Advice on a long commute

opjohn

I bought a (very) cheap road bike last October, and fell in love with it. After a lot of shopping around and trying different bikes, I've upgraded to a 2013 Giant Defy 1 (which, by the way, is quite possible the best thing I have ever owned).

Now I'm ready for my commute.

The trouble is, my commute is 28km one way, so a 56km (34.8 mile) round trip. Although my legs are terribly weak, I am fairly fit - I have no trouble riding 30 miles at a time with a reasonable average speed (to me, at least - Strava does disagree). I'm sure my legs will shape up before too long. My initial intent is twice a week, but eventually (before May) I'd really like to be doing it four times a week (I really, really hate driving). Given that I'm forced to sit at a desk between 9am and 5.30pm, I've trawled my fair share of bike-related websites, so I'm well aware of Rule #5.

Fortunately, I can keep a clean set of clothes at the office, and I can shower there, so that's no big deal.

What I am after is some practical advice on nutrition, rest and whether or not four times a week is even sustainable for an average rider - that's 224km (139 miles) a week, which to me seems a lot.

From a nutrition point of view, is a banana and a bottle (500ml) of orange juice enough to do the job? Or do I need to consider eating something more substantial during (before?) my ride?

From a sustainability point of view, once I have a few more miles under my belt, I'm keen to join a local cycling club for longer rides (50+ miles). If I cycle so much during the week, will I ruin my chances of enjoying a good weekend ride?

I appreciate it's a long post, but I'm 99% ready to give this a good go, and would really appreciate advice from those that already have.

Cheers.

thistle_

I struggled doing 20 miles each way every day.

I did 5/5 days once (when my car broke down) and 4/5 days a few times but normally managed 3/5 days.
I think starting off with reasonable expectations is the right way, see how it goes after a few weeks and see how you feel each day and don't force yourself into it, do it because you enjoy the ride.
At this time of year the number of days you ride in might be restricted by the weather anyway.

You could always drive part way some days to make it a bit easier.

dannyharris

I have just started commuting 25 mile round trip. Unless I take detours to increase the mileage.
As soon as I arrive to work I'm eating a banana and a small bowl of porridge. At the end of day 3 my legs feel a little like lead. Maybe as I am not used to it and it will improve in time. Probably be the same for you. Keeping well hydrated with water has helped me.

This is probably no help as I have just started too. Will keep you posted if it gets any harder or easier.

nochekmate

To ghe OP - just stick at. The mileage is not ridiculously excessive for a commute and your total weekly mileage is not huge but may take a little bit of time to adjust to.

Ride not far enough to worry too much about nutrtion & hydration on the ride itself - bowl of cereal beforehand will be fine - but eat & drink during the day before the return journey.

Get some quality bibs and jacket & gloves and overshoes. Mudguards are essential really.

After a couple of months you will wonder what all the fuss was and you will be considerably fitter.

daxplusplus

Have you seen this: http://www.startfarm.co.uk/aspStats/Default.aspx

I think that will put your commute into perspective So yeah you can do it .. just build up the mileage over time depending on how you feel.

Whether you'll find it easy to do other things, like the weekend riding, will, I think, depend on how you ride your commute. If you take it easy then you'll be fine doing other rides. However it's taken me over a year to slow down to give myself that option .. I guess some people find it difficult deliberately cycling slowly 8)

Oh and, if you haven't already, get good lights, carry a decent tool kit and be prepared to spend money sorting out all your clothes for the weather that will be thrown at you.

P.s. I think 3 commutes a week are perfect from a recovery perspective, MWF is what I try to do each week.

edhornby

hydration, make sure you drink properly the night before you ride - homemade flapjack or soreen for a change from bananas ('nanas need their skin dealing with but a chunk of soreen is self contained)

have cereal before you go

pacing definitely is the key, pick a mileage point that you tell yourself you will be riding very slowly to warm up and warm down i.e. I will ride like a pensioner until I get to the lights at x and then from y to when I get to work is my cooldown

jotko

My commute is 25 miles round trip, took me a while to build up to 4 days a week but I can manage that no bother now as long as I dont get carried away. By carried away I mean that the problem is once you start commuting regularly you will start trying to beat your best time, or beat your time on the various strava sections on your commute. It is hard to ride every day if you are basically TTing each way! Work up to 4 days a week and pace yourself and you should be fine, good luck!

goonz

I commute just under 20 miles a day without fail 5 days a week bar injury or real bad weather. My initial mo was to save money on train fare so it would defy the point if I began using public transport again on a regular basis.

