Pros and cons of cycling to work and back 5 days a week?

i like the coffee tip, might have to get that sorted each morning .

i cycle like its "rest day" all the time...hell yeah!

when i used to live in clapham, I used to do five day week cycle (11 miles a day), but usually by friday I was fncked...

every ones a coacjh.
love it.

Fella, ride to work as often as you feel like, when your tired (properly - not just lazy) don't, when your good, do.

Just enjoy it. You wont gain a whole heap if this is all you do, but so f..kin what?

smile, get somewhat fitter loose weight if you eat / drink the same, stay stable while eating / drinking more?

its all good bro.

oh,

HTFU.

I can give you one con, lung problems. I've been commuting in Australia for years, first 3 months in London summer commuting 16 miles a day I had no problems kept fit and kept the weight off, but in the last 3 months my commute has changed to a run up through the heart of the city and my fitness has gone backwards. I found myself getting short of breath after sprints and just not being able to push it. After a ride to work I felt like I'd been smoking again, just thought I had 'London Lung' or some chest cold that hadn't cleared properly. After finding myself unable to complete sprint training at rugby a few weeks ago I took myself along to a GP and it turns out all this nasty air has turned me into an exersice induced asthmatic. Anyway a quick puff on the old Ventalin and I feel brand new again and it should clear up once I stop sucking on bus exhaust pipes.

every ones a coacjh.
love it.

Fella, ride to work as often as you feel like, when your tired (properly - not just lazy) don't, when your good, do.

Just enjoy it. You wont gain a whole heap if this is all you do, but so f..kin what?

smile, get somewhat fitter loose weight if you eat / drink the same, stay stable while eating / drinking more?

its all good bro.

oh,

HTFU.

© webby - 'Life Coach'.

As long as it's not "toodle".

I quite often "toodle".

Toodle pip

Was just wondering from a fitness and weight loss perspective. I've been riding to work and back off and on for the past few weeks and enjoying it. But doing Mon-Fri (it's about 14 miles in total, there and back) would probably increase general CV fitness over time and quite probably accelerate weight loss (simply burning more calories) but building muscle would suffer as my legs wouldn't have a day in between to rest and repair (I've always been told that from a gym perspective you need a day between workouts for the body to repair/build). Does this sound about right?
Wondered what the advantages and disadvantages are to cycling every day (well 5 days in a week to be specific) as oppose to every other day, if any?
Ta muchly.

Okay, you bikeradar splitter..

Your body will adapt to whatever you do. You're not riding that much so it won't be like a massive change. If you're some kind of body builder then, fail.
You'd only need a day off if you really smashed yourself up, like in a hardcore training situation or a big gym session.. 7mi each way to/from work isn't really gonna do that.
You have all day at work (assuming you're not manual labour) and all night to recover.
In (cough) training, I ride 6 days a week. I got annoyed taking a day off and started riding 7 days a week, but keeping the speed down on Monday (my rest day). It's doable but when you're doing Sat and Sun >100k on the weekend you start to enjoy the day off. Do you ride on weekends? If not or if it's slow/easy/short then you should be more than fine riding 5 days a week. I have big legs and I like cheese.

That's a bit shit, JDB - bad luck.

I moved up from about 10 miles a day to 17 miles and had a good initial drop of weight. Recently I've been doing rather too much pootling, so am in a holding pattern - it just allows me to eat / drink what I like without worrying about it.

I've just started to add in an extra climb up Swains / Highgate West every now and then to sharpen things up.

If you use a trip computer and plot it on something like www.cyclogs.org you can track you speeds and set targets to help.

There are no cons. Riding is always better than the alternative. Always.

Fat burning tends to occur after 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise. (i think that is around 60-70% of max heart rate or some such bollocks).

Sprints/riding hard will tend to help with muscle building but you have to eat protein fairly quickly after wards (1 hour window of opportunity) for best results.

Not sure of any cons to cycling every day. I got my bike at the end of June, having not cycled for over 10 years. Been doing 150-200 miles a week since then and have lost 3 inches from my waist, 2 from my chest and legs got bigger.

your muscles rest all day and night. 14 mins aint gonna do shit to stop them developing. If your body needs strength there, it will build muscle there.

'tootle' and 'hammer' are proper cycling terms.

tis true! As is 'smash', 'mash', 'crash', 'destroyed', 'hard', 'long', 'pounded', 'harder', 'faster', 'effort', 'enjoyed', 'with', 'a', 'cigarette', 'afterwards'.

