First time in a few years yesterday. I took my road bike (which I bought in 1998 and have not used for a long time) and went in search of climbs for training... so it was 28 miles with over 1000ft of gain. It took me 1 hour 45 mins but I've no idea if that was good or bad but it sure hurt (in a good way). The train took the strain for the way home. I plan to do the same tomorrow and make it a twice a week thing so I can still ride hard for pleasure on other days.
[b]So, how far do you ride[/b]? 6-7km, mainly on cycle paths. There are a few cheeky routes here and there, if it's nice weather and the trails are fairly dry. Don't want to arrive covered in mud.
[b]How often[/b]? Pretty much every day from when the snow disappears. Unless the bikes are bust, which at the moment leaves me with a commute on a DH bike or a trials bike 😀
What sort of bike? Normally a 26'' hardtail with 3x9 gearing and schwalbe marathon plus tyres. The tyres are fantastic and well worth the money. No punctures, tough and roll well.
Agree with Gary_M, get your stuff ready the night before, bottle, bags packed and on the bike. Then in your cycling gear ASAP and get out of the house! In ten minutes you'll be accustomed to the whatever the weather is and be enjoying the fresh air!
22 miles one way here, 1-2 times a week (young family and MTBing to consider!), Salsa Vaya with mud guards and rack, all year round.
so it was 28 miles with over 1000ft of gain
That's pretty flat - look harder. I live in the south, and a 'hilly' ride is around 100ft climbing/mile IMO.
I do it when I can, which at the moment is rarely! Up to 45 miles each way depending on office, more commonly drive half ride half, so 22 miles each way. Road bike, take stuff in when I'm on the train so I don't need a bag or owt.
[i]It took me 1 hour 45 mins but I've no idea if that was good or bad[/i]
Hard to say really as it depends on the conditions, wind and rain can slow you down. 16mph isn't bad though.
[i]100ft climbing/mile[/i]
Maybe I'm reading that wrong but are you saying 1000ft climbing every 10 miles? That seems a lot to try to rack up to me.
6 miles each way on an xtracycle longtail conversion most days. Allows me to pick up lots of shopping and my little girl from Nursery. Takes about half an hour with a reasonable hill at the end of each leg. I can knock nearly 10mins off, though, when I ride the road bike which isn't exactly light either.
30 mile a day, 3-5 days a week, HT Rigid MTB with skinny marathon plus.
Not any more. I used to, but have since changed jobs so its no longer possible.
Was 27km each way & I averaged 3 times a week.
Mix of A roads & mostly country lanes, did it on a road bike. I think in 2 years of doing it I had no south westerly headwind on the way home once. I set a PB that day. Never got within 10 minutes of it again.
Great base for my fitness going forward, but really put me off riding for a while.
Every day! 1.1 miles door to door - I have the shortest commute and claim my £5 ! 😀
9 miles each way (sometimes extended up to about 18 -20), 4 times a week. Free training innoit? ;0)
I live 3 miles away from Work but commute 10 miles each way (all on traffic free cycle track)
That's pretty flat - look harder. I live in the south, and a 'hilly' ride is around 100ft climbing/mile IMO.
Hmmm, just put the route through map my ride and its got 3 Cat 5 climbs on it? I'm not a roady so that means nothing to me other than those section correlate well with the segments where it was uphill and hard work.
19 mile commute here that I do 1 - 2 times per week depending on the weather. Bit of a climb up the costwolds from Cheltenham but then 15 miles of pretty flat riding.
I use a Trek roadbike that I have fitted a Tubus rack too and then commute with a pannier on, makes life much easier.
Showers at work are great but I also used to ride 15miles to our old office without a shower.
Saves me around £75.00 per month because of the riding in, not lost any weight though 🙁 but i think that because I drink too much....
Everyday 5 odd miles each way mostly on cycle path away from traffic. Having commuted between Wolverhampton and Walsall previously I really enjoy not being a traffic gladiator.
I would recommend getting something suited to riding on the road be it a mtb with slicks or a racer or anything in between with a road bias. I'd also recommend mudguards and a rack to keep you and your stuff comfy.
You don't need to spend the earth on a commuting bike but plenty do. A cheap hypbrid will do the job and cost buttons on the cycle scheme. A colleague bought a Specialized £250 hybrid and it ended up costing about £17 a month pre-tax
I've not read all that, just skimmed, so apologies if it's been said, but just get some slicks for your current bike if on a budget and pump them up harder. A lot of the advantages of a road bike that way - most of the rest are down to the riding position which you can also get some of by lowering your bars (do it gradually whilst you get used to it). If you're looking to still ride off-road then raising/lowering your stem should take less time than swapping the tyres.
