[Closed] Do you choose to cycle commute even though you dont have to?

I only get to cycle my 6.5 miles to work maybe twice a week. Wish I could do it more but have to collect kids other days.
I always feel so much more alive after riding in...

I work in a college and amazingly it doesn't have the cycle to work scheme....rubbish.

I use the bike by choice, but don't do it every day. Each year I do 'The Curry challenge' with a workmate. We log our commuting miles over the year and loser buys a slap up curry and drinks. I'm currently 224 miles up, but have been very slack of late, I was 500 miles up.Hopefully my new bike and the diminishing lead will get me back in gear next week. Lack of sleep from being a new dad doesn't help, but losing is not an option. 13.5 miles each way.

🙂

I chose to as i want to and like doing it so my car just sits on the drive at home though there are days that i listen to the wind and chose the car.

i do.
i have a company van, but leave it at home and cycle in.
van comes in handy for transport to rides. or when i went to rides. 🙁

Yes everyday, even on the school run with both my girls pedalling themselves too! Its not a mega mile commute only 5 miles each way but it keeps you on the right track.

My car languishes at home outside the house and only gets to go somewhere if I am going mountain biking, big shopping or a day trip out with the family. My motorbike tempts me but I can't see the point in taking it out for 5 miles on a boring commute.

Its only when the weather is really filthy rain and wind that hurts do I wish I was in a car/bus/train etc.

yes.

cycling to work is expensive*, time consuming, tiring.

but most of it is quite good fun.

(*driving to work costs me £3/day in fuel**, i spend way more than that on tyres/food/lights/clothes/more food in the name of cycling)

(**i'm not including other costs, because that would be stupid)

I don't drive to my new job - 1 mile walk to the station, 3 stops in the train, half mile walk at the other end.

I try to do one or two days on the bike as well, depends on the weather when I get up, and whether my train pass is still valid 🙂

I work with my wife in our shop. She drives in and I ride.
I do have a nice commute though, 3 miles off road but can be longer.
She sees cars, I see kingfishers,herons,woodpeckers and parakeets.

I do find though that if I cycle to work too often, I don;t want to go out mountain biking as much

Absolutely. Even on my commute days (when I don't take my son to nursery) if it's raining, I'll still go by bike. Can't beat it.

Yes every day have done for years it's part of my work day I'd be lost without it. Many is the time I've refused a lift when it's been pissing down our minus 5:)

I do it through choice because I enjoy it. A couple of times a week. 15 miles each way on pretty quiet roads and some fairly major hills

There was a smash on the M60 on Wednesday morning and I sat in stationary traffic for over an hour. Don't get that on the bike.

Sometimes I'll have to take the car due to kid picking up duties and I'll feel cheated if its a nice morning

I leave the car at home. If I don't cycle I don't feel awake. I find driving the commute during rush hour painful. When I drive the commute still feels like work, but when I cycle the moment I'm on the bike, I feel like it's my time. It's like finishing work earlier!

I could buy a scooter or a car but don't. cycle commuting is my quickest way of getting to work

Yep, four miles each way every day, regardless of weather. My wife drives every day, parks in my parking space at work and then walks the couple of hundred metres to her office. I just prefer cycling, get some fresh air, some exercise, get to see some wildlife (seals, penguins, birdlife, and even orcas on one occasion). On winter evening I get time to appreciate the sunsets over the harbour. I reckon people who drive are nuts, really 🙂

I try not to justify cycling as a financial improvement.. rather a more pleasant way to get from a to b.
The alternative is sitting next to someone with poor bum muscle control who farts everytime the bus hits a pot hole.

By choice, couple of days a week. The car struggles if I take a singletrack detour through the Forest so I take the bike instead 8)

Oh yes. Could take the bus (sometimes do) or the van but cycling is way more enjoyable and a better use of time as it gets travel and some training kncoked off at the same time. The cycle only takes me around 10 mins more than the bus anyway.

