September Cycling Challenge 2014

[usmarine1975]

That's awesome Jordan.  Since I have gotten involved with the Bike co-op kids in my neighborhood now see me when I am out and about and know who I am.  It's pretty cool to get to know our neighbors through this organization.

Tonight I have the bike co-op to look forward too.

[fallstoclimb]

I found a new route to work that cut my commute from an awkward 5 miles where I get off the bike 2-3 times to 4 miles where I only get off the bike once.  (Suburb to suburb commute, some workarounds are necessary).

Good news, I'm leaning even harder towards selling my car.  Bad news, my mileage for the year may drop.  Hopefully the shorter, simpler route will get me to *actually* bike every day to work, rather than just theoretically bike every day.  I can be a wuss about weather and sometimes opt for sleeping in rather than dressing appropriately, loading my pannier, and having to change once at work, but clearly I need to harden up!

[Russ]

Oh yeah. Specialized, one of my favorite bike companies, now has a wind tunnel. They accidentally ran a test regarding leg hair and aerodynamics...and found out that everything they thought they knew was wrong.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-curious-case-of-the-cyclists-unshaved-legs/article20370814/

oh for fuck's sake. if you're gonna drop a couple hundred G's on a wind tunnel, at least make sure you have someone who knows how to use it

[jordanread]

Oh yeah. Specialized, one of my favorite bike companies, now has a wind tunnel. They accidentally ran a test regarding leg hair and aerodynamics...and found out that everything they thought they knew was wrong.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/the-curious-case-of-the-cyclists-unshaved-legs/article20370814/

oh for fuck's sake. if you're gonna drop a couple hundred G's on a wind tunnel, at least make sure you have someone who knows how to use it

I don't quite get what you are saying. I just thought it was funny.

Oh, holy shit. Rode in on the new SPDs today...3.7MPH faster average time, after not biking since the 1st. Also, got a new chain, and some new chain sprockets up front, and got my wheels trued up. Not sure what caused the increase, but I'm happy with it. I've been sucking this month.

[prefrontalfinance]

I finally moved into my new place and have my bike back, after over 2 weeks without it! Gotta get back in the habit of tracking the miles.

[Mrs. PoP]

First day back biking after scraping my hands and knees up pretty bad last week.  Felt good to be back on the bike - never realized how much I manage to touch the heel of my hand to the handlebars, though!  Ouch!

[usmarine1975]

Had to snap at a photo of this bike.  He parked in a parking space ate lunch and then left.  Not sure what he was hauling but thought it was pretty cool.

[TrMama]

Had to snap at a photo of this bike.  He parked in a parking space ate lunch and then left.  Not sure what he was hauling but thought it was pretty cool.

That is cool. Look at the tiny wheels on the trailer!

[mrfilthyrich]

Went 32 miles today.  Good way to start off the day before work!

[SisterX]

It's been an unusually high month for driving, so I just found out that with my car trip over the weekend I've done almost as much driving as biking (50 miles vs. 69 miles, so far).  Ewwww.  Going to see if I can make it the rest of the month without driving, which I should easily be able to unless it snows, which it might.

[damize]

So my ride to work (10 miles roundtrip) is somewhat involuntary. The shipping company used by the DoD has had my car for 10 weeks now (4 weeks overdue) and no end in sight.  The good news is I enjoy the ride, especially in the morning.  The bad news is....well, I guess there really isn't any bad news.  I suspect my car will have very few miles added to it when I finally get it back into my clutches.

[jordanread]

So my ride to work (10 miles roundtrip) is somewhat involuntary. The shipping company used by the DoD has had my car for 10 weeks now (4 weeks overdue) and no end in sight.  The good news is I enjoy the ride, especially in the morning.  The bad news is....well, I guess there really isn't any bad news.  I suspect my car will have very few miles added to it when I finally get it back into my clutches.

That is awesome! Talk about turning what some think is negative into something great.

