mcours2006

Just as the title suggests, anyone working from home and doing a mock commute before starting work day or commute to end the work day? I've been working from home the past two weeks, and though I can't get myself to head out at 6:30 AM, I have been heading out after the work day to do the distance of my one-way commute. I've been enjoying it immensely. It's nice to have the added bonus of being able to cut the ride short if I'm not feeling it, something which I do not have if I were actually commuting. Actually, I've been extending the ride just because the weather and roads have been good.

Will this, too, get old?

gregf83 

I used to commute morning and evening in the dark and rain all winter. Now I'm spoiled and head out to my shop for an indoor trainer ride. In 2021 I've been consistent and ride every day. 2020 was not good for my cycling as it took me a while to get in the rhythm of riding when I didn't have to.

JW in AK

We've been working from home since March. When the weather started getting nice and days were getting longer I was doing a ride equivalent to my commute each morning. Took a month or two before the allure of sleeping an extra hour won out and now the only "commute" is to the desk in the corner of my bedroom. Couldn't really ever get into the pseudo-commute in the afternoon for some reason.

Gresp15C

Likewise here, since March 11. I did a "fake commute" for a month, and then realized that I preferred just going for a long brisk walk every morning, which I'm still doing.

I got the winter bike out, but it's been pretty lonesome in the garage.

I took longer rides through the summer. The bike paths got way too crowded, so I hit the roads, which is nice because I get a lot more hill work when I'm not on the rail-trails.

Darth Lefty 

I was riding occasionally through the summer but a family medical emergency in mid October has rendered me nearly full time child care as well as work. We ride to the park at 3.

subgrade

I've been working from home since the end of October; with no need to commute and the cold and dark season my monthly mileage has suffered a lot while my weight has gone up by 8kg. So I have also considered doing a mock commute, but I doubt I could keep it up. I won't get up earlier than is absolutely necessary, certainly not on a regular basis. I probably could try to do a ride every evening but again I don't see myself going out riding if the weather is bad, unless I need to.

Papa Tom

I worked at home for about seven years in the late 1990's, right when I returned to cycling. Every morning at around 7am, I'd head out on the bike for a good spin around the area and a stop somewhere for breakfast.

I didn't call it a "mock commute" or even pretend that I was riding to an office. It was just a ride to get my blood flowing for the day. Perhaps if you look at it differently and spare yourself the extra pressure of having to convince yourself you are commuting to work, you can just enjoy the invigorating ride and keep it fresh and new for a long time.

BobbyG

This has been my challenge, too. I worked from home for a month in March, and another three weeks in October. And after 28 years my job ended at the end of November. I have been riding in the middle of the day, and find I'm happy with a ride similar in length to the distance to my former I, too have been walking more.

I used to swim in my 20s...about 40 minutes a morning. When I began bike commuting at 30 it was ~9 miles (well, 6 miles for the first two years), but always about 40 minutes to work and 45 home. And before I got the studded snow tires I used to use the treadmill for 40 minutes on snowy mornings.

mcours2006 Your "added bonus" of being able to cut the ride short, is no bonus for me. THat is precisely why bike commuting worked for me...I had to keep going to get to work, and then home. Using the treadmill, I'd often hop off if I wasn't feeling it...the same with swimming. I need the purpose of "getting there" to help me keep going every day.

BTW...thanks for this thread. It got me hankering for a morning ride. I need to pick up an item that I would buy at a store 2/3 of the way to work once a month or so. As soon as I finish reading this and my breakfast, I'm gonna suit up and ride to get it. It's 18F right now, and will be 27F by the time I get back.

Nothing mysterious, I'm going to pick up some Yerba Mate from Natural Grocers. And I just realized, I am following my own advice on riding motivation. I have said before that if one get in the habit of riding out for coffee in the morning, that your body would remind you to ride as it associates the ride with the caffeine fix. I switched from coffee to Yerba Mate three years ago, but caffeine is caffeine, and I gotta go get me some.

pdlamb

I've been doing the fake commute thing since I came home last March. At first, and through the summer, I rode the 20 mile "round trip" in the morning, came "in to work" a little later and made it up at the end of the day. Some days I made a wrong turn and went further. That was OK until it got dark and cold, and I've wimped out. Now, instead of facing 20 degree morning rides, I prefer to take a long lunch commute ride around 40F or maybe better.

The challenge now is to fit those long lunches in on days where I'm supposed to be on the phone or headset every half hour all through the middle of the day. Getting up and riding early isn't fun, and since I don't have to do it to get to work, my days on the bike have dropped 20-30%.

Nevertheless, I've enjoyed mixing up the routes on my daily rides. There's some nice country riding a few miles to the northeast of home -- it was hard to see that when my destination was across town to the southwest!

mcours2006

mcours2006

I wouldn't mind doing the morning ride also if it were not for the road conditions, more so than the darkness. I can cope with the darkness as I have plenty of lights and the route I normally take is not heavily trafficked, but the road conditions in the morning are sketchy at best, especially when the temperature hovers around freezing, which it has lately. The little moisture in the air and the melting snow of the day freezes onto the road surface in patches here and there, and you really can't know it's there until it's way too late. I normally ride studs under these conditions, but riding on studs when I don't need to is just masochistic, IMO. Where's the fun in that?

Conditions for the afternoon ride are great--clear and dry roads, warmest time of the day, and light. The only downside to this is that the wind picks up usually, but it's a wash as I am doing a loop.

grolby

I think this is called "going for a bike ride."

surveyor6

Mock commutes should work just as well as Virtual Happy Hours.

Darth Lefty 

Mock Commute Soup

Supercardplayer

good Idea I see you a seasoned commuter

Supercardplayer

good Idea I see you a seasoned commuter

DiabloScott

I do like my commute, I go in to the ( empty) office once a week or so to use the printer/copier machine and bring home a stack of paperwork. 15 miles RT.

LeonSeyer

Been doing this ever since the pandemic lockdown started. Prior to that, never rode a bike to commute. And now I'm working at home and made a habit of cycling 10km before working, and during the process I'm doing daily task such as buying ingredients for breakfast, lunch and dinner from the nearest marketplace every day, which is about 3km away from home. Will this gets old? not for me. I'm a very cheap person, and seeing how much money I saved by crossing out commuting fees is enough to motivate me.

noisebeam

I've been riding my commute route to work and back nearly every day. Nice getting it done in one go (24mi)

Germany_chris

Those are called bike rides

Notso_fastLane

Yeah, this is more or less what I do. I've not been going every day, but I average a bit more miles/week still.