Any 25+ Mile Commuters Out There?

markhewitt1978

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles, however I could get the train to Darlington and then bike in the 12 miles from there, it's just a pity the train times are so rubbish as that would put me at work for about 7.30am a full hour before I need to be here!

Going back is even worse, there would be no point leaving work until 6.30pm, a full hour and a half after I finish!

drlodge

Riding home with another person who lives near by is a big bonus...there are a few who cycle from London down towards Woking/Guildford/Ash area so worth trying to hook up.

vermin

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

markhewitt1978

Because I'm too weak to do that a full days work and ride home again . 70 miles on a weekend is an ask in itself

meanredspider

vermin wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

Apart from anything, that's around 4 hours of biking a day. 2 hours is reasonable but 4 is around 1/4 of your waking day.

cynicalrider

One of my good friends lived in Woking for 18 years and commuted almost every day to Great Ormond Street Hospital. The route is fine - West Byfleet, Cobham, Esher, Kingston, Wandsworth, Battersea, Vauxhall, Waterloo.

Chief considerations
Maintainenance - keeping your bike well maintained will mitigate the cost of parts substantially. Clean and lubed chain every week etc.
Mudguards - essential - it doesn't have to be raining for the roads to be wet, esp in winter
Organisation - being on top of having your kit ready every day, shirts ironed etc will make a big difference - you may already be doing this. Even so, I am generally fed, watered and out the door within 30mins of my alarm because I've prepped the night before. As the time for commuting goes up, you'll want to be as efficient as possible.
Fitness - this should be a consideration only insofar as the time it will take to build up the fitness to enable you to ride every day. Its definitely doable as the experience of many people here shows. This said, you will be tired by the end of the week and riding at weekends will be a bit of a non-starter.
Bike - I'd get something with disk brakes, mudguard and rack mounts if its going to be a dedicated commuted. And run 25-28mm tires.

For my own part, I actually commute by bike more in the winter (no need to rest up for racing, training at lower intensities so less fatiguing), riding in 90km door-to-door 3x a week, with a day off in between each. This also has the advantage of meaning that weekends can be devoted to family time, as I don't absolutely need to train.

andrewc3142

Various routes from the Woking area, but after trial and sometimes error here's my basic one into Cannon St. It's quite pleasant and light traffic much of the way:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/4906972

If you want to see whether it's something you'd be happy doing fairly regularly you're welcome to drop me a pm and arrange to join me either morning or evening.

As for kit, go with what works for you. The suggestions above would work well, but personally I use steel road bike, no mudguard or rack (SQR bag does both), rim brakes (with SwissStop green) and GP4000s 23C tyres all year (2 punctures in last 6 years or so).

snowley

I would have to agree with others here, it will be very tough. The option to do part car, part cycle/part train, part cycle is an appealing one and one that I have taken advantage of.

I cycle to the train station, take my bike on the train and then cycle home (21 miles). I do this no more than 4 days a week as I still want to enjoy my Sunday ride.

warreng

I'm pretty certain I couldn't do 25 miles. I currently do 16 from Epsom to Covent Garden four times a week and it's got to a point where I have started missing out on weekend rides.

dodgy

I do 22 each way, but the route is as flat as a witch's tit and with barely any traffic (18 miles completely segregated mostly on a purpose built smooth path). It's the stop start nature of inner city commuting which will sap your strength and probably enthusiasm.

elbowloh

dodgy wrote:

I do 22 each way, but the route is as flat as a witch's tit and with barely any traffic (18 miles completely segregated mostly on a purpose built smooth path). It's the stop start nature of inner city commuting which will sap your strength and probably enthusiasm.

I thought witch's tits were cold rather than flat?

dodgy

Maybe where you're from.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... %27s%20tit

Kieran_Burns

elbowloh wrote:

dodgy wrote:

I do 22 each way, but the route is as flat as a witch's tit and with barely any traffic (18 miles completely segregated mostly on a purpose built smooth path). It's the stop start nature of inner city commuting which will sap your strength and probably enthusiasm.

I thought witch's tits were cold rather than flat?

