Daily Commuting 30 miles each way

scooterboy

Is it achievable and sustainable to expect to commute 60 miles daily on open country roads? For the first time in 20 years I'm based in one location and currently commute by car from South Sheffield to just outside Newark. Having eyed the map (and driven the route) its possible to cycle a direct route between the two which takes in Sherwood Forest and avoids most of the main roads though not all. I appreciate its the wrong time of year to start but you got to start sometime. I haven't ridden the route yet but was wondering about the practicalities of such an endeavour. No doubt my fitness would sky rocket were I to be successful. What should I do? try the route at a weekend then work up a day a week at a time to the full 5 days? I should mention I don't currently ride much at all unless its a fun ride with the kids! I have a decent road bike though and need to kick start my riding (having ridden loads in my youth and into my teens including club races and TT's). Any help or advice would be great!

tlw1

my commute is 35 miles each way on country roads BUT due to life - I only manage once a week on average.

When I was training for the JOGLE I did it for a full week & loved it. As building up, I started by driving in, cycling home and cycling back in the next day.

cougie

I'd say not very sustainable. You'd be doing 4 hours exercise each day.
Twenty hours a week.

It would be hard for a keen amateur - and I don't think you're at that stage.

I'd have tried the route at the weekend before asking the question. I think that would help you.

fatsmoker

Drive half way with the bike in the car, say to Sherwood Pines, then cycling the rest of the way might be an easier option.

andrewc3142

Same length as my commute from Woking into London. I don't do it every day, partly because I'm not in the office every day, partly because I also want to see my family from time to time and partly because I doubt I could and keep it up.

I aim to do it one-way 3 times per week (taking the train home) and once both ways. That's still quite a lot, for me at least, once you add a club run at the weekend.

However, some people manage that length of commute so nothing to say you can't.

Does mean you get to eat as many chocolate brownies as you wish

I'd say go for it. Find the best route (perhaps upload to your iPhone from ridewithgps or whatever), pick a day, organise your stuff/bike the night before and make an early start to give plenty of time for route-finding errors, rush hour traffic, etc.

Good luck

scooterboy

Thanks for all the great advice so far. I realise i will need to build up slowly etc

Was just wondering how many other people manage a similar distance commute and keep up the motivation in the more seasonal weather/dark nights and mornings!

andrewc3142

Motivating yourself in the winter cold and dark can indeed be a challenge.

You can vary your route (either a Garmin or an iPhone come in very handy).

Maybe do intervals, varying the pace and improving it as a training session.

Uploading to Strava is good motivation - collect those trophies, join some groups.

Your riding strength will grow in leaps and bounds.

Think of the money you'll save (and probably spend on nice gear ...)

A goal, such as riding in fixed, can be useful.

RussAlf

Commuting 30miles each way would destroy you.

I commute 22miles each way, 3 or 4 times a week, i wouldnt enjoy it if it was any further, sometimes you just want to get home after a long day at work, sure its nice in the summer but somedays its horrendous.

Once or twice a week would be sustainable, everyday would become a chore and quickly drain you down unless your very careful.

derosa

Do you have a contingency in case you fall ill at work during the day?
Facing a 30 mile commute home in winter is no fun with the flu.

scooterboy

Yes would have to catch a lift off a colleague or get the wife/father in law to collect me.

Fridays are POETS days (finish at 3:45pm) so I'm thinking I might work up slowly to commuting by bike every Friday in the run up to Xmas. Will try a route to ride out halfway from home first over the weekends then work up to the return journey from work before going the whole hog there and back......

drlodge

My commute is around 70 mile round trip, I do it no more than once per week. I did, once, do it twice in a week and I was easting like a horse and needing a hell of a lot of sleep. Adding 4 hours cycling (plus the time of changing etc) to your working day will mean you have very little time for anything other than eating, sleeping, working and cycling.

BillLegend

I am about to undertake the same distance commute, after not having ridden for about a year. I used to do 45mile round trips every week day. My advice would be to take it easy once you set off from your house/work. It's always tempting to shoot off at a fast pace but after a couple of days you will start to fatigue if you do this. If you have a heart rate monitor you can restrict your effort to a value. Also, eat lots of food. I will personally roughly double my calarie intake. Lastly, get a decent nights sleep.

