Long commute advice

The good doctor

Hi,

After 19 years my 14 mile commute came to an end when my place of work relocated. The return trip is now 52-54 miles so I didn't give it any serious consideration as I had to buy a car and do get paid a mileage allowance for a period of time.

So after 15 months of driving I have found that the lack of commuting miles has affected my form. To be more specific my winter mileage dropped through the floor and this impacted on my overall levels of fitness throughout the summer. The other side effect was weight gain...20 lbs of it. I could have upped my non commute mileage but motivation to ride further with less time on my hands proved a challenge.

To get to the point...what's the longest commute anyone undertakes? I don't think there will be many days when I'd do the return trip outside of summer months so am seriously think of starting my working week by driving in with my bike then riding home and riding back the next day followed by drive home and back to work & ride home and back etc.

I work shifts which adds another complication but does mean I can miss most of the heavy traffic and I do have access to showers and storage at work for clothes, bike and car.

My previous commute was from Romsey to Southampton a flat 14 mile return trip. The new route will be from Romsey to Portsdown Hill just north of Portsmouth. Does anyone have any experience of the B roads re how safe are they etc? I have 2 road bikes but is a hybrid a better idea and wear and tear will be issues too.

Ultimately I hate driving to work especially after 19 years cycling so need to weigh up my options, I want to return to my previous levels of fitness/weight but there's a lot to consider.

John

The Rookie

Consider finding somewhere to park 10-15 miles from where you work and cycle the rest, its what a some of my work colleagues do. With the right bike and way of carrying it the swapover can be done in a couple of minutes, at least two use MTB cleats/shoes as they work better for dual use (driving and then riding).

fat daddy

well its doable and you would take a massive jump up in endurance fitness ... but 15 months off the bike AND 20lbs weight increase is a lot.

no way I would jump straight in to doing that distance everyday, your knees will die ...... I echo the above, drive half way and commute from there ... you can build up stamina that way and slowely move the car further away to cycle more

asprilla

It's doable.

I used to do 50miles a day, five days a week but it meant that I didn't ride at the weekend and I didn't lose any weight because I was eating all the time.

The good doctor

The drive halfway option is a good thought and worth investigation. I do still ride but the commute made a considerable difference to my annual mileage especially during winter months so that's why I want to start again.

Many thanks

John

bompington

I've been working about 20 miles from home for years now. Through most of that time I've followed the one way commuting pattern you suggest - drive to work, leave car and cycle home, ride back in the next morning. Usually I'd do this twice a week so 4 out of 10 journeys were by bike.
Of course this only works if you have a car you can leave at work. We're now at the stage where Bomp Jr. is working and driving, and it's harder to leave one car out of the mix - for a couple of weeks I've been doing 2 way commutes 2 or 3 times, I find this harder but really only in the sense that I'm not good for much in the evening after 2 hard hour+ rides. I guess it depends what hours you work and what commitments / activities you have out of hours - I have a few and it certainly grates when I have to haul myself out of the house after a commuting day.
Your commute is clearly a step up in distance from mine but I would reckon it's not impossible. Hilliness counts for a lot as well as distance - when I started commuting I used to do a 21 mile ride on on MTB in about the same time as a 19 mile ride on a road bike after moving house, because the quickest route was now much hillier.
How safe particular roads are depends on a lot of factors - I've no idea about your part of the world but round here I've found that A roads, B roads, country lanes are all fine, you get the occasional close pass on any of them but it feels worse on A roads because the cars are generally going faster.
Fat D's advice about taking it easy is sound (although I'm not so sure about the knees, never been a problem for me) but you can also start off doing the whole thing one way, just taking it easy-paced and not doing it too often.

timothyw

It's a big leap up from a 14 mile round trip to 52 miles, but you are certainly capable of cycling at least part of the time - be it one way trips on successive days or the suggested part by car, part by bike. From what you've said about recreational riding, I imagine you wouldn't think much of taking a 30 mile weekend ride, so doing a few over the course of the working week is entirely achievable.

I do 14 miles each way (so a 28 mile round trip) and there's nothing special about me, I've just slowly worked up to it - when I started I was about 8 miles from work and I'd take a day off between one way commutes, stepped up to daily return trips after a couple of weeks, then moved a bit further away so was doing 11 mile commutes, then a bit further still and now I'm on the 14 mile trip.

