Cycling to work is simply the best thing you can do IME; fitness, wakes you up, de-stresses you after work, enables you to eat more, its quicker, helps to justify even more kit, baffles colleagues, increases awareness of the seasons (birdsong this morning was nice) and makes me somewhat smug.
Very True.. but how fekking cold was it this morning!!... wasn't expecting that. b-r-r-r-rrrrrr 😐
I have started doing it a lot more, it's 3.5 miles for me, very flat. It's ok at the moment as I'm building up fitness but when I'm trained it sometimes just doesn't seem worth it. Barely even warmed up when I get in/home.
I do pick longer hillier routes sometimes to keep me interested.
Tbh it's just the price of fuel at the moment that's getting me on the bike. That money can easily buy me some nice new blingy bike gear.
With the way fuel is going up I wonder how long it'll be before the question is 'So, who still drives to work?'.
mile and a half, all down hill. Up hill on the way back though. Surprisingly it has made a difference to my fitness.
8 miles a day at least
Kev
About 12 miles each way, really enjoy it and hate it when I can't (like today).
Used to do 15 miles each way 5 days a week. Fastest time was 46 minutes regular time was just over an hour. Was the best part of my day although having spent ten hours on the bike each week it also made the idea of riding at weekends a little less appealing.
I cycle to work everyday and have either a 6 mile or 9 mile route to choose from.
Sometimes it's hard to get out of bed at 6am when you can hear the wind and rain outside, however once out on the bike it's great 🙂
It takes around 25 - 30 mins to ride the 6 mile route, so probably only around 10 - 15 mins slower than using a car.
Used to ride from Hemel Hempstead to Staples corner in North London, about 34 miles each way. Now I live a mile away from work.
6 miles each way for me, ~750ft of descent down some cracking double track on the way in and a slog back on the road home.
Just biked into work for the first time today. 6.5-7 miles in 45 minutes, feel refreshed but wheezing a bit. Was glad of the shower at work, now can't wait for the ride home.
Can't at present due to all possible routes involving a stretch of certain death road. However, about to move house and a little time perusing OS maps shows from new place I can do in 14 miles each way with all dodgy roads bypassed by bridleways etc. So - looks like I'll need to buy a CX bike this summer once I move. Maybe one of those new Boardmans...
14 to 18 miles depending on route. takes me about an hour or an hour and a quarter. It takes my OH around 30 to 40 mins in the car to the same place which amuses me.
7 miles each way - usually 4 times a week, sometimes 5 but depends on how much I do at the weekend - also rain or shine 🙂
32 miles round trip ,3 times a week just now.
All on road but soon to be swapped for the 40 miler road/single track combo.
The saving I have made in commute costs over the years (train fares and fuel)has paid for ... ALL of my bikes 🙂 .
One more time............ ALL my bikes !
I never take for granted how lucky I am ,that I have an almost perfect stress free commute routes.
I am sure that a lot of folk feel like they are in death race 2000 at times, and that must make it a tough choice .
Just started again, 5 miles each way along the canal, i'm not saving a fortune but doing it on the singlespeed should trim me down a bit.
Very True.. but how fekking cold was it this morning!!... wasn't expecting that. b-r-r-r-rrrrrr
& really messed with my motivation to cycle to work - which is hard enough when you work from home & don't have to
Very True.. but how fekking cold was it this morning!!... wasn't expecting that. b-r-r-r-rrrrrr
I can feel my toes again, so it's shower time 🙂
25Km each way, about 300M of climbing. I could tell you in imperial if I'd bought the mtb in.
11 miles this morning in -4C, just having the 2nd coffee of the day, 22miles this evening followed by pancakes with ice cream as a recovery meal - yey!
30 mins walk for me. Don't ride to work as I like to completely seperate biking and work. Walking is a great warm-up before heading out on an evening ride.
Trimix - Member
I would try riding all the way, but a large bit of the commute is on the shite A34 - no way should anyone try cycling along that road. Driving is bad enough on it.
I know the road. Turning a A road into a motorway by the back door, but funded out of a different local budget rather than a national one.
My commute is around 6 miles each way, than I cycle to uni and gym as well, but it's only 2 miles probably. Savings on the bus pass even considering buying cycling gear etc paid for my road bike and the gym membership.
I'm cycling everywhere now, sometimes 7 days a week and I'm struggling to find motivation to get the road bike out for a longer ride. Will have to mtfu and get out on a ride as the weather is great now.
Mine is 8.5miles each way, first 13mins in the morning is spent cycling up a hill. Only do it twice a week though.
