Do you have a long commute?

[wheatonFJR]

But I have been miserable at this job. My doctor said to me yesterday, "get the hell out of there!" Enough said.
So, I found another gig that would be a decent career move and a bit more money. However, it's 34 miles away, all freeway, literally on the complete opposite side of the metro phoenix area. Minimum 45 minutes each way. On the plus side, I could ride the FJR and use the HOV lane (it's legal here in Phoenix), but the summer heat would probably force me back into the truck for a few months.

Slam dunk. Take the better job...and use your commute time as unwinding time.

 

[ionbeam]

I know one person that most days has a commute that consists of walking through the kitchen, grabbing a cup of coffee and walking into their office over a garage full of motorcycles. The commute is a grueling 50 feet, the traffic is heavy with a couple of big, over enthusiastic dogs and the commute in to the office ends with going up a few stairs. Life is tough.

My pillion has a nasty bad 40 mile commute with the kind of traffic that gives the Boston area a bad reputation. I don't know how she does it. There are daily accidents that bollix things up on the main and alternative roads and then throw in some weather and it's brutal.

My commute takes about 45 minutes to go 12 miles with about 9 miles of it good condition 40 mph country roads. The problem with two lane roads with no passing zones is that the traffic moves at the speed of the slowest car. There is an amazing number of hyper safe drivers, and don't even get me started about hypermiler Prius drivers.... I suppose a rant about the 5 traffic lights which have cycles of at least 3 minutes each would have to split off this thread

 

[gixxerjasen]

I have no idea how flexible you are on where you live. The ideal solution is if you can take the new job and tough out the commute until you can relocate. I would not want to stay at a job that even my doctor agreed sucks.

Advice I was given long ago.

Work where you have to, live where you want to.

I've been asked if I'll move when my job requires me to come in 5 days a week. We just bought our house and got my kid settled into a good school that he loves. I took this job based on what was told to me in my interview about the remote work opportunities. No way I'm moving for this company just because a new manager wants to see faces in the office. Plenty of jobs in this city, but I like where I live.

 

[Uncle Hud]

First priority = health and happiness. Work is only a way to fund your kid's education and toys for you and your wife/husband.

I take the bike to work unless the weather's really bad, then I take rail transit. Traffic jam on the freeway? No problem, turn left (or right), find an uncongested road that takes me generally northward, and enjoy the ride. Of course, if I'm on the train, I chuckle at the poor suckers stuck in traffic. (Caveat: I do not have anyone waiting on me to get home from work.)

AND WHEN YOU GET HAPPIER, please change your avatar?

 

[Fred W]

I am that guy that ionbeam was talking about above. I have NO commute, and that is most excellent!! But it was not always thus.

For the first 15 years of working for this company, I commuted daily to various hospital locations in the bowels of Metro Boston. When I started doing that back in the early 80's I could leave our home in suburbia at around 7 and reach most of the customer's locations (a drive of about 45 miles) by ~ 8 AM. Over time, the roads became more crowded, drivers became worse and more impatient, and the congestion turned that hour long commute into a 2 hour plus hair pulling fiasco. And that is before you add the fun of bad weather.

I started leaving earlier in the morning just so I wouldn't hit so much traffic. 7 AM departure became 6:30, and that was good for a little while until everyone else started doing that too. It became earlier, and earlier until now you would have to leave my house at about 5 AM to get into town in an hour or less on any weekday mornings now.

The commute north back home is just as bad, maybe worse because you are looking forward to being home. Let's face it, not many of us look forward to arriving at work, so being a little delayed is not such a big deal. So, not only was I getting up at the crack of dawn to head in, I started hanging around with my co-workers for a few hours after work before hitting the road headed north. Leaving home at 5AM and getting home at 9PM is no way to maintain a happy family, especially when you have 3 busy little kids. By Friday night I would be completely spent.

Commuting time is never a "mentally relaxing" time. It sucks. It raises your blood pressure. And it steals precious time out of your limited life span that you will never get back. I've seen both sides of the commuting conundrum, and I can tell you first hand that having no commute (or the smallest one possible) is definitely the way to go, especially if it means commuting in rush hour, metropolitan traffic.

PS - I would never in a million years even entertain the idea of commuting into Boston on a motorcycle. That would just be a death wish.

 

[Frushlorton]

My commute is 54 miles one way and have been doing it since 07. Used to commute regularly on the FJR from 30 - 95 degrees with no issue. For several years it was all slab and the rest have been half farm roads and half slab. I enjoy the unwinding. I must say, I enjoy the Mini S more just because of the ability to speak to long distance family members or listen to the radio.

Take the opportunity to lower the stress. The commute will work itself out.

 

[rushes]

Straight back and forth I've done about 50 miles in an hour for 30 years. (25 miles, 30 mins one way)

I love living way outside of town.

That's in my truck on mostly interstate.

It's twice that by motorcycle on backroads...

Easy peasy either way...

 

[wfooshee]

I live less than 2.5 miles from work. i usually go about 3 or 4 miles the other direction, then across to a parallel road, and up to the office.

Imagine what the bike would be like after years of not even getting warmed up?

