[Closed] commuting to work

Can you do half and half? Drive with the bike, come home on it and ride back or a public transport combo?

What are you riding on (bike) and what are you riding on (terrain)?

Road bike/hybrid on the road - you’ll be fine and surprised at how easy it can be. Just leave yourself plenty of time for the first few trips.

It's a MTB and terrain is road all the way I'm afraid.

Yeah I can drive with it and bike home no issues there.

Tom

In true STW style I'll mostly tell you what I do

The most important thing is NOT what bike to ride etc, it's about being organised

1. Have the relevant clothes etc in the right place at the right time (i.e. when you drive in, take a few days worth of clothes and leave them ready)

2. Make it easy to cycle in. In fact EASIER to cycle than drive - so your ironed, ready to go stuff is there, not at home, then you're quite likely to choose to cycle in

3. Either ease in gently - once or twice a week and then ramp up, or if you have the discipline for it just got for it and ride full time (this is hard - either have willpower of steel or send your car keys off with the other half so you have no choice etc)

4. Enjoy it. It's extra riding time which comes partially for free. It also justifies buying more biking stuff BTW

5. Enjoy bad weather. When I used to have no choice but to ride over the south downs every day the benefits were at their peak in winter - other riders would complain "it's been rainy, I've not been out for two weeks" etc, I'd still done 100 miles a week every week. It does help to have a shower and change of clothes at either end (see point no.1)

I hope this helps !

How hard can it be? 😀

It's supposed to be nice over the weekend, with a trial run to see how long it takes you scope out a route etc.

Stop for a pint and some lunch somewhere near work and see how you feel about riding home 😉

Some good advice above about having your clothes at work and driving in/ride home.

I'd add, get some slick tyres for your MTB initially, and maybe a faster bike later when you can justify it, (not hard, you'll be saving petrol money!) If you are starting off a couple of days a week, pick the dryer, warmer ones. It's a good time of the year to begin. If you've built up to most days by next winter, you're going to need a bike with full mudguards.

Having commuted for 20 years by bike, bus, train and as passenger in cars; mix it up. As I teach it gets a bit hard as I get older. Do you have a desk job?

The best thing to do is to mix it up,so it becomes a treat; riding in the dark can be fun, but not ten times a week.

My commute is a ten mile ride to a train station then the train, with my wife help we worked on variable days you drive/drop off or pick up/ I buy wine, petrol and have a chat without kids around, with the odd pub stop, then always cook ( in fact I cook 80% of the time)

Do it at least once a week, its good for the soul.

I used to have a 12.5 mile commute each way and I loved it, never been fitter or skinnier! Road all the way in a rigid mtb with slick tyres.

The main downside is that you may not feel like mtbing at the weekends and I had to schedule in the time it took to change when I got to work. Other than that you can look forward to saving yourself a ton of money and a massive upswing in both your mental and physical health!! 🙂

As said, get the practicalities in place; clothes at work, shower at work, slicks on bike, decent lights (less important now we're in spring), good riding gear and waterproof, music (optional). Mix up the route/terrain if you can, and spec the bike accordingly (I use towpaths etc. when it's dry).

I've just changed my commuting regime actually, as I've just moved house but I did it for 4 years and loved it. It was a hour of music/peace/freedom, in an otherwise busy/kids life.

When you say its a MTB do you mean a 'proper' mountain bike, ie knobbly tyres, wide bars, slack angles, etc? If so get a commuter bike. It can be mountain bike based but with more suitable geometry, slick tyres, even mud guards. You don't need to spend much at all. Something second hand, even 26"

For me 15 miles is too far.  the most I have done is a 7 hilly miles commute and that became wearing.  So a half and half solution sounds good.  Can you get a train part way?  Depends very much on the geography if this would work.  As above it has to be easy to do logistics wise or it becomes a real hasle

nickjb makes a good point about what type of MTB there, (I'd assumed a fairly standard hardtail) but then he went and blew all his credibility out of the water with....

...even 26″

🙂

Try the half and half thing, try not to carry anything on your back as it just gets on your nerves after a bit.

