Too far to commute by bike?

[ripvanrando]

How far is too far to commute by bike?

My new work location is 20 miles by direct route on not the greatest road during rush hour and 26 miles with some climbing on beautiful country roads. So, I have 40, 46, or 52 miles per day. I tested it on the weekend. The scenic 26 mile segment took me 1 3/4 hours and the 20 mile stretch took me 1:15 riding both briskly but not hard. I will be working 10-11 hour days. The location has a shower. The client dresses fairly casual! Seems perfect.


Am I crazy to consider 26 miles morning and night? (I have good lights and reflective gear and have night riding experience, just need to figure out carrying that damned laptop)

[Cicli]

There is no option to agree with you. I would ride it.

[ripvanrando]

There is no option to agree with you. I would ride it.

I messed up, not awake yet. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Cicli. It takes 45-50 minutes by car anyway.

[SlowPokePete]

For me, the direct route is only 16 miles, but my preferred route is almost double that distance.

I want to ride my bike, right???

And I wanted to be able to carry stuff, so I bought Raygunner's Ahearne to help get the job done.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z142/SlowPokePete/Misc%202016/7FA3178F-B6E6-451A-8342-7713BFAA353B_zpsxatzhvnn.jpg (http://s191.photobucket.com/user/SlowPokePete/media/Misc%202016/7FA3178F-B6E6-451A-8342-7713BFAA353B_zpsxatzhvnn.jpg.html)

SPP

[rzthomas]

Why don't you just drive one way of the trip and ride the other? You'll stay less fatigued and will be able to ride every day instead of falling apart by Wednesday.

[soulspinner]

Why don't you just drive one way of the trip and ride the other? You'll stay less fatigued and will be able to ride every day instead of falling apart by Wednesday.

sounds good if logistics work...

[oldpotatoe]

How far is too far to commute by bike?

My new work location is 20 miles by direct route on not the greatest road during rush hour and 26 miles with some climbing on beautiful country roads. So, I have 40, 46, or 52 miles per day. I tested it on the weekend. The scenic 26 mile segment took me 1 3/4 hours and the 20 mile stretch took me 1:15 riding both briskly but not hard. I will be working 10-11 hour days. The location has a shower. The client dresses fairly casual! Seems perfect.


Am I crazy to consider 26 miles morning and night? (I have good lights and reflective gear and have night riding experience, just need to figure out carrying that damned laptop)

Have a car with bike rack? And can you leave your car overnight? Drive car with bike in AM..ride bike home in PM..ride bike to work next AM..drive home in PM..repeat.

[Joxster]

There have been a good few times where I have commuted up to 40 miles each way. up to 30miles is just a warm up during the summer months I would ride 40 miles in and on the way back throw in a 90mile loop three times a week. It's good training.

[ripvanrando]

I like the idea of riding one way each day. I'm just a consultant on a 10 week gig and not sure if I can leave my vehicle there overnight but I'll ask the security desk. It's a great idea that way I can take the really scenic and hilly way. Thanks. Sitting in a coffee shop 2 hours into today's ride I was thinking how great it would be if I could fit cycling into my workweek and this drive one way and ride the bike the other direction is pure gold

[Schmed]

do not put your laptop in a backpack. It can get damaged if you crash. Ask me how I know:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j192/schmed123/704acb9c.jpg

[jasonification]

do not put your laptop in a backpack. It can get damaged if you crash. Ask me how I know:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j192/schmed123/704acb9c.jpg
:o

Sent from my D6653 using Tapatalk

[Lewis Moon]

I do 40 miles ending at work, four days a week. I might not actually call that a commute per se, but I carry clothes etc. I call it a win/win twofer.

[Lewis Moon]

do not put your laptop in a backpack. It can get damaged if you crash. Ask me how I know:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j192/schmed123/704acb9c.jpg

Don't put anything big and hard in your backpack, next to your spine....

[flydhest]

For me the question would be what other commitments you have in terms of time. Available time is my constraint. Of course, you note driving takes 45 minutes, so it is the marginal time spent.


When I was in grad school and the first year as a professor, i was riding 40-50 miles per day during the week. Longer on weekends. Now, work and kids and other means I do not have an extra 2-3 hours per day during the week. I sleep too little as it is.