Panda
plus1 with Andrewh
My daily commute is only 4.5 miles each way, but my students think I'm nuts because they know I have a car! They can't understand the motivation, especially when it's chucking it down (damp air, I call it!) Timewise there's no difference between bike and car on the road, but I usually choose the pretty route through the parkland and the canal towpath ......(with hh45 on this!).
Try to get out in the evening after the commute home a few times a week also .... dump the cheap commuter at home (naff Apollo for anti-theft factor 🙂 ) pick up the best bike and scuttle around the local lanes and coast. I'm like a pig in mud ....... OK maybe just a pig! 😕
A tad nippy wasn't it .... stopped after 1/2 mile to take off the fingerless gloves and put the wooly ones on this morning!
17 miles here for me.
Best advice is organise everything so it doesn't take you 15 mins of faffing to get going.
Commuter bike in hallway, outside maybe. You don't need a change of clothes for 4 miles but you might need waterproofs if it's wet. Mudguards so a damp road doesn't spoil your work clothes if you don't suit up. Flat pedals.
Etc etc.
I'm a lucky beggar really, just under 4 miles each way, barely 100ft rise, cycle paths and canal path and a shower at work available.
Fall out of bed, kick the kids into action for school and shovel a bit of breakkie down my neck. Throw on basic cycling clothing, grab the old cheapie commuter (why do I spend the least on the bike I use the most?!) and pedal in. Get shower and start the day refreshed. Had to drive in yesterday and found out that due to traffic, it took longer!
Definitely worthwhile, been doing it day in day out year in year out for about 20 years now. (not always the same employer!) Saves needing a second car, pays for bikery and keeps a basic level of fitness.
Try and vary the route a bit though as I'm sure my legs get bored of doing the same thing each day!
I'm comtemplating cycling from New Malden to Canary Wharf...it's a 52k round trip so not a quick pootle down the road.
I've only got one working bike at the moment (I know, not sure how I'm coping) and it's an FS. I could try some road tyres and locking out the suspension, but I reckon I'd struggle every day to do 26k in the morning, and 26k in the evening.
Maybe I need to by an overpriced carbon road bike suitable for athletes.
I'd like to work somewhere where I could ride my MTB off road...a bit of adrenaline would brighten up every morning!
11 km a day, mostly spent dodging pot holes, draughting buses and being abused by Audi drivers. My odometer recently ticked over 10000 km. Woo. Go me.
20k each way and I have to go over the forth road bridge which is a bit dodgy in the wind like today!!
34 mile round trip. 3 times a week in winter, 5 times in summer.
Soon to be moving - will be 25 miles each way. Plan to do three days a week.
Since my daughter was born last August, commuting has been the mainstay of my riding, and while I'm certainly not fit, it does keep a very low base level ticking over.
From the edge of the Peak District to the office in Leeds during the summertime.
19 miles on the bike, 26 miles by car each way.
Bike takes about 10 mins longer in rush hour.
It's downhill (most) of the way in. Makes for a slog on the way home though after a long day.
I'll start to do it again in a few weeks once things warm up a bit.
About 10 miles each way. Usually around half six in the morning so thank god sunrise is getting earlier. But no weight loss as eat and drink too much. Fitter though. 80 to 100 miles a week with proper rides at the weekend when I can.
Best advice is organise everything so it doesn't take you 15 mins of faffing to get going.
+1
I used to be the King of Faff 🙄
me. 2 miles each way, with 150m of climbing in it on the return leg. much quicker than any other method of transport due to traffic & parking
I either do a 14 mile each way trip or drive and ride the last 3 miles.
I find it a whole lot easier to do the longer commuter if I get everthing ready the night before. I didn't last night and managed to faff around for 20 minutes this morning getting a few bits together 🙄
10 miles each way through Paschendale like mud. Although it is pretty flat.
Hence the passion for mudguards on my MTB. Either that or turn up for work looking like the Swamp Thing.
20 miles each way 3-4 times a week all through the year ( or 32km to makes it sound further ;)). Fantastic way to start the day. Strong tailwind this morning so going to be quite brutal on the way home. Took 1 hour 3 mins this morning, average for winter is around 1:15, summer 1:05.
2.7 miles to work for me but generally lenghten that out to 8.5 miles and on occasions up to 30 miles if I nip the wrong way and end up at Nant-yr-arian 🙂
9 miles on the road bike each way, or 10 miles xc along the Thames and through Reading,. The record is 28minutes, at 6am with no green lights or much traffic in the middle of summer.
Drive in once a week and take clean clothes shower at work, bike the other 4. I can do a nice route back of about 12 miles or as long as a can justify, more likely in the summer.
Someone told me that in additon to the saving on petrol, a tax break of 20p a mile can be claimed if you commute by bike. Anyone know about that? ❓
Johnny that's if you use your bike for business use - like travelling to meetings during your working day.
