Long commutes

woodford2barbican

I changed to a 32 miles per day commute in June. So not as far as you but still enough.

My previous commute was 100 miles per week, this is 160.

i am yet to manage a full 5 day week on the bike - mainly due business trips. So have generally done Mon / Tues & Thu / Fri with Wed as a rest day from the cycle.

It has worked so far, and I hope in next week or so to do all five days.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

I have been doing 30 miles a day for the last 4 months.

I too was sufferring with cold feet, tried Sealskins socks, they made it a little better but not much. Bought some NW Farenheits for winter but used them back end of last week and they really did improve, wore with normal socks and was pretty warm. These are really nice shoes/boots can see me weraring them right up till April May next year

Again my rides is a little over 500ft each way, and find the decending at speed, wind chill on sweat means I get cold, but warm up again so not too worried about that. Morning without a doubt feel colder than the "advertised" temp, with my commute the prevailing wind in the morning is a headwind so I think that plays a part.

My main problem is the same as Prawny, racing against the clock. Mine is so bad I have (like most people I guess) check points I know the time I "should" be at a certain point it drives me mad! Thursday I did the first 4 miles in a really good time (hitting that important chack point early) so spent the next 11 miles going flat out to try and break the record, only got my second fastest time and worse still drove in on Friday because my legs were fecked.

I have tried minus the Garmin, but that makes it worse. I just cannot seem to do it at 60-70% effort I seem to do it at 75-90% effort and if I sense a good time I am flat out.

Genuinely this is the biggest problem with me commuting and by Thursday my legs are really feeling it.

meanredspider

I try riding to just a HR - set the main screen on my Garmin to just be HR & Cadence - it works quite well most of the time in slowing me down. Only takes me to spot a bike 400 yds ahead though....

graeme_s-2

I felt great riding in today after having the weekend off. Was a good few minutes faster than I've been recently, but it felt fairly easy the whole way. The cadence magnet for my Garmin fell off my crank a couple of months ago, and I fitted a replacement over the weekend, so this is the first time I've done the route with cadence, which I think probably helped.

At one point while I was riding along this morning I caught sight of a cyclist disappearing round a bend in the distance, and upped my pace for a split second before I remembered it was actually the motorbike that had passed me a few minutes previously.

Fat-Boy-Roubaix

Careful, Mondays & Tuesdays are the days it feels great and the pace gets lifted! Then comes the Wednesday hangover for legs!

graeme_s-2

Fat-Boy-Roubaix wrote:

Careful, Mondays & Tuesdays are the days it feels great and the pace gets lifted! Then comes the Wednesday hangover for legs!

That was running through my mind the whole time. There were no hard out-of-the-saddle efforts today, just felt able to keep spinning the pedals over. I'll let you know how I get on on Wednesday and Thursday

meanredspider

I actually tend to find Tuesdays best. My legs feel a bit heavy on Monday morning (may be a function of being 47 years old) but by Tuesday I've reminded them why they are there.

thiscocks

meanredspider wrote:

Cool. Sounds like you are doing well. I find the uphill vs downhill bit quite hard for temperature on my commute. Getting the right amount of warmth is difficult. One tip (that I keep meaning to do myself) is to keep a note of temperatures and what you wore. For instance, I know that above 10-11C I'm perfectly comfortable in a S/S jersey but below I need L/S or arm warmers. I know there were cut-off points for fingerless gloves & a point where the lobsters needed to come out too. It all helps for a comfortable ride.

Yes - you need to allow for fresh gear daily. Check for vents in the soles of your shoes. My Shimanos I've put tape over the vent on the inside - keeps my feet much warmer. Keeping your legs warm really helps your feet too.

Good luck

Yes wearing the right clothes is easily the biggest headache for me at the moment when it is getting colder but not cold enough for constant tights wearing.
I find shorts still ok at the moment but need long sleeve top and thin jacket on top in the mornings. The annoying thing is it warms up quite alot in the day so I can almost wear a ss jersey on the way home, but can sweat it out in a long sleve just about ok!

Soon be cold enough for tights and full jacket. Atleast it is easier as you know what you need to wear then.

Also a big diference in riding in the city and in the countryside when commuting. Be ready to need overshoes and base layers in the winter when riding out of town. Can get very frosty up on the hills.

graeme_s-2

Week 4:

Just need to ride home tonight, and then I'm working from home tomorrow which will complete my 4th week at this. I've done 4 days on the trot in each direction this week. Got absolutely soaked to the skin on the way home on Tuesday, and my Garmin Edge 705 spent yesterday in a bag of rice to dry it out, as one of the seals has torn and allowed water in. Seems to be working fine again now.

