Looking for some motivation from others that ride to work.

I live 17 miles away from the office, and by summer i would like to be riding most if not all the way in. Its relatively flat and would all be on road/cycle lanes.

Currently im chucking my bike in the car, riding the first 12 miles, parking up and getting on my bike for the last 5 miles. It takes me about 20 minutes to ride in from there.

Im riding a hardtail MTB with knobblies at fairly low pressures (35-40psi). I would like to get a road bike to make it easier but can’t afford one at the moment. May end up getting some slicker tyres for the MTB though.

I’m also quite lazy and when its windy/raining i tend to just drive to work.

So, how far do you ride?
How often?
What sort of bike?

Obviously i need to MTFU and stop been lazy. We are doing the GCC at work in a couple of weeks and i have been volunteered to be the captain so any more riding will help motivate others in the team (hopefully) 🙂

15 miles each way

as often as possible – usually 4-5 days a week

cotic roadrat mostly – sometimes a cross bike sometimes an MTB sometimes a road bike and some times a TT bike.

PB is 42 minutes – and it wasnt on the TT bike – its terrible in stop start traffic ( i was heading to a TT straight from work)

16 months until I can. The bike’s already set up 😳

7.5 miles each way. Mixture of dedicated cycleway through the woods with a bit of urban at each end. Do it pretty much every day throughout the year, today being an exception actually as my pedals need a proper service and I CBA to do it last night.

Very old 26″ hardtail with rigid fork, armoured touring tyres and a 1 x 9 setup. Does a grand job.

when i had a job 🙁 10 miles each way 5 days a week, rigid steel mtb with schwable marathon+

Cycle each day, only 8miles each way on the canal. Takes anything between 25 -35 minutes depending on the weather. Have some semi slicks for the summer and old non targets for the winter.

might be worth considering, …. driving in one day, then riding back, leaving your car at work, then next day ride in, drive back?

ow and put more air in your tyres, i use around 50 for my rides in…

15 miles each way for me. 2-3 times a week. I can take one of a number of extended off-road routes home, so tag a few miles onto that.

I do it on a hardtail. I got myself a spare set of wheels that I keep slicks on, should I just feel like doing there and back entirely on the road. I’ve hardly used them though. Only when the weather was really shitty

With the nobblies on, I whack the pressures right up in the morning and take the road, then let the pressure out for the return off-road journey

I’m just starting, the problem I have is that I live less than a mile from work so riding in involves heading away 1st and its hard to keep motivated if the weathers not great. But at the moment I’m doing about 25km total 4 times a week on my cross bike.

1 mile each way for me. Given the time taken to get the bike out of the house, and into the cellar at work, its only marginally quicker than walking. 🙂
Previous job was 8 miles each way, every day. Before that it as 18 miles each way, maybe 4 times a week, and before that it was 6 miles each way, every day.

That’s the last 13 years on my CV covered…

5 miles each way
every day rain or snow
Kinesis crosslight pro 6

i do, but its less than 2 miles, about 1/3 of that is through a park.
why dont you drive in 1 day with bike in car, cycle home, cycle in next day then drive home?
that way youre not committed to riding both ways in one day, also you can take extra shirts etc so youre not sweaty.

22 mile each way once a week.
Would do more but mtb in the evenings twice a week + weekends

Driving in and riding back would be good, only issue is there is no car parking at the office, im using a free car park near work but i can’t leave it there overnight.

I think tomorrow (weather permitting) I am going to drive to a nearby town, and ride the remaining 12 miles in. I will pump my tyres up a bit more than usual!

I do want some new wheels soon, so i could keep these wheels and get some slicks on this old set and swap them over for commuting.

There is a shower in the office too, so getting sweaty isn’t a problem

Every day – mixed commute of 30 minutes on the train from Dorking to Wimbledon, then 6.5 miles in to Hammermsith / Chiswick on the Brompton. I’m coming up to two years doing this.
Sprogging and house moving has meant I’ve not got round to riding in from Dorking more than once – can’t wait to have the time to do that.

6 miles into work
15 miles home

fit slicks and you’ll start getting in quicker. Its fab to ride home on a warm summers evening and extend the loop.

these days its about the only riding I do.

6 miles each way 5 miles of which is off road. I have lots of alternative routes which extend it from 9 – 25 miles all of which are off road. I ride all year round but on odd occasions will take the seafront route when the mud results in the short off road route taking an hour or more. At the end of last year there was one section where I was struggling to achieve 3 miles an hour on a slight downward slope with a tailwind!

