Commuting - Today was my first commute--great fun

I have been practicing this commute for a couple months to work and back (4.2 miles there and 4.8 miles return).

When I started practicing on my old Trek 7100 I was dying and made it in 35 minutes. Had to rest a lot along the way, but hey, it's better than taking a car, even with the walking.

So, after getting my time down to about 30 minutes I decided to trade up and get a better bike. I bought a Trek Soho 1.0. I like it because it's durable, quick, and fun. It's a very solid bike and was $700 (plus I bought a computer and a pump).

Anyway, I practiced the commute a couple times on the new bike, and am pretty much hitting it consistently at 25 minutes each way and am confident that eventually I can get to 20 minutes when I'm in better shape).

I forgot to mention that I'm a teacher, which is why I was practicing the commute to work and back. Nobody was there.

So today I had a great commute there and a great ride home.


One thing that never occured to me until today was that I'd be rested for the ride home. Previously, when practicing, the ride home seemed quite difficult. I can't believe I didn't stop to think that I'd have all day at work to recover from the morning ride.

On the way to work I have three sizable hills to deal with (sizable for me at least), and on the way back I have three hills to deal with, two of which are small and one which is an intense climb. On the way home today I was able to sprint up the hardest hill. I was thrilled.

So, I'm digging this. I got home and gave my car in the driveway a little smile.

9 miles round trip. I should have been doing this sooner.

These are the kinds of posts that make me smile! Keep at it and never give up!

I like the Soho a lot. I don't think that I would buy one because I'm a fan of cross/touring bikes now, and I don't want the flat bars, but I still think it's a sweet bike :thumb:
Funny how you forget things like how long you get to recover during a workday.
Now you know for sure that you can use your weekends for 18-20 mile rides, though, right? :D
PS - Silly sig :)

Great job!

Be interesting to see what the kids think of it as you power pedal into the parking lot ;)

I've just started back on a bike too, it's so gratifying when you see that time go down or that distance increase.

I'm confident I could do a fifteen to twenty mile ride, but keeping up with guys in good shape could be tricky.

All summer I was doing the practice run to work and back (9 miles), so another five or so I could manage, especially once the temperature drops.

Right now it's 9:12 PM and the temperature is 85 and extremely humid. It won't be "cool" until about 1:00am.

That time on the bike computer or watch?

My commute is 4.3 and when I started it was about 25 minutes.
I can make it in between 18-20 depending on lights that I get caught at now. Timer on the computer only shows moving time on most. That's about 17-18 minutes most days for me.

You will get there in 2weeks or so if you stick to it.

I found a snack like a banana or some beef jerky in the late afternoon about an hour before the ride is helpful. Plenty of water with this heat!!! Start Hydrating a good 30 minutes before you head home in the afternoon.

Get the Polar insulated bottles...They are awesome Pack them with ice and you will get about 2 hours of cold.

I bought a cool 17 oz Thermos at Wally world for $10 this weekend that fits in the bottle holder. I bought it for getting my morning coffee to work (the guys at work make sludge and have to use creamer to get it down). Filled it with ice and water to test it out last night It held the ice for 5 hours (in the house). Got tired of waiting for it to melt so I poured it out.