In general, commuting sucks. Even the word “Commute” sucks when you think about it, really. Just looking at the word brings up thoughts of grey, boring cars inching slowly towards eight-plus hours of labor. A “drive” is fun: Blue skies, easy revs, and speed. A “commute” is where cars to go die, being piloted by indifferent and bored “drivers” who are too busy checking email and sipping coffee to enjoy their vehicles.
So, what’s a gearhead to do to stave boredom off during the daily commute?
Back when I had my WRX, I’d continue my search for the Perfect Shift Commute. Similar to a perfect game in baseball, the Perfect Shift is a shift of a manual transmission so smooth, you’d swear you were in an automatic: Smooth clutch engagement, quick movement of the shifter into the next gear, and perfectly timed release of the clutch to avoid any jolt of the engine matching the wheel speed. Sure, it’s not that difficult to shift smoothly, but I wanted perfection for the entire stop and go commute. Why, I have no idea, but it keep me from going insane while sitting in my car for two-plus hours a day. I think the obsession started when I first started driving a car with a manual transmission and my wife (Girlfriend at the time) refused to get in the car with me because I was constantly stalling the car and my 1-2 shift was neck-snapping at best.
I don’t think that I ever achieved my goal before selling the car, but I’d always end my journey off the highway in the same way: Enter the offramp at speed, quick downshift from fifth to third, and power through the curve. It wasn’t always a perfectly rev-matched downshift, but when it was it never failed to put a smile on my face.
Alright Bangshifters, your turn: What’s the weird thing that you do during your commute to keep you sane? Rev the engine every time you go under a bridge or go through a tunnel? Downshift next to a Prius? Let’s hear it!
My Town Car has a MPG average meter. In stop and go traffic the best I have seen is 20 MPG. I try to keep the average on that mark.
started going to work at 7, that helped a ton. I tried drinking beer, but I was drunk before I’d get to work.. errr.. home. I’d try a different backroad every day for a while, which moves better than traffic but is still slower in the long run. Anything to keep moving, it’s the stop and go that makes me insane. Finally, I retired. That keeps me out of traffic. 🙂
My commute is 3 miles and I drive it at 7am, so my goal is to hit every light green!
I drive the speed limit. Since nobody else does, I can put the cruise control on and relax while all the other cars pass me.
My current commute is 15 minutes. Small town’s are nice that way. My old job was driving for a living in Los Angeles. My “commute” started when I got in the car to head to my first job. It was never the same place, so I didn’t get bored with the route. Depending on which direction I was going was either quick, or horribly slow.
I discovered it was just a mindset. This is what you dealt with living in LA. Once you accept and deal with it, you are much more relaxed behind the wheel. Getting mad was getting mad about the long, cold winters if you live in Michigan. It’s something you dealt with, or you need to move.
I don’t have a temp switch hooked up for the electric radiator fan in my ’75 Duster, just a simple toggle switch to trigger the fan relay. I try to see how long I can go without turning on the fan. In some ways it is stupid, much in the way people try to see how close they can get their foot to the mower blade. Even if you win, you lose. But for some reason I’m fascinated with the idea of making it to work without using the radiator fan.
That is the strangest thing i have ever heard, but it made me laugh! I sometimes wave at people that i don’t know, the reactions can be funny as hell as they wave in slow motion back, you can see the cogs going around in their head thinking who on earth was that guy.
Depending on traffic conditions and where I’m at, I practice holeshots on the red lights.
REALLY LOUD music…I mean LOUD music.
I have a 120 mile round trip commute and have several routes I can take, when I run 100% interstate I try and set the cruise and never touch the brakes.
Bang it off 100 occasionally, boogie through the twisties down the hill to the plant. Roll down the windows and smell the country smells, Crank the system. 12 minute commute against the inbound traffic through the country all on highways. Pretty nice.
I drive a midrange truck throughout the Northwest about three times a month, I agree with Dave, its all about the perfect shift, for me its a 10 speed (I hate that thing) non-syncro clutch-less shift.
