Longer commutes

prawny

bompington wrote:

Well, you know what they say - "train hard, it's a sportive not a race easy"

I couldn’t do a week of commutes with them on, I tried and failed.

shirley_basso

What a ride. Shaved another 7 minutes off my PB from last week. 3h15 for the 60 miles this morning, including all the stops into London as I don't use auto-pause.

Ever so slight side/tailwind but I'll take it.

I'll be asleep in about 2 hours.

shirley_basso

Damn. Thought I had a door to door PR this morning. Turns out after reading this I was 2-3 minutes slower.

That said, on the 15th I held 20mph for the first 30 miles whereas today I held it for 45 miles before the first set of traffic lights slowed me considerably as traffic built up on the way into London.

Strava will be the judge when it corrects for auto pause. Watch this space later tonight.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Shirley Basso wrote:

Damn. Thought I had a door to door PR this morning. Turns out after reading this I was 2-3 minutes slower.

That said, on the 15th I held 20mph for the first 30 miles whereas today I held it for 45 miles before the first set of traffic lights slowed me considerably as traffic built up on the way into London.

Strava will be the judge when it corrects for auto pause. Watch this space later tonight.

Or you could create a private segment outside privacy zones to see the "real world" door to door.

I set a second best PB yesterday morning for my such segment, 13mins41secs for a whole 3.93 miles on my Voodoo, rare slight NE tailwind through Southampton helped.

njee20

Why even make it private? I'd be interested to see if anyone else rode that exact route!

shirley_basso

https://www.strava.com/segments/17866821

I've clipped the ends to make it make more sense for other users who may join/ leave at other points. I don't know how long it will take for my other rides to register on it. There should be about 4 or so.

shirley_basso

6 rides. That makes 7 commutes so far (one day I went a different way). Only one other rider goes in as far as Islington - I know one other guy who commutes in but heads off earlier as he goes to the west end.

ugo.santalucia

This could cut 20 or more minutes off a 30 mile commute... easier to ride in foul weather and when roads might be icy... problem is I don't have 7 grand.
Speaking to someone who has one, he said on some routes, averaging 30 mph is perfectly possible

shirley_basso

Looks a bit cumbersome in heavy traffic though.

ugo.santalucia

Shirley Basso wrote:

Looks a bit cumbersome in heavy traffic though.

It's not for city traffic... it's for long stretches of A/B road, where you can take advantage of the insane aerodynamics.

I've seen two on the road... on the flat you can't keep up, no matter how strong you are... these things easily go up to 30-35 mph.
Uphill on the other hand... :roll:

graeme_s-2

A colleague of mine used to ride into work a similar(ish) distance to you Ugo. He did it on a number of different bikes over the years, including an Ice Trike for a while, partly because of concerns over ice in the winter. I cycled with him a few times, and it was definitely pretty sprightly on the flat. He had no problem filtering in traffic in it. The thing I most noticed when riding with him is how much visibility it got just from being weird looking. Drivers would stop and stare.


(his had hub brakes on the front rather than discs, but basically looked like this)

ugo.santalucia

In essence the Quest is the same trike with a carbon or fiberglass fairing.
I'd love to have one just because they look amazing in the flesh and I like the idea you can go really fast!!

pastryboy

Might be worth looking at juspark.com for some people. You can hire a spot on someone's driveway for the day which could be a way of varying the distance you want to ride on any given day. If you avoid the driveways around train stations it shouldn't be too costly and you can often book a month at a time.

Personally I start hating life during winter/early spring and would struggle with anything over an hour.

ugo.santalucia

House fell through... so no long commute for me anymore :-)

I wasn't looking forward to it, to be honest...

roger_merriman

ugo.santalucia wrote:

In essence the Quest is the same trike with a carbon or fiberglass fairing.
I'd love to have one just because they look amazing in the flesh and I like the idea you can go really fast!!

I work nr Hillington circuit and do see some amazing bits of kit now and then, if unwieldy in traffic or on the cycle paths.

the_hundredth_idiot

I commute up from Sussex to the City on occasion. It's about 42-45 miles depending on exact route and I find it too much to do in one day so generally cycle in one day, leave the bike in the office car park overnight, then cycle home the next day.

Some people I know who live near me will drive to just inside the M25, park up and cycle the rest of the way. It about halves the distance to make it more manageable, and has the advantage of lit roads all the way for the cycle leg. I keep meaning to try that but need to find a good spot to park up - I was thinking of the A23 bridge over the M25 at Merstham, but any better suggestions a bit further inside the M25 would be gratefully received.

kingdav

I come in from roughly the same direction, I park where I do based on a tip-off from someone else. She said Grasmere Road, Dale Road or Sunnydene Road. It's 14 miles to the city from there and I find I can do that day in day out both ways rain, shine or snow.

elbowloh

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

I commute up from Sussex to the City on occasion. It's about 42-45 miles depending on exact route and I find it too much to do in one day so generally cycle in one day, leave the bike in the office car park overnight, then cycle home the next day.

Some people I know who live near me will drive to just inside the M25, park up and cycle the rest of the way. It about halves the distance to make it more manageable, and has the advantage of lit roads all the way for the cycle leg. I keep meaning to try that but need to find a good spot to park up - I was thinking of the A23 bridge over the M25 at Merstham, but any better suggestions a bit further inside the M25 would be gratefully received.