So time, not distance would be the determinant for me (with the understanding that they are the same thing conditional on speed).

If you would be driving, but also going to a gym to work out for an extra hour or two, then for me the bike commute would be a no-brainer.

[Jad]

^Yeah, I agree with Flydhest; it's a matter of time. If you've got the time and are up for riding, ride as much as you want to commute.

26 miles is not crazy--crazy is driving 1.5 hours each way daily on end (I only say that because I've done it and know people who do it!). I would absolutely avoid the trafficky route unless it meant no riding at all.

Good luck!

[cinema]

i commute ~20 miles each way by bike, around 39 a day. at least 3x a week sometimes 4. If I ride everyday i'm not fresh for a weekend ride and i lose too much weight. One thing i hadn't considered before i started riding that much was how much I need to eat for breakfast and throughout the day. 26 sounds perfectly fine, as long as you're not doing it every day. give yourself a rest day. not sure what your elevation is like but total gained elevation for my commute is around 1400'

the funny thing is, it's faster for me to ride to work than to drive

[onsight512]

As others have said, it all depends on how much time you can allocate. I like riding my bike(s).

[ripvanrando]

Time should be ok. 6 hours sleep. 10-11 hours work. 2.25 hours commute. 5 hours to do other stuff

[onsight512]

and I'd add that although it took you 1.75 hours on your first time, it will almost assuredly take less time as you ride the route more and more.

[rain dogs]

As others have said time is the biggest factor.

But regarding time, don't forget that in addition to car commute comparisons, you need to factor in costs saved (ie gas and the work hours to earn that money) and also fitness time. You are a person who puts a premium on fitness, or you likely wouldn't consider commuting 40+ miles by bike. That fitness time will be elsewhere in your week if you drive. So, in a sense you kind of win double time by riding. (I will say, if you have specific training goals, this may not be a 1-1 exchange, because it's unlikely you'll do them on your commute, but you get the idea.) Maybe it's possible that your 5 hours of free time includes very little riding because you're doing the majority of it on your commute. Win-win!

Just try it and you'll find out on your own pretty quickly if it works or not.

[Mzilliox]

my wife commutes 12 miles each way 3-4 times per week. usually in the morning we take the easy short way, i ride in with her, then i take a long way back home, sometimes up to 25 miles. Or i will go back out to met her for her ride home and we will do a long route home. its a great way for her to forget about her work day as she unwinds on the way home. she works up to 16 hours per day sometimes and we thought it may be tough for her to cycle home each time after such a long day at work. so far i have not had one of those phone calls, you know, the come pick me up im too tired to ride calls. she loves that ride home!

[fourflys]

when I was in San Diego, I'd ride 23 miles each way when I rode to work... but, even though there was traffic, it wasn't bad... I'm around 15 miles from work now and wouldn't dream of riding as the infrastructure isn't built for it, especially during high traffic times...

[ripvanrando]

It is all about fitness and feeling good. The cost of travel (gas, wear and tear, oil, tires, etc.) is trivial compared to the loss of billable hours if I am on my bike instead of cranking out billable work product.

Commuting would be easy on the direct 20 mile route but it is into the sun both directions until the days get a bit shorter. I don't trust texters who drive. Give me a drunk driver over textaholics. Once it is dark, I might actually be safer on the 50 mph county road if I am lite like a Christmas tree with reflectors and an EN1150 certified reflective Gillet and all that stuff. I have always found cars give me a much wider bearth at night

[AngryScientist]

as others have mentioned, time is the factor, and only you know if you've got that to spare. from your other posts here, i know you have the fitness and the experience to do the commute without negative effects on your body.

if i worked 11 hours a day and commuted by bike for over 3+ hours with showering, etc - i would never see my family or have time to accomplish anything around the house, so that would not work for me, but if this is only a temporary gig - just give it a go and see how it plays out - you'll probably be ok doing the full commute some weeks, and need to dial it back others to work in other commitments, would be my guess.

[Gummee]

IME about an hour to 1:20 is about the perfect commute by bike. Less and it really isn't worth getting dressed for and too much more means you won't do it often enough

Depending on my route, I'm riding between 17 and X miles each way. I'll typically go the short route TO work and the longer route home.