[crazy jane]

The construction on my route  almost done and I hope to be on the bike tomorrow. Finally. It's been almost two months.

[PindyStache]

So, just started a new job and the commute is actually largely the same but a couple miles shorter (15 miles roundtrip home-office-home; 23 miles roundtrip home-daycare-office-daycare-home). I am enjoying the extra time in my day as a result.

Downside is that I used to have indoor bike parking, showers, locker at work. Now just a bike rack outside. There is a gym next door ($35/mo if annual membership; $40/mo if going month-to-month). No lockers there, just little cubbies that I don't think I can leave things in permanently/overnight. Would you:

A) Shower at home, change in bathroom stall, leave sweaty bike clothes crumpled in bag all day (my bike clothes will be sweaty as long as the temp is above freezing...), save $$$
B) Pay $40/mo for May-Sept or something like that ($240/yr) to shower after biking, change in a nice clean private room
C) Pay year membership ($420), maybe stash winter biking clothes in gym's cubby

Works out to something like $2-3 per shower (bike commute 90%+ of the time). I am doing a free trial membership at the moment. If there were lockers for me to hang my sweaty clothes that would seal the deal for me, but as is I am on the fence.

[Thegoblinchief]

I'm assuming just a cube, no office at the new job?

Are you sure the gym just has cubbies, no lockers? Most gyms I've been have cubbies out on the floor, but lockers in the changing room. Pretty much anywhere will cut the locks at the end of the night.

I don't think a shower is worth $2 a day (seeing as I've gone a year w/out a shower bike commute), but somewhere to hang the clothes is important, either asking around at work for a closet out of the way, or exploring the gym more.

Good luck!

[Nancy]

I shower at home before my ride in, and I currently have a closet for my clothes at work. However, I have gone the sweaty clothes in a bag route, which doesn't bother me since I'm going home so I don't mind if I smell. Also my own sweat doesn't gross me out. I can see not wanting to wear damp clothes during cold weather. For that I would seek out some closet or random place to hang your clothes during the day. So I wouldn't pay for a shower, but do what makes you happy.

[usmarine1975]

I will throw down my experience.  I have no shower at the office just a sink.  I basically leave a towel at the office, with just two of us here we have some extra space that I can store it.  But I try to arrive no less then 15 minutes early.  It gives me 15 minutes to finish sweating.  Once that is up I wipe down rinse off and apply deoderant that I keep at the office.  I bring my work clothes in my back pack for the day.  Just a note on rainy days bag them to keep dry.  I haven't had any issues with the simple wipe down that I am doing.  I do not use baby wipes.  14 months in a desert with baby wipe showers was more then enough for me.  The shower part kept me from riding sooner but once someone suggested the wipe down it's worked great.  Today is my 4th day this week riding to work.  And my first month over 200 miles.  Sweet.

I hang my shirt on my bike in one of the spare rooms at our office.  My pants are usually dry, and I hang the socks as well.

[PindyStache]

Thanks for the feedback. I may just adapt stoically to the situation and shower at home.

The gym really does not have lockers. It's very small and part of a large apartment complex, so they don't even have a bathroom in the gym itself, only 2 small private showers with space to change. I agree it is sort of silly.

I showered at home then biked a couple days this week and it worked OK. I just ate my breakfast as I cooled down.

My office unfortunately is pretty packed and only has one main coat closet that I would feel uncomfortable using for my stinky bike clothes. At my old office I would hang clothes from my bike during the day, but now the bike rack is out front along a pretty busy, pedestrian-heavy street so that feels weird too. Maybe I will try and take over some space in the basement. And yes, I will need to bag my clothes on rainy days now too, good reminder!

[Mrs. PoP]

No shower at work here - I do the shower at home, wipe down at work thing. 