There's loads of places round Coulsdon you could park, the advantage of this is that you miss out the dual lane section of the A23 from Hooley to Coulsdon, which has a 40 mph limit, but which is actually driven at 60mph by a lot of drivers.

the_hundredth_idiot

Thanks, both. I'll check out some of those roads. I just wasn't sure about parking restrictions a bit further in. Although I guess I would be far enough away from a train station to be low risk of residents permits, I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of locals who can get quite protective about people parking on "their" street.

cruff

Even though you'll miss out that horrendous junction where the M23 meets the A23, you can't do anything about the rest of the A23 (Croydon, Streatham, Brixton...)

Personally, I'd park on that bridge anyway. Nice little warmup up 'Alp Vojan', then provided you're not super-early the junction is snarled up enough to be too busy for maniacs driving quick enough to kill you. IMO, the A23 from Hooley to Coulsdon is fine - it's fast but the lanes are wide, and I've never had an issue there - unlike the rest of the route in from Purley onwards...

elbowloh

Cruff wrote:

Even though you'll miss out that horrendous junction where the M23 meets the A23, you can't do anything about the rest of the A23 (Croydon, Streatham, Brixton...)

Personally, I'd park on that bridge anyway. Nice little warmup up 'Alp Vojan', then provided you're not super-early the junction is snarled up enough to be too busy for maniacs driving quick enough to kill you. IMO, the A23 from Hooley to Coulsdon is fine - it's fast but the lanes are wide, and I've never had an issue there - unlike the rest of the route in from Purley onwards...

I used to live in Merstham and that section was the worst imo, especially coming home, only matched with the section for the slip road to the M25/M23 as cars will just cut across you at speed.

However, once i got to Cousldon, i didn't follow the A23, but rather went through Wallington, Mitcham Green, Colliers Wood to the CS7 so avoided Croydon, Streatham and Brixton).

the_hundredth_idiot

The bit I don't like is where the M23 and A23 merge - it's narrow (for several lanes of traffic) and usually clogged. I've tried going around the back (Chipstead?) but it feels a bit convoluted. I sometimes use a route a little further east and come over Farthing Downs which is nice.

The big roundabout by the Tesco at Purley is also horrid - I haven't figured out an easy way around that so far.

I stay away form the A23 after that, going up over Crystal Palace and down through Dulwich and Peckham. That's not too bad, particularly once you get away from the drivers in utter pyschos in Croydon that somewhat unbelievably have managed to get a driving licence.

So somewhere just north of the Tesco Purley roundabout would be just perfect.

cruff

elbowloh wrote:

Cruff wrote:

Even though you'll miss out that horrendous junction where the M23 meets the A23, you can't do anything about the rest of the A23 (Croydon, Streatham, Brixton...)

Personally, I'd park on that bridge anyway. Nice little warmup up 'Alp Vojan', then provided you're not super-early the junction is snarled up enough to be too busy for maniacs driving quick enough to kill you. IMO, the A23 from Hooley to Coulsdon is fine - it's fast but the lanes are wide, and I've never had an issue there - unlike the rest of the route in from Purley onwards...

I used to live in Merstham and that section was the worst imo, especially coming home, only matched with the section for the slip road to the M25/M23 as cars will just cut across you at speed.

However, once i got to Cousldon, i didn't follow the A23, but rather went through Wallington, Mitcham Green, Colliers Wood to the CS7 so avoided Croydon, Streatham and Brixton).

Uses to do that sometimes, but Colliers Wood, Tooting and Balham are just as bad (worse, in the case of Tooting, which rivals only Croydon for sh1ttiest driving standards in London). There is the bonus of Clapham Common, but even that's offset by the horrors of the road from stockwell to Oval

njee20

I assume you're further east than me; I come up from Billingshurst (south west of Horsham) and ride from Leatherhead, which isn't too bad. I'd not want to be driving too far inside the M25 as you just get heavier traffic too, which offsets any advantage.

the_hundredth_idiot

I think you're probably right. The M25 bridge at Merstham is looking the best option. Halves the distance from home to the office to make it a more manageable commute, not outside someones house so less likely to be a local getting precious about "their" space. Given the hassles I've had on Southern Rail recently, I might start making the half-way cycle commute a more regular event through the year rather than an occasional full-distance treat during the summer.

cruff

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

I think you're probably right. The M25 bridge at Merstham is looking the best option. Halves the distance from home to the office to make it a more manageable commute, not outside someones house so less likely to be a local getting precious about "their" space. Given the hassles I've had on Southern Rail recently, I might start making the half-way cycle commute a more regular event through the year rather than an occasional full-distance treat during the summer.

I did it three times a week - made a huge difference to me and got to the point where I looked forward to days off the train even when it was p1ssing down. It helped that I didn't have to drive at all I think - I lived in Reigate, so only four miles to Merstham, but even if I'd had to drive to that bridge and park up it would have been preferable to the stress of getting the branch line train one stop to Redhill in the morning, changing and watching my train to London sitting on the platform next to me with its f***ing doors closed waiting for a signal :evil: :evil: :evil:

kingdav

I'm overjoyed to have rid myself of reliance on Southern. I've found using the car to cut down the distance has given me a truly sustainable year round bike commute.

prawny

I'm seriously considering an Orbea Gain when the next batch come out, just to take the edge off the hills on my route.

Obviously if you live on a fairly flat route it would be next to useless, but for me it would probably knock 5 mins off each way and reduce fatigue.

ThatBikeGuy

I commute 5 days a week most weeks for about 8 months of the year, 24 miles a day with roughly 1200ft of elevation. This is on a focus mares commuter with 37mm tyres so not the quickest up the hills due to the weight and higher rolling resistance.
Its about as far as I feel comfortable doing without feeling too fatigued on the evenings

njee20

Good distance that IMO. Far enough that it’s worthwhile, but not so far that you get knackered! I really miss my 11 mile rural commute!