laertes
Senior Member
- Location
- Kingston upon Thames
Some excerpts from an article in the FT on Saturday, thought it might be interesting:
"These are Google employees preparing for one of the world’s most extreme morning commutes. Over the next two and a half hours they will ride 42 miles to work on a meandering, sometimes dangerous route that takes them from the city to Google’s campus at Mountain View, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
The rides were started in 2005 by a group of Googlers known as “SF2G”, who did not want to drive and did not enjoy the company shuttle buses. “Riding a bike to work? Crazy?” writes Scott Crosby, the SF2G founder, in a history of the group. “Could a 42-mile bike ride realistically be done before work on a regular basis?”
Today, more than 1,200 people are members of the group. And in spite of the distance, the journeys have become an essential part of many employees’ lives. “There’s no way you could get me to drive to work,” says Brian Kemler, an engineer who began doing the rides in 2007. “You couldn’t pay me.”
The basic ride, known as the Bay Way, is not for the meek. “Between here and Mountain View there are over 50 turns,” says Mr Kemler. “They’re not necessarily defined roads or bike paths. Sometimes we go through parking lots.”
In addition to the Bay Way, the group has several other routes. There is the 37-mile Joe Gross, which is “direct but hectic”. There is the “beautiful but challenging” 48-mile Skyline route, which traverses large hills.
Then there is the 62-mile Half Moon Bay route. “Half Moon Bay is not really on the way to Silicon Valley,” admits Mr Kemler. He says it takes about five hours and “puts you in the office at the early hour of 11:30, just in time for lunch”. The most ambitious riders do “five days, five ways”, riding a different route Monday through Friday.
SF2G has helped cultivate a cycling culture within the company. Senior Googlers, including Max Levchin, the PayPal founder who recently sold Slide, his company, to Google, sometimes rides with the group. And chief financial officer Patrick Pichette cycles to work regularly, though not all the way from San Francisco. On national Bike to Work day, almost 1,000 Googlers turned up on bicycles.
That might not be a bad thing. Research has shown that exercise, especially when done in the morning, can improve learning and cognition, essentially making people better workers. “It’s a mood and mild altering experience,” says Mr Kemler. “I feel like I’ve already accomplished a lot when I get in at nine. I’m energised, alert.”Even the simplest rides can be perilous, however, and several riders have been injured over the years. “One guy got hit by a big truck,” says Mr Kemler. “We’ve had pile-ups where someone stopped and there’s been a chain reaction. A couple have gone to the hospital.”
"These are Google employees preparing for one of the world’s most extreme morning commutes. Over the next two and a half hours they will ride 42 miles to work on a meandering, sometimes dangerous route that takes them from the city to Google’s campus at Mountain View, in the heart of Silicon Valley.
The rides were started in 2005 by a group of Googlers known as “SF2G”, who did not want to drive and did not enjoy the company shuttle buses. “Riding a bike to work? Crazy?” writes Scott Crosby, the SF2G founder, in a history of the group. “Could a 42-mile bike ride realistically be done before work on a regular basis?”
Today, more than 1,200 people are members of the group. And in spite of the distance, the journeys have become an essential part of many employees’ lives. “There’s no way you could get me to drive to work,” says Brian Kemler, an engineer who began doing the rides in 2007. “You couldn’t pay me.”
The basic ride, known as the Bay Way, is not for the meek. “Between here and Mountain View there are over 50 turns,” says Mr Kemler. “They’re not necessarily defined roads or bike paths. Sometimes we go through parking lots.”
In addition to the Bay Way, the group has several other routes. There is the 37-mile Joe Gross, which is “direct but hectic”. There is the “beautiful but challenging” 48-mile Skyline route, which traverses large hills.
Then there is the 62-mile Half Moon Bay route. “Half Moon Bay is not really on the way to Silicon Valley,” admits Mr Kemler. He says it takes about five hours and “puts you in the office at the early hour of 11:30, just in time for lunch”. The most ambitious riders do “five days, five ways”, riding a different route Monday through Friday.
SF2G has helped cultivate a cycling culture within the company. Senior Googlers, including Max Levchin, the PayPal founder who recently sold Slide, his company, to Google, sometimes rides with the group. And chief financial officer Patrick Pichette cycles to work regularly, though not all the way from San Francisco. On national Bike to Work day, almost 1,000 Googlers turned up on bicycles.
That might not be a bad thing. Research has shown that exercise, especially when done in the morning, can improve learning and cognition, essentially making people better workers. “It’s a mood and mild altering experience,” says Mr Kemler. “I feel like I’ve already accomplished a lot when I get in at nine. I’m energised, alert.”Even the simplest rides can be perilous, however, and several riders have been injured over the years. “One guy got hit by a big truck,” says Mr Kemler. “We’ve had pile-ups where someone stopped and there’s been a chain reaction. A couple have gone to the hospital.”