If I found myself 26 miles from work (as you have) I'd probably aim to do a round trip commute two or three times a week (eg there and back on the bike on Tuesdays and Thursdays or Mon/Wed/Fri). Perhaps you can set yourself that as a target for next summer?

bendertherobot

I do 18 each way, I'd not fancy much more but, in the summer and dry, 25 each way is doable. Indeed, given the traffic on most 25 each way routes, preferable.

craker

Interesting that most people think they 'wouldn't do much more than my current commute'

I drive 5 cycle 10 this time of year (if I needed an excuse, its that those five miles are uphill on unlit narrow roads and in the dark it's just not fun).

Getting out of a warmed up car on a morning like this is something of a challenge though... if I didn't cycle everyday I may well have decided to stay in the car.

The Rookie

craker wrote:

if I needed an excuse, its that those five miles are uphill on unlit narrow roads and in the dark it's just not fun

That made me smile as 5 of my 6.7 mile (each way) commute is on exactly that type of road, I feel safer on unlit roads as my lights stand out better than they would on a road with a lot of 'light pollution' to make me less distinguishable (which is when Hi-vis and reflectors come into there own more). Work colleagues who pass me say they have no problem seeing my rear light (Moon Shield 60) from a decent distance.

wongataa

If I cycle to work it is 53 mile round trip. I only do it during the summer and once a week (on Fridays as I finish work at lunchtime) at the most.

prawny

I think 50+ miles a day would be too much unless it's very flat.

I do 40 miles a day. It's enough for me.

I do the odd off road ride at the weekends in the summer, and I've been known to go for a mtb ride before I set off to work, but that is by choice, if I had to do it I'd be cooked.

3 days a week would be doable though, and would bump up your fitness nicely I'd have thought. As would doing one way each day.

The good doctor

Thanks for the replies, I think a selected number of days per week working around my shift pattern is the way forward..

Regards

John

wolfsbane2k

The good doctor wrote:

Thanks for the replies, I think a selected number of days per week working around my shift pattern is the way forward..

Regards

John

50 miles, Ending in Portsdown hill? Your nuts. I do 10 miles a day up and over the hill, but that's my only time on the bike at the moment. I love to hate the climb, but I 'pick' the steepest bit to climb.

The good doctor wrote:

My previous commute was from Romsey to Southampton a flat 14 mile return trip. The new route will be from Romsey to Portsdown Hill just north of Portsmouth. Does anyone have any experience of the B roads re how safe are they etc? I have 2 road bikes but is a hybrid a better idea and wear and tear will be issues too.

Anyway - Come "play" on the hill Assuming your going to work at QA, given your user name & shift work. That means that you don't actually have to ride along the top of the hill, but could attack up and over from the north through wickham/southwyck, or come up from the south through Fareham/portchester.

Beware of the absolute tw@ts of drivers along the top of portsdown hill (James Callahan Drive/Portsdown Hill). You need to be in primary to account for the potholes & sidewinds, and being the busy road it is there are a LOT of drivers entitled to go the full 40mph and squeeze past you into oncoming traffic.

I've got colleagues that come from Winchester 3 days a week to Fareham via wickham, will try and find their routes.

wolfsbane2k

PS - I don't envy you the drive either. I used to drive from cosham to central soton every day, the m27 was shocking. changed jobs so that I could cycle... then moved house.

cruff

I have knocked the commuting on the head for now - On and off over the years I've done Reigate to the West End (80km round trip), Chorley to Manchester (80km round trip), Woking to the West End (100km round trip) and now Chorley to Rochdale (100km round trip), as well as periods of shorter (40km round trips) commutes

Commuting is no fun (unless you're fortunate enough not to have to ride through cities or on busy A roads) but it's definitely good training - provided you don't eat like a horse when the mileage goes up!

I'd suggest doing it twice a week to start with and as others have suggested, see if you can do it halfway. You'll be surprised how quickly you adapt to it

redbikejohn

I do 24.4miles each way so about 50 a day. I try to do three or four days depending on weather. I tend to skip Fridays as I like to get home earlier. I do shift work to so up at 3.30!
I have a motorbike too so use that too. I tend to be a bit sporadic in doing it. Sometimes I'll cycle four day a week for a month but if something stops me riding for about a week or two I tend to find excuses not to cycle, especially in weather like we've been having, ie cold and wet.
Once you've been riding the 50 a day four six weeks or so it doesn't feel so hard to do, then it's time to speed up a bit. I tend to take it easy as you can't push too much doing that sort of mileage. Anyway - it's doable........ and I'm 53

overlord2

Is that 25m each way?

If so that is do able imo but not every day. But if I was doing that sort of mileage I'd make sure I was doing it on a very good bike and good gear and not your average commuting bike lumped with cheap wiggle Dhb gear.