When starting such an endeavour you might find that for the first few mornings you try this you get a terrible night's sleep. Well I did anyway. The excitment of the commute would have me waking up every half hour wondering if it was time to get up and go. Good luck!

MichaelW

Rail-assisted multi-modal commute.

andrewc3142

MichaelW wrote:

Rail-assisted multi-modal commute.

You must be a consultant ...

redbikejohn

This was something I wanted to try for ages. I bought a road bike for the task but struggled with it at first. Three weeks ago I tried it for the first time. Got a little lost due to Garmin foibles so ended up doing a 55 miles round trip. Working a late shift in London and cycling back out to Bucks. The wife complained that she didn't like me being out so late so the next few days I bought an oyster card and got a train in the evening and cycled from amersham to home (7miles).
The next week I want to train in and cycle home but work was not so accommodating (could not make start) so I said f it and got up early 3.50am and cycled the 25 miles into work and back out again at 2pm. About 250 miles in a week. Its do'able as you get used to it. I'm not megga fit but I put my mind to losing fat in Sept so just went for it.
This week its back to the train at 10pm to keep my wife happy.

chopchopchop

I was doing the drive in, ride home and ride back the next day thing in the summer. The first half of my 24 mile commute is country roads and I don't fancy them in the dark.

I found a pub half way and spoke to the landlord who lets me park at the back all day. Now happy with my 11.5 mile each way commute and I plan to stick with it all winter until the light mornings return.

snowley

If you could arrange to do the above with a park and drive it would be ideal! Try and make it so you ride the section with more traffic if at all possible.....

a_to_the_j

25miler each way for me, not much in the way of hills, nor tailwind on the way in, but always a head wind on the way back.

first thing is, as echoed above,
start EASY - its quite easy to over do it and get demotivated due to aches and pains and generally seeing the same tarmac and route over and over again when you just not fit enough to shrug it off and ride the next day
when you end up being able to ride more than two days full distance a week, start to introduce variety of workouts, even on the same route this helps focus the mind away from the route and more on your effort - things i do are

standing climbs - any hill, get out the saddle
seated climbs - as above but power as hard as your can in the seat
flat intervals
flat 5 min sprints and 5 min cruise (you'd be surprised how quick the ride goes)
fixed gear - no dont change your mech, do an entire ride is a single gear selection!
no bike computer day - as described

as you get fitter, you get faster, the commute goes quicker and your less fatigued each day, you actually enjoy it more, and miss it.

and the all important one thats the biggest bonus ever
you can eat shed loads of food!

do not overdo it and get overtrained, its quite easy to do! listen to the body and cruise in / out if you have to and pootle along and always have in your mind "rest today and my next commute in i'll be back at top form"

enjoy!

chris_bass

andrewc3142 wrote:

MichaelW wrote:

Rail-assisted multi-modal commute.

You must be a consultant ...

no, he would have stretched that over a 10 page document and taken a month to come up with it if he was!

The Rookie

If you decide to drive and ride, a good way (I found) is I made up a single bike rack across the rear of the car (towbar mounted) which meant I could get the bike off in about 30s and on in about 1 min with minimal chance of causing damage.

I know of someone who commutes 35 miles each way, every day, sometimes he takes the long way home (about 50 miles) for fun, but then he's single, has a beard, drinks real ale, only rides steel frames and matches a fair few other stereotypes as well! It's on a FG or SS though!

DKay

I'm a teacher and my return commute totals 50miles with just under 3000ft. of climbing. I tend to only do it twice a week at most, but sometimes I may go up to three times a week during the summer term as that's when my timetable relaxes a bit due to the Y11s leaving early and I don't have boxes of books to carry to and from school. However, it does mean that I've got to get out of bed at 5:30am to get suited up and have something decent to eat before heading out of the door around 6:45am-ish, so I tend to suffer from a lack of sleep if I'm going to commute in. Also, during the winter months, it's just too damn dark and cold at this time of the morning to gather the enthusiasm to get on the bike.

To avoid carrying too much in my backpack, I always have a full change of clothes stashed at work, together with a decent stash of food, such as breakfast bars etc. Also, invest in some robust tyres, especially if you're commuting through winter.

The good side of having such a long commute though, is that you save money on fuel and you can get your training miles in without having to eat into your evenings.