3-4 days a week summer. 2-3 winter
3 routes, a 16,18 and 20miles each way.
I mix and match them depending on wind direction/weather and how I am feeling.
CX and MTB for the road forest combination routes.
Light road bike for the fast summer tarmac days ( coming sometime soon 🙂 )

Try and be organized and avoid faffing,then it becomes just part of your routine.
I love my commute .

Looking for some motivation from others that ride to work.

I live 17 miles away from the office, and by summer i would like to be riding most if not all the way in. Its relatively flat and would all be on road/cycle lanes.

Currently im chucking my bike in the car, riding the first 12 miles, parking up and getting on my bike for the last 5 miles. It takes me about 20 minutes to ride in from there.

Im riding a hardtail MTB with knobblies at fairly low pressures (35-40psi). I would like to get a road bike to make it easier but can’t afford one at the moment. May end up getting some slicker tyres for the MTB though.
Go to Decathlon. Buy a Triban 3 (£300). Ride it to work – will save you £30 a week in fuel so pay for itself over the summer, plus less wear / tyres / repairs to car. By the end of the summer you will be doing that trip in under an hour if you want to, which is probably not that different to drive + faff + cycle 5 miles.

I’m also quite lazy and when its windy/raining i tend to just drive to work.

me too – I kid myself on it would be easier if the office was further away to make the faff worthwhile.

5 miles each way
Everyday
Cotic roadrat in various states of disrepair.

9 flat but sometimes very windy miles each way, everyday rain or shine. I get a bit grumpy on the odd occasion that I have to drive or take the train now! Did it for years on a tatty old MTB with slicks until it died, then I brought a cheapy singlespeed for crap weather and a cross bike for nice days. Currently looking for a new job and the ability to ride there is serious consideration.

I do 3 or 4 times a week unless I’ve got other riding on… I’ve got a road bike but I don’t use it for that, my 90s carrera mtb with slicks on makes a brilliant commuter- not as fast as a road bike but cheaper to run, better in bad weather, and pretty much theftproof.

Only thing I find as a drawback is that though my commute’s too short to really wear me out it does seem to be enough to stop me from quickly recovering from longer rides- so I tend not to ride in on a monday as that just leaves me feeling tired for an extra day.

I ride about 4 miles each way every day. Have done for the last 12 years. No special clothing. Ridden on various bikes. Currently on a road bike with a rear pannier. I always have waterproof trousers, jacket and gloves in the pannier along with tools and lights.

To stay motivated in bad weather just look at all the cars sitting in traffic burning away fuel needlessly day in day out with only one person in the car. How bored must they be rotting away in their 4 wheeled coffins – muttering ‘You’re all going to die!’ keeps me partly motivated.

The main thing is getting out in the morning and knowing that its faster than driving. But this may be different on a longer journey.

10 Miles each way most of the time five days a week.

Bike is a Whyte Stirling, which is my first ever skinny wheeled bike, fast and comfortable. Fitted a wider bar than standard and fitted some puncture protection strips to the tires. Roads are fairly big but cycle lanes down them all then into the back streets at either end of the journey.

40 minutes is average as there are a few big junctions to negotiate so getting the run on the lights always helps.

The car takes 40 minutes as does the train.

Never gets boring but can be a chore if the weather turns bad. Yet I live in South Australia so it’s never really that bad. Might get a scooter to fill in the days when I’m shattered or need to run errands after work. (I would take the car if I had the chance on these occasions)

I also have the facilities at work to shower/change etc so sweating isn’t a concern. The 45.6 degree day was hard work. Most of my colleagues advised against riding but made it home.

Try parking further away for a few weeks and build it up that way.

Get the right kit and be organised and you’ll be fine.

Good luck.

I ride 8.7KM from my front door to work everyday, uphill all the way in. Takes me about 25mins. I do it on a Specialized Secteur Triple.

Once you MTFU and start it’s great, by far better than sitting in the traffic in a car (my commute takes closer to 40mins by car). I don’t tend to care if it’s raining/blowing a hoolie or whatever, I’m just happy to be out riding bikes.

So, how far do you ride? 5 miles each way if I go direct, but I’ve got a rural to urban commute so I’ll often extend it by nipping into the woods for a lap of something. I’ve got a small child so you got to find your rides where you can 😉
How often? Pretty much everyday unless I’m working away. One car family and my wife is no way near keen enough for a 10 mile each way hilly commute on horrific roads. Plus she takes our son to the childminder so she wins out on the car front.
What sort of bike? MTB mostly, see above. Actually sold my road bike recently.