My current commute is on the long side at 33 miles each way with 1000ft of climbing, mainly on country lanes and  greenways etc. It's a fair old hike, and I leave a bag of clothes and my lap top in a secure cupboard at work.

Grab a shower when you get there and you're done.

Do some recce runs in your own time to see how long it would take you at a comfortable pace, it might take ~90mins each way, it might be closer to ~60mins.

Mix up cycle commuting to begin with, with whatever way you currently travel eg. bus Mon/Weds/Fri; bike Tues/Thurs.

Get a set of tyres better suited for the road, I use Marathon Cross on my Wazoo, not the lightest but they roll well and are very durable.

Look for alternative ways there/back, that might bypass numerous traffic lights and get away from known traffic hotspots, on the way back home you might want to do a bit of hill training to improve your workout... When the weather isn't carp, I often extend my ~5 mile route home by doing 1000+ feet of hills for ~30mins on the Wazoo.

Just MTFU and do it. My old commute was 15 miles each way, did it on the nice road bike in summer and the SS MTB in winter (which despite being geared quite low only took about 10min longer).

Don't bother doing it halfway in the car, that just doubles the amount of faffing required, you could probably ride the 7 miles in the time it takes to pack a bike into the car then get ready to ride at the roadside, see point 1 MTFU and do it.

It's tiring after a couple of days, so take a break, no one's forcing you to ride. But TBH unless you're actually aching and getting injured I'd advise just riding in, otherwise you just build up excuses and routines that aren't conducive to riding.

Always ride in on a monday, otherwise your routine and excuses are set for the week.  Save topping up your clothes, towels etc at work for another day.

Do not listen to people that tell you you can only commute with panniers and that a small backpack will result in a sweaty back and  aches and pains and the death of many baby robins.  Sitting on your arse looking at the ideal commuter bike for several months on ebay getting fat also results in a sweaty back and  aches and pains and the death of many baby robins. Just ride what you have, with whatever tyres you have.  Even a fatbike with 4.8 Bud's will beat you to work by 71 hours if you have to wait another 72 hours for some slicks to arrive in the post.

Don't beat yourself up over riding/not riding, just remember how disappointed in yourself you feel getting to work in the car and channel that negativity at 6am when eating breakfast and considering going in the car.  TBH being fatigued and bonking on the ride home on a Friday is a whole lot less miserable than being in the car wishing I was out riding.

The human body will adapt to almost anything, yes you will be too tired to ride for fun at the weekend for the first month or two, after that the increased fitness will outweigh the lack of freshness and you will start annihilating all your riding buddies uphill.  And you'll start looking for other routes home that aren't just the shortest possible because frankly 15 miles isn't actually much of a ride. 15 miles is 150/week, most roadies wouldn't bat an eyelid doing that in a weekend, or the fitter ones in a single day, spreading it out over 5 days should be easy (and great for fitness).

Have a 'penalty' for not riding in.  e.g. if you don't ride in, you have to go to the gym and do 10,000m on the rowing machine, it has to be horrible enough to get you on the bike,  close enough to cycling fitness that it's comparable effort, and time consuming enough that you'd rather cycle than drive and have to go to the gym.

Caveat:

The above contains a significant amount of "do as I say not as I do" My current commute is 25miles, I've hardly done it over the winter as it's been miserable*.

*it's not actually, I've just made a lot of excuses every morning for the past 3 months.

Buy a road bike. In pure time terms even if you get paid minimum wage it'll pay for itself over a few months. It'll also be nicer.

How racy or mudguarded up you go depends on whereabouts you are commuting and whether you really want to do this of course.

It is a bit scary, but take it easy on the right bike and it'll be fine as an every day commute. You might need to build up to it though.

For context, my fast road bike is about 6 minutes faster than my MTB on its winter tyres each way over 10 miles. That's an hour a week. The normal commuter sits somewhere in the middle.

