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 Pinnacle Lithium 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.

Ride to work, bit of road, bit of greenspace, bit of woods.

Ride at work, lovely trails in the middle of town.

Ride home from work via the hills.

Love Edinburgh.

I ride 5 miles in to work and back to home every working day, that might change to 18 miles there and back if my new boss decided to relocate me back to the main office.
I have the luxury of choosing between my orbea road bike and my Claud Butler mountain bike (running on slicks).

Music is my biggest motivation to ride to work.. nothing beats burying a set of ear buds in your ears and mashing on the pedals for half an hour.

Couple of miles here, but carrying two kids on the cargo bike to school, then on to work. Rain or shine, & was great fun in the snow. 🙂 Office moving a couple of miles away soon so another 10 mins on the journey, that I’m actually looking forward to.

Commute now and then, did today .. 19 miles each way on the road bike, got a bit damp on the way home 🙁 …. enjoyed it though 😀 … But i can do a mixture of road, bridal way and canals but thats 26 miles on the mtb ….. could do with a crosser if im honest !

When in the office, always. A nice 20 minute pootle along the river, past the scenic finery of That London.

12 miles each way for me, 4 days a week on a proper lovely Devinci Leo road bike.

I’ve always ridden to work – its an important factor in any new job for me, and do it whatever the weather. As said before, if you have the attitude that it is the only way, you just get on with it!

Just changed jobs and trying to find a good offroad version of the route, but not being too successful at the moment, anyone know the trails between Lingfield & Redhill? Too many footpaths with many stiles and not enough good trail is my experience so far 🙁

13 miles each way for me, 3-4 days a week (I work at other sites on the other days so can’t ride every day). Mixture of dedicated cycle paths, cycle lanes at the side of roads and roads, but I’m really lucky as all are quiet. Great showers, changing rooms, drying room and secure bike store make it easy for me.

Done on a rigid Mtb with narrow slicks. Best bit of advice I can give is full mud guards.

2 miles each way for me.
Singlespeed Mango bike, 42×16, 700x23c wheels is the ideal bike for this. I don’t actually own a car so i’m on it rain, shine or snow every working day of the year.
Also used for shopping trips, local transport and general getting about.

14.5 miles each way for me on a SS Pompino, 42-18, 25mm Schwalbe Duranos. It’s a new job, so still getting my bearings /routine down with showers, changing and routes.

Work starts at 7am, so leave at 5.30. I’d be interested to know how early people set off.

I start work at 8am , but leave the house at 6 ish … usually takes me 1hr 10mins to do the 19 miles

I’d be interested to know how early people set off.

I start work at 9am, so leave at 7. Usually in work for about 8:15 so plenty of time for a shower plus I always like to factor in extra time for headwind, punctures, etc.

Leave house at 5.30 to be in before 7.30… so I can head home at 4.00 😀

Which brings up an interesting question about breakfast before an early commute. Off to start another thread.

I’d be interested to know how early people set off.

I start officially at 8.55am. But I like to get early and do any paperwork/planning to let me leave at the end of the *school* day. So I leave the house at 6.45am for 5.5 mile each way commute. Gives me plaenty to time to shower, breakfast and do any bits and bobs for the day I need to do.

On another note…. my courier bag that I use absolutely reeks! Can you stick a cordura bag in the washing machine?

I’d be interested to know how early people set off.

6:00 normally. Arrive about 7:00. Have a poo in the company lav, shower and at my desk for 7:30. The plan is to be out the door at 16:00 but that rarely works out. I used to set off half an hour earlier but particularly in summer, the changing rooms were full of guys starting the 7:00 shift in the call centre so I find getting there a bit later works better for me.

As for not having showers being a reason to not commute, it’s not. It’s just an excuse. I’m not having a go but it’s how much you want to do it. For four years I worked at sites with no showers,no changing facilities,no lockers,no bike lock area, nothing. Shower before I left, wipe down with a wet cloth in the disabled toilets on arrival, plenty of deodorant.

So today was my first day riding most of the way in. Had to give yesterday a miss since i needed to drive to parents after work and pick some stuff up.

I thought it was 12 miles but after a check on google it is only 9 miles. It took me 33 minutes with a couple of stops at traffic lights, whih works out at about 16mph average (with a gentle tail wind). Energy levels seemed surprisingly good. Although the wind will be picking up through the day so it will be a bit harder on the way back.

Set off at 7:20 from parking the car and got to work, showered, had some cereal and at my desk by 8:25 🙂

Will see how tonight goes, the full route from my house is 17.8 miles, so twice as far nearly. Hoping to give this a go when i have some new tyres!

good on ya, im always amazed how much better i feel when i do it.

Nice one – once you get into a routine you will miss it when you can’t do it!

Nice one Yorkshire 89, welcome to the commuter fold!

For the record I do 25 miles each way, 50/50 on/off road, fairly hilly. At least once a week, but try for twice, but need to keep a bit in reserve for weekend riding/triathlons etc. We have secure bike parking and showers too, which is great.