I feel tired, but actually not as bad as I did after 4 days last week when only 3 of them were on the trot. I had planned to go for a full 5 days next week, but for the next 2 weeks I have a night out in the middle of the week which will mean staying over near work, not going home. Think that will work quite nicely, as I've ramped my mileage up pretty quickly, so I'll hold steady at just shy of 170 miles a week for a couple of weeks now. Feel ready to do a 5 day week whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I lost 2 lbs last week, so that's hopefully the start of the weight loss I was hoping to see. Think part of the reason I feel a bit less tired this week is because I have had some success in increasing the length of time I'm sleeping each night. Not managing 7 hours every night yet, but have moved in the right direction.

Hopefully we should complete on our new house 12 weeks tomorrow.

stevie_90210

Interesting update, glad things are going well!

When you move to your new place, will you commute go back down to 4/6 miles each way?

graeme_s-2

stevie_90210 wrote:

Interesting update, glad things are going well!

When you move to your new place, will you commute go back down to 4/6 miles each way?

It will, yes - the new house is only half a mile from our old place. Probably about 5.5 miles in, 6 miles back (go a slightly different route in each direction due to traffic).

woodford2barbican

Graeme_S wrote:

stevie_90210 wrote:

Interesting update, glad things are going well!

When you move to your new place, will you commute go back down to 4/6 miles each way?

It will, yes - the new house is only half a mile from our old place. Probably about 5.5 miles in, 6 miles back (go a slightly different route in each direction due to traffic).

I find it quiter hard to motivate myself at the moment. I only get PT one day a week, but the other days it is a real struggle not to give in.

I would go the n+1 route but I am skint.....and also I woudl like a single speed but i think that will be too slow for the 32 miles I do per day. I think it woudl make the journey 5 - 10 minutes longer.

anyway. at least I get to eat lots!

stevie_90210

woodford2barbican wrote:

Graeme_S wrote:

stevie_90210 wrote:

Interesting update, glad things are going well!

When you move to your new place, will you commute go back down to 4/6 miles each way?

It will, yes - the new house is only half a mile from our old place. Probably about 5.5 miles in, 6 miles back (go a slightly different route in each direction due to traffic).

I find it quiter hard to motivate myself at the moment. I only get PT one day a week, but the other days it is a real struggle not to give in.

I would go the n+1 route but I am skint.....and also I woudl like a single speed but i think that will be too slow for the 32 miles I do per day. I think it woudl make the journey 5 - 10 minutes longer.

anyway. at least I get to eat lots!

I'm struggling to motivate myself too and have given up trying to motivate myself in the morning; now I drive to work with my bike in the car. I then cycle home. The following morning I have two options:

1) Walk the 20 miles to work.
2) Cycle the 20 miles to work.

Easy. And asking my wife for a lift is seriously not an option; she suffers from morning-tourettes.

This way I carry on cycling that week until Friday or until I really need my car one evening.

Now what does PT stand for? I can't quite work it out, though I have a feeling it's going to be something that I should have worked out! lol

graeme_s-2

stevie_90210 wrote:

Now what does PT stand for? I can't quite work it out, though I have a feeling it's going to be something that I should have worked out! lol

I'm glad you asked that, so I didn't have to!

graeme_s-2

Haven't posted an update to this in a while. I rode 645 miles in September, and 714 miles in October. I still haven't actually managed 5 days in both directions (this might be the week...). The closest was a week in October when I did each direction every day and then went out for a drink after work on the Friday and got a lift home.

Last week I worked from home on Tuesday, then got the train in on Wednesday (took ages door-to-door and cost me £10.20 on the train), stopped over with a mate on Wednesday night and had the day off on Thursday, so that's the fewest miles I've ridden in a week in ages. Feel much better for it now, think the rest has done me some good.

I've lost a stone in weight. My bike has taken a bit of a beating, including an old GP4000S on the rear wheel de-laminating with the tread starting to peel clean off the canvas. I'm running a fresh set of 25C gatorskins now, which seems more suitable for the weather. Having got a complete drenching two weeks ago when I cycled to work in steady rain and then home again in the same my bike developed a suspicious sounding rattle, which seemed to be coming from the rear wheel. I fiddled and fettled as best I could to no avail while panicking it was the freehub (although that was replaced on that wheel about 18 months ago). Finally got the guy in my LBS to look at the wheel on Saturday morning and he spotted that a couple of the cogs on the cassette were loose and tightened it up, so that's sorted now which I'm pleased about.

My total mileage so far this year is 3,568 miles, whereas during the whole of last year I only managed 2,350 miles.