The second workout of the day is the one that makes all the difference weight-wise.

M

[Bradford]

I had a client for two years with a good bike room and a shower. The commute was 25 each way to and from Denver and I liked the distance. The ride in always nice, even in the winter, but the ride home was hard because I was usually hungry, it was more up hill, and that is a long time in the dark in them winter.

I found a place I could drive too that cut it down to an hour each way and used that when I didn't have the time for the full ride. In general, my schedule held my rides to 2/3 days a week, but those were always my best days.

The funny part was it took me an hour and 15 minutes when I took the train, but only and hour and 25 minutes on bike. The return was closer to 2 hours, but he ride in was fast. I really miss that gig.

[bigbill]

I've done a lot of commuting. In Hawaii my commute was 13 miles each way with some loops I could add on the way home if I wanted. Really flat. It was a perfect distance and we lived with one car. I rode every day regardless of weather. It was always warm but I pedaled through a few tropical storms and shouldered my bike across some flooded areas on the Pearl Harbor Bike Path.

In the PNW, my commute was 21 miles in, 22 miles home. About 1800 feet each way. The difference being an area that had heavy traffic in the afternoon that I'd bypass. That commute was tough. It's not 43 miles a day, it's ten 21-22 mile rides a week. I only did 5 days in a row a few times. It's about recovery, I'd get home around 6pm and leave around 5am. Less than 12 hours between rides. It would wear me down by Friday. It would have been a good commute with an ebike.

[Coaster]

I like the idea of riding one way each day. I'm just a consultant on a 10 week gig and not sure if I can leave my vehicle there overnight but I'll ask the security desk. It's a great idea that way I can take the really scenic and hilly way. Thanks. Sitting in a coffee shop 2 hours into today's ride I was thinking how great it would be if I could fit cycling into my workweek and this drive one way and ride the bike the other direction is pure gold



I commute ~15 miles each way 3-5 days a week. It has been a lifesaver with young kids because I can maintain riding my bike (with minimal net extra time over the drive) without burning valuable weekend time with them. I've done the suggestion above with a one way drive before when I had a longer commute. It's true that 10 15-mile rides feels like more than 5 30-mile rides!

[SlackMan]

For me the question would be what other commitments you have in terms of time. Available time is my constraint. Of course, you note driving takes 45 minutes, so it is the marginal time spent.


When I was in grad school and the first year as a professor, i was riding 40-50 miles per day during the week. Longer on weekends. Now, work and kids and other means I do not have an extra 2-3 hours per day during the week. I sleep too little as it is.

So time, not distance would be the determinant for me (with the understanding that they are the same thing conditional on speed).

If you would be driving, but also going to a gym to work out for an extra hour or two, then for me the bike commute would be a no-brainer.

Flydhest's reply is pretty much what I was thinking. Years ago when it was just my wife and I with few other time obligations, I used to do 43 miles per day between commuting + a short ride with my wife after getting home. A son, helping with schoolwork, etc. makes that impossible now, but having moved to a different job, my commute is only 21 miles round-trip now. I find that easy to do.

[smontanaro]

There is no option to agree with you. I would ride it.

+1. Depending on my route, it's anywhere from 12.5 to 16 miles one way for me. I'd gladly ride further.

[Tickdoc]

Showers at work? Good roads?

So many factors would alter my decision.

I commuted a fair bit a few years ago, but found it more trouble than it's worth.

5 mi each way, I found myself sneaking my backpack with clothes besides the house so as not to alert the kids/wife/dog of my presence and then stealing away for a proper ride just to make the commute worthwhile.

Lights are an issue, as well as sudden weather changes/swings and to top it off we have construction going on midway of my commute that I cannot avoid by bike or car. Oh, and lunch; I don't eat breakfast during the week, so lunch is huge for me, and I found myself eating out each commute day, where I would normally go home for lunch.

I'd rather just dedicate the time to a ride and not have to put the effort into packing a wardrobe, toiletries, etc.

Now, if I had a job with no dress restrictions or hygiene concerns, good roads, and wasn't such a pussy, I would be willing to commute 25 miles daily.