This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Got overtaken this morning by a fully kitted roadie who then slowed in front of me so I re-overtook.

He pulled alongside me before peeling off at a junction and yelled "Not fair, you have gears!" on his own, geared bike. I don't think he liked being overtaken by a girl wearing a pretty dress.

They do indeed! My other passport says NZ so I often get confused as to what I am unless rugby is on then I know my nationality.

^^Ermmm - hate to break it to you but I'm guessing he was hetrosexual and he probably did it deliberately....

i hope you didn't join and thereby maintained your fixie skidder high ground.

or low ground.

I commute on a geared Croix de Fer in full lycra, so am shunned by all.

How far is too far for a daily commute?
That is the question. Added to the physical nature of the work, I'm thinking a 27mile each way slog may be relegated to occasional fun.

27mile each way...not something you can do each day unless you want to slump on the sofa and do nothing at home?

No train line I guess or possibility to leave car of bike safe at work and go it one way?

Adding in a stressful job, early starts, late shifts... I'd just go with whichever form of commute allowed the most relaxation. Personally my ability to nap on public transport means that wins out over the bike, if public transport is an option.

Once a week should be doable?

I've variously heard about people doing those sorts of commutes. Back in the day when the London Cyclist had a feature called 'My way' (meaning commute), I tried to track down someone who allegedly rode to Great Ormond Street Hospital every morning from Waltham Abbey. I never managed to find him, but the person who started the rumour was adamant it was true.

I think whether or not it's sustainable as a regular commute depends very much on what sort of environment you have to go through, e.g. constant urban stop-and-start would be pretty wearing. Rural roads would be easier, though. I used to ride to Chelmsford quite often to visit a friend, and I think that was about 35 miles. There and back once a week I'd find perfectly sustainable.

I moved back to my parents for a month last September (between rentals) and commuted 29 miles each way between Hunsdon and Victoria. We were setting up our new office so I was doing a lot of physical stuff at work too.

I did it three times a week, and it was ok but I don't think it would've been sustainable forever. The first countryside stretch was ok, the middle bit was boring and once I got into London it was a lot slower going. I'd done 25 each way a couple of years before down to Old St and that took about 1hr 25. Across London to Victoria made it almost 2hrs each way.

That's only fifteen miles each way. That sounds fine to me.

to Great Ormond Street Hospital every morning from Waltham Abbey.

Sounds not too dissimilar to @rhowe 's commute.

Apart from the origin and destination of course.

my commute is 15 miles each way, and it took me a couple of weeks to a month for the body to get used to it, try not to do it five days a week, but now after 2 odd years, I can pretty much do it in my sleep, not crushing it, or using it as training, but just pushing out the miles.
the commute itself is fine, it's more the starting and returning times that are the ballache, don't get to do much of an evening, because I get home relatively late.
I'd say give it three days a week, and see how you feel, then if the weather's good, do more days, if not, dial it back.
Also don't beat yourself up if you don't do it, and/or buy a brompton if you're on the train so you can still do some cycling whilst still being able to jump on public transport if necessary...

I do Enfield to Great Portland St 5 days a week, it's only 11 miles and takes about 50mins each way. Once you get out of town a bit things get faster so the first few miles to work and the last few home tend to be less of a faff than you might think.

I did 20 miles each way preciously and enjoyed it, 27 miles might be pushing if your job is demanding.

It's exactly like touring, first weeks it's tiring then you get used to it.

To put it in perspective. I'm currently doing 15-18miles each way every day. I'm also riding on top of that. I've managed the above but with none of the new responsibility (hospital work) for a couple of years.
The new commute would be NW8 -> Harlow. I tested it out today(had a reason to go to Harlow) (one way)- and was surprised to see it happen in 1hr20 to the Hospital. On legs that were complaining from the first spin of the pedals and carrying a tonne of shite on my back.

@cornelius_blackfoot Yeah the aim is to sort of do it weather depending. Otherwise- probably cycle to Tot Hale on a brompton or something.
Tl;Dr- Who fucking knows.

(its only 1 year anyhow- then whitechapel)

I think you'll be able to do it, you're strong enough and you've got more than enough miles in the legs. The only issue will be if you've been away from the bike for a little while for whatever reason and the time and energy it takes to build back upto where you were...
If you can do the commute and the work is say do it, you'll miss it once it's gone..

I ended up in a situation where I was riding up to the Hadhams past Harlow five times a week and that totalled 50 miles a day. It's doable if you work up to it, it took me about a month to adjust to it, and most of that difficulty was finding decent calories to fuel and time to sleep.
There's no way I could do that now though, totally lost all that fitness now.

My commute is only 14 miles each way so I'm not qualified to comment on the distance. I would say though that it's worth working out public transport costs and a train vs bike break-even point. I did this ages ago and I think I worked out I only needed to cycle one or two days a week (Oystering on the train the other days) for my total travel bill to be lower than a monthly travelcard. It helped frame my ride in a more positive way for me - Slogging through the rain for an hour and a half is a lot more bearable if you don't feel you're stuck doing it every day to justify your original decision.

I do 40-80 miles a day #courier #givememylungsback

This. I used to commute bristol > bath and i hated the drive. Cycling is about 13 miles each way but i worked out i only had to do it a couple of times a week to make it cheaper (including cost of bike, extra crisps mid-morning etc) than driving all week. I ended up cycling most days in the end, but it was nice to know if i chickened out for a few rainy days, i was still saving dosh.

If you do end up taking the train/car once or twice a week then you can take a week's change of clothes, packed lunches etc. meaning you can travel light on the bike and really enjoy the country lanes.

Bristol > Bath is my dream commute because of this http://www.bristolbathrailwaypath.org.uk/home.shtml

You can really put the hammer down for long stretches.

Was that open when you were doing the commute?

Name and shame.

I need some new hub caps for my taxi...

Fairweather riders + school's back = regular fuckwit showers = alarm set pre-6am again...

https://youtu.be/9OAxKyqHWSI?t=1m36s