At first it was tough, but the first year I used a mtb which sort of broke me in. My legs were really sore after that. I am one of those that cant really cycle slowly so I have to go at a steady pace throughout. I used to eat porridge before I left and then a sandwich as soon as I got into work with a banana. I have tried to cut down my carbs as I want to tone my figure so now I cut out the sandwich.

I did a london to paris in 24hrs ride with work colleagues whilst I commuted and only took the previous day as a rest day off the bike. I felt fine and there were no issues. As training I rode to Brighton on a sunday after a weeks commute and that was fine and I was back on the bike on the monday. If anything the longer rides make you feel stronger on the shorter rides.

I used to have an ice bath as soon as i got in and maybe a cheeky massage off the missus which really helped. Once in a while get yourself a sports massage or get a foam roller and use it after your daily ride to get those tight muscles loose again.

Most of all enjoy your ride and as you get fitter and faster you will want to ride more and more! Good luck!

tlw1

my commute is a bit longer at 35 miles each way and to begin with I used to drive to work, cycle home & back in the following day - that got me use to lead legs the following morning. Now I can do the commute on my single speed

The main problem is time, as I normally start at 7.30 and finish at 6pm if I cycle I don't see the kids, so only really do it once a week when the weather is better (current wife not too keen on me cycling to work).

Azhar

Hey opjohn. I made a similar enquiry around about this time lAst year and my commute is 26.5 km each way. At the time before commuting my legs were quite weak, not a great average speed and found that when I did a long ride on one day it would take me a few days to recover. I was very unfit. I did however found that once I started commuting, even though my first couple of commutes took me about 1hr 40minutes each way, I managed to get it down to about 1hr and once I even done it in 50minutes thanks to a tail wind lol. I carried on doing it and managed to get up to 4 times a week and keeping that up for weeks. You'll find that you'll gain fitness pretty quickly.

In terms of nutrition I just have a banana, a slice of malt loaf bread, big glass of water and I'm on my way out. I have those electrolyte tablets in my water bottle and once I'm in work that's when I have some chocolate milk, more banana and anything else I might fancy.

Also, this is something I fluked, but I remember in the summer last year someone offered me a a wispa bar And ate it about 30/45mminutes before I was due to finish work and ride home and I think the energy from the chocolate gave me such a huge boost that my commute home felt really good. Hardly felt tired. Went up the hills at a reasonable speed and I felt so much faster on the flats. I always have a chocolate before my ride home purely for the energy. During the day I just eat apples and bananas. Enough energy for me to cope with work and ride home again.

Try not to think about how much miles u will be covering a week. Just take it one day at a time. I started doing Monday and Thursdays. And slowly built it up to 4 times a week. Once you've done it once that will give you the confidence and the bug to keep doing it. Not great weather ate the moment and I'm just waiting till its at least 4/5degrees before I start commuting again. No chance of black ice you see. Hate ice.

opjohn

Thanks for all the advice :-)

I'm a little less concerned about the mileage after hearing some of your stories.

I had planned not to eat at all before going out (to avoid that sick feeling you sometimes get when you exercise just after eating) but by the sound of it I should get over that and shove something down anyway. I'll save my usual breakfast (a fairly big bowl of porridge) until I get into the office.

Azhar - I'm glad to hear you got your time down to an hour reasonably easily. The roads where I live are rammed during rush hour, so my commute takes 45 minutes one way even in a car. If I can do it on a bike in 60-70 minutes that would be awesome. Although much like a lot of the others who have contributed to this thread; I do have a habit of riding hard - I'll have to concentrate on that.

