Commuting by Bike, and Getting Work Clothes to Work
Posted On Thursday, July 31st, 2008 By David Veatch
In the 7-8 months I’ve been getting to and from work by bike, I’ve tried three methods of getting my work clothes to work, clean and ready to wear.
Method, The First: Involved packing the next day’s clothes each night (or frantically in the morning) in the panniers and carrying them with me every day. This worked out well for the most part.
Pros:
- I got a full 5 commuting days in every week.
- I drove *very* rarely, which meant my gas savings were high.
Cons:
- It was tiresome having to pack every day, and had to remember everything I needed to pack every day.
- I didn’t have my car with me at work, and there were times I needed it.
Summary: This method is completely workable, but the impetus to try other things came from having to pack every day, and not having my car at work. There are times when I need to go somewhere, and getting out on the bike in the middle of the day just isn’t an option for me where I work.
Method, The Second: I tried driving a week’s worth of clothes into work Sunday night, and then exchanging them for another weeks worth of clothes the following Sunday. It did not work out so well.
Pros:
- I got a full 5 commuting days in every week.
- I only have to pack once a week, and if I forget something, I have the rest of the week to remember it.
- I have my car with me at work during the week.
Cons:
- I was driving a full extra trip to work every weekend, and making time was clearly not going to be easy or worthwhile.
- I had to have two full weeks worth of clothes, which on the surface doesn’t seem unreasonable, but managing the logistics of laundry and transport left my stingy self unsatisfied.
- If I need my car while at home, I didn’t have it.
Summary: This method could conceivably work, but for me, the deal breakers were the extra trip, as well as managing the logistics of clothes.
Method, The Third: For the last month or so, I’ve opted to drive a weeks worth of clothes in on the first work day of the week, leave the car at work, and drive everything back on the last.
Pros:
- I only have to pack once a week, and if I forget something, I have the rest of the week to remember it.
- I have my car with me at work during the week.
Cons:
- I only technically get 4 days of commuting in.
- If I need my car while at home, I don’t have it.
Summary: So far, this method is a winner. I have my car with me if I need it. I only have to pack once. The one day less of commuting can be easily offset by longer routes. Finally, the GF has a car at home if we need to drive during the evenings. That’s important, and if you don’t have access to other transportation, be it personal car, or mass transit, this method may not work out so well.
Glad you’re experimenting and finding something that works for you. There’s a lot of logistics to bike commuting and there are almost as many ways to commute by bike as there are bike commuters.
Another con is that your car sits in a parking lot for a week. This subjects it to all kinds of additional wear and tear. Assuming it would be in a garage at home.
It is a bit of a process to get clean, wrinkle free clothes to work. I tierd a couple of things bu the best that works for me (and allows me to commute regularly) is to bring one pari of pants and two shirts the first few days. I wear the pants twice and I slowly add the number of shirts until I run out of shirts.
Glad to see Method #3 working for you. This has been my preferred method for the year.
Alan