Ollie: Whether you're a newbie to commuting by a bike or a seasoned diehard all-weather veteran,
it's always worth thinking about ways you can make your commute easier, less stressful and
altogether more enjoyable. With a bit of forward planning and preparation, you can do just that,
making sure you get to work feeling fresh, looking a million dollars and smelling like--
What smells good? Bacon. No, weird. Freshly baked cookies. In this video, we're going to give you
loads of tips on how you can make you commute more fun and smell like cookies, amongst other things.
Before we do that, we're going to have a quick poll in the app to see how many of you actually
do commute. Get involved, click on-screen, it'll take you through to the poll in the app,
and you do that now. [music]
First up, imagine this scenario. It's Monday, you're tired, probably a little bit grumpy because
you've got to go to work but you get to ride your bike, so you're already winning. Wait, before you
leave the house, make sure you pack a bag full of clean clothes that you're going to need for
the rest of the working week. That way, you won't have to lug a big bag in on your commute for the
rest of the week, carrying clean clothes everyday. Genius. Here's my bag. This has
got all the clothes I'm going to need for this week in the office. I've brought a GCN t-shirt,
some GCN club socks and a pair of pants. [music]
This one is a tough one here at GCN. As you've probably gathered many of us commute by bike here,
and it means that fighting for shower space can often be a daily battle. Now if you're
lucky enough to work in a place where there are showers that can help you freshen up,
then perhaps consider getting to work a little bit earlier, or later, so that you can miss the rush
in the main peak demand time for the showers. Trust me, if your commute is longer than five
minutes long, your coworkers are going to be really thankful that you've freshened up. If
your place of work doesn't have shower facilities, a lot of them don't, then there are other options.
Perhaps there's a gym that's close by to where you work, and you can use the shower facilities
there. The take home message, have a shower unless of course you're antisocial and like the idea of
having an entire office to yourself. [music]
You never know when you're going to need lights when you're riding to work. If you commute on busy
roads, then I'd recommend actually using daytime running lights as this is a really sensible thing
to do. Sometimes you can get delayed and held up, meaning that even if you weren't
expecting to ride in the dark, that's exactly what you can end up doing. Always be prepared.
Maybe have a set of emergency lights at work, and if you're riding in winter,
where it's often dark then it's worth putting your lights on charge as soon as you get to the
office. You don't want to set off in the dark, and then realize that actually your batteries have run
out. Another potential solution is to use a dynamo attached on your bike which can charge your lights
as you go. Now there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to using dynamos. They're not
essential but fortunately, if you're not sure what they are, we've done a video explaining just that.
[music] I should probably point out
at this moment that I don't actually commute on a Pinarello Dogma F12 with 81 millimeter deep vision
wheels in it. That would be ridiculous as I'm not an oligarch. This just happens to be my bike and
my commute at the moment is actually a five minute walk. Unless you are an oligarch or a sultan who
happens to commute by bike, and can afford to replace fancy flash top-of-the-range components on
a regular basis, I'd suggest you go for something a lot more practical as your commuter bike.
Commuter bikes, they take a lot of abuse. Life being life means you're probably not going to be
able to clean them as often as you'd like, and there's a good chance you're going to be riding
in all weathers, and sometimes on dirty roads. They take a lot of abuse. They're a work horse,
and these kind of conditions can accelerate wear on components. It's a much better option
to go for less expensive components, because of this reason. Do as I say and not as I do.
[music] This will be different
for everyone and depend on where you're commuting, where you live and how long your commute is. Now
living in Bath, around here there's lots of quiet lanes and lots of little roads and you can really
do some awesome routes. I did actually used to live in London and commute by bike there, which
was a completely different story. Consequently, I had to get really good at plotting clever and
awesome routes in order to avoid riding on motorways and dual carriageways and stuff.
Now there are lots of different ways you can do this, but here at GCN, we use Komoot. Komoot is
an app that's really useful for plotting routes and it has some great tools in it,
such as ones that can help you pick quieter roads that are, well, more cyclist friendly.
Also different terrain. Perhaps you want the route to work that has the lowest elevation possible,
or perhaps you want one that has the most elevation possible. Different road surfaces
as well. It can isolate roads that are off-road and gravel, if you want to have some mixed surface
action on your commute. Perhaps if you're lucky enough to have more than one type of bike as well,
you can have an off-road specific commute and an on-road one. We did a great video looking at
on-road versus off-road commuting last year. [music]
If you're struggling with motivation to ride to work, then why not consider riding with
someone else? Ask around work and see who else is commuting by bike. Even if you end up just
meeting them halfway along your commute, it'll be worth it because riding with someone else
gives you added motivation. It's a target. Someone to chase, someone to keep up with,
and someone else that is going to rely on you to actually turn up and ride in on your bike.
On the other hand, if you're a keen wily veteran of commuting by bike,
and you know someone at work who's a bit unsure. a bit nervous about it and would like some company,
and could benefit from it, then why not lend them a hand and help guide them in the ways of
commuting. It can be incredibly rewarding. All right, Dan. Remember, pack your pants
for the rest of the week. I've packed mine. Yeah. Yeah. Nice one. See you later. Bye.
[music] When you're commuting,
a backpack can be all right sometimes. It can be fine on a shorter commute, but on longer ones
they can get quite uncomfortable, they can make you a bit sweaty. Even rides over 20 minutes,
they can start to get a bit annoying. There is another option. You can use panniers or
bike packing bags. I'd really recommend doing this. Panniers are a bit like clothes. They
come in and go out of fashion on a regular cycle, but irrespective of that they're
incredibly practical and incredibly useful. Having the weight taken off your body and put onto
the bike is just really freeing. You just feel much more comfortable when you're riding along,
especially if you're going to be doing a longer commute. Those were our tips but
remember if you're commuting by bike, enjoy it. It doesn't have to be a race. Relish
your time on the bike. It's helping you get healthier, and save the planet as well. Bonus.
If you've got any of your own hacks and tips that you want to share, fire them down in the
comments because we love to hear them and well, might include them in a future video. Hopefully,
all the comments won't just be about my pants or my hair. That would be nice but I'm going to go
now because I've got to commute back home. I'm going to put on my GCN casquette, available in
the GCN shop. See you next time. [00:08:22] [END OF AUDIO]