Progress

A couple of months ago I discovered that the building that I work in has a bike room. I've pretty much stopped using my bike station membership and am now just biking straight to work and getting changed.

Lets look at the different ways of looking presentable once you get to work after a nice bike ride:

1. Ride in your work clothes and try to prevent working up a sweat. This would work well if you have a short commute, a comfy bike, good weather and enough time. If you can avoid breaking a sweat this would probably work pretty well. It would certainly be faster than most cab rides.

2. Ride in other clothes and get changed at the office. You'd also have the option of maybe drying off once you get to work. This is what I do now. I wear regular gym clothes and carry my clothes in my panniers. I haven't had too many issues with wrinkly clothes and when I start out riding clean find that I usually arrive clean too. I'm finding this to be very efficient.

3. Ride in other clothes, shower at destination and put on work clothes. I did this for my first 3 months of commuting. If you have showers at your work, or at a nearby gym or at a dedicated facility this is certainly nice. When I did it, I just counted on not being clean when I got on the bike in the morning. The negatives for me were that I had to lug more stuff with me and it was a bit of a walk from my office building to the bike station I used. It's a nice option to have, I just wish it had been a bit more convenient for me.

Of course, if you work somewhere that doesn't require office clothes it's even easier and you can work up a nice sweat and not worry about anything.