Is this too much?

wgwarburton

Hi,
That'd be too much for me. 6hrs cycling on top of a 12hr shift makes a long day...

Any chance of a train or bus to help take the strain? I'm 40 miles from work at the moment but I only cycle the 5 to the nearest station most days.

Cheers,
W.

Canny Jock

Welcome to the best part of the forum!

Only you can decide if it's too much - why don't you start off 1 day a week and see how it goes? It also depends on the job you're commuting to - I have to stick a suit on at the end, I'm a sweaty git on the bike so have to shower when I get in.

Looks like nice roads, how long do you think it will take? Do you have the option of splitting the commute - drive in one day with the bike in the car, cycle home then vice-versa?

davis

I think it's doable, but I think it'd be hard work, and I'd probably stick the bike in the back of the car, and drive half of the way because you're doing a long day at work.

I'd think anything under 10 miles one way is definitely doable, over 20 might be questionable, and, given your lack of facilities, I'd probably not go for the full thing.

You have a PM (private message), by the way.

kelsen

Might be a good idea to change your start point to be more generic on Google Maps now that you've told everyone your shift pattern and what bikes you have. Better safe than sorry.

davis

djbarren wrote:

I could drive down the motorway for about 7 miles and park up at the gym HEREand cycle the remaining 16. I am a C.N.C programmer/machinist fairly demanding as I am on my feet all day.

Bingo. I'd opt for that. If you want to increase the distance (and you will some days), you can. No idea how smelly a machinist is allowed to be, after all.

fnegroni

djbarren wrote:

I could drive down the motorway for about 7 miles and park up at the gym HEREand cycle the remaining 16. I am a C.N.C programmer/machinist fairly demanding as I am on my feet all day.

16 miles each way sounds a lot better.
I currently do only 12 each way and last year I even managed to put in a 50/60 miler in the morning before work every week over the summer, but then I am not on my feet all day.
Any trains? You could then buy a folding bike: the 2009 Dahon Speed D7 sells for less than £300 and it is a very nice ride, up to 10 miles shouldn't be a problem, depending on how hilly the commute is of course.

As for showering, that might be an issue but I don't think in your line of work they care about your hair do or general attire so you might get away with baby wipes or towel and soap.

davis

djbarren wrote:

No nice ladies at my place of employment all mingers so I am not worried about the man smell :oops: thinking of starting soon just hate the thought of it.

There you are then. You don't want to be dragging yourself out of bed thinking "Damn.... Must. Cycle. For. Ages. Then. Work. For. Ever", or, at least, not if you don't have to.

Make it easy on yourself to start with, put in a full shift rotation, and see how you fare. I doubt you'd do anything other than resent it if it becomes a slog.

prawny

Depends how hilly the route is too, I do 20 miles each way daily but I've got desk job so it's not too much bother.

With 2 nice bikes I'd bet you'd be reasonably rapid too so it shouldn't take too long.

Just noticed it's only 3 days a week as well aspart from the night shift. Do-able I reckon.

Give it a whirl I say even if it's just one day a week to start with, 1 days fuel is a good saving to start with.

gbsahne001

20 years ago (can it be that long) I was working as a welder, doing 10 hour shifts 5 or 6 days a week and cycling each way.

It was really hard and in the end I opted for a moped. Give it a whirl if you find that you're resenting getting out of bed and onto the bike then I'd suggest it's too much.

The Running Man

Hi DJBarren

Welcome : if you're relatively new to commuting then I'd be inclined to try and find a closer "drive to" point and try it for 3 or 4 weeks to see what you can tolerate (and enjoy) and as you get stronger and fitter gradually increase the distance of your commute.

You could do 2 or 3 days of 10 miles each way and as you improve throw in a couple of 16s, and so on.

I'm currently doing around your longest route each way as well and while it's fantastic in the dry sunny weather it can be tough when it's chucking it down and you're freezing your nuts off!!

And what a beautiful part of the world to be cycling in!!

wgwarburton

djbarren wrote:

....There is a train 5 miles from the house so I could cycle to it and get the train to HERE still 16-17 miles at the end of the day.

If the train times & costs work then that seems like a good option to me (can you take a standard bike on the train?). I do a split commute like this a couple of days a week (5 miles home to station, bike on train, 9 miles station to work, reverse to get home) and it works for me.
There's quite a difference between 33 and 54 miles and the break in the middle seems to help. Maybe you could eat breakfast on the train, too!
If you drive part-way you have the hassle of parking and getting the bike on & off the car, whereas if you have a season ticket (weekly? monthly?) then you are already bought in to the cycling (don't know if this'll go with your work-pattern? My TOC (ScotRail) do "flexi-passes" where you get a book of 10 cheaper tickets and use them as you need them). You might find it helpful to use the train as a fall-back option when you don't feel up to the whole distance- that's hard to arrange with a car.

Depends on your fitness, of course. I find 100 miles in a week quite tough, other contributors do much more....).

Cheers,
W.

stevie_90210

16 miles each way sounds good. 27 would be a serious challenge!!

Keiron Curtis

I cycle 20 miles each way on a 12 hour shift pattern, but I believe 27-30 each way would be too much for me. I average 3 hours in the saddle each day, so am away from home 15 hours, and on top of that spend half an hour before and after each leg washing/shaving/prepping. It's a very long day, and I'm usually in bed each night by 21.00 hrs, but I love it. If it was me I'd go for a part commute.