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I have a GT aggressor mountain bike that I commute to and from work. I've been doing it for a year and a half now. I've never used any other bike. I don't see the since in it for my route. Most of my route is dirt, gravel, and rail road. A road or gravel bike. Is not made for all that, there limited.
I ride 35kms to work and 35kms home four days a week most days l do it with a cargo bike because I bring firewood home but when it’s warm weather I ride my old cyclocross btw I’m 57 years old .
I tried riding my bike to work in Holland as one even gets a tax deduction for doing so. It was only 15 kms and it being Holland it was pretty much level ground all the way with separated bicycle paths. I ended up not doing it was it took 60 minutes on average due to the large number of intersections with traffic lights in the cities. Only 5 kms of the 15 kms was in cities and the other 10 was in the countryside with dedicated paths all the way, but that 5 kms in the cities took 30 of the 60 minutes!!! (averaging only 5 kph!!!) Holland is great for riding within a city or between cities, but inter city, nope!!! In my case I was traveling between Haarlem and Hoofddorp (two smaller cities in the Randstad south west of Amsterdam). I ended up driving as it was a consistent 20 minutes by car (cities have ring roads). Train or bus was 45 minutes as trains and buses are just not well set up for travel between small cities in the radius of a larger city in this case Amsterdam as the systems are setup hub and spoke and the route are more about collecting for the spokes. I did ride a bike for almost everything else as I lived in a 15 minute city.
Weather is a huge factor that determines how sweaty you might get and so is the choice in clothing. If you live in an area with very moderate temperatures, you'll be able to go much harder than if you're in hot climate. And if you have some cycling kit you can wear that on the way to work and then change into business clothing. It doesn't actually need to be cycling clothing, just a second set of clothes but the spandex stuff cools you down pretty effectively so I would recommend that if you can afford to look very stereotypical. And it can't be understated how great e bikes are. Buying a pretty expensive one is going to be cheaper than owning a gift car. You may go from a two car household to just owning one or maybe you are in a somewhat cyclable area so that you won't even need that single car. There are purists that despise electric bikes for some reason but you will still have to pedal so it still comes with all of the benefits of cycling. Lastly, it is exercise so you can also consider cancelling a gym membership (good luck with that, they are not making that easy) and save time and money that way.
The first question is more to do with difference in time it takes to get to work by bike and by car/public transport. I started by cycling part of the way - that was actually faster than driving all the way, due to the traffic on the last part of the route.
30km round trip commute, up hill there and downhill home. I'm 53 and I plan on keeping up the commute as long as need be. On my days off I try to fit in one 100km ride.....use it or loose it!!
I did 10 miles each way in Vegas to 2 straight years. Was a nice distance to decompress and the roads were not terribly traffic heavy. It also depends on your fitness and type of bike and speed you ride. I did every single day rain or shine. Or snow!
This is so off topic but is ‘bicycle’ and ‘bike’ used as a verb in American English. I’m an Australian and we only ever say ‘ride’ a bike. ‘bike’ or ‘bicycling’ a bike sounds weird to me. Also please understand I’m not criticizing just interested as many nouns evolve to verbs I just wouldn’t say this in my version of English.
To me it is not distance it is time. I would say alternate method plus half an hour. I don’t mind taking an extra 30 minutes but wouldn’t do an extra hour to work. Going home though I take the long way and spend an extra couple of hours.
When giving your route a “test run”, keep in mind that traffic may be different during your actual commute. Take weather and route into consideration. Many bike trails in my area are along drainage easements and bayous. They often cross underneath roadways, which can be flooded during bad weather.
My job is only 2 miles i only ride my bike during the warmer months starting late April till mid November I think 2 miles is the sweet spot for commuting because if you have bike trouble you not far from home u can walk the rest of the way in either direction and it’s good exercise any further and you have to go and have bike trouble it can make u late for work and getting home late
My original commute was a little over 8 miles. I didn't think I could do that. I bought a folding bike, drove some of the way and cycled the rest. PArking my car further and further as the weeks went on until I did the whole thing. I then got a proper bike so it was then easier and faster. Cycling, even in bad weather took me about an hour. On a good day, driving would take me 40 mins - on a bad day, an hour and 15 - if the weather was really bad, snow and such, it could take me 2 hours to drive home. On average then it was quicker on the bike - plus no stopping in traffic. I've changed jobs now so it's only about 4.5 miles to work. I ride an MTB - hydrolic disk brakes. I'm a fat lad and in the wet I need to stop when I need to stop.
