Distance you ride to work

I try to ride once a week. If I take the short-cut it is 20 miles, my normal route is 25 miles.

I drive about 45 miles one way to work... I thought about parking my car at the school and biking in the last 12 miles - trucks passing me on the highway going 65 - makes me a little nervous..

I ride 20 miles each way to work, but I ride on a trail system completely separate from motor vehicle traffic (except for within 1 mile from work). And I ride 4 days per week to work. I thoroughly enjoy it, but I do not have to deal with the crazies on the roads either. Because we have a nice trail system here, I have completely given up riding on the streets.

My ride into work is 16 miles one-way. It took me awhile to find a route that was relatively safe and not too long. My route is mostly on dirt trails and dirt shoulders. I ride the dirt shoulders instead of busy commuting/trucking roads where the traffic is going 50+ mph. I ride a cyclocross bike, so it works well on both the pavement and the dirt.

Uhhh...yeah....no way to ride a bike to work in Miami. Only way to get to work is I95- and the drivers down here suck. Big time. Even if I took back roads, you couldn't pay me a million bucks to ride to work. Okay, maybe if you threw in a nice tri bike.... I hope to someday live in a place where I can ride to work. I'm definitely not a permanent South Florida resident!

I ride 15km's to work on great cycle paths. I only have to ride on the road for about 2k's of my ride. I've got a few different routes I can take depending on if I want some big hills thrown in for fun.

I try and ride 3x a week to work. but it all depends on my training schedule.

I have three different routes to pick up the rail trail system, 4- 4 1/2 -or 5miles each way to work, almost no traffic. Slight downhill to work, up on the way home. I also use these routes as dailey runs. There is no highway traffic, but at times walkers with dogs and small children can be test the nerves while riding the bike. I generally use the mountain bike on the rail trail, and the tri bike on the highway rides.

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I rode a all the way in a couple of times, but it's a bit far, and portions of the trip are along heavily traveled roads with unrideable sidewalks.  Now I'm scouting out an alternative route where I can park at a nearby mall, and hopefully take sideroads from there for five miles before getting to the seven mile paved bike trail that leads to my office.  That would be about a 12 mile bike commute each way.

WHoa that was freaky. I was really thinking about this subject for the past 2 days, I commented about it in my blog. And now its being discussed here. I guess great minds think alike!

I plotted a route using pre designated bike routes (For thoes on Long Island, it can be found here http://www.dot.state.ny.us/pubtrans/regionbike.html#li). These routes usually have low car traffic, and large shoulders.

My one way ride would be about 16.5-17 Miles. I am thinking about doing it tomorrow on my MTB/Commuter Bicyle. and probably 2-3 days per week.

There are some really great resources on the internet about biking to work. Just google "Bike to work". In fact coming up in about a month its Bike to Work Week.

http://www.bike-to-work.com sponsored by the American Bike League.

Edited by Rower 2005-04-12 8:20 AM

i clicked on 5-10 for when i was working (am a stay at home mom now) and on behalf of my hubby (who may come vote on his own anyway).

when i was working, my commutes were anywhere from 8-20 miles, depending on where i was working, where i was living, and which route i took. my husband's commute is about 9 miles route trip, but he too will take longer routes sometimes, and has been biking home for lunch almost every day (so, 18 miles a day of commuting). my these days, my only real commute is to the pool - a short 1.5 miles from home. last year ella took some dance and gymnastic classes, so i would bike to those with the girls in the burley (about 8 miles).

we also do grocery runs with the burley (now burleys, since we just got a flat bed to haul groceries since the kids need all the space/weight of the d'lite now). those rides are around 6-10 round trip depending on the route (instead of direct routes, we often go out of our way to ride on bike paths and quieter streets, since we're hauling groceries and kidlets).

I have a short, 3 km, ride to work that's mostly on a paved bike/walk trail. The city even clears the trail in the winter though its often a day or two after the storms before they get to it. I've also heard that this town is supposed to have the most days of sunshine annually in Canada so rain is seldom a problem. I ride to work a lot and usually ride home for lunch too. The only downside is that this area is also known for being very windy and that can make the ride take well over twice as long sometimes. The distance isn't much but four times a day, five days a week, it adds up.

