Sustainable weekly distance???

hungovermatt

Whilst I'm not new to cycling I am a complete beginner when it comes to road riding, so I'm after some advice.

I'm looking to save on my commute to work whilst obtaining/maintaining a decent degree of fitness. My commute is 25 miles each way.

Is this doable every day (250 miles a week)? If not what is doable, 200 miles, 150???
Can I maintain an average speed of 12.5mph including junctions etc, bearing in mind I'll be travelling into/out of central London at rush hour? Don't really want it to take longer than 2 hours each way...

Any suggestions/observations would be gratefully received.

Cheers

Infamous

Try it and see? Build up gradually, one week do it on 2 of the days, then next week do it 3 times etc.

hungovermatt

Trouble is I don't have a road bike at the moment and don't want to buy one and then realise I can't do it and have to pay for train journeys too.

I aim to spend on a road bike (incliding all equipment, spares and servicing) what I will save on not buying my annual season ticket, thus the cost of getting to work will be the same in the first year then considerably cheaper in all subsequent years, until I need a new bike etc.

rolf_f

Plenty of serviceable, good quality bikes sold every day on Ebay for less than a hundred quid - why would you need to spend more? (Want to spend more is an entirely different thing!) Buy one for £70, try it for a few weeks and if you don't get on with the bike commute, sell it for £70. Net cost = zero. If you do get on with it, but want a more posy bike, sell the old one for £70 and buy something flash.

As for spares - what spares? I've so far done 600 miles this year (only 15 mile round trip and I can't bike in when I am travelling which is fairly regular) and my spares requirement has been zero. I have bought some cycle specific clothes but, for the commute, all I've used is £20 worth of Lidl shoes and a £10 Lidl waterproof.

Really, unless your season ticket is cheap, the bike commute should be much cheaper than break even.

As for frequency - I'd be impressed at 50 miles a day even if on the flat! I am a beginner but I do so far tend to need at least one day off the bike a week. By the time my Metro card expires I hope I'll be doing five days a week though.

CiB

25 miles every day, there & back is bit of a task; I think the biggest issue would be maintaining the enthusiasm day in day out in all weathers. I'm out of touch with public transport costs but is 2 days on the bike, 1 day on PT and then 2 more days on the bike an option, just to break it up? I do 21 each way and some days towards the end of the week I'm not quite as up for it as I could be. 25 miles is physically pretty easy though, once you get used to the effort & routine. My 21 takes about 1h 10m +/- a bit depending on everything, but another 4 miles wouldn't be an issue nowadays.

amaferanga

Provided you don't plan to cycle much at weekends I'd say that 4 or 5 days a week will be doable in the spring/summer/autumn. Not many people would be able to or even want to keep that sort of commute going through the winter though. And on a road bike on the flat you should easily manage >20km/h.

If you like doing epic weekend rides you might find it tough....

bomberesque

^what Rolf says.

If you're reasonably fit already and the route isn't too onerous (big hills and that) then I would think that you could buy an ebay bike and start with 100k per week, taking the train on the other days. Once you have built up to being able to do that distance 5 days a week (it's a lot) then you can dump your season pass and save for a nicer bike.

I ride 130km a week as a commute (35km / 4 days a week) and this is enough for me to leave me with the energy to still ride MTB on the weekends. I'll build up to 5 days a week eventually or start to lengthen the route and keep it at 4/5 but this is good for me at the moment. A full rest day midweek is a really good thing aswell, you really feel your muscles rebuilding!

don't go straight into 250 miles a week unless you're completely confident that you can manage it, coz if you aren't, you won't.

CiB

You could do worse than pop over to the Commuting - Commuting General thread and ask the same question there. There's a useful sticky there that might provide some guidance, but there are some hard-core commuters over there who'll big you up and convince you that 35 miles each way in the depths of Winter is a boys' ride; why are you even asking the question... Pop over & have a look.

freehub

I was doing 300 miles a week at one point, I would not have being able to manage to get to that stage if I was not cycling to college, 10 miles there 10-15 back.

bice

To answer your original point, no, I don't think you will save by trying this commute, but will get fitter. It is too far to commit everyday to doing this, whatever your age or fitness. Of course, it might become an obsession, but then your work might suffer. Why not just try it on your existing bike, or borrow one, and at least get an impression what you are in for.

I know I could not do that distance and I have commuted in London for years. But I do six miles to work. An ideal distance and easily doable winter and summer.

cougie

What bike do you have at the moment Matt ? If you fitted slicks onto an MTB for example - that would make a big difference.

250 mpw is a lot for a beginner, but some experienced riders would eat it up.

