Training for a Commute

tedlarue

Hello all

Being a newcomer to cycling, and with the added target of commuting to work (12 miles each way), I was wondering what you suggest to get me up to this level.

I haven't really done anything in the way of excerise for a few years but used to be fairly fit. I'm trying to get out at the weekends to start off with so is it just a case of keeping at it until I can complete that distance comfortably?

Also, outside of commuting when do you find time train? I find once I've got home from work, fed myself and helped get my daughter to bed I've just not got the energy to go out.

Bronzie

TedLaRue wrote:

so is it just a case of keeping at it until I can complete that distance comfortably?

I'd say yes, unless your commute involves trying to beat black cabs down Oxford Street

If you want to set yourself some goals for the future, you could see how quick you can do your trip. I'd guess it'll probably start off taking you around an hour, but come the summer if you stick at it you'll be knocking 20 minutes off it.

ColinJ

TedLaRue wrote:

Being a newcomer to cycling, and with the added target of commuting to work (12 miles each way), I was wondering what you suggest to get me up to this level.

I haven't really done anything in the way of excerise for a few years but used to be fairly fit. I'm trying to get out at the weekends to start off with so is it just a case of keeping at it until I can complete that distance comfortably?

Hi Ted.

I don't know how old you are or how fit (or unfit?) you are, so all I can do is tell you how it is was for me when I first got back into cycling...

I was a very overweight and unfit 33 year old at the time. I live in a very hilly part of Yorkshire and found the hills very tough to start with but I didn't have any difficulty with doing 15 miles along the flatter valley roads, apart from getting a sore bum until I changed my saddle for a better one. My first ride was 15 miles back from work on a bike the wrong size for me. I'd worked overtime and missed my lift, so a workmate let me borrow his bike.

So... I would have thought that you'd probably be able to cope with the distance of your commute without any training unless it is exceptionally hilly.

What you won't cope with at first is doing it twice a day 5 times a week. 12 miles isn't a long ride, but a regular 120 miles of commuting a week is quite a committment - getting on for 6,000 miles a year which is more than I've ever managed!

You might not even be able to manage work and back the same day to start with because your legs might still be stiff in the evening from the morning ride in. If you have secure bike storage at work perhaps you could cycle in one day, leave your bike at work and come back by other means (lift, bus etc.) Do it the other way round the next day and so on.

Alternatively, if you can handle one day of riding to work and back, do that and use alternative transport the other 4 days. When you are happy with that, do the bike commute 2 days and slowly build up to doing it every day. Obviously spread the days out to give yourself time to recover. Assuming you ride at the weekends, something like: I commute/week = Wed; 2 commutes = Tue/Thu; 3 commutes = Mon/Wed/Thu; 4 commutes, pick one day off to suit. Eventually you work your way up to the full commuting week. A mate of mine got superbly fit doing 15 mile commutes, but sometimes he was tired at the weekends and didn't fancy doing any extra riding.

Good luck!

chrisw12

Colin, very good answer, good advice.

Quite true what you said, that a 12 mile one way trip is very easy, but to do it 10 times in a week and have to work in between, it does get very demanding.

I also come from a very simmilar background, very unfit starting off, I remember the first time I tried commuting to work it was an absolute nightmare, but it does get a lot easier.

BlackHelmet

Just set yourself a day to start - maybe next Friday? Anything you need at work (cloths, food etc) take to work on Thursday so you can travel light on Friday. 12 miles is a reasonable distance to cover (I do 19) so choose Friday and no matter how tired you are commuting home you've got the weekend to look forward to. Then move onto two days a week etc...

tedlarue

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Before I went out for the first time last weekend I thought I was still reasonably fit but after only 5ish miles and a couple of pretty steep hills my legs weren't half feeling it!

I haven't been on a bike for well over 10 years (I'm 30 next week) so it's a confidence thing as well as fitness I suppose. The concentration can be as tiring as the cycling especially on the crater covered roads of South London!