The Dark Side of Bike Commuting
Let's Ride to Work
I’ve been riding my bike into work for the past couple of weeks now. It’s been great. It did rain on the first two days I rode in and I was worried that I picked the wrong time of year to start. Definitely not the case – I’ve been spoiled since then with cool, sunny, low-humidity days. It hasn’t all been roses, though, and in the spirit of taking the good with the bad, here are a few of the not-so-pleasant parts:
- Lentils - For me, riding to work means bringing my lunch. We have a cafeteria on-site, but eating there more than once a week will shorten your lifespan and empty your bank account. I usually just throw some leftovers in Tupperware and toss it in my bag. No problem, right? Right, unless you throw some soupy lentils in a container and don’t check if it closes airtight. The inside of my backpack and my laptop charger now smell quite delicious, though I imagine the smell will get progressively worse over the next weeks.
- Sprinkler Overshoot - A minor annoyance, but it seems like someone is watering the road or a parking lot every day. When it’s 100 degrees out, I’m sure I’ll look forward to it, but now that it’s low 50s getting sprayed is less “refreshing” and more “damn cold”. Is it that hard to aim the water towards the grass?
- Garage Doors - I have difficulties with garages no matter the vehicle. I’ve demolished both of my truck side mirrors exiting the garage on separate occasions, and biking hasn’t made things better. Some background: I carry the garage door opener with me and click the button as soon as I am in range on my ride home. If it’s not fully opened by the time I arrive, I do a track stand in the driveway waiting until it’s high enough to ride in.
I was doing this last week, and I must have clicked the button just as I was pulling in. The door stopped at 2/3rds open. I made it in just fine. My backpack, however, did not. I was wedged in the door, like an 18 wheeler going under a bridge a bit too short. Unlike the 18 wheeler, I could hop off my bike and free myself. I did manage to put a nice dent in the bottom of the garage door. - Bird Poop - Traveling outdoors and open to the sky can have it’s drawbacks as well as it’s benefits. Enough said.
October 29th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
The best entry so far! I couldn’t stop laughing, you forgot to mention the garage insident so it was quite hilarious to read.
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October 31st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
I agree with Ivonne! Liked both the garage door incident and the lawn sprinkler one. And it must be nice to have a cafeteria (or you could eat yogurt everyday like I do – our cafeteria only has a microwave and a refrigerator!).
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November 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
I hate not to have an original thought, but I had tears coming out of my eyes on the 18 wheeler reference. After reading this blog, I am considering riding my bike to work……oh wait 40 miles in the snow may be a little more difficult than avoiding spinklers and bird poop.
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November 24th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
[...] some great things to come from time off, no doubt. For instance, ever since I’ve started biking to work, I’ve really begun to enjoy the ‘other’ side of cycling: riding for [...]