I had a job for a while that was just right down the street. It was through a few neighborhoods and then right across the 4 lane highway. To entertain myself, sometimes I would drive all the way there in reverse. The only part that ever worried me was crossing the highway. I’d make it all the way there, see the look of the guard at the gate(hilarious the first few times, then he got used to it), then just back into my parking spot. If I had a bad day, I’d do it on the way back home. 100% guaranteed to be in a better mood once I got there.
I have a 45 minute commute to work and I drive under an interstate about 40 minutes into it (5 minutes into the commute on the way home). If traffic is clear, I downshift going through the underpass and just let the exhaust sounds bounce off the concrete. Add in a minor loss of traction and I completely forget about the first 40 minutes of the commute.
Full clutch-less upshifts from 1-5 then back down again, without touching the brakes.
When I had my Ducati the daily secound gear wheelie going under the freeway then up the hill was the ONLY reason I went to work most days.
Back when we lived in the big city I would try to maintain continuous forward motion. As soon as I would see brake lights from the vehicles further up the line I would start to coast and try to keep it going as long as i could. Guys who cut in line would mess you up but that was all part of the game.
Once on holidays while traveling through a city in the States we came across some construction. Bumper to Bumper crawl for at least a 1/2 hour. Getting really bored I let the traffic pull away for a good little bit then I stabbed the gas in first gear and slalomed the pylons then got back into the boring line. My kids where giggling in the back seat and my wife looked at me a said “What’s the matter with you?” I answered “I just wanted to make the guy behind me wish he did the same thing too”.
For the most part I get to work from home.
But every now and then I get called to travel and work on site which – kills me.
There is a section of road which has traffic lights almost every 500 metres – so I feel better if I can at all times keep my car in motion. No matter how slow you have to go.
Once I get into heavier traffic – it KILLS me how people that obviously do this commute every day seam to be like zombies
I have seen people ; Eating breakfast
Drinking coffee
Applying makeup
Reading a book
Talking on the phone
Picking their nose/arse
Getting dressed
Searching for a music cd
And sometimes a combination of all of the above – and they don’t seemed to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
I mean when that light changes to GREEN it means lets go.
Maybe they are waiting for a different shade of green but I’m pretty sure they only come in one shade of GREEN.
So when the light turns green I want to leave like I’m leaving a bank job/ or trying to cut a good light in the finals.( if my wife is ever with me she just smiles and – gets it )
Drive cars with an interesting engine soundtrack, and nothing else!
Summer DD 71 triumph spitfire
My commute is 2 miles. The worst part is finding a parking spot. There is not much to do in that time.
When I worked a little further away there was a stop sign and the sped limit was 45mpr so From that stop sign to 45 as fast as I could…until the douche wads made it 30mph.
I “commute” about 1.1 miles every morning, approximately .6 miles within my development. Usually still 1/2 to 3/4 asleep when I pull into the lot.
My commute is hell. Twenty five minute ride, one hour train ride and then a ten minute walk. (The math sucks). Sleep in the morning and eBay and internet on the iPad on the way home.
Once we hit a low deck semi carrying a rock crusher with the locomotive. The video would have been BangShift approved! Locomotive won, rock crusher did a pretty cool helicopter move.
I work from home, so nothing really cool for me to do other than not spill my cereal on the way from my kitchen to my office.
I have grown to hate working from home- been doing it for a year now. I used to drive 45 minutes one way- I really miss that. I miss the separation of work and home….
The commute for the job at the dealership I moved to this past spring is about an hour, half of which is on the 401 highway west of Toronto. There is a large amount of transport traffic, so sometimes it’s fun when I’m not in a hurry to draft behind a truck for a while and check out the fuel economy showing on the cluster info. I’ve had 2 different 2013 Focuses (Foci?) and a 2014 Fiesta so far, and in the second Focus, a sedan, I got it down as low as 3.6L/100km, which converts to about 65 mpg (US gallons).
I try to do a burnout by the time I get to work.
I close my eyes. And keep’em shut.