My bike commute is 20 miles each way and takes about 1hr and 15mins. My commute is from San Francisco to Corte Madera Trek store across the Golden Gate bridge.
I used to commute 5-8kms on an old hybrid with no suspension. The winter cold and further distance made me upgrade to a 2021 NCM Milano and I never looked back. After having kids, I just use it as a school runabout by turning the rack into a long tail and a shotgun seat to haul 2 kids to school(2km). In the winter, it is good for pulling a sled with all their hockey gear. We are currently visiting my in laws for a month and they live 12-15kms from town. They have a couple Cube reaction pfm and boy are they uncomfortable for these long commutes. I got a riser bar/anti fatigue grips & a gel saddle 2nd hand, which helps.
My commute was about 15 miles each way. The distance wasn't a problem (I was in good bike shape, had access to a shower, etc.), but the stress of worrying about whether I was going to be run down by some motorist. Another point to consider is where you'll be able to store your bike and is it safe? I got caught bringing my bike inside and had a "discussion" with the head of security about it. He told me that I had to use the bike rack. I challenged him to prove to me that the surveillance cameras did an adequate job of viewing said bike rack. They didn't. My employer later put in a number of bike lockers for those who commuted by bike.
I used to commute to work 20 miles each way, and half the time I did it on a fixed gear bike. Then I swam for an hour at "lunch". Sometimes I'd also do an 8 mile run when I got home. Of course I was training for Ironman's. I don't have to commute anymore, but if I did 15 miles one way would be my max. No swim, no run. I'm 58 now and retired from training and racing.
Luckily my commute is 5 km (3 miles) each way, about 15 mins. Have a pedal assist eBike so don't get too sweaty. Recommend to just do one bike commute per week in good weather & gradually increase it. Now I only drive occasionally if the weather is extremely bad.
I have a mountain bike I commute on every day I prefer them because I live in a heavy traffic area and riding in the street isn’t the best idea so I’m always transitioning from street to sidewalk sidewalk to street to take short cuts over grass gravel uneven pavement and it’s full suspension so it can take pounding a road bike can’t
if i am gonna work 9-5, id want it to be less than 30 minutes. returning from work could be work->bike->gym->home, 10km is very doable in 30 mins on flat terrain , i think 10 km is very generous distance to consider for someone like me who don't live in huge metro city nor a very rural city, i mean within radius of 10km id not only get to workplace but also ill find everything relevant like hospitals, school, department store, pharmacy, gym etc etc etc
dumb pedestrians need to get off the bike path. I only see bicycles only not bicycle and pedestrians path marked. there would be a lot of sore elbows on the way to my commute
If you need to shorten the miles (or the ride time) on your ride, you can try electric - or carpool/bus/train part way. I bike all the way in the AM then only go 2/3 on the way home then hop on the bus to my neighborhood. I get off then back on the bike for the last mile. Give biking to the office a try!
Step 1: live in a place where this is actually safe to do. Step 2: Get paid enough to be able to afford to live closer to your workplace to begin with. I can do neither of these things, and it sucks
I commuted 18 miles each way for eight years straight. It was a 90 minute drive or a 75 minute bike ride, and if traffic was bad (which was normal), it became a 2+ hour drive... or a 75 minute bike ride. I would tell people I biked to work because I was too lazy to sit in traffic. It saved me time, saved a fortune in gas/tolls/etc, I showered at the office, and naturally I ended up in phenomenal shape. I wasn't in shape to do it when I started, but I stuck with it, and by the time I moved it was genuinely just an easy ride. GREAT tips man, keep riding!
How much did your time change over the years? Was it always about the same? I can cover the 12 flat miles to work in under an hour, but I'd be able to do it more if I could get my time down.
@@Bobbylegs37 A ton, actually. When I started, I was a 12-14 pace at best. Just from, doing it every day, that pace creeped up to a 14-16 pace, and so on. When I moved out of the area, I was comfortably riding 16-18, and occasionally getting bored and riding 20+ (took a few years to get there). Just keep doing it every day and the times will start to casually creep down. You got this man! Hit me up if you need motivation or just wanna compare notes.
It would have been good to mention multimodal commutes as an option as well. 20 miles may be too far to be practical for a lot of people, but that gets a lot easier if you rode the bus 10 miles with a 5 mile bike stint on either end.
I think it comes down to time. I used to do 30 miles round trip three days a week and could do it one way in about an hour. So two hours per day total. That was the time limit for my wife….