If they were cold they would not be flat.

daddy0

Levi_501 wrote:

At the moment my commute is 12 miles to the City, which takes 45 minutes. I am guessing, the further away the distance from central London, the less time it takes to cover; so may be something like 25 miles may take just under an hour and a half.

Levi_501 wrote:

However, tiredness comes into play if you are doing 25 miles twice a day, four/five days a week.

Is it possible every day? Or is it a ride in Monday morning, train home Monday night. Followed by a train in Tuesday morning and then cycle home Tuesday night?

How long does it take?

Don't think anyone has covered the speed/time it takes question. Simple answer - yes, it is quicker riding along country lanes with minimal traffic and almost no junctions to stop at. My commute is about half country lanes, half congested suburbia and is 24.5 miles. I tend to average around 19mph on the whole journey. On slow days it might go down to 18 (I'm rubbish at making myself do recovery rides). Typically I take about 1 hour 10 on the way home and 1 hour 20 on the way in. If I am feeling particularly slow I might take 1 hour 30. Think my fastest time is 1 hour 7 for getting home (in rush hour, about 22mph) - but you can't do that everyday. One day I hope to be fit enough to do the journey in under an hour, but this might require a pointy hat and suchlike.

If you average 16mph on your commute to the city then I wouldn't be surprised if you average 17-18mph on a longer commute. Test this out by going for a few 25 mile rides before you move, probably the best way to do this is to add a few miles on the way home incorporating some country lanes.

vermin

Kieran_Burns wrote:

elbowloh wrote:

dodgy wrote:

I do 22 each way, but the route is as flat as a witch's tit and with barely any traffic (18 miles completely segregated mostly on a purpose built smooth path). It's the stop start nature of inner city commuting which will sap your strength and probably enthusiasm.

I thought witch's tits were cold rather than flat?

If they were cold they would not be flat.

made me , thanks

rick_chasey

meanredspider wrote:

vermin wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

Apart from anything, that's around 4 hours of biking a day. 2 hours is reasonable but 4 is around 1/4 of your waking day.

Wish I could sleep 8hrs a day

pastryboy

I wouldn't want to do much more than an hour each way in winter - it gets really depressing after a few months of cold commutes in pitch black.

dhope

Rick Chasey wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

vermin wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

Apart from anything, that's around 4 hours of biking a day. 2 hours is reasonable but 4 is around 1/4 of your waking day.

Wish I could sleep 8hrs a day

Why can't you?

CiB

I keep looking at this, so ought to put a view up here.

Mine is about 21 miles, 20.4 at its shortest, 20.8 at its nicest variation, and as long as I want it to be at its longest. It's all country lanes & maybe one main road, all with about 4 Give Way junctions & one set of TLs whichever way I go of about 5 core routes, all fairly flat with a mix steady climbs & descents but nothing too strenuous. The avg speed is whatever I can muster; usually it's a min of 16mph, max around 20, norm is 17-19 going in and 16-18 going home due to it being more up than down going home. That equates to an hour to an hour & twenty minutes on the bike each journey

It's been everything from once a month to 5 days per week over the years, with the optimum being 2 - 3 days per week. 4 is doable, and coincides with school hols, generally in the summer. So does all 5 days but the reality is that it's a big effort, being up early enough (6:40 ish) every day, by Thursday the sense of doing it for the sake of it is overbearing, and by Friday it's down to thinking "I've got this far it may as well be 5" so I do it despite everything. The pleasure / fun / enjoyment saps away fairly quickly doing 4 or 5 days, compared to having a nice ride in on a Mon / Weds / Friday.

That's in the summer. Winter is a whole new kettle of fish; dark mornings, multiple layers, bike weighed down with a battery of lights fore & aft, all the extra layers & togs necessary to cope with an hour & 5 - 15 minutes on the bike on a freezing February morning. And for me - I like to be able to see the computer on the bars to know what I'm doing and push it a bit - there's a lack of knowing how fast I'm going, what my cadence is etc. I like to know, and in the dark I don't.