I'm broadly enjoying it, but equally looking forwards to it being over with at the moment. Quickest ride so far was a trip home one day when I managed the whole thing in 1:12 at an 18mph moving average

asprilla

Graeme_S wrote:

stevie_90210 wrote:

Now what does PT stand for? I can't quite work it out, though I have a feeling it's going to be something that I should have worked out! lol

I'm glad you asked that, so I didn't have to!

Public Transport.

Of course, now you are doing more miles you can join the Bike Radar Silly Commuter Stats (http://www.startfarm.co.uk/aspStats/) and log your miles and compare them to other. Don't worry, its not a competition, no sir, no competition amongst these cyclists....

Dougal_bug

I have been working towards this distance commute but am currently falling down in two areas.

Total distance is 21/22 miles each way. I started with the cycling home and have been doing this now for about 3 months one day a week. It takes me about 1h20, I think my average speed is about 14mph, about 6 weeks ago, I went for the ride to work option as well, and for some reason it felt like a complete flop.

The ride to work has more / longer inclines (my route scoots round the edge of the north downs - dorking area), and took about 1h35. Although I expected it to take longer, this knocked my confidence, together with feeling absolutely shattered when I reached dorking, which is about half way (I think). I break the ride home into 3 segments, to try and aid my mental approach to the ride.

Having done other sport at a serious but amateur level historically, I am aware of the importance of eating well and had had a good meal the night before, and threw a banana down my throat on the way out of the door - I struggle to eat breakfast of any sort for at least an hour after I have got up.

I made sure I had plenty of good food when I was at work, but still found i had a food depreviation headache by mid afternoon, and landed up on the train home that night - not happy as it's a 2 hour commute door to door that way.

What do people here with long commutes do about breakfast?

The above has knocked my confidence a bit, I do intend to give it another go in both directions, probably early next year and do a bit more mileage to re-build some of my confidence.

I still do the ride home, where possible once a week, but I am just going into the busiest part of my year, where normally I can expect to still be at work at 7, office hours is shutting at 5pm (for those doing shift I know that's not late), but I need to find a way to get the other half to be more excepting that I will still have to work late at times, not as late, but that I am unlikely to set off before 6 / 6.30 so that I can be home at a reasonable time. Before anyone asks, no I can't work from home and I already have to leave 'on time' at least once a week, which can cause problems. As we all know, there are occassions when even though we want to leave on time, it is neither pratical / possible!

Appreciate any thoughts.

daxplusplus

1hr 35 min is not too bad actually, if it's more uphill than on the way home then an extra 15 minutes is fine so I wouldn't knock your efforts.

I used to ride Kingston to Reigate and the hills round there are killers .. the climb out of Reigate is bad but the climb up from Kingston to the Epsom Downs used to do my head in .. it just went on and on, mile after mile of gradual ascent.

If you want to serioulsy improve your times however your going to have do more commutes .. once a week is just not enough to get your body to improve quickly. If your having issues doing the full trip there and back in a day then try and do the return journey multiple times a week. Just keep on upping the milage your doing per week using what ever tactics you can.

An example of tactics (rather than fitness) helping you out .. what kind of bike do you have? Is it built for speed or comfort?

Dougal_bug

Dax, thankfully living in Walton on Thames means that I can avoid Reigate Hill, but there are a few in the office that do the hill, but then they only have as far as tadworth to go!

The once a week home isn't all I do, I try and get out at least one other time, if in the week, then shorter, more 'Fartlek' style or at the weekend for a longer ride and I swim once a week as well.

It's a nice idea to do the ride home more than once a week, but at over £10, and 2 hours via the train to get to work, it becomes a cost ineffiecient (no-one lives out my way, so option of thumbing lifts).

Was thinking of trying to get a weekend ride up to 40 miles over the next couple of months, am comfortable with 30 and then try again.

Bike wise, up 'til now its been a road bike, next few weeks, becuase the leaves are coming down and I want a bit more 'comfort' in the grip I get, am likely to switch to a mountain bike.

For me, I think my main concern is the food energy side, rolling out of bed at 6.30am straight on to a bike, how do people cope, do they get up at 6 say and use that 30 mins spare for some brekkie, etc...

graeme_s-2

I get up at 6, eat a banana and have a glass of water while I'm getting ready, leave the house at 6:30 and then eat at work. I had a small bowl of cereal this morning (for the first time since I've been doing this) and I felt sick all the way to work. Won't make that mistake again.

CarlosDSanchez

I just eat a bowl of cornflakes or what ever is in the cupboard before I leave. Then I eat whatever I can get my hands on when I arrive at work. My commute is 22 miles each way, but no hills to speak of. All country lanes and so long as it's not to windy I can average 18 to 20 mph. Do it there and back every day, 8k miles and counting so far this year :-)

daxplusplus

Oh OK.

