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I used to commute about 5 miles each way and agree it sometimes doesn't feel like it's worth the faff. Loading up panniers to make things a little harder helped though 🙂
My office moved and I now have an 18 mile each way commute. Just did it for the first time last week, drove in, rode home (1:15 with some tinkering) , rode in (1:03), drove home. This week I was going to try both ways for a couple of days but the atrocious weather put paid to that! This is on a fancy road bike rather than my old rigid MTB commuter.
I live in Sale and commute 13 miles in the opposite direction to Warrington, usually only one or two days a week. What Binners said is spot on, except he forgot to mention that in the summer the canal towpath behind old trafford gets so over grown the track is only about 30cm wide, but as long as youve got a towel at work, you'll be fine 😆
Yes, about five minutes each way... 😀
Currently 6 (road) miles each way, about to become 8 miles each way as of Monday and 7 of those will be traffic free. Can't wait. (25 minutes in, 20 minutes home currently)
I ride 1 mile to work, with my son on the tagalong (his school is next to my office)
Takes about 5-10 minutes.
🙂
Approx 16.5km for me, 40mins in, 55mins home. Guess which way is downhill!?!
mrmo - Member
...not today for some reason....
Same here ! 😳
Roughly 7 miles mostly off road and canal paths, will be swimming back tonight if the rain keeps this up!
I do pretty much the exact same commute as the OP describes - Brooklands to Salford via the quays. straight up the Washway Road, on up the A56, turn left past the theatre of dreams and onto the quays from there. 8 miles in total, takes me 30 minutes and whilst the traffic can be heavy I've seen much worse (years of commuting in London)
6 miles each way 5 miles of it off road. I often extend the off road bit and my longest route home is 26 miles. Time varies with the conditions as I do it all year round whatever the weather.
Yes, 5 miles, 22m in (uphill), 25m home (downhill).
hows that work then?
I keep meaning too but Dartmoor is in the way. 56 mile round trip and 6000ft of climbing keeps putting me off.
7 miles each way from North London into the City. 30 mins in, 35 home.
Been a bit depressing lately with the persistent rain but it's still the best part of my working day.
Track stands ARE tragic, unless you're properly good on a proper fix.
Hi 8)
I track stand for several reasons:
- it puts you in a good position to get away quickly if you need to escape the traffic when the lights go green
- it saves on left shoe cleat wear - there are probably 30 sets of lights on my commute
- being able to balance at slow speeds on your bike is a valuable skill for mountain biking
- it makes you feel like Chris Hoy in a stand-off on the banking against Grégory Baugé in the Olympic final
so do I have to practice in my backyard til I'm good enough or can I use alllllll that wasted time at traffic lights to get some practice in?
+1
2 mile commute. 8 sets of traffic lights & I try to track stand (on a road bike) at any that are on red. As a result I can track stand easily on my MTB (where it's really useful).
"Track stands ARE tragic, unless you're properly good on a proper fix."
so you cant do them then ? thought so !
21 miles each way - about 1hr 20 on the way in and 1hr 10 on the way home, except for Wednesdays when its 5 miles each way, but generally with a trailer - 15kg in this morning to go to the charidee shop, last week was 24kg home with 5m2 of cork tiles + associated friperees.
It seems a bit damp out at the moment, so might be a bit grim on the way home.
4 miles each way - about 15 minutes in, 20 back (yep, there's a hill involved)
Was doing it every day, slight pause since last week when some scrote nicked my bike. Looking at the weather, I picked a good week to be bike-less though.
I'm luckily working locally at the moment so am commuting ~15 miles each way every day in about 55 mins. Lovely weather last few weeks...
I usually work in the City/Canary Wharf which involves trains and sh1t so no bikes 🙁
binners -
Thanks for telling me about that route! I have been down there a couple of times on my bike before but it hadn't even came to mind whilst I was thinking about getting to work. Do you know whether the section of tow path once you cross over the bridge has been resurfaced recently as the last time I went down it I nearly went in the canal. (one time was due to a rather angry swan blocking my path that nearly had my gonads off!)
I'm not 100%, but the stretch up to there is 3ft of gravel, and so is the section behind Old Trafford. That short section in between can get a bit muddy if its not been done too.
Another alternative at that point,if it is, is too nip through the Steets behind the Gorse Hill pub. Or even nip off by the bridge, and go through Trafford Park. Those roads are a lot quieter than the Washway then Chester Road
My commute on the way in varies between 4 and 10 miles and then on the way home its extended to about 15 miles but if its a nice spring or summer evening then I have in past done 35-40 miles ( not much chance of this at the moment! )
Only get to ride in during school hols when my wife is off work - otherwise am on pre-school run.
When I do ride in, it's 6 miles each way through lovely little Devon lanes on the edge of Dartmoor (the type with grass in the middle, massive hedges etc). There's a longish but steady climb on the way in and a mahoosive wall-like hill on the way back which I generally push up irrespective of whether I'm on a geary or (usually) singlespeed.
Average about 25 minutes give or take 5 minutes for random sheep related delays, fog paranoia, pothole trauma or bizarre tractor-related incidents.
19.5 miles... takes under an hour.
Wouldn't want to do it every day though!
Haha Marin_Maketh_The_Man - It was summer time when I went down that section of the tow path last and I remember there not being much room at all to get past, especially when you meet people coming the other way who are also on bikes. I always take a towel with me when I ride to work in case of heavy showers so I just need waterproof panniers and I'll be sorted!
simonjf63 - How do you find the traffic on Washway? I know it's busy as hell but do you feel in danger at all? I walked down the canal a couple of days ago and after the torrential rain of late, some sections have been reduced to deep muddy puddles spanning the entire width of the tow path.