30 miles there and 30 miles back. Once a week dependent on weather.
Its about 1km for me mixture of sand and tarmac its great at night as no street lights back from the beach ,i cycle about 9 times a week and only take the car if i need to collect fish from the fish market, cycle home for a cuppa in the afternoon. Then always cycle back to work for evening shifts .
22+ miles each way, with a big hill (Haldon) inbetween.
Usually 1hr15 in (taking it easyish) and 1hr30 back (again, taking it easy)
I've been managing it twice a week for the past month, really look forward to it when it's dry, however last week I got drenched and it took nearly 2hrs to get back with a 20mph headwind!
10 miles each way 3 times a week on a specialize allez bought through the ride to work scheme. Mornings tend to be the same route but always vary it on the way home. Sometimes take the mtb and do a longer off road commute.
50 miles (more if racing)
Every day
Either SS or geared road bike depending on weather.
Wouldn't change it for the world.
Would like to but it's 37 miles away and I can't be arsed with that for either a 6:30 or 8am start!
Can see my house from the office window, so go by a circuitous route - all depends upon time/weather/things to be done at either end.
A 10.5 mile each way London commute for me.
Do it everyday and in all weather on my trusty 98 Kona Kapu.
Takes about 50mins due to all the lights (going East to West though town).
Currently live 5mins away from work and ride every day on a shonky singlespeed road bike.
Used to work 10 miles away in a wee village and rode that every day. If the weather was good I'd ride in and/or home the long way (c20miles). Almost entirely on quiet, poorly-surfaced back lanes. Used to love it. Used to use a 2nd-hand geared hardtail with slicks, mudguards and panniers.
And before [i]that[/i], I used to work 16miles away, and would commute by roadbike in the summer. Ride there on main faster roads, and home on a longer route via back roads.
I've just started parking near the motorway and riding the last 4 miles to work as traffic in Exeter is terrible at certain times of the day 🙁 I picked up a 14 year old fully rigid kona hahanna for £65 from ebay a few weeks ago which is ideal for the job and saves me using my good bike.
short route is 16miles, I work on it being 1 hour, reality is it can be normally 50-1hr10, fastest was 43mins riding a tail wind at a steady 26mph!
The vale of evesham is very flat and not much shelter on offer so wind can be an issue. Today i stretched it to 24miles, but looking out the window i can see me taking the direct route home.
Doing this 4times a week most weeks, it can impact motivation at the weekends, but it also means you do ride in crap weather and don't loose fitness which if the only riding you do is at weekends...
Fit mudguards, they look crap but full sks guards make life so much more pleasant through the winter! try not to take more to work than you have to, leave what you can at work, if you do drive, then take stuff on that day. Showers do make commuting much more pleasant. Consider a back up plan for when it all goes wrong, bikes do break, 15miles in snow on a roadbike isn't much fun, lights fail, etc.
9 miles each way - every day - wind, floods, snow (unless I am bringing/taking clothes - about once every 6 weeks)
Sometimes take a longer route home across the Quantocks...
Shower at work, so leave towel, showergel, shoes, jumper, trou - take shirt & underwear each day. Get stuff ready the night before - routine helps!
Riding Day 1 SS crossdisc with slicks & mudguards
15 miles each way on the short route. 4-5 days a week. That's a 50/50 split road and offroad. I use a geared cross bike but whenever I get my fixed cross bike working again I'll go back to that. When it's nice I will extend the offroad section to make the return journey about 25 miles.
I love it. I'm lucky to have a fairly nice ride in with only one dodgy place (a roundabout near our house where I can almost guarantee a near miss every morning). Coming home I usually include more offroad anyway.
What really helps is good facilities at work. CHanging rooms and showers are great. Having drying facilities would be perfect. I;ve bought some ceramic shoe driers which do the job nicely for shoes and gloves.
On dryish days in the summer I will take the cross or mtb and do an off-road loop with some spectacular views. Amazing view after 20 minutes of climbing, the problem is you just want to carry on riding all day!
I ride to Work when I can. Last year I did quite a lot then the weather turned horrid so the foldie was replaced by the car to the train..
I work from different offices, so the bike does allow for a flexiable destination. HotDesks allow for miander in, log on, log off, ride around the City type of flexiability.
I find the train network Ok for taking the foldie on, I'm not too sure my experiances would be quite the same if I rode a none foldie though. I have seen some pretty annoyed folks kicking bikes of trains just so they can get off at thier stop, this leads to delays which no one wants. I saw a bike pushed off the train to Brighton last Nov and the train pulled out of the station leaving the bike on the platform.
