I appreciate this is a ridiculous claim to make, but I had an awesome commute home last night, and it got me thinking about where it would rank amongst Britain's best commutes?
What makes a good commute? Distance? Terrain? Variety? Weather? Solitude?
The basic ingredients of mine include the following:
Start in a busy city centre; onto a canal tow-path to dodge other commuters for a mile or so; onto another path continuing away from the city and into the hills; sharp climb, followed by nice singletrack through the hills; long, fast descent to home, mostly still off-road; finished off with a short technical climb, which sometimes I clean and sometimes I don't, which makes it all the more fun!
Might not be quite so idyllic in the winter though!
I've been meaning to pack my Jetboil and head off early one morning and make my breakfast up on top of Hare Hill or Bells Hill before continuing my commute to the office.
I'm not sure I can beat the OP's to be honest, it looks great but mine was (and will be again) pretty good. A bit flat but virtually all offroad and in summer it was amazing rolling along between the fields with the mist lying low.
I'm too busy riding to stop and take photos, but I don't think I could vote a commute that starts (or ends) in a city centre as the best in the country! Mine goes from a little village, either on some flat roads through other little villages, or over some hills on pretty quiet roads and ends up at the leafy end of a relatively big town, can be done off road if I wanted, I must say though that I never have!
Don’t think my commute either Road (more often than not) or MTB & Train can compete on views or indeed enjoyable bit (both routes mean dealing with arses in cars) but I do get the odd quiet moment on many of my journeys and a coinciding nice sunrise or clear view across the hills does make you feel a lot more at peace with the world all of a sudden…
MrsG has a great commute which can either be 5miles along big wide dedicated cyle path, or 4-5miles all off road over the North Downs depending how she's feeling wether it's muddy etc…
Start in a village, cycle alongside a river to town (small town), cross river, cycle back up it (fairly urban), back into countryside, 1.5 mile off road track, into very rural hilly terrain, nice 1m DH section off road and back
njee20 – commuting away from the busy city centre into the hills is one of the highlights of my commute! That sense of leaving it all behind. There are a couple of points where I look back down on the city from the hills, and all of the bad things that have happened during the day, and that knot that lives in the pit of my stomach at work, largely disappear.
You're all wrong. Surely the ultimate commute has to include the element of danger! Not the danger of a rocky descent or some sOme slippery roots, but that ever present risk of some thieving knife wielding scumbag jumping on you at the next set of lights and having your bike away…….
I did actually attend a Pentlands breakfast ride years back, organised on the old STW site. There was only myself and one other chap but cooking bacon sarnies up in the hills was a nice start to the day. The breakfast location that time was the ruins part the way down from Maidens to Glencorse – same location as this was taken from:
Might not be quite so idyllic in the winter though!
I've been meaning to pack my Jetboil and head off early one morning and make my breakfast up on top of Hare Hill or Bells Hill before continuing my commute to the office.
I try to do that a couple of times over the summer. Haven't managed yet this year but usual plan is to ride from home up into Pentlands, bacon rolls on Black Hill/ Harbour Hill then Scalextics/ Poet's/ Water of Leith into work. Means a 6am start but I think it's worth it 🙂
Work has bike sheds and showers, distance is short enough that when in a rush I can do it in 10 minutes or so, but have options to extend as long as I want. I work flexi so if the sun is shining I often do another lap before arriving at work!
Commute is so good I got rid of my car, now cycle every day and love it every single day