You know you are a hard-core commuter if...
#176
50/50 Road/eBike Commuter
When you secretly wouldn't be terribly upset if someone stole your car because you've already been plotting a way to be free of the damned thing for years.
#177
Full Member
When you ride home from a Craigslist sale through pre-hurricane traffic in north Jersey with a frame across your body like a messenger bag, just so you can start building up another vintage commuter.
#179
commuter and barbarian
You ride your bike to work 16 miles roundtrip for a week with a foot that is broken, that you don't know is broken, because it's easier than walking and taking the train. On the day you finally see a doctor who confirms it's broken and orders you to wear a boot and use crutches immediately, you had already ridden your bike to work. So, you buy some bungees for 99 cents at the hardware store, and strap the crutches to your bike, figuring one last easy ride, favoring the broken foot, in order to get your bike home. With 6 miles to go, you get a flat, and don't have a proper repair kit. You then uses your handlebars and good front tire as a crutch to hobble over to the nearest train. People look at you like you're crazy hopping down the subway steps on one foot with a bike and crutches over your shoulder.
#181
Senior Member
When you're soaking wet you get a grin on your face when you see all the cars in the traffic jam. And since you're already wet, it doesn't really matter anymore and you ride the rest of the route at a relaxed pace.
#182
The other night, I had to stop myself from driving through a stoplight that was red. I had stopped, looked both ways, waited the customary dead-red time, then started to drive through it... whoops... not a stop sign, silly, a stop LIGHT, I told myself. For the rest of the trip, I was all panicky- trying to remember the rules for driving car-style.
#183
Hot in China
Join Date: Apr 2005
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If you select your accomodation so it is a good commuting distance from work
I used GoogleEarth to draw a 10 km radius circle around work, and then a 12 km circle. I deleted most of the doughnut as I didnt want to live in those parts, and went looking for and found a great apartment there. It is a 12.5 km ride Perfect distance for me on the flat.
z
I used GoogleEarth to draw a 10 km radius circle around work, and then a 12 km circle. I deleted most of the doughnut as I didnt want to live in those parts, and went looking for and found a great apartment there. It is a 12.5 km ride Perfect distance for me on the flat.
z
#185
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
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... you get out of the navy and start cycling to your new job, then one day your neighbour (who you haven't crossed paths with in a while) sees you and asks how long you've been at sea (because he hasn't seen the car move in a few months).
#188
a.k.a., Point Five Dude
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Twin Cites, MN USA
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When you have successfully conditioned your wife not to ask you to run errands on the way home from work because "Oh that's right, you're riding tomorrow."
#189
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Erie, PA
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Doesn't stop my wife as long as it's small enough for my pannier. It's just an excuse to ride more on the way home.
#190
a.k.a., Point Five Dude
Join Date: Apr 2011
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#192
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Columbus, OH
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When off-the-shelf isn't good enough anymore and you have to start rigging up your own accessories on your commuter rig.
(Last night I turned a crosstop lever and spare cabling into a remote trigger for my Airzound, so I could mount it on an R&E light mount on my randonneur rack. The mount point is also a rigged bit, using an 89 cent drilled out PVC fitting instead of a $25.00 Paul Gino mount.)
(Last night I turned a crosstop lever and spare cabling into a remote trigger for my Airzound, so I could mount it on an R&E light mount on my randonneur rack. The mount point is also a rigged bit, using an 89 cent drilled out PVC fitting instead of a $25.00 Paul Gino mount.)
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"I feel like my world was classier before I found cyclocross."
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"I feel like my world was classier before I found cyclocross."
- Mandi M.
#193
Senior Member
The other night, I had to stop myself from driving through a stoplight that was red. I had stopped, looked both ways, waited the customary dead-red time, then started to drive through it... whoops... not a stop sign, silly, a stop LIGHT, I told myself. For the rest of the trip, I was all panicky- trying to remember the rules for driving car-style.
#195
You know where exactly where all the open sewers, bad septic tanks, and/or waste treatment pump stations are and based upon wind direction, know exactly how long to hold your breath when passing these areas.
#196
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Sierra Vista, Arizona, USA
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When your locking up your bike in the morning after riding to work and someone walks by and asks if you ever get tired of riding and think about turning around some mornings and driving your car and you think that is the stupidest idea you have ever heard.
#197
cycleobsidian
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Southwestern Ontario
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You need to buy supplies for work, but the store is too far by bicycle. So you decide to order them from the internet and wait another week for them to arrive.
Meanwhile, you could have gone to the store for the supplies, there and back, with your car within an hour, but didn't want to.
Meanwhile, you could have gone to the store for the supplies, there and back, with your car within an hour, but didn't want to.
#199
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Erie, PA
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Fortunately my boss knows I don't own a car. We also have a company vehicle that I've used when driving to training. It's one of the many reasons why even though my job isn't my dream job from a work perspective, it supports the rest of my life.
#200
Senior Member
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