 

[Mudslide Miller]

I'm in Phoenix myself and have a 24 miles commute each way, all but a mile of it at 80 in the carpool lane. Luckily, I'm on second shift, noonish to 8ish, and don't have any worries about rush hour traffic. I also love the heat and ride year round. Leather jacket in the winter with goretex gloves, Mesh jacket and whatever my Joe Rocket gloves are made of (breathes really well, almost feels like foam). Perfect for my needs and desires. If the heat gets to you, see what you can find in the way of a cooling vest: fill it with water and keep cool for your ride in, top it off before you head home and you're golden. As for the job being worth it, only you can say. I've done the rush hour thing, and love that we can use the carpool lane, but if the job isn't something I enjoy, I wouldn't do it. YMMV

Hey Steve,

I,like DeSudet, have commuted on my bike every day in Phoenix. For me, 19 miles each way, for 25 years; 15 of it on motorcycles. I also was on 2nd shift for part of it but went in at 2:30 in the afternoon, when it is damn hot 5 out of 12 months. I don't mind the heat that much, because I love riding that much. I carried a cover to keep the paint & plastics looking like new and that pays off in spades when it comes to Phx sun beating down on your ride every day. And yes the car pool lane definitely helps for a day job commute. I never needed a cool vest and you wouldn't even need it on the morning commute, but it would definitely help the afternoon ride home if you're struggling with it. They are usually effective for about an hour before needing to resoak it.

Best of luck with the new job!

 

[gixxerjasen]

I must say, I enjoy the Mini S more just because of the ability to speak to long distance family members or listen to the radio.

Surely you didn't mean MINI S when you wrote that did you? Because if you are commuting in a Mini...wow!

I enjoyed my MINI S, but not so much working the clutch in heavy traffic. Didn't help that I was constantly on the cusp of needing a new clutch in the thing but didn't want to sink that much money into such an old car.

 

[jblanken64]

I commute 40 miles each way, takes me about 50 minutes when I can leave early enough to miss the interstate traffic (usually out the door around 5:30am or so).

 

[Kelvininin]

My commute is 54 miles one way and have been doing it since 07. Used to commute regularly on the FJR from 30 - 95 degrees with no issue. For several years it was all slab and the rest have been half farm roads and half slab. I enjoy the unwinding. I must say, I enjoy the Mini S more just because of the ability to speak to long distance family members or listen to the radio.
Take the opportunity to lower the stress. The commute will work itself out.

Zumo 665 with a Sena SMH10, I can do the same thing. The family doesn't even know I am riding. When not talking to the family I have XM radio blazing Octane in my helmet.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

Didn't read it all and don't know what was said

Objectively, I think that commute is a bit above average, but no by a lot. However, I too have gone from a short commute (2 miles, say) to one closer to what you are looking at and it made a noticeable impact on my life. I quickly became aware of the time on the road. Commuting on the bike is a plus.

Is the job worth moving for? The decision really depends on you and how much the improvement I work circumstances justifies the sacrifice. Will it still be 45 min in the diamond lane? 20 min for 8 miles seems like a lot for me. Of course, not many commutes are less than that, even if you are close. The difference between 25 and 45 seems like a lot to me for some reason; it's like the difference between spending an almost not noticeable time on the road and a rather noticeable time on the road.

Everything is relative. I guess it is probably worth 40 min of peaceful you-time on the bike a day to benefit from 8 hours or so of not being pissed off by a job you hate that is unhealthy for you.

 

[bruinFJRguy]

Also, I think phil had it right in the first response. Having a job you like is clutch. It is good to like your job enough that you go in for a couple early hours on your day off just because it is relaxing and rewarding for you.

 

[Bounce]

My commute is incredible. From the bedroom, to the bathroom, to the kitchen for coffee, then to the office or back patio to enjoy the coffee. Sigh... Retirement.

Before that it was local roads to the office 7 miles away... about 20 minutes if the traffic lights were with me.

 

[RJAMT]

I did a year of 40 miles from one side of Atlanta to the other. It took anywhere from 40 mins to over 2 hours depending on crashes. The not knowing how long it would take each day was driving me crazy; not the distance or time.

I spent 4 years commuting 30 miles from corn country in Illinois to downtown St Louis. That took a pretty reliable 45 mins each way but I rarely took the bike. The bridge into St Louis has 3 interstates converging on the bridge and morning rush was wild as cars and trucks all tried to change lanes for the correct interstate on the other side. Scared me to death on a bike.

Now I have a 10 mile commute down a country highway and spend more time waiting in line to enter the base than I do on the road. I ride every day the roads are ice/snow free.

You get used to what you do regularly. Decide if you want the job.

 

[gixxerjasen]

20 min for 8 miles seems like a lot for me.

Man, it all depends. I totally irritated the hell out of my coworker at a previous job when he found out it took me 45 minutes to ride 35 miles home. See, it took him 45 minutes for the 10 miles for him to get home. All depends on the direction you are going, the direction traffic is going and the roads between work and home. His traffic and roads sucked way worse than mine did.

 

[Steve in Phx]

Wow, you have all given me some very useful feedback. Thank you! Much appreciated.

 

[Yosemiterich]

Since March 15th I've been commuting 78 miles each way to and from work. about 1.5 hrs each way, yes I'm thinking it sucks, especially when a Subaru was blinding me with its high beams and a forest rat jumped out in my path, my poor bike.

Would have rather hit that forest rat with my 6.5 Creedmoor.

 

[El Toro Joe]

20 miles each way, if I take the most direct route...or 120 miles on the way home, if I take my prefered route.