“Lifehack” your bicycle commute

Geez, I hate neologism. One of my least favourites at the moment is “lifehack”. Talk about a seriously sucky word. In my view, any adult who seriously uses the word should be vigourously lifesmacked.

Bu-ut anyway, last year there was a commuting related thread on one of the “lifehacker” forums:

In light of recent events and the consequences, I’m wondering if some of you lifehack your way around transportation to and from work on a bicycle. Any of your tips are appreciated, especially when it comes to transporting the essentials with you and weathering the elements.

The key tips from the thread have been distilled out for your convenience (and productivity) onto the 43 Folders web site. There are some interesting ideas, including:

• if you have a hybrid commute, use the non-bike time to relax, read, or go over your plans for the day

[Hey, I do that while I'm riding! Well, not the reading but relaxing and going over the day.]

• keep a voice recorder handy to capture ideas on the road

[This thought had crossed my mind - it's good thinking time after all - but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.]

• if you don’t have shower access at work, use baby wipes and a gym towel

[Hmm, all too common.]

• leave your work shoes at the office; they’re too heavy and bulky to tote back and forth

[I keep a full change of clothes for emergency situations like rain getting into my bag or just plain stupidly forgetting something.]

• rotate your underwear: bring fresh to wear today, and use yesterday’s to ride home (hey, nobody said this would be pretty)

[Well, I keep a pair of socks - if I've been rained on in the morning it's good to put clean, dry socks on for the return trip.]

Take ‘em or leave ‘em.

More on related topics

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• Warming the extremities of winter
• Driver gives tips for safer cycling
• Bike rack for Dilbert
• New parking space required