If you can’t afford a new commuter bike, you might look at one of these:

http://www.tigercycles.com/bikes/road/uc-fixie-red-green.html

They look pretty basic, but at the price, might make a new ride possible. Assuming they work, that is! In the colour combinations on offer, I can’t imagine you would have to worry about theft much.

Incidentally, I rode in every day before Christmas (only four miles each way), but after experiencing a serious back relapse, have only ridden periodically since, and feel the worse for it.

Thanks poly, the triban 3 looks like a nice little buy but i really can’t afford it at the moment while we are in the process of moving house. We are only in a small flat currently and the other half would kill me if i buy another bike that will live in the kitchen 😥

The wind is the most annoying thing for me, i would rather have a headwind in the morning and have a nice pootle back in the evening but its always seems to be the other way round!

I commute virtually every day. Orange Clockwork with Kenda road tyres for commute, but alternative routes are too rough for those, so looking at other tyre choices.
Hate driving, so bike is great, and the fact that I am almost as fast as cars over my 7 mile journey is a bonus (20-25 mins).
I would definitely recommend a second set of wheels if your commute bike is also your weekend plaything.

So, how far do you ride? – 20 miles each way
How often? – 3-5 times a week all year round
What sort of bike? – I have two bikes for commuting, cx bike with slicks and full guards for winter & really wet summer days, a ‘proper’ toad bike for dry spring/summer/autumn days.

PB IS 54:27, PW (personal worst) is about 1:35. I pretty much always ride home into a headwind.

Ride in is about 600ft of climbing and way home is 1000ft, so not a hard route. Although the climbing home is a constant 4 mile climb.

As above you need to be organised – get your riding kit out the night before, take clothes to work the days you drive so you carry as little as possible.

I absolutely love riding my bike to work.

I’d rather have a headwind on the way home when I’m not trying to beat the clock.. ie get in to work on time.

7 miles each way. Fixed wheel with full mudguards, I ride all year and maintenance required is next to nothing.

The wind is the most annoying thing for me, i would rather have a headwind in the morning and have a nice pootle back in the evening but its always seems to be the other way round!

Actually, I have empirical evidence to suggest that the wind knows which way you are trying to travel and will change direction accordingly. So if you factor wind into your decision, you will likely never ride.

20kms each way through Geneva, along the lake and up to near the Airport. Lovely in Spring, too hot in Summer, challenging in winter but toughens me up! It made me a bit tired at first but now my base fitness is so much better and I can feel the benefit when I ride for fun. 17 miles is doable, get some good skinny tyres on and go for it.

Ad yes headwinds on the way home are the worst, there is a strong winter wind call the Bees that blows from the East in winter, sometimes its been really strong and has been down to -20 windchill. I feel pretty Grrr! after riding back in that in snow.

Just 4 miles each way.
Old Peugeot road bike. Fixed gear.

Enjoy riding every day in all conditions. I found it was a mind set, once I got in the habit of putting on the gear and riding rather than jumping in the car, it became much easier.
Sometimes I’ll hammer it (usually on the way home) but usually just enjoy being on the bike.
It’s the best way to travel after all!

I ride 66 mile round trip into work twice a week as training (would like to do more, but constrained by my wife working shift work), i do live in Norfolk though, so don’t have to worry about hills to much, but we do get some nasty headwinds which sods law always seem to be on the way home.

Got into road bikes (MTB’s still my first love) since moving here and have a Giant Defy.

Once or twice a week 30 miles round trip 2000 odd foot of climbing all on cycle paths apart for about 1/2 miles on road.
Scope for some very nice offroad detours on sunny days too.

Usually CX bike, but can swap depending what bike is where.

mostly 10miles a day, somedays it’s more, up to 20miles occassionaly. Every day unless severe ice or something makes it impossible.

Road routes are on a rigid Giant XTC carbon alliance with slicks 32-44/11-25. cross country routes are on a Rock Lobster 36/11-32.

Forecast tomorrow isn’t great but wind seems to have changed direction so headwind will be in the morning.

Im going to try the 12 mile ride and see how i get on. I should look at leaving some clothes and toiletries in the office, i normally have a fairly big rucksack on my back.

The 5 miles takes me around 20 mins but thats pushing fairly hard, i will probably leave myself an hour and take it a bit easier.