The alternative is sitting next to someone with poor bum muscle control who farts everytime the bus hits a pot hole.

i don;t get the bus 😉

yep. my van sits at home if i cycle in.

I have friends who have sold their cars to force them to ride more. I wonder if i could do that as i often drive in due to lack of planning/ injury/ resting etc.

Have to take the train into London, but I always cycle across the city rather than take the Tube. Even in the coldest of winter weather, cycling beats the Central Line.

By choice but the alternative cost money and takes longer. Some days I like the commute, others I hate it.

Depends what your potential commute is like too. When I take the mountain bike, extended route home comes over the top of here. Cheeky singletrack all the way down 😉

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I prefer to ride but I sometimes take the car (various reasons as to why I might drive). On the other hand I really miss cycling if I don't do it for a couple of days.

I cycle a day or two a week in fair weather when I don't have to drop Jnr off at the school bus stop. When he's old enough to lock the house up and walk to the bus himself I'll be able to cycle in more often.

I only do it in fair weather though as it's a 40 mile round trip, and there's nothing worse than having to put wet kit on to get back on the bike.

I'm the same, given the option of car or bike I'll always use bike :
It's only a short <4 mile distance so not good for your car
It wakes you up.
It's cheaper.
It's good for you.
Best of all - you look rock hard in the middle of Winter when you're still riding on ice/snow etc and all your colleagues are there moaning about conditions 🙂

Yes definitely! I have a company car and choose to cycle.

I ride through 2 London parks and along the side of the thames, fab city ride.

I cant safely cycle the whole way as some of it would be on a suicidal dual carridgeway (the A34), or a massive detour.

So I drive to where the missus works, park there and cycle the rest of the way, about 16-17k.

If its pissing it down I drive, if its OK I cycle unless its Tuesday/Thursday which is night riding day.

4 years ago I chose to sell my car and buy a bike and opt to cycle to work.

That was my first venture into proper cycling. Now 4 years later I'm completely obsessed in the things and bike number six will be arriving very soon.

Looking forward to the snow coming as I'll be able to detour on the cx bike. 😀

I could use train, bus or take my car - instead I chose to cycle, every day, rain, wind, snow etc. It wakes me up in the morning, and I can relieve my stress on the way home.

Sold the car a couple of years ago in favour of the bike. I enjoy when people look at me and think I'm mad in the howling wind and rain. I'm lucky that my office fitted a shower room and they're trying to encourage healthy living and all that jazz.

Have to take the train into London

Why?

I've recently started working in the City, I refuse to spend £4000 on a season ticket, so I'm driving part way (it's 50 miles door to door, which I CBA doing before work!), and cycling in 25 or so miles a few days a week. Hopefully move a bit closer eventually so I can cycle the whole way.

When I was working in Horsham it was very much voluntary, there's a motive in saving large chunks of money as well now!

I see work as an inconvenient break in my riding! 😀

I could take the car or get the Metro (tram in Newcastle) but I nearly always cycle. I don't mind bad weather, I quite enjoyed the ride/run in when there was a foot of snow on my route. I'm worried I'd get soft if I stopped as soon as the weather was bad. You get used to the cold as the seasons change as you are out everday so winter is less of a shock to the system. Also it keeps me fit, if I didn't commute I'd want to do some extra training anyway.

i could get the tube or bus

but its expensive, slow, restrictive and id get fat(ter)

I always choose the bike, it's the best way to start the day and great to wind down if it's been stressful.
People do think you're a bit mental cycling in the snow when it's sub zero but I've never failed to make it to work, often feeling very smug with cars slipping and sliding around.

Depends what you mean by "don't have to". I have a car, and I could afford to drive it to work, but I choose to cycle. It keeps me reasonably fit (I never do any actual "training" for events other than commuting and other riding), wakes me up and is enjoyable. I only drive if I have to carry a passenger or big luggage (probably once every other week or so).

