oh dear.... what am I doing... (Commute Distance post)
redderekthelampshade
Posts: 105
I'm lucky... Last job was a 10mile round trip - t'was easy, no real big suprises.. then I moved departments and ended up pootling about 3miles each way - stupidly me and 'her' are buying a house 21miles away.. Do any of you lot do a similar distance? It's going to be Wakefield to the other side of Bradford so if any of you know the area it's not hilly really and shouldn't be too bad - my question is what do you do food / drink wise? It's never really mattered with my modest journeys .. aaaaaaaaaaaand is this the excuse I've needed to buy a carbon road bike :-)
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- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
I'd guess you might be taking the A650? I often commute that way from Leeds to Leeds! (19 miles or so). I only use that route in the mornings heading East as it is a drab ride in the uphill direction (not the A650 bit but the climb up from Leeds).
That's an OK route - the gradients aren't steep at least until you get to Bradford but it really depends where in Bradford you end up. An hour or so isn't worth feeding on and I don't even always carry liquid in winter. Just Weetabix for breakfast before I set off and another breakfast sometimes when I get to work.Faster than a tent.......0 -
its Wakefield town centre to Bingley - I'm going to do a test run this weekend if I get chance.. yeah the A650 will probably be the route then through Bradford and on Manningham Lane area. My biggest concern is how long it will take.0
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My commute is 21 miles each way taking the direct route, which I sometimes change just to keep things fresh so ranges between 21 and 30 miles. I used to have breakfast 30 mins before I left (porridge) but lately I've been waiting until I get in to work for that and to be honest I haven't noticed any difference in performance. Although my 21 mile route only has around 700ft of climbing so probably isn't considered hilly. I also find that I only use around half a bidon for this distance.
I started off averaging 14mph for this route, that was 4 months ago after only 1 month after starting cycling. Currently this month I'm now averaging 18.3 mph, on my carbon road bike - although I don't find much difference between this and my Boardman Performance Comp Hybrid. Now it tends to take me between 1hr 2min and 1hr 10min, but it did take me around 1hr 30 min when I first started - but once you get used to the route you will tend to naturally speed up a little.
** Edit - I only do this commute twice a week at the moment, mainly because I like to keep myself fresh for a weekend tour. I reckon doing it everyday could be done, but this might depend on what your bike is and how much kit you have to take with you.0 -
redderekthelampshade wrote:its Wakefield town centre to Bingley - I'm going to do a test run this weekend if I get chance.. yeah the A650 will probably be the route then through Bradford and on Manningham Lane area. My biggest concern is how long it will take.
Well, easy enough to find out. You'll have some nice variations on that - particularly in Summer. On the way out you'd be able to skirt round the West side of Bradford via Queensbury. But you'd probably not want to do that sort of thing on the way home!
The 650 looks pretty lethal but I don't mind it. Partly as I'm almost always in the slight downhill direction (and therefore at a reasonable pace between about 20mph and 35mph depending on wind speed and direction) and partly because it is wide, with good visibility and relatively few side turnings (particularly between Tingley and Tong Street). It's a bit tedious going NW with a headwind though.
The Centre of Bradford is actually pretty irritating to get through on bike or car. In some respects I'd probably prefer Canal road - at least heading back towards Wakefield. But that depends on how much the dual carriageway from the Forster Square area onwards bothers you.
I think I'd struggle with it every day.Faster than a tent.......0
