The daily "I cycled to work" thread (Vol 2)

[Solocle]

Wet first day of doing this!

[gangzoom]

First commute of the year on the road bike, its amazing how good 105 drivetrain and Dura-Ace wheelset feels even at 10 year old versus a relatively new hybrid from Halfords.

[louiebaby]

gangzoom said:

First commute of the year on the road bike, its amazing how good 105 drivetrain and Dura-Ace wheelset feels even at 10 year old versus a relatively new hybrid from Halfords.

Looks like you had a good day for it. We had the warm day yesterday, and I NEARLY got my roadie out for a blast.

[MCFCNATHAN]

now its starting to get lighter ive been considering riding in. its 25miles each way. seems alot

[snobetter]

MCFCNATHAN said:

now its starting to get lighter ive been considering riding in. its 25miles each way. seems alot

How do you normally commute, could you drive half way to start with your bike in the car?

[MCFCNATHAN]

snobetter said:

How do you normally commute, could you drive half way to start with your bike in the car?

i drive. takes about 35-45 mins in covid times. was over an hour before.
had a look at getting the train halfway and then cycling in but works out twice the price of petrol and theres only one train in the morning. a bike rack isnt really an option for my car

[gangzoom]

MCFCNATHAN said:

now its starting to get lighter ive been considering riding in. its 25miles each way. seems alot

It's getting lighter but the weather this week hasn't been great. My commute is only 6 miles and yesterday on the way home with headwind, rain, cold, darkness, I wouldn't have said no to a car.

I'll be going in on the bike again today as the weather report is better.

But 25 miles each way = 3hrs on the bike, you will need a shower at work, and a decent bike to worry about locking up at work. Even a big battery eBike might struggle for range if the wind is blowing the wrong way.

You might be able to it once or twice a week, but unless you are really dedicated don't even try it everyday. I recon my split between driving and biking for the commute over the winter has been 40/60, and thats on an eBike 99% of the time, 12 miles round trip.

Edited by gangzoom on Friday 5th March 03:07

[Matt97]

Nice ride in this morning

[RizzoTheRat]

Lovely quiet morning on the commute

[jimmy156]

Looks Cold!

My commute is a smidge over 100k round trip, and I was very please to be faster on the way home then on the way in earlier in the week. Im usually fked for the ride home after a whole day on my feet at work! Slight tail wind probably helped. I have to be deliberatly slow on the way in so that I actually make it home

Morning:


Going home:

[dhutch]

jimmy156 said:

Looks Cold!

Better than wet mind!

I did every day bar one I needed the car for last week, but this week I've only done two days one of which was rather damp on the second leg of the way in.

10min ride to station, 40min train ride inc one change, 10min ride to office. Repeat on return.

Gives a nice bit of fresh air and raised heart rate, train fare is about the same as petrol so likely overall cost saving to boot.
With this work Wirral-Runcorn is is nor quicker by car (35 motorway driving each way) but when at Speke is was faster than by car through Liverpool.

[RizzoTheRat]

dhutch said:

Better than wet mind!

My commute's pretty short though so even torrential rain isn't much of a problem. I'm getting back in to walking in and running home one day a week now the weather's improving...or was improving

Only taken the car once this year, when my Mrs needed a lift to work.

[S100HP]

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

[TCX]

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

Nope,just going to end up wearing yourself out,12 miles each way through London and 10 hour shift was way more than I could handle every day

[S100HP]

TCX said:

Nope,just going to end up wearing yourself out,12 miles each way through London and 10 hour shift was way more than I could handle every day

I used to live 10.5 miles from my old job and could commute most days, but they were typically 0900-1730, not 0630-1830!

[andrebar]

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

I used to but it was only about 9 miles each way. Found it tough for first few weeks but soon started looking forward to the ride home. My alternative was catching the tube which I absolutely hated though.

[gangzoom]

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

Maybe my legs are just shot, but after doing 5 days of a 7 mile commute each way bu the weekend am knackered, and that's on an eBike!!

I find I can do 3-4 days a week at the most otherwise my body is just not happy. 32 miles a day on the pedal bike would be way too much for me anyways. But no reason why you cannot do it day 1 and day 5 etc.

[dontlookdown]

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

I used to do a 30 mile round trip commute 4 or 5 days a week. Once you get used to it, it's great. Great for fitness and mental 'elf and no need to worry about having another chocolate hob nob if you want one. I was working 9 or 10hr days, however, not 12.

Can you try working up to it? Cycle in 1 or 2 days to start with then do more as you get acclimatised?

[yellowjack]

dontlookdown said:

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

I used to do a 30 mile round trip commute 4 or 5 days a week. Once you get used to it, it's great. Great for fitness and mental 'elf and no need to worry about having another chocolate hob nob if you want one. I was working 9 or 10hr days, however, not 12.

Can you try working up to it? Cycle in 1 or 2 days to start with then do more as you get acclimatised?

About 20 years ago I used to have a 3 mile commute in to work, but often chose to do a 26 mile loop home after work. Like three or four times per week. But I was a lot younger then, and fitness was a big part of my professional life too. And the big bonus was that if I "wasn't feeling it" on any given day I could cut it back to 15 miles, 10 miles, or even head straight home and cut it to 3 miles. I think I'd have really struggled to motivate myself onto the bike in the morning if I knew there was a busy day coming up at work and cycling would leave me needing to slog through an hour on the bike just to get home again.

You're clearly capable of the physical aspect of riding that distance. I suppose you need to assess the relative costs and returns. Is the fitness and possibly the head-space you'd get from cycling worth the trade off in terms of cycling in poor weather and the "lost" time you could otherwise spend in bed, or spend cooking, watching TV, or with someone you care about?

[S100HP]

yellowjack said:

dontlookdown said:

S100HP said:

Does anyone commute and do 12hr shifts? I've ridden home after a night shift and back in the evening a few times, but it's 16ish miles, about an hour each way. It's not really viable, or am I being a big fanny?

I used to do a 30 mile round trip commute 4 or 5 days a week. Once you get used to it, it's great. Great for fitness and mental 'elf and no need to worry about having another chocolate hob nob if you want one. I was working 9 or 10hr days, however, not 12.

Can you try working up to it? Cycle in 1 or 2 days to start with then do more as you get acclimatised?

About 20 years ago I used to have a 3 mile commute in to work, but often chose to do a 26 mile loop home after work. Like three or four times per week. But I was a lot younger then, and fitness was a big part of my professional life too. And the big bonus was that if I "wasn't feeling it" on any given day I could cut it back to 15 miles, 10 miles, or even head straight home and cut it to 3 miles. I think I'd have really struggled to motivate myself onto the bike in the morning if I knew there was a busy day coming up at work and cycling would leave me needing to slog through an hour on the bike just to get home again.

You're clearly capable of the physical aspect of riding that distance. I suppose you need to assess the relative costs and returns. Is the fitness and possibly the head-space you'd get from cycling worth the trade off in terms of cycling in poor weather and the "lost" time you could otherwise spend in bed, or spend cooking, watching TV, or with someone you care about?

Cheers. I'm back up to 100mile weeks these days so no issue with the physical aspect of the ride, even twice a day, just feel like it'll be too much with such little downtime between shifts. I think I'll stick with what I'm doing, and that is occasionally riding between night shifts. Sleep is less important on nights as I only get 4/6hrs anyway. It also just doesn't appeal leaving at 0520, I like my bed at nighttime.

As a side, I've just followed you on Strava. You've followed me for ages but I didn't for some reason. Apols.

Edited by S100HP on Wednesday 6th April 12:53