My commute is well suited to cycling though - it's about 10 miles each way across Dartmoor, either by road or a variety of tracks depending on mood. When I'm sat in an office all day it's nice to have some riding either side, even in grim weather. Wakes you up in the morning and good for venting some aggression on the climb back home after a bad day 🙂

i always choose bike. The car sits in the drive all day. 10 years and counting now for the "voluntary" two wheeled commute.

I do but it's cheating really as it's only a 13 minute walk to work anyway, but I ride in a slightly longer route to get about 20 mins in in the AM but the real reason is to do anything from 30 mins to 2 hours at night.

I also no longer have a car, but even if I did it would be slower than either the walk or the bike due to roads where I live and to work. I bet in term time I'd be hard pushed to do it in less time in a car than on foot.

Choose to as I prefer it, 11 hilly miles each way about 3 times a week, could do more but want to ride off road at the weekends too. I find the commute sets me up for the day and helps me to come home feeling better. I plan to keep going through the winter where possible.

Definitely choose to - as I mentioned in the other commuting thread, my offices moved recently to make my cycle about 5 miles further than it was.
Thing is, it's now just off the motorway, so a much quicker drive.
Not sure what it's going to be like when the weather gets really bad, I think I'm going to struggle to motivate myself to get on the bike.

I choose to commute. I fiind driving both boring and frustrating. MY car is left on the drive most days. It takes me about 30mins to do just over 8 miles and when I get to work there is a brand new shower block waiting. Proper waking up tackle! I'm saving more in fuel than my ride2work installments cost me. Which is nice.

I do it every day all year round because I enjoy it, but an added advantage is that this means we can have the campervan instead of a car; we couldn't afford both, and I couldn't really use the van to commute to work every day...

i try and cycle to work when ever i can , the journey time is 15 to 20 mins on a bike or 15 to 45 mins by car depending on traffic , the cost in the car is petrol plus £0 to £8 to park .by bike the cost is £0 Though i had to buy a new tyre and inner yesterday after a dramatic blow out on the way in to work.

health wise i get fitter and thinner riding in as opposed to sitting in a Que of traffic.

Plus i get to vent a lot of stress at students who manage to get a university place but haven't learned to look before stepping in to the road and car drivers who believe an arrow marked with left or straight on means turn right but don't under any circumstances look or signal.

I wish I had further to commute so I could ride but as it's only 5 minutes walk from my house to the office it would take longer to ride in than it does on foot. If I was already on the bike then I might be a bit moremotivated to extend it but as it is the option to spontaneously go for a ride on the way home is lost.

i live 2 miles from work. I can walk, skate, cycle or drive. I nearly always cycle unless its heaving down, or I need my car straight after work for something. Due to parking, its the fastest method of getting here by far

Strangely, the only times I drive is when I'm going to the DH course straight after work with a Volvo full of BigHit and tools.

Take company car in on Mondays, take bike left in strationary cupboard over weekend, cycle home, repeat til friday, leave bike in cupboard, drive home. Not far but quicker and saves sanity.........

Definitley by choice, my OH currently drives to work everyday and we work at same place.

11 mile journey is quicker by bike than car except for school holidays.

I cycle by choice, normally leaving the car at home. It's 21 miles, takes an hour to cycle plus time for a shower, and 40 minutes to drive. Sometimes, especially in Winter, I drive the first 10 miles, get the bike out of the car and ride the rest. It helps me keep fit and I'm sure it costs less than driving.

Most of tie time I enjoy it. Sometimes though, on the days when I struggle in to work through a headwind, then set off home to find the wind has changed 180 degrees.....

I got used to cycling every day when I dad a 5 mile commute into Manchester city centre. In 2 years i reckon i drove in about 4 times.

You'd have to be mental not too. 20 minutes on the bike. 45 in the car in solid gridlocked traffic. Maybe an hour including trying to find parking. Then there's the cost of parking. Daylight robbery!! How anyone puts themselves through that every day, I can't comprehend!

