Commuting - How many miles is your commute?

I used to commute 15miles round trip to and from work, but i moved not to long ago, and its closer to 50miles round trip. So i guess im just wondering how long commute is? I usually ride to work once a week, but 50miles is just killing me on a FS MTB... gota go invest in a road bike i guess http://www.bikeforums.com/ubb/smile.gif

How long is your commute?

My commute is normally pretty short. I have to work like heck to add more miles onto it! What it lacks in miles it more than makes up in excitement, though--kamikazi car commuters jam the streets and that really keeps me on my toes.

So, actual mileage would be about 10 but add in the excitement factor and multiply that by the square root of a late office worker trying to put on mascara in the rear-view mirror and then multiply that by lane hogs than take that figure and round it to the nearest whole number and (clickety clack ching ching) that comes to roughly...um...100 miles a day! Wow!

Acqua =)

Mine is about a 9 mile round trip. I have to add it seems like a lot more due to the stupid pople in car factor though! I do it every day.

My commute is around 9 miles each way.
If you want to get some comfort for your ride, get a recumbent like me.
Visit my site at http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Bath/1913/index.html
Pure comfort!

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Burn Fat NOT Oil.
Ride a recumbent and ride in COMFORT!

Mine's about 14km. That gives me a round trip of about 28km. in miles that's 17 or 18 miles.

Fortunately part of my job is to organise bike rides so I can often get out and do a bit more all in the name of work.

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Rodney Olsen
Creative Director
Media Creations
www.bigfoot.com/~MediaCreations

I commute 30kms each way to work and back. On top of this I can chose a number of different routes giving me inexcess of 5 miles of steep climbing, having deviated from the valley floors or the coast line. The only problem I have is the wind, with an average wind speed for Wellington (NZ) of around 40km/hr ranging upto 100+km/hr on the not so calsm days!

My commute is about 34 kms round trip. The road is fairly nice and bike designated shoulders are designated on most of my commute. I've had to battle some strong head winds at time but I can usually cover the distance (one way) in about 35 minutes. The fresh air sure does wonder after work and often helps to get rid of headaches.

happy trails

Lucky guy that i am my commute is against the flow of rush hour at 4:30pm and with the serenity of the night sky at 12:30am, total miles 30-35.

I commute 4 miles each way for a total of eight miles. I usually ride old bikes from the '60's, which are heavy, so it is like doing more miles in terms of effort.

Usually, I do all my other travels and errands by bicycle too, which all adds up.

I commute all year, even in winter when it is -10F to -20F and when it is snowing and rainging. Yup, I have a working automobile, but it sits for weeks at a time without being used.

A day without bicycling is like a day without..., Hmm... well like a day without, Uhm, well a day without bicycling sucks.

For about 10 years my commute was 16 miles one way / 32 mi. round trip. Unfortunately, I now live 32.5 miles one way from work. The trip runs directly through the heart of a large metropolitan area. I drive it.

My commute is 15 miles one way. The morning ride goes pretty easy, but at the end of the day the flakes are out in abundance. Sometimes it takes me over an hour to make the ride. If my kids were older I would do the ride every day, as it is I only commute twice a week at the most.

I only commute about once or twice a month, even tho its only 20 miles round trip. i just dont trust the other drivers on the road, i guess...

I was commuting 5 miles each way till I got sick of it a little over 2 years ago. Now I'm retired (early, age 60) and need to start riding again! So that's on my agenda for tomorrow morning, March 23. I don't have a car, and when I commuted I did it in all weather, including downpours and sub-zero. I use both mtn bike and road bike and have no real preference, except that the mtn bike deals with the rough streets a little better.

Today was the first day I communted to work, which is about 11 miles each way. Considering how out of shape i am (and the fact that it was pouring rain) it's wasn't that hard at all. But next fall my commute might go up to 16 or so miles each way. Not sure if i'll be able to bike it every day, but we'll see.

...drive for a living so I would just rather bike into work. I sit on my butt all day and unless the weather is horrible, I really enjoy my ride into work.

