I’ve got an appointment after work that means I’ve had to drive to school instead of cycling; with temporary traffic lights*, drivers refusing to filter in turn and stop-start movement the journey took roughly three times longer. Instead of arriving rosy-cheeked and feeling pleased (OK, smug) with myself, I’m fed up, ranting on here and can already feel the fat forming. How do those of you who do this every day cope? (this from someone who used to do a daily Brighton to London commute by car and now has a lovely 16 mile round trip bike ride through Calderdale countryside).
*Just to pre-empt the pedants, no, I’m not a RLJ-er when I ride.

Warm and dry.

I’m having a similar debate myself and I currently do 38 miles in a car each way. I’m increasingly thinking that an extra 15 mins on the train instead may be the way forward. The roads are just getting too busy and so the drivers are too stressed

I look at the traffic going into central Manchester down the M60 in the morning, and wonder how the hell people put themselves through it every day. Its always at a standstill.

I work with a lad who lives down the road from me. Its a 15 mile journey. He drives every day. I beat him home on the bike the other night. 😀

Duane… – Member
Warm and dry.

and very comfy…

Duane… – Member
Warm and dry.

and very comfy…

And I can get quite a bit of phone work and/or deal with emails.

since leaving school 30yrs ago, i have never taken a job that i can’t cycle to.
so far it has worked. sat dripping a mixture of sweat and rain over my keyboard as i type…… 8)

I drive occasionally (when I have to*) but I hate it. It can take anywhere from 35 to 90 minutes depending on traffic/weather etc but it’s rarely less than 60 minutes.

Riding is a consistent 50-60 minutes depending on wind direction.

Driving every once in a while is fine but I have no idea how people sit there in stop-start traffic for hours every day. Madness.

* like when I’m carrying heavy stuff or going off somewhere after work – otherwise if the weather is really rubbish I get the train which takes 40 minutes.

totally agree with op. On the days i do the nursery run i get to work in a foul mood. 12 miles in the car. 75 minutes. 10 miles on the singlespeed, 36 minutes. How is that even possible. Folk cant drive properly in the dark either round here. Every second driver seems to be a moron!

Exactly the same situation here. The days I have to drive in are awful, and it’s only an hour each way at the most but it’s so frustrating and such a waste of my life. How people can willingly do it every day is beyond me.

If I could do something else like catch up on emails then that would be better and I’d be willing to take the bus if it didn’t take two hours with three changes.
If you’re moving slowly then it’s not so bad but being stuck in stop/start traffic every single day… And then someone will zip past on a bike…. ARRRGGH!

Nah, it’d take a *significant* wage increase to attract me away from where I work now and can commute in every day. (Don’t tell my employers that)

Hmmmm …… about 6 months ago I swapped from the working in the office to working from home. I missed the commute so much that I now get up every morning to ride between 0630 and 0730. The wife, and her dog walking mates, think I’m nuts.

I look at the traffic going into central Manchester down the M60 in the morning, and wonder how the hell people put themselves through it every day. Its always at a standstill.

I spent 5 years travelling the M60 every morning in my last job and it was one of the reasons I left – drove me potty – the journey was so unpredictable taking from 20 mins to 70 mins and it would make me late for the rest of the Day.

If I ever did go back into Empolyment I would not travel by Car, the more time I spend out on the Road now at work, the more idiots out there we meet.

How do those of you who do this every day cope?

For most people, they cope by being massively lazy.

Streangely, many of them are also members of expensive fitness centres (posh word for ‘gym’) … that they also drive to, & try and park as close to the door as possible. Most of their time there is spent in the sauna and posing in the wall-length mirrors.

😀

I moved out the city for a couple of years with my girlfriends job kidding my self id use the train to get to my work

Drove my self demented

Train was just the bad parts of cycling ( cold , windy ) standing around waiting on the train then being crammed in with sneezing coughing unhealthy mouthbreathers determined to make me ill

So i used the car . It was just as horrendous. Was the top of the list for when we bought a house , have to be within 10 miles of town centre / 15 from work. Rarely use the car now 🙂

H G wells had it right with ” when ever i see an adult on a bicycle i no longer dispair for the human race”

I’ve worked in Warrington (40 mile commute mostly down the M6) and Manchester (30 miles involving the M60). Both were nominally about an hour’s drive each way, but it’s the unpredictability that drove me insane.

A bump on the M6 and all bets are off. The M60 or M602 being snarled up can double the commute time. In the end, a TomTom with a Traffic subscription went a long way to solving the latter problem, but I think that an hour’s commute is about my limit for anything sustainable.

I did the Warrington one for a couple of years and it made me ill, Manchester for about four before getting a job 15 minutes from my door. I really, really don’t miss it. My job isn’t the best paid in the world, but being able to come home for lunch and to get my evenings back is worth it’s weight in gold.

Yah cougar thats what made me insane

Sme days i could be home at 5.10 – other nights 7pm …. Leaving at the same time !

Going in wasnt so bad but one accident and it was curtains.

