24mph is a pretty impressive speed for a commute, pretty impressive for any ride in fact.

Very much the exception, rather than the rule. I think i’ve gone under 47 mins a total of 3 times all year. It’s by no means a sustainable pace either, as on one of those efforts I fell off the bike in the front garden when I got home due to an inability to use my legs.

I want to go faster, but my pace seems to have reached a plateau & I can’t ride that hard on a regular basis as i’m such a mess when done 🙁

If your commute is stop/start through the city then using a road bike over a mountain bike won’t make any difference. A road bike makes a big difference on longer routes on open road. A road bike is sensible for me as I have 14 miles of traffic free open road and only 6 miles of urban riding.

My 6 mile commute is right thru the city. I want at least 1.5 tyres and disc brakes as well as flat bars. I want to be able to stop quickly at all times. Safety first

I’d think you can work with any distance (within reason) but as TJ said around the 10mile mark would be where I would stop. Did 12.5 each way in the summer and it’s really junk miles, keeping you ticking over but not adding much. Probably like a few on here I had grand ideas of doing interval sessions on the return leg but that never materialized as the route didn’t lend its self to it and it’s difficult to get motivated to do it after a long day at work and with other training sessions to get to later on. Longer than 10miles and the time thing would really get in the way I think. I’d leave at 6.55am for an 8.00am start so 30/35 mins to get in 10/15 for a shower and getting changed and a bit spare to get in early/in case of a puncture. It took about an extra 1hr20 over the car and was much nicer than driving so was worth it but if it was 20 miles the gap between car and bike would be bigger and not worth the extra time spent IMO.

For me the shorter commute the better, a 3/5mile gentle spin gets rid of the need for getting changed which knocks off a lot of faffing before leaving and a lot of faffing once you get there and you’re not tied to doing 125miles easy training/ junk miles you can use the time to do more efficient sessions.

Iain

I’m a lazy ar*e but I’ve a reason for that.
I commute to work by bike and train, 10mins on the bike, 20mins on the train (each way)
I bought a foldie with the intention of maybe needing it more in the future rather than using it now, but the gentle 10mins to the station is a nice enough pootle along and I’ve been enjoying it. When it rains I take the car, which of late has meant it’s been the car most of the week. For some reason only known to God, it tends to rain very early in the mornings here, then dries up around 9ish, which means when I set out it’s still drizzling, or wet.
The reason I’m slightly reluctant to use the bike too much is the simple fact that I ride most evenings and weekends and I don’t want to dull that excitement. I look forward to blasting around in the evenings when everyone’s driving home I’m out on either my roadie or mtb, means I can get some miles/trails in before it gets dark. I’ve yet to really enjoy riding in the dark see. Once or twice on a full moon it’s pretty amazing, but generally it’s just dark and rather dull.
I can’t really say I envy you lot doing more than say 4miles each way, which means I’m so lightweight I ought not even comment..

12.5 miles in 30 minutes!! We have another pro commuter amongst us. 😉

Gary_M – Member
12.5 miles in 30 minutes!! We have another pro commuter amongst us.

POSTED 19 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

If we are being pedantic today, ABOUT 30mins, or closer to 30 than 45.

Iain

lol

23 miles either way twice a week max. Done it today with an extra loop to make the home bound journey 31miles and now truly buggered 🙁

I’ve got 9mile and that’s the limit without a shower at work. A mate used to travel 20ish to work and then back. A colleague was telling me today about one of the soccer Dads who occasionally has to visit a branch office which is 100miles away. He cycles there and back but took the train for the last 30m

My commute by bike is just short of a 18mile round trip, average speed 14mph. if I do the same trip in the car the urban part of the trip I average 11mph. Riding to work I have sole use of the shower, and some big qudos from my work colleges.

32 miles each way, done once or twice a week. I havent got into doing it that much this year but will be doing it religously from March next year as a way of improving fitness for quite a few planned 100mile road rides.I have been driving in and riding home, then riding back in next morning. The route can be extended on the way home too if needed. With a base of 120 commuter miles per week my view is that i should also be able to do some weekend rides aswell.Well thats the plan anyhow!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Greaves_(cyclist)
pussies(all of us)

actually,the les woodland article is slightly different.he ran out of money in aug/sept,then had to take a job,so he commuted there,worked 8hs,then set off to log some more miles.
from
cycling’s most amazing stories,les woodland
some of his stuffhere

I currently do 23.5 miles into work and 33.5 mile return 90% on good back country roads. Takes me 1 and 20mins in the morning and 2 hours back home on average. I’ve found I can only maintain this twice a week. I could do 3 I think but it tends to be other issues getting in the way of actually riding all the days.
I find the mental tiredness the big issue not actually doing it. I could ride every day but I would not be able to do my job. If you throw some bad weather in it gets pretty tough. However it is the best way for me to get my riding in with very young kids.
Its also full-on night riding up here when I leave the house at 6am. I dont know how long I’ll keep it up for when really hard weather hits.

Used to ride 12 miles each way, five days a week. Switched to a job in London that meant;

11 miles to Oxford,
Bus ride to Hillingdon
6 miles to Greenford

Never got below 2hrs each way. I did this two days per week, until I lent my car to a friend for a medical emergency. Then I did the commute daily for two weeks. Four hours travelling was the issue, not the 34 miles. Occasionally I would ride the 58 miles home. Work commitments meant that this dropped off to driving every day.

Now I live 7 miles from work, but bike route is 15 miles in and 9-11 miles home depending on which route I fancy. I ride fixed wheel to make it a little more interesting, and wave to the planes 😆

The problem with mega long commutes is when you have an off day. I was only doing about 7 miles each way, but on a bad day they were the longest 7 miles ever. It’s not like you can just think, don’t fancy it today.