POLL: How many stairs do you carry your bike up?

[ColumbiaHeights]

I live in a third story apartment. There are numerous bikes stripped of wheels, seats, etc in my neighborhood, so I’m too chicken to lock my bike up outside overnight. How many stairs do you carry your bike up? For me it’s:

32 stairs

[jabberwocky]

Zero. Walkout basement. Its awesome.

[guga31bb]

I used to live on the third floor of an apartment building, which involved a lot of stair climbing, but moved a few months ago and now don’t have any stairs (bike currently goes in our entryway but wife is lobbying for me to move it to the garage…). So zero.

[culimerc]

+1 with Jabberwoky

[Tim Kelley]

The side door of the new garage was purposely built with a ramp instead of a step…

[PotomacCyclist]

Zero for me too. I can use the elevators in my building.

However, I did have to carry the bike down one time. It was the day before the Nation’s Triathlon in 2011 or 2012. Everyone is required to check in their bikes on Saturday (so that there isn’t a mad rush to get into the transition area on Sunday morning with bikes). But the power went out in my building that day. That meant no elevators. Since bike check-in was mandatory if I wanted to be in the race, I had to carry my bike down more than 10 flights of stairs. (I had also gone for a short run that day. When I came back, the power was out, so I had to climb up the stairs. Then get my bike and walk back down, on the day before the race.) Then I rode over to West Potomac Park, where the transition area was located.

While stair-climbing can be a good workout when planned, it’s not really what you should be doing 16 hrs. before a race.

[Bilsko]

From the living room down to the front door its 12 stairs, then 4 more down to the walkway, then 6 more down to the sidewalk. If I lived in one of the units behind ours, it would be an additional 15-25 steps just to get to the front door – so I’m glad I don’t.

After doing this for 5 years, I no longer mind it very much. It is a real pain when I want to set up the trailer and take my daughter for a ride…which means I do that less than I’d like to.

Today at work we had 1 (out of 6) elevators working, so I took the 4 flights of stairs (which are normally locked and inaccessible for people going up). I think I’d rather take those stairs than deal with waiting for the elevator and dealing with looks and snarky comments.

[KLizotte]

@ColumbiaHeights 68437 wrote:

32 stairs

Ouch. I couldn’t do that on a daily basis without going a bit batty.

[creadinger]

4 steps into the front door of our house. I wish we could do basement ground level entry/exit, but our backyard is completely blocked in.

[jrenaut]

I think it’s six, but I’m not sure. Six is close, at least.

[83b]

1 from the public sidewalk to our walk then 10 steps up to the front door. It’s annoying enough that I want to find a way to put a carport under a deck out back. Since it would get both of my bikes out of the living room, I think I’ve got my wife on board!

[OneEighth]

Three flights if I am too impatient to wait for the freight elevator at the office.
Going up with road shoes is easier than coming down.

[lordofthemark]

townhouse front so 3 steps – I think. Or 4.

I would to the back from the basement, but the basement needs decluttering to make that possible, and its a fairly steep slope up from the backyard to level ground.

[PeteD]

3: 1 from road to house walkway, 1 to porch, and 1 up into the house.

–Pete

[Steve]

Zero. Elevators. Elite.

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