Commuting Math - this is going to get interesting

[Tev62]

Congrats on the new job Gone, a satisfying outcome. I relinquished my job in Dublin that gave me a four hour daily commute by car. I am now self employed with a 30 minute easy country road commute each way. I took a big pay cut leaving the corporate world, best thing I ever did for all sorts of reasons.

[MagnaRider]

Congrats on the new job, hope it works out.

I used to commute 1 hour each way for 5 years for my first career job. Now my new gig is 5 mins away from my house and I absolutely love it. I look at it like I've gained 2 hours of life a day

[Gone in 60]

Thanks, guys. When everything shakes out and is settled, one thing I look forward to is time to think again about things other than the logistics of shutting this company down and looking for new work. I have let a lot of "casual thoughts" fall by the wayside. For instance, I was riding in this morning on the Enfield. I glanced down at the Dart windscreen and mused about how much thought I put into choosing to replace the factory Enfield screen for the Dart. Things like that. Lately I've been so distracted that I can't remember the last time I lubed my chain.

Yes, the new commute will be long, but it will only be once a week - we're negotiating on that, will probably be twice a week for the first two months till I get my footing. But I think back to my days at Petersen and that very long commute. When I left that job, I framed my last monthly bus and rail passes. That was in 1999. I imagine the prices have gone up.

Doing some Feng Shui in the garage to bring home the third bike tomorrow, and will see how everything fits. Eventually the bikes will go into a shop space I'm planning at Mom's, but for now, it will be tight but doable as long as I do not buy a new car. I don't think anything on the market right now is as small as a Fiesta. The neighbor across the street opened his garage this morning and waved to me as I was zipping up my jacket. He was pointing to his new car - a Civic SI, and I walked over to check it out. Still has a manual, awesome! I'd love one! But, I grabbed a tape measure off of his work counter while we were chatting and measured the length of it. Hmm.., it will have to wait a while.

The new company is Ford-centric, and the boss is already cajoling me about getting a Mustang. I know that wouldn't fit!

[Nachodaddy]

Congratulations, Gone. I hope the new job is good for you.

[Gone in 60]

Did the revised car placement last night and have 40" in front and back, enough to sandwich the CB1100 and Bonneville around my car. It will work, and Mrs. G drove me in this morning so that I can ride the Bonneville home and get all of my personal stuff out of the warehouse. The next two days will be a garage sale, and I don't need curious fingers on my bike.

While we drove, I was waiting for the shoe to drop... "So, I know you made them all fit, but do you think you'd maybe sell one now, or is that off the table?" "Yes dear, it's off the table." So that is out of the way.

Funny thing about thinking about the size of my car and room in the garage. A local cousin's car died, and she asked me for help last night. Sounded like a dead battery, so I grabbed my volt meter and charger and headed over. She drives a Fiat 500. Hmm, smaller than a Fiesta. And it's a manual. Swapped in a new battery and took the car for a test drive to make sure it was fixed. Nah... but maybe an Abarth?

[pdedse]

Did the revised car placement last night and have 40" in front and back, enough to sandwich the CB1100 and Bonneville around my car. It will work, and Mrs. G drove me in this morning so that I can ride the Bonneville home and get all of my personal stuff out of the warehouse. The next two days will be a garage sale, and I don't need curious fingers on my bike.

While we drove, I was waiting for the shoe to drop... "So, I know you made them all fit, but do you think you'd maybe sell one now, or is that off the table?" "Yes dear, it's off the table." So that is out of the way.

Funny thing about thinking about the size of my car and room in the garage. A local cousin's car died, and she asked me for help last night. Sounded like a dead battery, so I grabbed my volt meter and charger and headed over. She drives a Fiat 500. Hmm, smaller than a Fiesta. And it's a manual. Swapped in a new battery and took the car for a test drive to make sure it was fixed. Nah... but maybe an Abarth?

Push comes to shove (what am I saying, we're talking about Mrs. Gone!?!), you could store your Orange RE thing in my garage...my wife would just ask when did I get mine back from the shop. : )

Good luck with the company garage sale! It's gotta be weird winding things down.

[Gone in 60]

Did the revised car placement last night and have 40" in front and back, enough to sandwich the CB1100 and Bonneville around my car. It will work, and Mrs. G drove me in this morning so that I can ride the Bonneville home and get all of my personal stuff out of the warehouse. The next two days will be a garage sale, and I don't need curious fingers on my bike.

While we drove, I was waiting for the shoe to drop... "So, I know you made them all fit, but do you think you'd maybe sell one now, or is that off the table?" "Yes dear, it's off the table." So that is out of the way.

Funny thing about thinking about the size of my car and room in the garage. A local cousin's car died, and she asked me for help last night. Sounded like a dead battery, so I grabbed my volt meter and charger and headed over. She drives a Fiat 500. Hmm, smaller than a Fiesta. And it's a manual. Swapped in a new battery and took the car for a test drive to make sure it was fixed. Nah... but maybe an Abarth?

Push comes to shove (what am I saying, we're talking about Mrs. Gone!?!), you could store your Orange RE thing in my garage...my wife would just ask when did I get mine back from the shop. : )

Good luck with the company garage sale! It's gotta be weird winding things down.

Push comes to shove (what am I saying, we're talking about Mrs. Gone!?!), you could store your Orange RE thing in my garage...my wife would just ask when did I get mine back from the shop. : )

Good luck with the company garage sale! It's gotta be weird winding things down.
Thank you very much, Pdedse. I appreciate the offer and know how much you miss your Interceptor. If push came to shove, I do have a very good friend along the new commute route with a large restoration shop who'd let me store a bike if needed.