I now have a short commute. About 4 miles one way but I have one of those dumb computers so I try to break my average speed and time every ride. I should throw the thing away before it kills me.

To all who are wondering if they now live too far to commute, or who need a break once in a while:

Get an electric kit for your current bike (even recumbents)! They can add 20 or more miles per charge, at speeds up to 17 mph without pedalling. (More range and / or speed if you pedal as well).

The US Congress is currently changing the law so that an e-bike is considered a "bicycle", not a "motorized vehicle" or "motorized bicycle", which means the DOT does not have a say, just the CPSC. This means you ride the bike wherever you want, even where it says "no motorized vehicles"!

(BTW I don't sell them, but I am a big supporter of them)

I ride 24 miles each way to work (Schwinn Hybrid), and I don't smell like sweat when I get there!

I recharge batteries at work, and on my way home, I pedal more than on the way in so I get a workout, because it is OK to come home a little sweaty.

Drivers aren't always that friendly, but I found bike paths, sidestreets and sidewalks for most of the route (pedestrians are not an issue in Detroit, cars are).

Search on "Electric Bike" on Yahoo, and you will see what I mean.

And to all the "purists" who think a bike should not have an electric motor, it is high time we all start thinking "outside the box" and actually DO SOMETHING to solve congestion, not just talk about it. E-Bikes put otherwise unreachable destinations within range, and you can always pedal as much as you want, for both your health and your conscience.

Search yahoo, and see the links below, and start planning your own route to places you never thought you could ride to.

I commute about 15 mi. one way. I drive to work with the bike on a rack. I bring a change of clothes for the following day as well as my bike clothes. At the end of the day I put on my bike shorts, put my keys and wallet in my seat pouch, and ride home. The next day I ride in, and I have clean clothes waiting for me. I like having the car at work in case I need to get to a meeting, I also like riding without having to carry a change of clothes and a briefcase on the bike. I'm lucky enough to have a rail line within a few blocks of home and work so I can take the train if it is raining/snowing too hard in the morning. I've thought of using an electric motor accessory, but I don't think I would like the added weight, and for the length of my commute it isn't necessary.

about 10 miles one way mostly flat and through town about 12 or 14 miles one way if I go by the river on the trail

I commute about 32 miles round trip, three days a week.

Most of that ride is on a levee-top towpath alongside the Savannah River... think century-old trees draped with Spanish Moss, numerous sightings of deer, river otter, egrets & cranes, bats, and rattlesnakes. Often, at 6:00am, I am the only human out there, and I have this nice wide, flat, well groomed dirt road all to myself. Evenings, I must pick my way around the joggers and dog-walkers, but there's plenty of room.

The paved portion of my ride starts with a few miles of rural two lane blacktop... a great pre-dawn test of one's survival skills, and on the other end of the levee ride, a few miles of decaying urban city streets, featuring the popular bus swerve-around and homeless wino bunny-hop.

I've tried several bikes on this ride, and wrecked two beyond salvage. Presently, I'm using a ten year old Trek 7900 alloy framed hybrid, with Zefal mudguards and Cateye lights. This particular bike, which was dubbed "rainbike" years ago, has a total of 62,000 miles on it, to date... and it certainly looks it.

My commute is "going" to be between 22-25 miles each way, I'm currently working out route options and checking traffic flows. Currently (fairly new job) I'm working half-days on Fridays, so I'll start by riding in on Friday's, which will give me all afternoon to get home. :)

Between now and Christmas I'll be trying different routes on the weekends with either a road bike or a mountain bike. One route is mostly a rail-to-trails path, but with enough major arterial roadway crossings that I might be better off on the road bike on the road than messing with the pathway.

Why I'm looking at starting to commute to work in Wisconsin in the winter I have no idea, but having grown up in Washington state causes one to do stuff regardless of the weather.

I enjoy commuting by bike enough that when I changed jobs a while ago I went from 10 miles r/t to 22 miles r/t. This has been a lot of fun playing in traffic and dealing with cars and trucks. I have three routes that I can take and they have their own appeal and benefits. Some of them avoid traffic and there is a route that shields me from most of the wind.
Keep riding!