I'd try it for one day and see how it went ? Cant see that a beginner would be realistically be able to do it more than say 3 times per week to start with.

geoff_ss

It's a big commitment if that's just your commuting miles. You total weekly mileage is going to be higher than that if you go out at weekends. It also depends on the terrain. If it's hilly it's a lot harder as it will eb if it's on some poorly surfaced roads/cycle paths.

My commute was about 135 miles/week minimum (more on nice days ) and I found that to be easy to maintain all year in all weathers but double that ...? Not so sure. All you can do is give it a go. One thing is you'll get either fit or totally knackered

Geoff

LittleB0b

Is there somewhere at each end you could store your bike so you could ride one way and get the the bus/train home, then the next day train in cycle home ect?

or what about riding to a station half way in?

bompington

I could probably do my 20 miles each way without killing myself, but it definitely takes it out of me if I do, never mind the time out of my life.
So what I do is (similar to LittleB0b's suggestion) to take the bike in by car on Monday, leave the car and cycle home, then back to work the next morning, and the same wed/thurs. If I want to increase the miles for training I get up earlier and take a longer route in.
That's only 80 miles a week, but it still gets me fit & saves £8 a week in fuel - which is nearly the cost of a £1K bike on C2W.

hungovermatt

Thank you all for your replies.

I've been thinking about this today and I can save more than enough money to buy a decent bike and sufficient kit by riding just 3 days a week, taking the train on the other 2. I'll likely still have enough left over to cover those ocassional days when I can't get that third day cyclying in and have to take train instead. In the winter I should be fit enough to pick these three days on a Sunday thus avoiding the worst of the weather. To start I could stick to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, giving me rest in between every riding day.

So, what do you all think to 150 miles pw???

No need to worry about needing to save myself for weekend rides. At present I plan to ride solely to commute (sorry if that offends anyone!)

rhext

As a visitor from the commuting pages:

1) 150 miles per week is doable.

2) you should be able to average better than 12.5 MPH, but it may take a while to get there if you're new to it. Might also depend on your courage and attitude to red lights in some of the more densely populated areas, but most of the experienced commuters seem to be able to average about 15 MPH+ while obeying the highway code the cities.

3) If your job is particularly demanding, that might cause a problem. You also need to consider how practical it is to extend an individual working day by four hours - works for some, but not everyone.

Sounds to me that, as long as you can handle the time aspect of it, you have little to lose. If you've got a 'xc-oriented' mountain bike, I'd recommend sticking some slicks on it and having a go for a couple of weeks. Then decide whether to invest in a dedicated machine.

Aggieboy

freehub wrote:

I was doing 300 miles a week at one point, I would not have being able to manage to get to that stage if I was not cycling to college, 10 miles there 10-15 back.

Why did you always get lost on the way home?

ademort

hungovermatt wrote:

Thank you all for your replies.

I've been thinking about this today and I can save more than enough money to buy a decent bike and sufficient kit by riding just 3 days a week, taking the train on the other 2. I'll likely still have enough left over to cover those ocassional days when I can't get that third day cyclying in and have to take train instead. In the winter I should be fit enough to pick these three days on a Sunday thus avoiding the worst of the weather. To start I could stick to Monday, Wednesday and Friday, giving me rest in between every riding day.

So, what do you all think to 150 miles pw???

No need to worry about needing to save myself for weekend rides. At present I plan to ride solely to commute (sorry if that offends anyone!)

IMHO you will only ever know how it,s going to be when you have actually tried it. I think that your average speed will go up, for sure as you get fitter. Maybe when you get used to the run every day you will fancy doing 5 days a week, maybe you decide it,s just too much. At the end of the day when you come to the winter months can you see yourself riding 4 hours in all weathers to and from work. I think that is a tall order.I wish you luck whatever you decide.
Ademort

hungovermatt

Thanks again.

I have a Dahon Cadenza 8 as I already ride some of my journey (the bits where I'd normally walk to the station or be on the Tube). I might ride in on a Saturday on the Dahon to see what it's like then.

4 hours commuting a day is no biggy - I'm already doing 3.

This is looking more and more possible, or do I mean less and less impossible???

jim453

Very commendable but a tough ask.

Good luck.

Yer user name doesn't bode well.

CiB

The one day one / one day off plan sounds good. 20+ miles does seem a bit of a tall order at first, but it soon gives way to a more relaxed attitude to it. With a decent road bike you'd be looking at 15+ mph average even in town, so doing the 25 miles in well under 2 hours - my 21 miles [but across country, no traffic], is around 1h 10m most days. Like prev poster says though, just try it, see how you go. But base your decision on doing it a few times, not just once or twice. The first few runs will feel like death is fast approaching; it gets better, and becomes easy.