My new commute is 55minutes each way by bike .

Or 1hr 10 by car

I worked in Stevenage for four years – that place is crammed full of cycle paths. Saw the odd moped but rarely any bikes…very odd.

Because going by bike would make me feel far too superior for my own good.

You can’t pick your nose or casually cup your cock n balls with your lefthand on a bike.

I’m a 15min drive/30min ride from work 🙂

Driving in this week as my mudguards are rubbing (squeezing 32c tyres into 28 guards) and I’m ill.

My previous commute was 15 miles of deserted B-roads, it was a difficult decision every morning between the road bike and the MG, usualy resolved by remembering the engine note breaching the peace under the railway bridge at 6:30am in some commuter village.

I’d rather be on the dole than a motorway commute, the M4 looks like hell!

You can’t pick your nose or casually cup your cock n balls with your lefthand on a bike.

What the hell’s wrong with you, man?

Of course you can.

By car = 20mins
By bike = 50mins

That is the only thing I prefer about the car! The number of times I see shit driving in that short 20 minute journey is ridiculous. Hate driving.

I agree – I love commuting by bike – but working 26 busy miles away means that’s a rarity now.
Hopefully all that will change and I’ll find work nearer home!

DrP

I listen to music or the news and relax. There’s nothing you can do about traffic or othe knobs on the road, so why let them worry you?

I’d prefer to ride to work, but it’s 35 miles each way.

I’d prefer to ride to work but its **** dangerous so no thanks.

I listen to music or the news and relax.

? 😆

Thats it rub it in….made redundant a year and a half ago after 10 years of blissful cycling on Milton Keynes famous redways and there’s no work local for me now so its a 22 mile trip which is out of my bike commuting range. I guess i could move but I’ve only been in current job for 4 months now so moving would be very risky plus the wife and kids wont move to LUTON!!! Its not just the drive that pisses me off but the freekin cost of it.

I cant decide what I enjoy most about commuting by car, it might be the £5+ to park, the fact it takes me 70 minutes to go ~6 miles or the stress of it all*.

*These are all estimates, as i’ve never actually driven to work since i started here in January, it’s a nice 25 min bike ride, probably got the bus 15 times when i’ve been really poorly/injured

I do.

Yesterday’s weather was horrendous both ways – cold, wet, windy, dark.

Still a million times happier riding than making the same journey by car. Don’t think I could do it.

Don’t forget that these people are also paying huge amounts for the fuel to sit in that traffic. It’s madness.

Defensive dirving, simple.

If someone wants to be a cock, let them be a cock, traffic is only annoying if you let it get to you (or you are late for an appointment).

I’m not going to lie, I’m jealous of everyone who can get to work any other way, but a long comute in a car doesn’t have to be soul destroying unless you let it.

(6 years of 40 miles, 15 miles of it on the M1.)

What pisses me off is that I live 1 mile from a train station and my office is also a mile from a station yet to get to work on the train would take over 2 hours and cost £20 a day. The transport infastructure in the country is broken.

it’s 25 miles & 30 minutes in the car. if I cycled i’d have to leave the house at 6.30am and i’d be home at 6.30/7pm, and so I’d only end up seeing my daughter for that delightful half an hour when she’s melting down prior to going to bed.
luckily it’s not a stressful drive along the A38 to Exeter…

Don’t forget that these people are also paying huge amounts for the fuel to sit in that traffic. It’s madness.

And we’re supposedly the intelligent ones on this planet 😀

If it wasn’t for the dog (he comes to work) I would bike to work every day as direct takes the same length of time by bike as the car trip. Recently the car journey has increased in time taken, I can see no reason for it. When there’s an accident on the Westbound A14 all bets are off my 16 mile car journey can take over an hour!

I tried to run the dog to work but he likes the river too much for us to make progress. Added to this was the smell of wet dog in the office!

The transport infrastructure in the country is broken.

You’re not kidding! If I wanted to travel to work on public transport, despite working 15 miles away, It would involve a journey of 2.5 hours each way. Takes me less than half that to ride. Madness!

Don’t forget that these people are also paying huge amounts for the fuel to sit in that traffic. It’s madness.

Whilst you the bright one ingests and filters the bad exhaust particles out of the air for the rest of us on your bike….

I commute at times where i barely see a car and on country back lanes. My commute couldn’t be more relaxing really. It’s 18 miles by car. If i take the pushbike it will be about 20 miles… i am looking forward to it though once the weather improved a little.

Until the beginning of the year I was doing the Swinton(Worsley) to Sale run everyday for work and it drove me nuts Then I got the bike.

Road from Swinton to Keloggs then Canal all the way to work felt better, got home faster some nights. 25 mins in good traffic by van 4o mins on the bike some nights it took over an hour and that was knowing all the cut through. LOL
I’m now living in Sale and have a 13 min ride to and from work 😀

and/or deal with emails.

Whilst driving?!

I’m properly spoiled, my commute is around 15-20mins by car or bike. I can even mix it up and take a ferry instead if I feel like it 🙂