Commuting by SS/FG

my commute has increased for this week only from about 16 to 26 miles per day.

only real copmplaint is i seem to be failing to get enough energy on board, nearly passed out at my desk before lunch!

you'll be fine!

re the comment about SS; why be negative about soemthing that other people enjoy, just because you dont get it, it doesnt mean it doesnt have its thrills. i've always been a bit confused by it but i tried a mates SS mountain bike with slicks on the other day and it was a hoot!

only real copmplaint is i seem to be failing to get enough energy on board, nearly passed out at my desk before lunch!

That happened to me, it was so bad I actually nodded off in the toilet. I then started drinking a whey protein mix straight after my ride, never felt better.

Holland and barrett 12 quid ish for a big tub, two scoops in a pint of skimmed milk. Either that or eat a can of tuna a day with a chicken drumstick on the side.

25 a day on stock charge plug. 7 weeks in and loving it. definitely gets a little tough at the end of the week. great fun and actually only about 15mins longer than the car when parking considered. no parking permit charge, much kudos from folk... win win

I do almost 30 a day on 48/19 and it's fine.

Mainly flat route, with one hill on the way home, which I slug it up. Sometimes, for training, I go other routes that have hills and it's no bother.

When deciding whether to go fixed, I just selected a suitable gear on my geared bike and did my commute on that gear only. I did that a few times and fact that it was easily doable. So I bought a Fuji Track and have never looked back.

Similar story here. 36 miles a day, 2/3/4 days a week, sometimes with a longer ride thrown in one night. I did the same as Pistolero trying the whole route in one gear (on a MTB with slicks) for a couple of weeks just as a challenge. It's more mental attitude than physical ability, I tend to feel like I need gears when on a geared bike even though my route is mostly flat. (I also now ride a Fuji).

P.S. Single speed is bollocks, you may as well just keep your geared bike. go fixed or stay geared.

Single speed can be fun, much easier on the downhills and easier to jump up kerbs and over other obstacles (drains, glass, etc). Ride how you want to ride - it's your commute.

Having said that, I've been riding those 36 miles for the last two years with a fixed wheel and it feels sort of disconnected on SS now.

^
The thing I find with a SS and only having relatively low GI, is that to keep going fairly quick I have to pick and choose the best time to actually put the effort in to spin ... sometime it is better to coast and rest than to use your energy spinning out. Something which is impossible to do on a fixed.

Shepperton to Chiswick during the week. Lovely route by the Thames and enjoy doing it fixed.

My commute is a frickin' awful 35 miles/day. It has absolutely nothing to do with rolling fixed, but the awful a-roads i have to use to get into work. If your commute is reasonably picturesque you may not be phased with what your gearing is.... just do it.

I car-share at the moment, but at 19 miles round trip ive been considering going it on the ss for a while. only problem is work doesnt have showers and i need to be there by quarter to eight. maybe i should just move closer.

Are all you guys travelling miles and miles by bike not super-sweaty and ready for a shower by the time you get there? what do you ride in?

^The thing I find with a SS and only having relatively low GI, is that to keep going fairly quick I have to pick and choose the best time to actually put the effort in to spin ... sometime it is better to coast and rest than to use your energy spinning out. Something which is impossible to do on a fixed.

I used to ride 50k/day in Melbourne on a ss mtb running 55". It was great fun. I rode it over here for a bit too but prefer to move a bit faster on the 69" Condor fixed. SS mtb is fun and simple for actual off road use too.

I do 18 milles a day, 38x19, that is 46.6 gear inches, POLO FTW

Are all you guys travelling miles and miles by bike not super-sweaty and ready for a shower by the time you get there? what do you ride in?

I wouldn't say I'm super sweaty but yes, a bit sweaty. It's not too hot in the mornings.
We have showers at work so I just get in a bit early to shower and change. Bring a change of clothes etc. with me in a backpack. Easy :)

I ride in shorts and a jersey, jacket over that on colder mornings.

Are all you guys travelling miles and miles by bike not super-sweaty and ready for a shower by the time you get there? what do you ride in?

Showers come in handy

Are all you guys travelling miles and miles by bike not super-sweaty and ready for a shower by the time you get there? what do you ride in?

I ride in my suit and stink the office out ... I don't like the other twonks so all is good.

Are all you guys travelling miles and miles by bike not super-sweaty and ready for a shower by the time you get there? what do you ride in?

I don't travel miles and miles, but I'm still a sweaty mess.

I do get changed when I get to work, but that's it. We have got showers, but you have to be a member of the gym to use them, and I'm not paying membership just to use a shower (I'm not a great believer of gyms: sitting on an exercise bike when you can be on a real one, etc).

Plus, if I wanted to shower, I'd have to leave earlier, which for me defeats the benefits of cycling.

Got a shower 10m from my desk. Being a very heath conscious company, we have lots of bike parking space and 3 showers in the office :)

Wow some of you guys do some serious distances! How long does it take you to do 20m+ a day? I currently do a 7 mile round trip to the train station and back. What do you carry in terms of a rucksack? I have to carry books and cameras etc for uni with me so I ride with a fair weight on my back. How do you guys cope in the depths of winter when its really wet and cold? My uni is 17 miles away using the dual carriageway, is that doable on a fixie?

(just noticed how old this thread is, recycling for the win!)

20m a day is only 10m each way which is about 30 minutes.

10m a day on 66". There's the climb up to Blackheath both ways so I use a shower. Love it. it's quicker than public transport and the bike cost less than an annual travel card.

Work is merely what I do between bike rides.

My uni is 17 miles away using the dual carriageway, is that doable on a fixie?

Don't know about the dual carriageway bit, personally I prefer quieter roads, but since I last posted in this thread, my commute is now a 19 mile each way trip, done on a fixie. Winds can make or break me: the fastest I've done it in is about 1hr 5mins, the slowest must be over 1hr 45mins.

I carry as little as possible in my rucksack - I suggest thinking about panniers for books and heavy stuff, or seeing if you can leave books at Uni. And depths of winter, I will soon find out (last winter it was a much shorter commute); my Marathon Winter studded tyres are on standby.

Is that mainly flat? I live in the Arun valley in sussex which is quite hilly, I can do 3.5 miles in 10 minutes with 3 moderate hills. I have been commuting for a week so far and i'm running 44x18, is that a good setup?

Best way to find out is just to do it. See how it feels, adjust gearing/clothing/average speed to suit.
Have your report on my desk by Monday morning.

I'd question the validity of a report that includes such a small sample size.

^no tenure, no talk

I'd say it is mainly flat. There is a hill I have to walk up in the morning, I'm running 42:16, sometimes I can pedal half way up, but there's no way I'm ever getting all the way up on that. And I have a bit of a killer climb right at the end of the journey coming home, but most of the journey is flat.

Plotting the journey on cyclestreets.net says it goes from 0 feet to 350 feet above sea level.