What are you missing?
 

I'm trying to make up for my commuting non-miles while working from home. It's going pretty well, but naturally there are a few exceptions. Things I'm missing by not commuting:

1. The "forcing function" of having to ride to get to work, because the car's sitting out there. Some days it's just too easy to loaf around, check emails, make some phone calls, then there's a telecon or three, and -- gee, where'd the day go?

2. Related to the first: early morning rides, when it's still cool. This morning was an example; rather than getting to work at 8:00, as the temperature hit 80F as I walked out the door about that time.

Not that I do NOT miss the forced 5:00 afternoon rides when the temps are still in the 90s!

3. Without a fixed end point, there's a temptation to go see different things every day. That's nice, too, but watching the progression of a works project, or a building under construction, or waving to the kids at the bus stop every morning -- those are going to have to wait another 6-9 months.

What do you miss about your (non) commute?

Alone time

Reliable exercise schedule

Yeah from a fitness/exercise standpoint I miss regular commuting to work. All this food and beer is starting to have an impact!

I used to do 40-50 miles a week commuting... pandemic came and I actually had excuse to voluntarily increase to 100 miles. There is a LOT of freedom in NOT being forced to go....

If we finally return to work, I actually plan to add my current routine to my commute, for about 20 miles a day. I earned this body, now I am going to keep it!

Every morning I ride to work and back. Not missing anything..

The two things I am missing is the social interworking with co-workers and the option to use the gym at work for my physical therapy exercise. But otherwise not much else. I still ride almost every morning before I start work in my home office. And as it looks like it will continue that way for a few more months.

I have been fortunate enough to return to the office and my daily commute for the last three months...in fact, my weekly weeknight meeting is now a teleconference, so I have time to ride all five days rather than drive on the day of my meeting.

However, during those first weeks of working from home I was worried I would not get out and ride, because like many of us, I need the extra help of going somewhere to get me to ride regularly. Back before I had a snow and ice bike, I would do the treadmill in the basement, but found it too easy to stop early, which of course you can't do when riding to or from work.

And when I was working from home I didn't do an afternoon ride, so I tried to make the morning ride longer. And without a destination I found I was cutting my rides a little short.

The older I get, the more discipline I seem to be able to muster, and I also tried to pick routes without easy bail-out options.

But what I missed the most was that sense of purpose which is silly, because on my weekend "pleasure" rides I will often go where the spirit takes me and end up riding much longer than my commute. However, sometimes I will make up an errand or schedule a visit with friends or family to give me the extra incentive to ride the whole route.

But it was that sense of riding with a purpose that I missed.

My sense of purpose is to get to work and back before my 8am meeting.

That resonates strongly with me. But on the weekend rides, I'll often go over the ridge, or out to the valley, or perhaps to the orchard, and there's only a couple ways to shortcut back, none of them all that good. Shorter rides in or near town have so many ways to cut the ride short, plus there's a bit of time pressure (go to work, already!) that's not present on weekend rides.

One of the things I thought I missed for a while was stopping at a local sandwich shop for breakfast on my way to work. Now that I've had a taste of how much money can be saved by eating at home, I don't think I will EVER go back to dropping $11 each morning for a bagel and a drink. That was crazy!

lol, I make very good morning coffee but then SWMBO takes the kids to Dutch Bros.

On the other hand, hitting the ice cream truck with my little kids every Monday afternoon has been great

I'm missing my winter bike. I parked it in the back yard, and the weeds have completely engulfed it.