But an idea for storing your clothes if you like to dry them a bit:  I have a computer tower and tallish battery-backup underneath my desk and they throw off a decent amount of heat.  In the mornings after changing, I toss my slightly damp riding clothes over those two for an hour or so to dry them off before folding them and putting them in another drawer for the remainder of the day.  The heat speeds up the process more than just tossing them over the chair on the other side of my desk - plus it keeps them hidden as they dry as someone would have to come around my desk and then intentionally look down to see them. 

[Thegoblinchief]

My goblins ended the month with 99 miles, just a touch under the average for the adults on here. We could have broken 100 today but I felt like taking a walk with them instead of riding to the library. At 4.5 miles we still got plenty of exercise!

[jordanread]

My goblins ended the month with 99 miles, just a touch under the average for the adults on here. We could have broken 100 today but I felt like taking a walk with them instead of riding to the library. At 4.5 miles we still got plenty of exercise!

Out freaking standing!!!! The goblins are truly living up to their names!

[usmarine1975]

Baby girl ended my riding for the end of the month. Go back to work Thursday and planning to ride.

[jordanread]

Baby girl ended my riding for the end of the month. Go back to work Thursday and planning to ride.

Congratulations by the way. That is a pretty good excuse for not riding.

[Thegoblinchief]

Baby girl ended my riding for the end of the month. Go back to work Thursday and planning to ride.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy!

[Kmp2]

Congratulations usmarine1975!

I just squeaked by 200km for the month :) and with 15km with my DD - not bad with the snowtember/treemaggedon week we had at the begining of the month.

And as an aside, my blood pressure is down too :)

I have ordered new bike lights and am ready for another monthly challenge in the dark!

[jordanread]

I just got a new (to me) used bike and rode it home 11.5 km AND IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!  It is a traditional Chinese "cruiser" style with more upright handlebars, which is what I have been wanting.  Amazing how much better it feels to ride a bike that fits.  Faster, too, even though it is only a one speed.  Covered 11.5km in 45 minutes, would have been less but I hit a ton of stop lights that probably slowed me down 5-10 minutes.  Bike is basically brand new, only ridden twice by the previous owner's wife (who is someone I know so I know he isn't bullshitting me).  Has a basket and a rack, so I won't have to wear my backpack while riding anymore (another thing that was giving me back pain). 

It also doesn't look as fancy as my other bike (a high end Trek mountain bike) so will be less of a theft risk.

I am so stoked!

Ha ha!! Awesome. I'll have the new sheet up soon.

[jordanread]

The new gauntlet has been thrown!! Join in with instructions at
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/throw-down-the-gauntlet/october-cycling-challenge-2014/

[SisterX]

Jordanread, I realize it's too late for the October sheet, and I'm not sure how much time this would add to your (awesome) production of these sheets each month, but perhaps you could add a "walking" category?  I know there are tons of people on these forums who walk at least part of the year and it would be neat to see how that adds up as well.
I'm done biking for the winter, I think.  Too icy.

[jordanread]

Jordanread, I realize it's too late for the October sheet, and I'm not sure how much time this would add to your (awesome) production of these sheets each month, but perhaps you could add a "walking" category?  I know there are tons of people on these forums who walk at least part of the year and it would be neat to see how that adds up as well.
I'm done biking for the winter, I think.  Too icy.

I'll look into adding an additional option in the form. I don't know if it will be implemented in November, but we'll see. Thanks for the suggestion.

[SisterX]

Jordanread, I realize it's too late for the October sheet, and I'm not sure how much time this would add to your (awesome) production of these sheets each month, but perhaps you could add a "walking" category?  I know there are tons of people on these forums who walk at least part of the year and it would be neat to see how that adds up as well.
I'm done biking for the winter, I think.  Too icy.

I'll look into adding an additional option in the form. I don't know if it will be implemented in November, but we'll see. Thanks for the suggestion.

Wonderful!  Thank you so much!  I really appreciate that you keep this up for everyone.  It's so motivational to see how even my short commute adds up.