I can give you one con, lung problems. I've been commuting in Australia for years, first 3 months in London summer commuting 16 miles a day I had no problems kept fit and kept the weight off, but in the last 3 months my commute has changed to a run up through the heart of the city and my fitness has gone backwards. I found myself getting short of breath after sprints and just not being able to push it. After a ride to work I felt like I'd been smoking again, just thought I had 'London Lung' or some chest cold that hadn't cleared properly. After finding myself unable to complete sprint training at rugby a few weeks ago I took myself along to a GP and it turns out all this nasty air has turned me into an exersice induced asthmatic. Anyway a quick puff on the old Ventalin and I feel brand new again and it should clear up once I stop sucking on bus exhaust pipes.

I had no such problem. Have you seen a doctor?

My asthmatic mate, although initially sceptical, now swears by those filter masks some people use.

The only downside to riding every day is that i get no time to read my books..

I could read them on the bike but I'm sketchy enough as it is :)

Some great tips/info here. Cheers!

Right, back off to bikeradar now for a really interesting debate on bottle cages ;)

I had no such problem. Have you seen a doctor?

My asthmatic mate, although initially sceptical, now swears by those filter masks some people use.

I used to wear a mask but found it really annoying, it was like breathing through a clammy paper bag. Also heard some stuff about them not being that healthy?

basically: what webby said+ always eat plenty of healthy food and take plenty of water. that's all.

everyone should ride to work every day.

just to remind everyone else apart from VanUden, there are some cons:

https://www.londonfgss.com/thread12230.html

Was just wondering from a fitness and weight loss perspective. I've been riding to work and back off and on for the past few weeks and enjoying it. But doing Mon-Fri (it's about 14 miles in total, there and back) would probably increase general CV fitness over time and quite probably accelerate weight loss (simply burning more calories) but building muscle would suffer as my legs wouldn't have a day in between to rest and repair (I've always been told that from a gym perspective you need a day between workouts for the body to repair/build). Does this sound about right?

Wondered what the advantages and disadvantages are to cycling every day (well 5 days in a week to be specific) as oppose to every other day, if any?

Ta muchly.

Just ride your bike, innit.

Unless you're in training for something specific I wouldn't worry about anything else

i used to do a similar commute, i loved it. i also loved cycling to football and then cycling back home. it really helps with the warm down/cool down. or did with me.
drink lots of water, flapjacks on the desk (for the first week or two i was constantly hungry, then i got used to it and didn't eat as much), eat food (great article by the way here: http://www.michaelpollan.com/article.php?id=87).

hammer some routes home. enjoy the bits through parks. get lost, so that you have to work out which way home is and where you are and thereby change your route. hills are your friends. no such thing as junk miles. don't look to just your commute to keep you properly fit, keep up the other stuff as well.

i think that repeats what everyone else has said.

just to remind everyone else apart from VanUden, there are some cons:

https://www.londonfgss.com/thread12230.html

True, fred. Another thing about cycling is I've always felt a lot safer on the bike when traveling through London, especially in the dark, which is why I was shocked from that thread to see what had happened to tynan's mate. Being attacked while on your bike must be pretty bloody rare in comparison to being attacked on foot?!

I started comuting two months ago.
Occasionally mange the 5 day cycle......not often though!

Biggest problem I have is with clothes at work.
Friday ship in new clothes and take home 5 days of stinkies!!!!
I try to carry the bare minimum, so don't like haveing a back pack every day.

Does feel good to have made a 5 day week.....

Pete

Merino ftw!

Buy merino wool baselayers, layer up and cycle in then wear them with jeans when you're at work.

True, fred. Another thing about cycling is I've always felt a lot safer on the bike when traveling through London, especially in the dark

Same here, I still do, I would rather be on my bike when I am in some shitty area than on foot.

yep, i feel wierd if I dont cycle in and have to get the tube, in fact taking the tube is soul destroying.
I love the fact that I can't remember when I last took the tube.
as Andy says, merino FTW
and helpful other half who will throw your underwear out the window down to you when you've realised that you've forgotten it and had to cycle back home (not that, that's ever happened to me of course...)

whiteleg: Can you not store your clothes at work?
I have my shirts cleaned near the office and transport them back to the office when needed.
Trousers don't crinkle so I carry them in. Shoes stay in the office. Undies and socks carried in daily.

i like the tube a couple of days a week, i can keep up with the deighton and grimshaw, and can ogle the pretty thingsd, and also get the crack with people from work on the train.

18 miles each way 5 days a week is a bit much!

for me anyway.