My commute is 20 miles rt, 9 miles in, 11 miles home. Luckily, I am able to work an early schedule so my ride to work is on main arteries starting at 5 AM - very little traffic. Going home I have found scenic parallel streets and go a couple of miles out of the way to ride on a bike path by the lake to avoid other traffic. There is still on particular intersection that is both unavoidable and extremely dangerous. I walk or (shame, shame) ride on the sidewalk a couple for a couple of blocks to get through it; there is no realistic "around" option right now. As my conditioning, confidence and speed build, I may brave the traffic or try an alternate route that will probably add about 4 miles. Since most of those extra miles will be through the park and more miles by the lake, it may be a great tradeoff. Hmmm. Sounds so good I might try it tomorrow.
Today, Wednesday, is my driving day. Since I have only been at this a couple of months, I still feel like I am in a conditioning phase and think it prudent to ride 2, drive 1, ride 2. But I sure hate not riding so that may change real soon.
Regards,
Raymond

what up. My commute is 4.2 miles going in. then it is
1.5 miles and 3.0 miles going out. I have two jobs. IN the morning I leave the house at 6:15 a.m. to go to my
eletrical engineering intership. I get there at 6:45 and stay until around 4:30p.m. Then I go to my other job as a Bellman for the largest hotel in the Ohio Valley. I leave there at 1:00a.m. and go home and do it all over. Lucklily I do not have to work that second job but 4 times a week, cause some mornings I am very tired and the prospect of riding in does not feel to well. But I do it anyway since I am the bicyclepriest. I have five bikes for the task. ONe is 1970's Azuki road bike fitted with such aftermarket accessories as scott at-3 bars, fenders, and Suntour BAr end shifter. This is my main bike. When I want to ride in a more upright position, I ride my '76 Schwinn Suburban which is one of the cleaniest Suburbans you will ever see. For the rain rides I use my "beater" which is yet another Suburban but it is a brown '73 one and the other is metallic blue. For snow coditions, I ride a 1970's Sears Ted Williams fixed gear at 58.5 gear inches. Of course it did not come with a fixed gear, I changed it over from a ten speed. Lastly, for severe conditions (i.e. ice) I ride my Trailmate Desoto Classic three-wheeler, of which I have changed from a coaster brake drivetrain to a multispeed via a complicated drivetrain that includes a "flip-flop" hub. All of the bikes a 27" since I like this size better since I am 6'3". The three wheeler was a 24" but I converted it to 26". Bringing up the rear on all of my squadron is a B.O.B.(Beast of Burden) YAK trailer. I carry alot of things, i.e. brief case, rain gears, groceries, books etc. I breathe, eat, and think bicycles 24 hours a day. I think all that math I have studied has made me go insane. enough about me. Bicyclepriest says "Keep on riding for the fun of it"

[Edited by bicyclepriest on 12-04-2000 at 12:43 PM]

i recently changed my commute from 5 to 7.5 miles, since my office was moved to another place in the brussels area.

the short route is quite different from the new one. the first was through rural quiet areas (schaarbeek->zaventem) with long straight lines and a bit of countryside. the latter is straight through the serveral cities in the brussels federal state (schaarbeek->linkebeek). apart from the extra traffic, i experience more accidented terrain and more side road alternatives and because of that i am getting lost frequently in my persuit of more optimal routes. this will probably inprove in a few weeks, but still, taking the route to work is not always the best the other way round. i keep trying and exploring all the time.

planning trips with a plastified map of the city and a overhead water solluble projector pen is the best for optimizing.

... it's about 24-26 miles round trip, which gives me a little less than 2 hours on the bike each day. long enough to feel like i've had a ride, but not so long that i'm wiped out.

and the best part is that those 2 hours of biking are gained at the expense of only 1 hour of my day, since i would be spending at least an hour driving my car to work. fuzzy biking math.