I think I've got an excuse to buy some new waterproofs and panniers. In fact, I think I'll get a new bike too as my current commuter is a Chinese special that's too small for me and it doesn't even have mountings for a bottle holder.
Edit - I was thinking about what to do about the traffic before (drivers paying no attention to you or not giving you enough room mainly) and after looking on the web I managed to find a well thought out tabard that people on other forums have said has proven useful to them. As below:
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ten hilly yorkshire miles each way, can't do more than 4 days though without losing my legs for the weekend.
wouldn't wear one of those tabards though, say a driver saw it, slowed down, read it properly, then sees you the next day, do that to the wrong sort of person. no thanks.
not to mention what your fiendly plod might say.
7 in 5 home o_O
I cycle with the wife up to her office in the morning adding an extra 2 onto my journey usually, then cycle straight home. Time taken varies based on wind and ability to breath (I have a hacking cough at the moment) and whether I'm cycling solo or not!
Solo 5 home shouldn't be more than 20 mins, includes a couple of road crossings and a farm track where conditions can be quick and dry to the present wet and wild!
Anyone who skipped cycling this morning is a pansy 🙂
Mine's about 10 miles, try to do it 2-3 times a week. Great big hill in the middle means it's 35min on the way in, and 55min on the way back. As there's no shower at work I'm quite happy it's that way round 🙂
Bobs right. You'll be going through Stretford. That tabard is more likely to get you deliberately targeted
our work regularly has queues for the 2 availible showers downstairs in good weather ..... our new recently renovated office we are moving to has one shower - that self same office used to have 2 crap ones !
not lately, using the Ark instead 😉
I used to do about 5 miles ish each way from the centre of Manc to Didsbury every day. The amount of scrapes and near misses I'd get into from drivers and other cyclists became laughable. It was like Mad Max out there, truly beyond the thunderdome. I used to hate it, even when I learned a quick back street route. Stay off the main roads and good luck!
18.5 miles each way, dont do it every day though, about 1hr 15 each direction
GG - Manc to Didsbury. Would that be the route where a bus passes within an insect pube of your bars every 1.3 seconds?
bwoolymbr - traffic can get heavy, I normally set off just after 7am on the way in and it's not too bad at that time. There are cycle lanes for a fair bit of the run, but the section through Stretford on the way up to Old Trafford can be a bit sketchy at times. Stick to your line and you should be ok. There is the option of taking the canal part way and coming up just before the cenotaph, but you still get the stretch without a cycle lane then
I used to go up through Trafford Park which is quieter, but you get a lot more big wagons, main roundabouts to negotiate and generally more stop-start
My commute varies depending on where I'm working - if it's only 4 miles I have to look for a longer route home. Monday was a good ride home - 22 miles along the TPT.
If I'm heading down Sale/Alty direction from Whalley Range, I go down by Jackson's Boat, not sure if that would help with a route to Salford Quays?
can we get back on topic please? this thread was supposed to be about how cool trackstanding is
Trackstanding? What's the point? It's much more relaxing to just put a foot down 😀
10 miles each way i do it 5 days a week, unless i have a race at the weekend or something when i take friday off
its mostly on road from brentford to central london takes about 50mins, traffics a butch if im not in a rush i can go via the parks which is nice
waaay quicker than driving and tube (as i have to get a bus too)
no showers at my new work so shower b i leave and then wet wipes in the disabled loo upon arrival
keep trousers + shoes in work fresh undies and tshirt take in every day
ride a rigid steel kona with marathon plus slicks (puncture proof!)
decent waterporoof and army surplus goretex trousers for days liek today, some 3/4 shorts for winter, 5 pairs of padded undies etc
I';m 10 miles each way, takes me about 35 mins in the morning (mainly downhill!) and about 45 in the evening on a road bike!
9.5 miles each way (Stockport to Manchester avoiding the A6) can take 40-50 minutes depending on if I'm daydreaming or not. Nice hill to finish on the way home and only a brief spell on oxford road battling buses.
23 miles on the way in and 33 on the way home. 3.5 - 4hours in the saddle. Its a quality road ride but it does mean a 5:30am rise so I can get home in time to do the family stuff. Try to do it twice a week maybe 3. Good facilities and free food at work help a lot.
My work is in different places in and around Edinburgh each day and I go everywhere by bike. I have a sense of time and scale of the city that gets stretched and feels compromised on the rare occasions that I have use a bus or walk. Journeys range from a couple of miles to about twenty five. Sometimes it's train out and ride back. Most of the riding is pretty pleasant, not so along Portobello prom this afternoon but I'll take all weathers.
3 miles - through the local park, roundabout, then bike lane into uni-land
About 10- 15 minutes depending on taxi, wvm, school run and the weather
I should add....much respect to those who commute around Londonshire. Been working down here for the week and I don't know how you guys get the inspiration (poor wording but...)
About 36 miles a day. I only manage about 3 times a week at present. Any more and i'm shagged out. The Jury is out whether its my fitness, diabetes, age, or all of these that are limiting me. But I enjoy it, really gets the shit out of my system, both mentally and physically.
I got hit by a van's wing mirror this evening... despite being in the primary position. maybe he didn't like my trackstands.
no damage done. f***er didn't even stop.