Thanks everyone for a response. As much as I would love to ride to work, I just thought about it again, and I think I cannot do it. Not that I won't make the miles, but the fact that it will probably take me a long time, plus I have to carry a laptop and papers, and extra clothes, and plus there is no shower at my work.

what about biking part way? sounds silly, i know, but i know people who drive to a train or light rail station or bus stop and the take that the rest of the way in. cuts down on gas consumption. you could apply the same logic to your commute. is there a safe place where you could park the car for the day and then ride the rest of the way in?

as for showers and what not. for my commutes, i wore bike clothes most of the time and then changed in the bath room (or staff lounge, if i knew no one was around). i brought a spritz bottle of rose water and cleaned up that way. worked great! guys might not want to use rose water, but you could use distilled water and a more manly scent.

I might try this. I would have to think of place to park the car. By the way, what is rose water? Is it like rubbing alcohol which smells like roses?

its basically distilled water w/ rose 'juice' in it. supposed to neutralize salt (so, good for sweaty post-ride skin). any body splash/spray would probably work (although you'll probably want to water them down).

for hauling your stuff, there are great panniers and courier bags that are padded to carry a laptop. like this one:
http://www.patagonia.com/za/PDC?OPTION=PRODUCT&merchant_rn=7385&sku...

the critical mass bag is HUGE. i have an older version w/o the padding. i could carry a change of clothes, lunch, tools, rain gear, tubes, etc. in that and still have room for a lap top and papers if need be...not to mention half my other worldly possessions (did i mention its HUGE?). i now use a half-mass bag as my swim bag (since i bike to the pool), and that has enough room for suit, goggles, towel, change of undies, shower stuff, training note book, and if need be, flippers (although the flippers are a tight fit).

8 miles. but i've only done it once because there is an ENORMOUS hill right outside my door and it is the worst way to start a ride. seriously, if I ever do it again, i will walk it up the hill, there is not point in being in that much pain that early in teh day!

Thanks for the info.

Time - Getting to bed early to get up early is key. Have everything packed and ready to go the night before. That cuts down on the amount of stuff that needs to be done in the morning, and there's less chance of forgetting something.

Laptop & papers - Check into a rear-mounted bike rack and panniers. That makes the bike carry the weight and keeps it off your back.

Work clothes - Leave them at work the day before. Same with lunch (if you bring it). A filing cabinet drawer in your office can work as a little locker. I actually leave an entire pair of shoes at work that I never bring home. Shoes are just to bulky and heavy to bring in on the bike.

No shower - Shower in the morning before leaving for your commute. I've heard guys say that this helps them get less funky on the ride. For cleanup, use pre-saturated baby wipes. Give yourself a good wipedown with those and apply some fresh deoderant (also stored in with the clothes at work) and you'll be good to go. Lots of guys I know that commute swear by the baby wipes.

Hope these tips help. Just stuff I've read on other bike commuting forums.

(Boast/Reminisence) - about 10 years ago I lived in Orleans, France. Biking to work was awesome - about 1km from my apartment to the banks of the Loire, 5k of canal towpath east out into the country, watching herons fishing in the river. 5k north thru forest, field, and sleepy village. The only worrisome part was the last 500m on the National Road to the factory gate. Shower at the company soccer fields and get to work pumped. Those were the days. I've not yet tried biking to work here (it's kinda hard to chauffeur the the kids to school balanced on my handlebars), but I will as soon as school is out.

Is there somewhere at your work you can store clothes and shoes. I bring in clothes and shoes on Monday Mornings and I have a locker. Which I put them in. I normally bring in enough outfits for 4 days and always leave a pair of shoes at work. all my toiletries stay in my locker too. I also always make sure I have a spare pair of underwear and socks in case I forget to bring them in.

I have showers at my work so I don't ahve your problem. but over hear you can get deoderant wipes (similar to baby wipes) designed for on the go people. Perhaps you could use them to wipe down after a ride?

11.5 miles here and about 9-10 of them are on a nice, paved bike/hike path. I'm really lucky and loving it so far.

HD