I just remembered the bestest thing about commuting to work.  It's friday and it's raining but I've built up enough flexitime in the bank to piss off at 3:30 when my last meeting finishes and do the long route home

Do not listen to people that tell you you can only commute with panniers and that a small backpack will result in a sweaty back and  aches and pains and the death of many baby robins.  Sitting on your arse looking at the ideal commuter bike for several months on ebay getting fat also results in a sweaty back and  aches and pains and the death of many baby robins. Just ride what you have, with whatever tyres you have.  Even a fatbike with 4.8 Bud’s will beat you to work by 71 hours if you have to wait another 72 hours for some slicks to arrive in the post.

Despite what I said up there about a road bike or whatever, yeah, ride what you have first and then go shopping, don't make excuses.

The sooner you start riding in, the sooner you'll be fit enough to ride in every day comfortably. It will be tiring, but it can be tiring in a good way, and you will lose the weight no problem no matte how you ride if you do it daily.

If your normal commute by public transport or car is anything like mine, you'll quickly come to prefer the commute by bike, it pretty much always takes the same time, isn't affected by traffic, your bike is never late etc.

Every time I think I'll treat myself to a nice warm drive in the car or ride on the bus, I regret it, get into work at least £4 poorer and half an hour later...

The best outcome of a winter's commuting for me is I've got the clothes and gear just right for any weather, which is fortunate as Edinburgh's Spring is currently barely distinguishable from Edinburgh's winter... : (

I'd say resist spending too much on the bike but be ready to invest in good clothes and decent mudguards.

Definitely worthwhile.

Lots of good advice here.

Making me feel very guilty about my lack of commuting miles given how traffic free/train assisted/easy they are.. TTFU applies here also. Must get back on it!

Been thinking about this myself lately too.  My work is 22 miles from home along battered roads although it is a flat route.  Could initially drive in/ride home maybe once or twice a week to get started.  The other thing is that my only bike is a fatbike at the moment but with a cycle to work scheme being mentioned for the near future, a more suitable bike could be an option.

JJs roll pretty well on tarmac, considering, when inflated to ~25PSI. 😉

As above: get slick tyres if you don't already have them. Do a trial run over a weekend. Ensure your office has showers, and carefully plan so you have clean clothes in the office. And start with once or twice a week and ramp up.

And enjoy it!

I live in the centre of a city and work on the outskirts, so some of what follows is related to that.  However, I simply don't give myself the option of anything other than cycling to work.

To drive takes at least another 30 minutes than cycling during peak traffic - and bus or train take even longer.  For those reasons, I've only driven to work four times in the last 5 years.

The minimum round trip from home to work is 14 miles.  I don't work on site every single day, but even 3 days per week gives me a decent workout and basic fitness.  Since last year, I've been extending occasionally to a 28-mile round trip.  I've actually done that twice this week (4 times so far this year) because I had a month of illness recently and want to build things back up again.  I feel a little tired to start with - but I know from last year that it will pay off massively when I want to keep up with road biking mates.

I leave things like lock, suits, shoes, jumper, smellies etc at work.  I usually only carry my lunch, undies and shirt - and I prefer a backpack to pannier.  I probably get soaked about 5 times a year, but this is no bother with the right clothes.  I find the cold a greater issue - especially my hands - but, again, the right clothing makes all the difference.

I occasionally do a MTB loop and then the shorter commute to work.  Categorically, a MTB is a *lot* slower.  However, it's more position and geometry than weight and tyres in my experience.

I have two "road" bikes to choose from at the moment and I've tried loads over the years.  My Surly Straggler is kitted out with 105 and decent wheels, but fat 41c tyres and big mudguards - this is a stable and surprisingly quick bike despite feeling every one of its 12kg.  My other bike is a 9kg custom steel frame with discs, 'guards and relaxed geometry - with nicer parts and 28c tyres.  I can generally ride quicker for longer on this bike, but what it gains in acceleration over smooth surfaces it loses to the Surly on traction and cornering over wet / loose / cobbled surfaces.

I do buy good stuff, but you don't have to - although cycling to work is so much cheaper than driving that it's no bother at all.  I also ride the safest routes I can find and am very fortunate that my long route is 85% tarmaced cycle path.

I'd recommend giving it a go to anyone.  It's literally free fitness and, assuming you're already commuting by car or public transport, it easily justifies nice gear.  Finally, for me, it's a massive part of my mental health and making space for thinking.