Winding this place down after 20 years is weird to say the least. Anyone want to buy a forklift?

[Gone in 60]

Dang, M, that's a great deal. I did some haggling and brought them up from their initial offer, but I didn't to that well. Still, more than I was making, and they threw in a signing bonus. I wanted to get a clear idea of how many days they wanted me to work from home vs. the office, and the answer was "Be an adult, get your work done, don't worry about it so much." So fewer morning rides for my too most likely unless I will be heading to the office.

When I came from my last job to the one I'm shutting down now, I went from a twisty canyon road commute to a gridlocked freeway, and one would think that would be a bummer. But, the canyon road was actually more tense than the freeway. The canyon road was about one of the most dangerous in the area, with fast riders coming up on slow trucks and veering into oncoming traffic, and inattentive drivers sliding into the canyons. Too many near-misses for my comfort. At least on the freeway, everyone is pointed in the same direction, even if they are moving slowly.

[Gone in 60]

Well guys, it's been a minute. The learning curve with the new job has been beyond vertical (I have to learn new things after twenty years). Haven't had much time to post here or do much of anything else like ride, unfortunately. But, I did try riding the new commute for the first time last Friday, as I had brought enough large stuff to my new office to allow me to just worry about my computer and lunch from now on. On my desk, I have my helmet spot set up with charging cords at the ready for my GoPro, earbuds and Brake Free light.

Keep in mind, I'm only doing this new 60 mile-each-way commute one or two times per week. While I did the first few times in the car, I was paying attention to the temperature reading on my dash, and noted that the morning was around 40-45 degrees (F) this time of year.

I took the Bonneville for the inaugural commute, armed with my best insulated touring jacket, neck gaiter and my heaviest gloves. I was warm enough, except for my hands, which got progressively colder along the way. There is no significant traffic on my freeway route, so I wasn't shifting or touching the brakes for most of the ride. That meant lack of hand movement and once my freeway offramp eventually came up, mine were pretty dang cold and I had an "oh crap" moment when I had to get them to operate the brake and clutch.

I'll miss my indoor shop space but I can park under a carport, which is nice and will keep the Inland Empire summer sun away.

Along with the Bonnie, I also took that newly acquired Givi E45 top case that I had always wanted. I documented it in another post, but it's long out of production, I snagged an old one on FB and completely refurbished it. It's very light weight for a large Monokey box that can hold a helmet and is devoid of Givi's usual fake taillights and trim frippery.

Here's where things go off the rails a bit. Being the first time I had suited up to make the ride home from the new office, I don't have a routine established yet. And I need a good suit-up routine to make sure I don't forget anything important. But, to the best of my knowledge, I was ready to head home.

I got most of the way home, and pulled off of the freeway for a planned stop at a Costco. I wanted to pick up something that was on sale (hence the choice of the big tail box) and had not fueled up earlier, knowing that I could gas up at the Costco and have more remaining fuel in the tank when I got home. A perfect plan.

It was fully dark when I parked at Costco and opened my top box to grab my wallet and put in my helmet. Only problem was, no wallet. I had left it in my desk drawer, confirmed by a call to the one person who was still there working late. Again, don't have that routine down yet. Not enough gas to go back to get it, but enough to get home. And Mrs. G would have to front me some cash to get me through the weekend to today when I went back to the office. (BTW funny how much more conservatively you can drive knowing you don't have your license handy.)

When I was pulling my helmet back out of the box to head home, I noticed something shiny reflected on the ground. Complication number two... when I disassembled the box to refurbish it, I cleaned and lubed the lock and latch, which were sticky and binding. A C-clip snapped on to the end of the lock and latch keep them together, and apparently I didn't click that clip in fully when I put the whole shebang back together. The latch fell out and landed behind the bike. My flashlight was bright enough, thankfully, to locate that tiny little pavement-colored C-clip which luckily had just rolled a few feet away.

I was able to get the lock and latch secure enough to hold for the rest of the ride home, but the fact that I was clearly showing forgetfulness due to the bewilderment of the new job made me realize that losing the one key that the box came with might be a bad thing. I jumped online and picked up a set of three locks with six matching keys, so I can key my two E-series boxes alike and have five spare keys!

Saturday morning, I woke up super early, so I decided to take a sunrise ride to the local car and bike meet-up in Huntington Beach. Still super chilly, but I tried some liners in my heaviest gloves which provided more warmth. I also wanted to check my fix on the box to make sure it'll hold together till the new locks arrive, and test-ride some new, heavier pants I had picked up over summer. I was saving them for colder riding, so this was their first tryout.

Here's where the Great Riding Gods in the sky played one more little trick on me. Those new pants have a small coin pocket on the right, over the normal pocket, like most mens' pants usually do. That's where I always tuck the keys to my top box and helmet lock. I know where they are, it's a routine, and they can't get lost. Except that when I got to the donut shop to check out the scene, I dug in and could not find the key. Right after I thought "Can't lose this one, ya don't have a spare!"

I had my finger in that tiny pocket furiously fishing around for several minutes, which, due to the pocket's proximity to other, ahem, areas, must have looked peculiar to anyone observing. Turns out, and I've never had a pair of pants that do this, that little pocket extends all the way forward to the zipper, and the key had made its way all the way up in there. Whew. Weird, but whew.

The rest of my ride was uneventful, thankfully, but I'll rest easier when those new locks get here.

[Cormanus]

Oh dear, Gone. Change. It’s usually good, but it does mess with one.