I do wish those that slam bikes accross the doors would be decent enough to a) keep them out of the way of other passengers b) move the bikes so folks can get on/off and c) stand near thier bikes so they don't have to wiggle through cramped carriages to shift said bike.. again causing delays.
But I have to say, most rail companies have adopted a nonchelant way of letting bikes on trains, very few Guards get angsty and often encourage bikes on board.. which is nice.. If you've ever been on the Sotty to Waterloo or Victoria trains early in the mornings you'll know what I mean.
I do love the race out of Waterloo and across the Bridge.. quite hilarious..
16 miles each way on a mixture of bridleway, canal and road. 300m descent on the way in/climb on the way home. 3 or 4 times a week on a Cotic X. Takes anywhere between 50-60 mins on the way in and 60-80 mins on the way home mainly depending on wind.
Started doing it a couple of months back and wish I'd started years ago.
Do the Leeds-Harrogate run a couple of times a week on my road bike. Traffic is a bit hairy though, so I don't tend to ride in when conditions are bad.
[i]short route is 16miles, I work on it being 1 hour, reality is it can be normally 50-1hr10, fastest was 43mins riding a tail wind at a steady 26mph![/i]
16 miles in 43 minutes isn't 26mph.
Shortest route to/from work for me is 3.5 miles one way, but plenty of options to extend it of an evening depending on how fit/arsed I'm feeling.
Ride either SS HT with MTB tires or road bike with 23mm slicks, dependent on conditions and what I fancy riding 🙂
16 miles in 43 minutes isn't 26mph.
first couple of miles was urban with traffic lights etc, brought the average down a bit. Door to Door 22.5mph, from Cheltenham Racecourse to work in Evesham average 26mph.
Oh right, there's some downhill sections on my commute where I average 35mph 😀
i do about 8 miles each way - depending on route. however the first 4 I do with my 8 & 9 year olds as i ride to their school then head into sheffield for work.
I like to do it all year round but if the boys have stuff to do straight from school i sometimes drive to their scool and get my bike out of the car and ride to town - it's always faster to do the last bit by bike especially when it's bad weather and the city becomes gridlocked.
Even on a grumpy day it only takes a couple of miles of riding for everyone to be smiling - can beat a bit of bicycle induced happiness in the mornings 🙂
Edit - ride either my in-bred 29er or genesis croix de fer, both great fun as we sometimes do an off road route. I like the genesis when i'm late though!
5 miles each way , ride it everyday as only one car and the SO takes it. Ride a [url= http://m.evanscycles.com/products/pinnacle/lithium-two-2012-hybrid-bike-ec035872 ]Pinnacle Lithium[/url] at the moment .
10.5 miles each way on a fairly beat up old city bike, hoping to get a Whippet built up with spares to run as a single speed commuter in the next few days.
8 miles each way (4 on-road, 4 off) which I do virtually everyday. Best thing I ever did was starting to commute by bike! So much less stressful than driving, I really enjoy it (even in the pissing rain). Use a Croix de Fer with guards/rack most of the time but use my hardtail with Ice Spikers when it's icy so I can commute all year-round.
Full guards, good bag that ensures your work shirt stays in good nick on ride in and a comfy riding position.
Having a couple of non bike days means you can change the suits you keep at work then you look forward to the next bike commute.
Before I changed jobs I was commuting 10 miles from coast to newcastle on a singlespeed.
It kept the monotonous nature of the route interesting and i got fitter.
I do 11 miles each way, every day, all year round.
Used to do it on my FS, which was getting knackered- so now do it on singlespeed MTB.
Just do it- accept you get to work on your bike.
You will get fit and you can use the money you save in petrol to get a road bike a few months down the line.
The more you do it, the easier it is.
Every day, without fail. It's the only regime that works for me. Once you start opting for other transport because it's hailing, snowing, raining, windy etc. you're in danger of becoming one of those people that cycles to work about three weeks a year when the weather's nice (but not too hot).
5 miles each way plus probably another 30 - 50 miles a week during the working day, going to meetings at other sites etc, so commuting / working it's about 80 - 100 miles a week on the bike.
26" full suspension mountain bike (for me, N=1).
I do run more roady tyres (Schwalbe Land Cruisers, fairly fast rolling and tough for potholes, broken glass etc, never had a puncture) although quite often I can't be fagged putting them on at the end of a weekend so the On-One Smorgasbords stay on for the week. At this time of year, that also gives me the option of longer, off-roady routes home. I do put a bit more air in them when roading it (no idea of PSI, I use the pressure gauge at the end of my thumb to tell when they're done).
no shower and betty swallocks puts me off
10 miles each way. Rain or shine. On a fixed wheel road bike
Car-free anniversary was last week. Well, alright, a one-car family anniversary, anyway.