I do a 24 mile each way commute 3 times a week (the other two days I go rock climbing and don't have the time) .. it's country lanes and pretty quite so can hit 18 mph average.

I roll out of bed at 6:30am, have museli topped with some crunchy nut cornflakes and hit the road by 7am. Sit down to work for 8:45am (after locking the bikeup, having a shower and changing).

I drink a 500ml of engry drink each way (powdered then add water) so that I don't have to worry about food too much (we have free fruit at work so I eat a fair bit of that). Am finding that due to the recent colder weather than on the way in I'm not drinking all of it and have to force myself to keep taking sips as I cycle in.

godders1

I start a 17 mile each way commute at the beginning of December. Some useful tips here.

5milestogo

I'm doing 18 m iles each way into central london - with the odd extension of upto 12 miles to get up the stats table. Unfortunately last night the achilles went so reckon I'll be off for a few days and on the ICE instead! Regards foodstuffs I've been recently experimenting. The freshest legs I have was after watching last mountain stage of the TDF in the local bar whilst having a couple of the Crabbes Alchoholic Ginger Beer. I had blistering pace heading home!

More recently I got some recovery shakes (chocolate powerbar) which I started to take weekly on a wednesday when I got home as the legs then started to feel drained - this helped a bit. I also grabbed some SiS carbo drink and guzzled 500ml once a week. That put a spring in my step.

Someone suggested Whey to me for the protein needed but that just seemed to have an effect on the back end.

I wont eat before I leave on either end of the journey. The last few months have seen me cover circa 600 / month. I'm a bit more inspired by some of the above foodstuffs but not yet a disciple as I'd prefer to naturally adjust to the mileage. I'll take them more often at the weekend if I'm out on a club run etc.

Interesting to see what else everyone does for recovery / mid week energy etc.

asprilla

Dougal_bug wrote:

Dax, thankfully living in Walton on Thames

Oh, another Waltoner, that's three of us, that I know of, on this forum.

Where are you going to? I do 21 miles Walton to Holborn each day and I don't see much in the way of hills.

For breakfast I have some Soreen Malt loaf and a glass of fruit juice; Instant sugar and low GI calories for the journey without being heavy on your stomach. Soreen is the food of the gods for cyclists.

Kallaen

I must say, I admire you guys.

I would really like to be able to do my own commute 18-20 miles one way, but I'm just struggling.
I'm normally doing the commute on a road bike with a backpack.
The distance isn't really the problem, since my weekly mileage in the season varies from 124 to 217 miles.
I have to carry a laptop with me everyday and some clothing of course. But the days I commute by bicycle I'm cold the whole day and my home trip is slow and it's killing me, I really struggle on the home trip. I can't seem to get my body temperature up before I've done 6-10 miles on the home trip and I'm therefore cold on 1/3 of the ride.

All this coldness is taking a lot of energy. When I do a normal training ride, I haven't got any issues, except the right clothing for the current weather.

5milestogo

I had the laptop problem then decided to stick all required work on a USB key I got the company to provide (an Ironkey for security) and I plug it into the home PC at night. On the clothes front I stack up a supply in the office through time. When I take PT I will take in a few more pairs or kegs, socks, etc and stick shirts through a launderette / press nr the office. If you have the ability to change at work you should be able to find somewhere to keep things - my stuff is in the desk filer, and in a tesco 'big bag' under the desk.
Dont know how you'll solve the coldness issue. More layers / clothes on radiator for the morning etc.

Dougal_bug

Asprilla, I work in Redhill, so a few undulations but nothing too horrific, they just seem to go on for a while, or at least on the one ride to work I have done so far they seemed to.

I struggle to get round my head that there is more of an incline going to work than coming home, even when I have been driving pretty much the same route as I cycle, for the last 5 years, I cannot get this fact in to my head!

Cheers all for the comments re brekkie.

woodford2barbican

I have decided to stop for the winter.

The journey home in the dark is simply too long and I am not enjoying it, finding it hard to concentrate and making silly mistakes as a consequence.

I find my self wishing the trip was over by approx 10 miles in, and last 6 miles is a real grind. This never happens in the morning and never used to happen with a 10 mile journey.

I think that having 80 minutes in darkness requires too much concentration at the end of a long day.

So....need to look for different exercise alternatives and adjust the quantity of food I eat down!

stevie_90210

I stopped my commuting for the Winter a few weeks ago.

It just felt too dangerous and I'm doing this for enjoyment and fitness.