Does commuting wind you up?

[Hitchington]

I commute mainly using cycle path's and in all fairness i find it relaxing and a nice way to start and finish the working day

me 2

 

[Sixmile]

I find the more I commute on the bike, the more annoyed I am when the odd day I have to commute by car. Any traffic then frustrates the life out of me as I'll be thinking if I was on the bike I'd be away on past all this and not crawling or sitting stationary. This morning as I passed over the motorway bridge I seen the 3 city-bound lanes stationary below as I travelled over 20mph. I mean if you could bottle that feeling!

 

[Rooster1]

Most days are fine, it just takes one idiot to ruin things, like on my way home yesterday when I was overtaken on a blind bend/hill only for the car to immediately brake and pull into a driveway.

 

[Welsh wheels]

Only if I'm going on the bus. The last two days for various reasons I have commuted on the bus, and boy was it a stressful experience. So many stops and it took twice as long as cycling would have. Plus all that waiting around. Grr.

 

[KneesUp]

Only if I'm going on the bus. The last two days for various reasons I have commuted on the bus, and boy was it a stressful experience. So many stops and it took twice as long as cycling would have. Plus all that waiting around. Grr.

To be fair to the bus experience, it was partly because the buses here are so dire that it was quicker to walk home (and when you did wait for the bus, it sometimes didn't come, and always stank) that I finally got around to replacing my bike, which was stolen in 2001. Apart from that I've nothing good to say about them.

 

[lazybloke]

I'd love my commute (cycling) if only there weren't so many cars.

What is this thing that when drivers see stationary traffic queuing ahead, they often veer left and come to a halt blocking the cycle lane?

 

[KneesUp]

I'd love my commute (cycling) if only there weren't so many cars.

What is this thing that when drivers see stationary traffic queuing ahead, they often veer left and come to a halt blocking the cycle lane?

That, and the ones who force their way past when there is not enough room, even though they can (presumably) see that the traffic is stationary just up ahead.

 

[Drago]

Nah, I used to love cycle commuting. It made my final years of being a wage slave bearable.

 

[Welsh wheels]

To be fair to the bus experience, it was partly because the buses here are so dire that it was quicker to walk home (and when you did wait for the bus, it sometimes didn't come, and always stank) that I finally got around to replacing my bike, which was stolen in 2001. Apart from that I've nothing good to say about them.

And you always get the odd blokes sitting next to you as well

 

[MontyVeda]

Thanks for all the advice - the route I take in the morning at the moment is the flattest route: the road basically follows the valley bottom. Any other route involves riding up a valley side and then coming down again around the bend in the river - which is fine for 3/4 of the year, but it makes me too hot in summer.

I'd like to make it clear that I wasn't aggressive to the van-man, I just made sure he saw me pretending to be on the phone as I passed - I didn't say anything to him. If pretending to be on the phone whilst cycling past someone who is sat inside a 2 ton van and who has just pulled into your path without looking whilst *actually* on the phone can be seen as aggressive then perhaps I need to recalibrate my emotions!

I used to have a 4.5 mile commute out to the sticks, the most direct route was via the A6 and involved 220ft of climbing, mostly on one big hill. My preferred route avoided the A6 and had 400ft of climbing and three big hills... but it was beautiful. The views, the mist in the valley, the lack of traffic... it took maybe an extra ten minutes and was much more work, but compared to constant traffic passing me by and countless close passes... well worth it.

 

[KneesUp]

I used to have a 4.5 mile commute out to the sticks, the most direct route was via the A6 and involved 220ft of climbing, mostly on one big hill. My preferred route avoided the A6 and had 400ft of climbing and three big hills... but it was beautiful. The views, the mist in the valley, the lack of traffic... it took maybe an extra ten minutes and was much more work, but compared to constant traffic passing me by and countless close passes... well worth it.

Nice - for me the hillier option is still urban, just more uphill, which I can do without when it's 30 degrees and I have no shower at work!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Commuting is best bit of work day. How many time I have extended the commute in the lanes.

 

[Julia9054]

Commuting can wind me up but not because of other road users.

It's the permanent state of fatigue that sometimes wears me down.

But it's about perspective. I have a car that does not have air conditioning and in this weather it's pretty uncomfortable so bike wins.

Me too. If i every get round to changing the old rattle bucket then aircon is the top of my list of must haves.
Sitting in a hot tin can in a traffic jam winds me up

 

[KneesUp]

I've just booked the car in to get the a/c repaired on Thursday - but work is so close to home that once the fabric of the car gets hot, the a/c can't touch it during the journey. If the actual seats are hot, it seems to take about 40 minutes until it stops feeling like the seat heater is on. Still looking forward to it working again though!

 

[Heltor Chasca]

The school run (16km total) is my treat and link with sanity.

Then I get home and drove off to work in my truck. I have really noticed the hot weather seems to have resulted in an increase in lazy and inattentive driving. Not me of course. Perfect me.