Mountain biker seriously considering a big commute!

pastryboy

With no showers I'd definitely use panniers - it will heat you up and make your back sweat a lot if you use a rucksack, particularly in summer

iPete

Forget all this talk of baby wipes, buy yourself a Maru Aqua Dry Sports Towel.

On a motivational note; once you get into the swing of things on your commute you'll become a much much stronger mountain biker! :twisted:

rolf_f

As long as you are on slicks, and the bike is decent quality, it doesn't matter what you are on in the short term. Just build up to the optimum kit gradually.

For what it is worth, I mostly use my MTB for my hilly commute over winter (generally 19 - 45 mile round trip depending on mood!). I don't worry about wearing it out as about the only thing that does wear are the brake pads - an MTB hardly notices road miles! Mind, it is a hard tail. The best alternative to that is my old fashioned tourer with down tube shifters like what you can get on Ebay for £100 - £200 easily. Little to go wrong and cheap to fix (though safest to get the spares before they break just in case!).

Panniers or backpack - purely personal choice. If you are used to a backpack from MTBing, you'll find them fine for a commute as long as it has an airmesh back and you don't let it suffer womens handbag syndrome (ie filling it up with all sorts of useless crap you never use!). I prefer the backpack - keeps the weight off the bike. The other advantage is that in summer I'll be commuting on my Ribble Gran Fondo and no rack is ever going anywhere near that!

bails87

Hello from a fellow MTBer who recently started a 15 mile commute!

Like the OP, I was fairly fit, but not mega-XC-racing-whippet fit. I was lucky enough to get a roadbike on the C2W scheme, so I use a 'proper' roadie for the commute. The MTB doesn't seem like that much more effort, but I guess the longer the ride, the more you'll notice it.

I was looking forward to gearing up to a 3 times a week commute, bringing in shirts on the days when I drove in, but got hit by a car (not while commuting) about 5 weeks ago, so I'm just starting to get back to normal cycling levels. I've got a Ribble Sportive Carbon, so no panniers, but I only bring in my lunch, a few toiletries, my belt, work ID and wallet, so it's not much of a problem to put them in a backpack, especially as I'm used to having a camelbak on anyway.

I imagine I've got a similarly rural, if flatter route than you. I did what you suggested and did a test run at the weekend. It's worth doing, just so you know what to expect, and also so you know you can do it. 14 miles on the road will be a lot easier than 14 miles of MTBing, so if you can do a 15 mile MTB ride in one go, then a 28 mile round trip commute, with an 8 hour break in the middle will be fine. You might notuce different things though, for example your saddle might be fine when you're constantly 'up and down' when MTBing, but it might end up being uncomfortable or causing numbness :shock: when you're seated almost constantly for the 14 miles.

Think about the route though. Have a look for quieter roads you can take. I've got no problems with 'mixing' with traffic, but on roads where most cars are doing 60mph+ and don't move out very far to overtake, the fun wears off pretty quickly. But with a bit of tweaking I've found workarounds that might add a few hundred metres onto the distance but the roads are virtually deserted

All in all, do a practice run, make sure you're well lit if you're riding in the dark, ease into it and it'll be easier than it sounds and you'll start to enjoy it a surprising amount!