And you have to factor in winter which brings it's own problems.

And it means you'll probably be less inclined to want to ride in your free time.

thomasmorris

I used to do Hayling - Hedge End which was 23 miles each way. If I was training I'd do both way, and add on more, but if not I'd drive one way. Now I only go as far at Portchester, but frequently add on extra mileage.

As long as you have good parking at work, it makes a lot of sense to drive in, cycle home, cycle in, drive home etc.
1) You can use you car as a large locker with as many changes of clothes as you need
2) If the weather turns to crap, or you have tough day, you always have the option to drive home
3) It also does away with riding with a packs which is a benefit over those distances
4) Mornings commutes are usually harder motivation wise, but having your car at work leaves you no option.

The good thing with QA is you don't have to ride in to Portsmouth. Between portsdown hill and botley there's some really nice roads (forest of bere, south downs). The difficult bit will be finding a way through the M3 corridor between Eastleigh and Winchester.

andyrr

Doing, at least initially, a partway ride, parking maybe midway, sounds like a sensible idea.
One thing that obviously is pretty significant, and is also affected by the driving bit, is time.
For a 26 - 27 mile journey you would probably need to build in about 90 minutes from door to desk - taking into account the time for a shower at work.
Not sure how busy the drive in is and whether you skip past loads of traffic which means your overall cycling average might look better in comparison to driving ? Maybe working shifts you miss a lot of traffic.
I used to do a 35 mile round trip on a fairly lumpy route normally doing there and back skipping alternate days - sometimes when I worked a set of 4x12 hour shifts so I'd cycle Monday, drive Tues, cycle Wed drive Thurs etc. It was ok but doing 4 or 5, which I sometimes did when not working shifts and I didn't have access to a car tended to leave me feeling a bit washed out.

For what is a reasonably proper ride, done time and time again, you'd want a bike that you can ride at a good pace and can put up with a lot of use in all weathers - a CX with clearance for full guards would seem sensible. You want to avoid getting on the bike and wondering when in the next 25 miles something is going to break - potentially leaving you stranded in the early hours of the morning.

If you can afford the time on the bike then I'd think as long as the weather is not terrible then the full distance might be fine but that could maybe come when you are into next year - after a year and a bit with reduced riding you want to get used to commuting a good distance again I think.

mr_eddy

I do 20 miles a day and that is enough for me anymore and it would no longer be enjoyable. Commuter cycling is so far removed from a nice Sunday ride.

I echo the above posts - Of course its possible but doing 50+ miles a day will soon get old. You will lose any enjoyment from the cycling commute doing that distance. Its lovely on a warm day in the summer but day in day out in crappy weather with all the UK weather can throw at you it will just end up deflating you.

I would as others have mentioned either drive and part at a half way point or possibly cycle a couple of days a week. Maybe take all your clothes for the week on the driving days that way you can just take essentials on the cycling days in a saddle bag etc.

Personally I think you would be nuts to cycle 50+ miles a day but hats off for considering it.

pfnsht

I think this is doable approx. 3 days per week but probably not there and back on one day, so you would need to leave car/bike at work. You’d need some time to build up to doing it comfortably and then it would just a be a case of keeping it going so you don’t fall off the wagon.

My point to point commute is a 28 miles round trip which I do every day, however at least 3 days per week I extend my commute by 25-40 miles and although I sleep well my evening energy levels are now fine. When I started I was dog tired in the evenings though!

Whilst I’ve lost a lot of weight from cycling (16.5 stone in 2014, 12 and a bit stone now / 5ft10) I have found since doing my commute and extended sessions (since Apr 2016) I’ve not lost anymore as I am eating a lot more – just love handles left

My boss cycles in 63 miles 3 days a week, sometimes more and I know of another chap covering 50-55 miles every day (around Regents Park, at speed 19 – 22.5 mph average).

andyeb

66 miles round trip commute here, but I only do it once a week (on a cross bike). The other days I take my folding bike on the train.

My advice would be to start small, build up slowly and listen to your body.

matt@theforce

I commuted 34miles (2800ft climbing) round trip in my previous job with either a 12hr day or night shift in between, I did that for around 4 years.
My new job is 62miles round trip (4000ft) climbing but working 8-4 x5 days per week, since last summer I've been commuting by bike once a week, when the days get longer & lighter I intend to try 2 days per week.

Take it at your own pace and as others have said, try mixing up the journey by using the car/train where you can until you get your fitness back to a level you can commute without the risk of injury.