-junebride

My commute is also about 2 hours. I look at the second hour as time I would have spent doing some form of exercise anyway. So really, commuting by bike doesn't take any extra time. I have only been at this about three months so, as my conditioning improves, I think I can get that time down quite a bit.
And since riding is good for me and she wants me to be safe, my wife lets my buy extra toys for my bike. Hey, I already got a new bike out of it! :-)
Regards,
Raymond

Before I recently retired my commute was 30 miles round trip. It included a bit of everything. It had some heavy city traffic, light slow speed residential areas and high speed light to heavy "out in the country roads". Weather was usually mild . I tried to commute at least three times a week. Over the years, I found the more I rode, the less problems I had with the "regulars" on my commute. Like they were used to seeing me every morning and evening. I had some of the normal incidents, but they were getting further apart in occurances all the time.

My commute...when the weather allows *I know, I know* is 20 miles rt...urgh....did it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and was put off for life!!!! :D

:P Rich :P

Mine's 28 round-trip. Don't do it everyday, though, or not yet, at least. 50 sounds like too much, but a guy here in Atlanta says he does it once or twice a week. Maybe you could drive halfway?

I have a very easy commute. I actually drive to work in my truck in the morning since I take my son to the babysitter. I live extremely close to work, so I get to eat lunch at home everyday. The cycle back to work is only 1.44 miles (2.32 km), takes only 7 minutes, and is mostly downhill. I stretch the ride home to between a 4 and 10 mile ride, but if I needed to get home in a hurry I could be there in 10 minutes (the short ride home is only 2 miles). I've ridden almost everyday to work since the beginning of January 2001, and I log about 25 to 30 miles a week with my bike from commuting. It couldn't have an excuse not to commute to work.

Hey Hey
My workday commute is approximately 300 metres or about 220 if i take the subway before i can sink into the sofa and recover with a hot coffee

sadly, my job title is that of a cycle courier and my 40-70 mile day soon wipes the smug grin off me face!

My commute is 10 miles (16 km) one way if I take the shortest route. That's most of the way on a two lane highway with no shoulders and high speed traffic. Not too bad in the morning when the traffic is light. It's pretty open, and out on the prairies here we tend to get some fairly windy days so that can affect my times quite a bit. An alternate route is a little longer but on a four lane highway with a lower speed limit (go figure), but still no paved shoulders. I can cut off of this highway and take a small paved road along the river, with a paved bike lane and the pavement was redone only a couple of years ago. This part is my favourite local ride, and I'll frequently go past my destination just to put on a few more kilometers before I go in to work (provided I can get myself out of bed early enough!). I usually end up commuting only two or three days a week, due to other commitments before or after work, where clothes, lack of shower facilities etc. are an issue. The days I do ride in though are great. There are a couple of other guys I work with that ride in occasionally, and almost everyone on our staff of 10 rides at least recreationally, and one guy is a pretty serious MTB racer. It's a very good atmoshpere at work for anyone involved with fitness activities, as we've got a weight room we equipped ourselves, and an older road bike on a trainer we can use on breaks. The company provided us with a room to use, and we have showers as well. The weather is finally breaking, although there is snow in the forcast for tomorrow, so the commuting will start again soon. Can't wait!
:D

My commute is about 10 miles each way, through industrial areas and dowtown Cleveland Ohio, with a few alternate routes that add or subtract about 1 mile(just for variety).

Today was my first commute to my job. I've been planning this for a while.

Each way, I ride 8km (5mi). It's almost all residential thru streets. I cross a 4-lane street that's actually US 169. The last 2 blocks (1/4 mi - .4 km) is on the only busy, main road that I take - State Line Rd.

I live in Overland Park, KS, and work in Kansas City, MO.

Jonathan

I don't have a fixed commute as such (I work more or less from home but usually make several trips during the day). I think that it is fair to say that I spent an average of 1 hour with my buttocks on my bike seat every day (between 45 min and 1h30 on most weekdays).

I don't have one of these computer thing so to translate that into mileage is a guess. how fast does one go at a steady pace (but without racing) on a touring bike? 15m ph? 20?

Nine flat miles one way. It takes 39 minutes usually. The world record is 29 minutes ( I was running late.)

