Not riding your bike to work, USING it to work.

[Nocash18]

So I tried something new yesterday and today.

The winds of my career efforts have blown me into the pool cleaning business. It's been pretty enjoyable given the relaxed nature of the business. The past two months I've had a few routes to myself. Naturally I wanted to go pool to pool on my bike.

Well I did it yesterday and today on two different bikes (same trailer). Yesterday I did maybe 15 miles and today I did about 25. It was incredibly satisfying. I used every shortcut I knew and had some fun on some interesting terrain, considering I was pulling a trailer. It was pretty funny to see the look on other contractors faces as I saw them throughout the day.

Now the truly awesome thing about this was that the first day, it only took me maybe an extra 30 minutes. Today, I was more leisurely with my routes, and the pools were further apart. It still was only maybe an extra hour to my overall day. I would easily trade that time for some extra enjoyment and exercise to my work day. I would probably trade more!

So! Is there anyone out there that has or is using their bike so directly in their work?

Btw, first day was on my recently built rat bike and the second on my trek multitrac.

 

[Nocash18]

Here's a better picture of the rat.

 

[franconuevo]

Good for you...That's a cool setup for sure.
I like it

Good reminder that I need to stop wrenching on them all the time and start 'riding' them more.
franco

 

[Nocash18]

Good for you...That's a cool setup for sure.
I like it

Good reminder that I need to stop wrenching on them all the time and start 'riding' them more.
franco

I know what you mean. I seem to go back and forth between wrenching and riding. I'm already realizing I'm a little behind on my builds.

 

[order99]

Well, not AT work...

Sadly, my lovely 1993 Ford Festiva died last week-cascade short took out the fusible block, EGR and even the wiring harness...she is dead.At least it was quick...

I'm currently carpooling to work as i'd have a 1.5 hour commute by bike(in January) followed by a 10 hour shift and another 1.5 hour commute...but the weekends have me averaging 14-16 miles per day on a new (to me) Kent Transit folding bike that a co-worker decided to throw away. I threw the broken derailleur away, shortened the chain, picked the second-highest gear, soaked the components in oil and wound up with a lovely single speed.

Over the past two weekends i've been using my Transit to shop for groceries, visit friends and neighbors, shop for future transport at a price I can afford etc.

Come to think of it, i've been delivering several of my handmade instruments to the Post office for my Ebay customers, and that IS kind of a second part-time job for me...

 

[Duchess]

I put in over 50k miles/year driving for work, so biking would be impossible, but I did get to use my 8th AF bike a couple years back when I had to build a couple things over in Martha's Vineyard in the summer. Without bringing a car over, there was no way to hand carry all the stuff I needed, so I loaded up the rear rack of the bike with jammed-full panniers and a stuffed back pack strapped on top of a few other items. It was actually pretty fun and I was able to make the ferry I would have missed due to traffic had I taken a taxi and I would've had to wait almost three hours for another one. I don't have any pictures of it with all the stuff stacked on.

 

[Nocash18]

I put in over 50k miles/year driving for work, so biking would be impossible, but I did get to use my 8th AF bike a couple years back when I had to build a couple things over in Martha's Vineyard in the summer. Without bringing a car over, there was no way to hand carry all the stuff I needed, so I loaded up the rear rack of the bike with jammed-full panniers and a stuffed back pack strapped on top of a few other items. It was actually pretty fun and I was able to make the ferry I would have missed due to traffic had I taken a taxi and I would've had to wait almost three hours for another one. I don't have any pictures of it with all the stuff stacked on.

View attachment 43253

That looks like one smooth hauler! I would love to build a vintage city bike like that.

 

[Duchess]

That looks like one smooth hauler! I would love to build a vintage city bike like that.

It really is a great-riding bike! It's just a 1993 Giant Innova hybrid (if you can find one, they're really cheap, but I'm sure other cro-moly early hybrids are just as great) with Nitto Albatross handlebars and a Brooks Flyer (I changed a lot more than that, but those are the things that made the big difference in ride). That whole setup in the photo—12V motorcycle headlight, batteries, rack, panniers, etc. is (somehow) under 35 lbs. I sit up high, which is great for seeing and being seen, it's very comfortable, can travel down mild paths in the woods, but is smooth on pavement, and is quicker than it seems—even loaded, but the weight disappears once moving. It's also popular whenever I park it with a lot of compliments and some photo-taking. Cars are even a lot more polite to me on it than my road bike. I think the military theme and the olive or sand boonie hats I usually wear in the summer makes them think I'm a veteran and I also suspect that the sight of drop bars with my road bike has bad associations in the minds of a lot of non-biking car drivers. I could go on about this bike, but I definitely recommend an old hybrid as a townie. If I had to go down to one bike, this would be it.