In the end my business partner bought a bike, having never ridden since school, and started doing the same after noting our somewhat different moods at the start of the day. He ended up selling his car shortly afterwards as he never used it any more 😀

ride in most day shifts (12 hours) because it wakes me up and theres little chance of me doing any other exercise before or after work. don't bother on nights because i'll usually do some training before work and i really couldn't face riding home after a nightshift.

I cycle by choice, not all the time…on days I cycle in, 6 miles at 5 in the morning certainly wakes you up, roads are deserted and quite often i see owls, badgers. Deer, foxes and the occasional lion, tiger,rhino and giraffe!, on nights I go in the car so I can get home and straight in to bed!, would do it all the time but It completely knackers me out cycling and doing 12hour shifts.

My commute is 3 minutes or 5 if the ducks cause a traffic jam. So I take the long way round about 30 road or off road. Different route each time. I'm happier and nicer to the ducks as a result.

Can't afford a car.. cycle 10 miles all in to work and back each day.. nightmare roads..

i choose to, i have a car and can afford diesel, i could get the bus for free as im a bus driver.
as others have said, i feel better/more awake all day when i do it.

+1 to doing it through choice.

Currently cycling 10 miles each way roughly twice a week on my ancient MTB that I bought when I was 12. Having just spent a year commuting 65 miles each way in the car from Newcastle to Carlisle, it's so much more relaxing and I definitely feel fitter.

Don't see the point when it is tipping down with rain but, when it's a lovely autumn day, it would be rude not to!

+ By choice.

Car sits on the drive until I drive to an MTB ride or for long weekend trips

Yes until the car goes back.
I get:
Free towels for nice showers
Locker for suit and clothes
Secure parking
Free bike maintenance
Bike shop on site
Paid £1 each day
Half price LCC membership

It would be a shame not to use it 😀

Of course, what kind of idiot would drive 5 miles to work? I've pretty much cycled everywhere since 1986.

Indeed, it would do my head in having to drive into to work.
Once a year to take it in for an M.O.T. is enough.

I choose to cycle, a 15 mile round trip on the more scenic route. I have a car parking permit I've never used, can get a bus which is mostly quicker, or go by motorbike which is loads quicker. I cycle at least 90% of the time. Even in the suburbs I get to ride about a mile of singletrack and a couple more of towpath.
It is worth riding through the coldest of winters to see the first snowdrops of spring, ducklings, lambs etc at sunrise or before. It is only when cycling in that I've been late for work because I've stopped to take photos on the way.

Absolutely... I only cycle commute as a wee easy boost for my mountainbiking fitness. Car is only a few minutes faster though so it's no hardship.

I have the option of tram, bus, cycle or drive but the last one would be totally mad, 4 miles of horrendous traffic into manchester and pay for parking.... I ride every day and even though I choose to, it's not a conscious choice as I do it out of habit. keeps me fit and it's cheap

Chose to go without a car when after I had a year living in new york without one about 7 years ago. I live in Manchester with a 9 mile each way ride to work. I do hire a car or van about 2 or 3 times a year, and use planes, trains and public transport for some local trips. I don't have kids so it's pretty easy for me. I haven't really done any cost comparisons to what I spend versus owning a car, as I didn't do it as a cost thing. I just couldn't see why I needed a car.

by bike whenever possible, its 46 miles to work and try and do that when I'm in the office (2-3 times a week) then train home, unless I'm feeling V keen.

I travel a lot by train with work and recently bought a brompton which is getting substantial use around london, waaaaay better than the tube and probably quicker. felt a little guilty riding through hyde park in the sun this week but it better for the soul than looking at a crackberry on the underground

Yup, have a car and work location has plenty of parking spaces + journey is easy. But I chose to bike it because I'm getting exercise for free, helps environmental bobbins and I enjoy it 🙂

Cycle five miles each way when I have the options of the bus, my own car or car share at my disposal.

Cycle six miles each way, feel more awake and ready for the day.
It requires horizontal rain before I use the car.
Devilman

I have a company van and take my bike to work when I fancy it then cycle home (7.5 miles) then cycle back to work in the morning get changed and off in the van for the day.