Originally posted by Oscar
Nine flat miles one way. It takes 39 minutes usually. The world record is 29 minutes ( I was running late.)
Sounds about my speed, too. But I have trouble shaving off more than 5 minutes in an hour. Saving 10 minutes over a 9-mile route is, like, whew!

That's a record! :)

I too live extremely close to work. I work downtown and live only 3km from work. If time permits, I'll add a few km to my commute in the morning. My wife's commute is 12km one way.

Pete: It was a remarkable ride all right - the stuff of dreams. There was an unusual wind from the east pushing me along, and the lights timed perfectly. I blew off all the other red lights with unheard-of ease. I stayed in the office a little later than I thought, and had promised the missus that I would be home by 6:00 or else. I made it home at 6:00 on the dot, baby. (Then passed out on the kitchen floor.)

PPTB: 15 miles per hour is a brisk-but-not-too-fast pace for commuting. No sense in starting the day all stinky.

I try to do at least one commute per week from home to work and that is 40km one way, approximately takes 2 to 2 1/2hours and around 2 3/4 hrs return as I take my time usually going home and the traffic is usually more crazy on the return trip.

I'm fortunate that I have showers at work so I can freshen up, otherwise I would be pretty ripe by noon. Even with that time interval I still get into work before some people that drive only 10km to work.

I also have to make a point of getting home early (before 9pm) on Friday's as some people have a tendancy to have a few drinks after work than drive home. Watch out for pay days also, people get real wierd than.

In case anyone hasn't noticed from his alias, Bentrider
commutes on a recumbent. Bentrider, you should attach a picture of your beautiful machine so us "wedgie" riders can peek!

My commute (Monday through Friday, rain or shine!) is 10 miles round-trip. I live at one of the highest points in the county, and I work at THE lowest point in the county! So by definition, the ride in the morning is faster, and easier. Not to mention, (but I WILL anyway,) it gets H-O-T in Augusta, Georgia. :p Home to me and home-away-from-home to Cambronne.

I wondered when I first began commuting by bike, how others here at work would view the idea of a biker-dude. But I've gotten many positive comments, such as, "That's a good way to make sure you get your exercise in each day!" ... True.

14 miles to the boat, and 1 mile from the boat to the office. One way,

So round trip, roughly 30 miles I guess. The way there is down hill. Plenty fast, and easy with no traffic.
Home is uphill in commute hour time frame. But that makes a challenge I guess you'd say.

Originally posted by Ba-Dg-Er


That's awesome... when I was commuting to work everyone looked at me like I was from another planet.

Same here. I work with yuppies who are always showing off their latest luxury car:( It is almost a problem for me to be taken seriously on a bike. The nice thing is: bike are not a status symbol. For a start nobody (but a monority of fellow bikers) know anything about bikes (what they are, how good they are, what they are worth).

Here in the Southwest, where every 15 year old drive a polluting vehicle, one is looked with suspicious for not owning a car.

Since this my first day commuting I can now say it's 21 miles each way. How sweet it is!!

bjlaw,

Way to go! :thumbup:

I have 17 miles each way. I have been able to commute to work here in Maine 3-5 days a week, since March 27 2000 until last Monday. The snow has not stopped coming. I usually can get back on the road after waiting 2 days for the roads to melt a bit, but there is too much ice buildup. The town I live in doesn't want to wear out their snowplows and lifts them a bit above the road, so the ice builds up, and they have ruts and savage bumps. I sure have learned a lot since March, but i am in withdrawal now and need some riding.

Originally posted by balrog
The town I live in doesn't want to wear out their snowplows and lifts them a bit above the road, so the ice builds up, and they have ruts and savage bumps.

Pardon my French, but what a bunch of ******* morons. Why do they use them at all if they don't want to wear them out?

The town of Hope is hopeless as far as scraping the roads. These tiny Maine towns get wierd with their cheapness, and they do unique things like lift the plows from scraping the roads and leave a film of ice that they then need to put extra sand on to keep cars from sliding off ,etc. It's impossible to truly understand. That's probably why i love it up here.