October is when this quick decision-making, disregarding your future self, starts becoming a significant problem. We can leave home perfectly prepared for the morning and finish work facing rain, fading daylight, and a front light we meant to charge at the office. Meanwhile, our dry socks are at home, where they’re presumably having a lovely evening.
A few minutes spent sorting things out when we arrive can make the return journey considerably more pleasant. The trick is remembering that we still have another ride to do.
Give the bike some shelter
Before we disappear into a warm building, the bike could use a roof too. Eight hours of rain doesn’t count as washing the drivetrain, however convenient that interpretation might be.
A garage is ideal, but a covered rack or sheltered corner will do. Check where the rain actually reaches, though. Parking beneath the edge of a roof can simply mean swapping ordinary rain for everything the gutter has collected. Choose somewhere sheltered from wind-driven rain, with a secure place to lock up.
If you can arrange a dry spot indoors at a reasonably steady temperature, even better. Ask about suitable space before deciding that the corridor outside the meeting room is now a bike shed. And wipe off the worst of the water and muck before bringing it in. Colleagues tend to become less enthusiastic about supporting active travel when they can follow your tyre tracks all the way to their desks.
Dry your kit without taking over the office
Few things are more disgusting than a damp mix of sweat and rain masquerading as a cycling jersey on the office coat rack. Your colleagues may want to use that thing for its intended purpose, namely hanging their coats. Preferably without taking some of your morning commute home in the lining.
Speak to the office manager and arrange somewhere discreet and ventilated to air your kit. Hang clothing separately, open up your shoes and give gloves and helmet some airflow too. It’s easy to remember the jersey while leaving everything else bundled together in the bag, preserving the morning’s rain for later.
Keep spare socks and a dry layer at work as well. Some days, whatever drying space you’ve negotiated simply won’t be enough. Pulling on something dry at six is considerably more satisfying than explaining to yourself why the dampness probably won’t bother you once you get moving.
Take a shower, if you can
If your workplace has a shower, use it. Your colleagues may still cry during meetings, but at least it won’t be because you attacked every hill on the way in.
Give yourself a few minutes to cool down, then wash and change into clean work clothes. Keep a towel and a small washbag at the office so this doesn’t become another daily packing exercise. Drying yourself with paper towels loses its novelty charm remarkably quickly, especially when they start sticking to you.
If there’s no shower, a wash and a change of clothes will still improve everyone’s day. Deodorant can handle the finishing touches. Expecting it to single-handedly erase forty minutes of pedalling inside a waterproof jacket is asking rather a lot.
Check your lights while you have time
Ideally, you checked your lights before leaving home. If “they worked yesterday” was the full extent of that inspection, you now have eight hours to improve on it while pretending to work.
Check both lights, wipe off any road spray and charge them if needed. Keep a suitable cable at the office so you don’t have to tour the department asking who owns something with the same charging port. Do this when you arrive, before actual work starts interfering with your plans.
Before leaving, put the lights back on the bike and make sure your bags or clothing aren’t covering them. A fully charged rear light buried beneath a jacket contributes very little. Neither does the front light you’ve left plugged in beside your keyboard, although the cleaners may appreciate the gesture.
Have a plan B
October has the temperament of a four-year-old on a sugar rush, and the crash tends to arrive just as you finish work. Suddenly, the streets look better suited to fishing than cycling.
So, have another way home worked out, whether that’s public transport or a lift, and somewhere secure to leave the bike overnight. Keep an umbrella at the office, too. If the weather refuses to cooperate, the dummy leaving work at six is allowed to take the bus.