As before, get everything ready the night before, and don’t be swayed by weather forecast, it’s often wrong. I actually revel in the sense of achievement when the weather is foul 🙂

I’m home based so have to carry everything with me including laptop, papers, clothes, shoes, toiletries etc. I use a road/cross bike with panniers and full mudguards.

My missis works in the same office occasionally, she walks to the local station and takes the train. We set off about the same time, I get there about 20 mins before her :-). Similar result if she takes the car as there is no parking at the office.

+1 with ddmonkey
I do 3+ days of 10 miles each way each week. I miss it when I have to use the car.
If you have the right phone use Endomondo or other tracker to see how you get on. There may be routes of others that cross yours that may be a good diversion or help finesse bits of your route.
The Winter Warrior Challenge on Endomondo by GrahamS helped get me to turn on the tracker and was another little push to get out of the door and on the way.
Easy in the summer.

I’ve done just over a week of it after messing up whilst playing with the electrics on my car.

6.5miles by road on the way in, or 7 on footpaths/bridleways/byways on the way back. Nothing technical, just ‘riding round the edge of a field’ and green lanes type stuff. But it makes a nice change in the evening avoiding the rush hour or if it’s dark/miserable and I CBA dealing with SMIDSYs or ISYMBCOA (I saw you mate but carried on anyway), usualy encountered when not using the outside lane of roundabouts, they decide to try and overtake round the outside, or when indicating right the car behind decides to overtake.

I enjoy commuting by bike, but some days it takes the paitience of a saint not to rip every wing mirror within a half mile radius off it’s mountings!

Well done,

Weather wise, the only things that stop me on a morning are heavy rain (roads end up lethal and flooded) and snow (for safety).
I really miss travelling on the bike if I drive in. Added bonus for Friday is a bacon butty if I ride.
I use Runtastic Mountain bike to track my rides and generally keep track on what I am doing.

I know how thisisnotaspoon feels. Just ride in a manner that keeps you safest.

Enjoy.

13 miles each way for me 2 or 3 times a week on quiet country lanes, bought a road bike now so its loads quicker and means I can eat ANYTHING!

Yea, slowly learning where the blackspots are and developing a don’t give a poop attitude to holding up trafic if all it’s going to do it overtake dangerously to reach the back of the que ahead quicker.

Used to do 15 miles each way (record was 41 minutes), flat out on the road bike, given how tired my legs feel now I’m not sure how I ever managed it! Plan now is to build back upto that distance by the end of the summer (and maybe the pace, but I’ll be happy if I can survive the distance).

Does anyone else find commuting X miles a week far more tiring than just doing X miles in one go at the weekend? You’d think my ~60 mile commute would be easier than doing ~60miles at the same pace at the weekend.

yes I ride a bike to work. It is quite a boring experience. And then I boringly ride back. I suppose it is good exercise. 3 miles each way.

Cheers 🙂 Did feel nice and awake once i got sat down compared to driving in.

Not massively looking forward to riding home in a couple of hours since its just started raining but i suppose it will keep me cool.

Can anybody recommend any decent road tyres for my 26″ MTB?

I just use normal (tubeless) MTB tyres. But then I’m on the SS so speed is limited by off-road biased gearing as much as anything.

If your commute involves any non-rural roads then tubeless or puncture proof is a nececity. Mine involves a few busy roundabouts with the usual gutterfulls of headlamp glass.

Does anyone else find commuting X miles a week far more tiring than just doing X miles in one go at the weekend? You’d think my ~60 mile commute would be easier than doing ~60miles at the same pace at the weekend.

Not really the question, but I find my commute into London tires me out far far more than a ride of the same distance nearer home, I can only think it’s the repeated sprints from a standing start and all the lights.

Yes there is some urban roads once i get into town. I’m looking for some puncture proof semi-slick tyres then. Assuming i want something fairly lightweight too? How wide?

I will be buying new wheels soon and going tubeless for off-road so my current wheels will be kept for commuting.

ETA: Here’s a couple of tyres im currently looking at. One semi slick and one fully slick. Both have puncture protetion.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=24626
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=24794

Will i die with a fully slick? The other option has bits to help with cornering when its damp i guess. The slick would look cool though 🙂
Would i have to go for a 2″ wide tyre with a MTB rim?

All good things must come to an end! My free car of 6 years is being scrapped at the end of the month and I must then ride everywhere! 😯

I have a biiig commute of 2 miles each way! 😯 This will get extended to 16 miles round trip once summer is here, as I’ll be helping a friend with his car/farm. Depending on conditions I can make this 80% off-road or 100% road/cycle path.

I’ll have to buy some waterproofs and a decent lock for when popping to the shops.

I’m going to be a proper bicylist for at least this summer and winter.

Now is this 4 miles a day going to help my fitness whatsoever!? Last time I did this my food bill for the week doubled! 😯