fences, anything really. Hope that could work out for you!

Glenstache

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Re: To bike or not to bike?
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2014, 03:12:06 PM »
Is there a bus line that parallels your travels and also has a bike rack on front? If so, and you can stash the trailer at the daycare, you could conceivably do a bike-bus combo to get to the day care and then ride from daycare back home. Google maps has a bus feature that can be helpful in seeing what your options are if you local municipality doesn't have user-friendly bus route mapping. The bus would also take the sting out of that hill and potentially help you avoid a problematic road stretch.