Reality is that 21 miles is doable but it needs decent summer weather and long daylight hours to do it more than a couple or three times per week. Beyond that it quickly becomes a chore, and eats into normal home life and work to such an extent that it becomes borderline worthwhile. 25 isn't much further really, another ¼ hour maybe. Whether it's worth putting yourself through is your decision, and you'll only know the answer to that once you've given it a go, in summer and winter. And Autumn too. There's a big diff between a warm sunny 7 o'clock morning in August and the 7 am in the depths of winter.

rick_chasey

dhope wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

vermin wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

Apart from anything, that's around 4 hours of biking a day. 2 hours is reasonable but 4 is around 1/4 of your waking day.

Wish I could sleep 8hrs a day

Why can't you?

Not a good sleeper. Even with a clear run I wake up after 6hrs

EKE_38BPM

Rick Chasey wrote:

dhope wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

vermin wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I've never commuted to work by bike as it's 35 miles

I don't see the causal link.

Apart from anything, that's around 4 hours of biking a day. 2 hours is reasonable but 4 is around 1/4 of your waking day.

Wish I could sleep 8hrs a day

Why can't you?

Not a good sleeper. Even with a clear run I wake up after 6hrs

Lay off the Gianluca.

itboffin

Yeah freezing cold and icy roads screw that this year, I'm too old for that shite now.

elbowloh

dodgy wrote:

Maybe where you're from.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... %27s%20tit

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=witch%27s+tit

Levi_501

Thanks for all the input guys, some very interesting reading both confirming my thoughts and some new ideas.

I like the idea of trying to find another rider(s) that would be in the similar direction; I can see that would be a really good.

As for bike itself related topics; my bike is bang up to spec and well serviced. However I do think I would have to change out the R8 for longer distances. Whilst it is a lovely bike and a dream to ride, it is just to heavy.

In terms of actual bike (frame then) I would want reliability, easy servicing, comfort with a nod towards speed; I think it would be a visit to Mr Roberts as I would want a steel frame, disc brakes and threaded BB.

As I mentioned we are still only thinking about moving, but you never know!

Thanks again

andrewc3142

Levi_501 wrote:

In terms of actual bike (frame then) I would want reliability, easy servicing, comfort with a nod towards speed; I think it would be a visit to Mr Roberts as I would want a steel frame, disc brakes and threaded BB.

Worth having a look at Condor. The Acciaio works for me, with similar criteria to yours apart from disc brakes. The Fratello perhaps even closer since it can take a rack if needed.

Levi_501

andrewc3142 wrote:

Worth having a look at Condor. The Acciaio works for me, with similar criteria to yours apart from disc brakes. The Fratello perhaps even closer since it can take a rack if needed.

Thanks. as you all know it is great having a lovely light bike, but by the time you add rucksack, lunch, files, laptop and of course a ironed shirt!

asprilla

If I had to bring my laptop home everyday I'd quit.

When I WFH I use OWA (or gmail depending on client), dropbox, sharepoint, googledocs, etc from my home laptop. Even with heavily security conscious clients I can VPN onto their network and access what I need (including the jabber / bluejeans VC apps which is a godsend).

My bag contains: underwear, shirt, glasses, phone, wallet.

Kieran_Burns

Asprilla wrote:

If I had to bring my laptop home everyday I'd quit.

When I WFH I use OWA (or gmail depending on client), dropbox, sharepoint, googledocs, etc from my home laptop. Even with heavily security conscious clients I can VPN onto their network and access what I need (including the jabber / bluejeans VC apps which is a godsend).

My bag contains: underwear, shirt, glasses, phone, wallet.

Except on many networks (ours included) NAC will stop your laptop from connecting.

rjsterry

My 2p-worth: it depends a lot on your working hours - a strict 9-5:30 is one thing. If you don't even leave the office until 8:30 as I'm doing at the moment, 25miles in the dark will not fill you with joy. For further comment on this, speak to cjcp.

asprilla

Kieran_Burns wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

If I had to bring my laptop home everyday I'd quit.

When I WFH I use OWA (or gmail depending on client), dropbox, sharepoint, googledocs, etc from my home laptop. Even with heavily security conscious clients I can VPN onto their network and access what I need (including the jabber / bluejeans VC apps which is a godsend).

My bag contains: underwear, shirt, glasses, phone, wallet.

Except on many networks (ours included) NAC will stop your laptop from connecting.

I couldn't do it. Actually I could, because I have, and it generally involves me leaving my laptop at work unless there are exceptional circumstances that require it.