My first try will be on Tue 26-March.

Thanks again for the advice, my mind is a little more at rest.

ForumNewbie

My commute is a 36 mile round trip and weather permitting I do it twice a week. Going to try and get up to 3 times a week this year or more, but I do find it tough doing it on consecutive days. I usually have a bit of toast before setting off around 6am and then porridge when I get into work. I'm still usually hungry mid morning and need a cereal bar or something like that. I have lunch and if I remember to have another cereal bar about half and hour before I leave, I feel I've got a reasonable amount of energy to get me home.

andyeb

I used to commute from Guildford to London (60 miles round trip) up to 3 times a week by road/sportive bike. On the remaining days I would take my folding bike on the train to cover getting to/from the station at each end.

I've now got a job minutes from home, but a few tips based on my experience:

* Don't try and ride hard every day. Buy a heart rate monitor and stick to 60-75% of your maximum heart rate. I used to cruise at 73% - typically riding at 18-20 mph, depending on conditions. By all means mix it up with a few sprints/Strava segments for variety, but don't over do it - maybe limit yourself to 1 or 2 sprint efforts a day.
* Start with once a week and build up. Avoid doing multiple days consecutively, at least to start with.
* Have small/medium breakfast before you go, but try and leave at least 30 minutes between finishing and leaving. Ideally an hour if you can squeeze that in and get to work on time.
* Take it especially easy for the first 20 minutes or so. If you don't you'll pay for it for the rest of the day.
* Have a second breakfast after you get to work, ideally within 40 minutes of arriving; this helps recovery.
* Fit two water bottle holders to your bike and make sure you use them.
* Drink plenty while riding and while at work.
* Keep your tyres at maximum PSI - check at least once a week. This makes a huge difference to rolling effort over long distances and reduces the chances of getting punctures.
* Carry a full toolkit and know how to use it.
* Pick your time of day carefully - riding in congestion really hurts your average speed and increases effort.
* Regularly clean, maintain and check your bike. I once had a gear cable go 15 miles from home. This was not fun and I ended up taking an emergency days holiday. Better maintenance/checking would have caught this. I also set my best ever time the day after I gave my bike a really good clean, including degreasing and re-lubing the chain. A clean bike is a fast bike.
* Stretch when you get to work and when you arrive home.
* Keep a close eye on the weather forecast - especially wind speed and gust speed and chance of rain. The Met Office website is particularly good. Pick your cycling days carefully - I'd generally not attempt the commute if the wind was stronger than 10-12 mph, especially if very gusty. It makes a big difference over a long distance.
* Be prepared to catch some extra shut-eye. Sleep is a very important part of recovery.
* Use Strava (or similar) to track your miles, progress as well as to find other people who commute on the same roads - you might be able to team up and ride in convoy.
* Keep a record of how much you are saving on commuting costs - it really mounts up and can be a great motivator.

Hope that helps - happy to answer any specific questions.

jotko

andyeb wrote:

* Keep a record of how much you are saving on commuting costs - it really mounts up and can be a great motivator.

This is a good tip, I save £8 a day if I ride my bike instead of take the train.

Soon adds up, and a good defence when questioned on the latest wiggle package to drop through the door.

andyeb

jotko wrote:

andyeb wrote:

* Keep a record of how much you are saving on commuting costs - it really mounts up and can be a great motivator.

This is a good tip, I save £8 a day if I ride my bike instead of take the train.

Soon adds up, and a good defence when questioned on the latest wiggle package to drop through the door.

Agreed. It was saving me £25 a day. The bike paid for itself quite quickly!

pride4ever

Everyone is different, personally I do 50 milers on 1 bottle of water and never bonk but I wouldnt recommend that to everyone. If I do a century ride I take 2 bottles and 400 calories of sugar infused rubbish and fill the bottles up at a stop if its hot weather. Your best finding out for yourself by taking more snacks than you need and seeing how you go from there.
In terms of miles your doing bugger all but because its before and after week its massively different. Personally I,d rather fly home in the car and then go out in the evening on the bike.