vol

Are you bored?

Artkansas 

I don't ever recall boredom while commuting because I had been riding the route for too many days. Each ride is new every day. The familiarity lets me know a place better.

That said, I don't think I've ever had the same commuting route much longer than about 4 years. And I think the longest was in elementary school, grades 2-5. And it seems like the trip is always varied by errands I may want to run, events I have to go to, etc.

The only time I do recall boredom was when the length of the ride was too long, 17 miles each way. It ate into other areas of my life and made me dissatisfied.

DX-MAN

When the weather gets a little chilly, I tend to abandon the more scenic routes I have laid out for my commute, and take the short, straight one. This year, though, it's been more or less a default route, don't know why. There WAS a time when I would HATE to take the same route more than 3 days in a row, but that seems to have faded.....

WestMass

I have ridden the shortest route to work, every day, for 3 years. I enjoy it nearly every day.

ItsJustMe

I rode the same route to work for 8 years. Not bored. Beats driving.
I'm changing it up a bit now because I bought a road bike and it doesn't deal with the 4 miles of washboarded gravel road. Also in the summer I sometimes ride a longer route, but it's not because I'm bored, it's because I want to ride for longer.

As soon as my new bike comes in, I'll probably be back on the old route.

jrickards

I generally take the same route in every day and a different route home (but the same each day). I've had to change both routes because of construction in 2 sections but my new routes (again, to work and to home are slightly different) have been consistent. If I'm training for a longer ride, such as a metric century, I'll occasionally take a different route home, up to 75km, but not from boredom or any other reason than for training purposes, additional training distance in addition to weekend rides. Not from boredom but because of need, I'll sometimes take the short route to work or to home but I'd rather take the longer routes.

tarwheel 

When I get bored riding the same route, I ride different bikes for variety. I have 5 different bikes that I use for commuting on occasion. My main commuter has fenders, so I generally ride it if there is any chance of rain. However, if the weather is clear, I usually ride my other bikes. I ride my touring bike when I have a lot of gear to carry or want to ride slow. Other days I ride my cross bike or one of my other road bikes. I also vary my route on occasion.

ModeratedUser02102018

I used to bike to work when I lived in Seattle. It was only 5 miles, but almost entirely on the bike trail, and partially along the Puget Sound to downtown Seattle. The view was beautiful and a great start to the day. One morning I saw a yellow submarine in the sound. But, just checking out the other bikers on the route makes things a bit interesting. There's the possiblity of a downpour on the way home. Nothing like a good soaking rain to work on speed. BTW, I'm about the slowest commuter ever. It usually took 25 minutes to ride that 5 miles. But on the first day, it took an hour.

spivonious

I might mix up the route to avoid a headwind, or avoid a hill if my legs are tired, but never from boredom. Too many things to keep me interested, like speeding cars, nice scenery, the occasional pedestrian or cyclist. I've been riding my current route since December.

alan s 

As a multimodal commuter (car-bike) I can choose different starting points, which depends on weather, traffic, time, conditions of towpath, energy level and simply which route I feel like riding. I can easily choose a route from 12 miles to 25 miles one way, nearly all offroad and flat. Consider my commuting options pretty ideal, although it would be nice to not have to drive part way. As it is, my route varies not only every day, but even between morning and evening rides.

Surrealdeal

My route isn't anywhere near as boring as my job.

WonderMonkey

I change mine up depending on how much time I have and for the boredom factor. I like to mix it up. Riding the bike isn't 100% of why I actually ride. I am out there for exercise, thinking, listening to some tunes (when in the right spots) and the scenery. For some people just being on the bike is enough.

droy45

I have had to change my route lately because of a new job but I was not bored with my old route. It was an easy one and now I have a longer and much more complex route dealing with inter city traffic etc. I have modified my new route a lot lately to make it more comfortable with less traffic and intersections and try to use the best smoothest streets. I haven't got bored yet.

RubeRad

Sadly, given the layout of suburban arteries around here, I don't have much of an option; if I don't want to ride my direct 5.6mi commute, I need to probably double the distance. I've been bike-commuting since the beginning of 2013, and I can think of three times that I've ridden a different route, and they were all because I had some extra time and wanted to do some recreational riding; so in that sense I wouldn't even call it "the commute".

WestMass

LoL

Also, while I do have a lot of options - time is pretty critical for me in the morning. My ride isn't long (7 miles) but when I'm riding in at 5:30am and have to make photocopies and shower and get my classroom ready, I can't really dilly-dally. On the way home I try to rush so I can let my dog out so he doesn't pee in his crate!

cooker

I commuted to the same site for 20 years and gradually settled in on just one or two variations in my route.

Last year I moved to a new office site and experimented a bit until I settled on a route that incorporated 75% of my previous route. However in mid summer this year I suddenly was inspired to challenge myself to vary my route until I rode on every through street in the rectangle (2 miles by 8 miles) defined by my house at the northeast corner and my office at the south west.

Of course I've now done most of the long north-south streets but I probably won't finish covering the dozens of east-west cross streets and some of the meandering curved streets until sometime next year.

I have tried to do it all legally, and so even some of the north-south streets are challenging due to having reversing one-way sections, where I have to do part on a morning commute and a different part during an evening commute.

So right now it's a different route every day.

RubeRad

I think it was about 45 minutes, but there were a lot of lights that morning

vol

Be careful and don't get involved in an accident because of concern over such a small inconvenience!

lwb

8 years for me, same 39 mi RT. No real options that don't considerably increase the (already excessive) daily time commitment. Has become a bit boring, but - as said earlier - still beats the car.

cooker

When I first moved to my new office and realized the most direct, flattest route still included 75% of my old route to my previous office, I was kind of disappointed but after a while I stopped noticing.

Bluish Green

I actually prefer taking the same route every day, since I know where every single pothole is and how each stoplight works. Sometimes I have to detour due to construction or a stopped freight train blocking a crossing, so I have a couple of alternates, but I like my regular route best.

rhm

I've ridden the same 5.7 or so miles between my house and the train station, with a few minor variations, every day for 12+ years. The variations depend on the weather; I can add a little bit of off-road (canal towpath) if I really want to, and I can eliminate it entirely if it's covered with snow. Boring? I suppose it is... I haven't noticed. I'm always looking for wildlife, watching traffic, etc.

noglider 

I read the question completely differently. I read it as "what job have you held the longest where you commuted by bike?"

And the "bored" question looks to me like "I'm bored at the moment, so this was the best question I could come up with."

bhop

I get bored sometimes, but whenever I try to mix it up and take a different path, I end up running into bigger hills, lots of potholes, or more traffic. Can't win..

Matariki

I ride the same route but it changes with the seasons. In the fall, I have to adjust my timing to sync with the new school bus schedules + I have to adjust to riding in the dark again. It's always a treat to see the bright, shiny faces at the school bus stop - those electronic devices sure put off some light. Early warning at the high school stops changes from year to year too. This new school year signals a move away from the citrus scents to a more floral odor palette.