Commuting - Anyone else here commute 50+ miles per day?

Okay, so I took a summer internship in Franklin, IN, and it's about 26 miles away from my apartment in downtown Indy. If I drive, I won't have any tiem for exercise, so I'm going to commute. Do you guys think it's even possible without tearing my body up to commute 50 miles a day? The bus could put me within 18 miles of Franklin, so I would only be commuting 36, but it seems like a waste of time to sit on the bus for 35 minutes to go 8 miles. Hell, I can make it faster on my bike.
I'm pretty quick these days, and I usually average about 17mph sustained over 20-30 miles, so I'm planning on about an hour and a half each way. Anyone think it's too much? Advice?

Thanks in advance!

How about if you just ease into it, commuting on the bike some days and in the car other days, working up to an all-bike commute? That way you can be sure not to push it too hard, and by the end of the summer you'll be in killer shape.

How about if you just ease into it, commuting on the bike some days and in the car other days, working up to an all-bike commute? That way you can be sure not to push it too hard, and by the end of the summer you'll be in killer shape.

Well, over the past six months, I've averaged at least 25 miles per day (closer to 35 in the past month), so this doesn't seem like a real stretch. I may take your advice and strat out driving two days and cycling three until that feels easy....

Thanks!

If you're worried about the 50 miles per day, why not drive to work with the bike, bike home, bike to work the next day, then drive home. You could do that for four days per week, and bike both ways on Friday when you have greater recovery time. That way you'll ride every day and can gradually warm into riding both ways every day.

Okay, so I took a summer internship in Franklin, IN, and it's about 26 miles away from my apartment in downtown Indy. If I drive, I won't have any tiem for exercise, so I'm going to commute. Do you guys think it's even possible without tearing my body up to commute 50 miles a day? The bus could put me within 18 miles of Franklin, so I would only be commuting 36, but it seems like a waste of time to sit on the bus for 35 minutes to go 8 miles. Hell, I can make it faster on my bike.
I'm pretty quick these days, and I usually average about 17mph sustained over 20-30 miles, so I'm planning on about an hour and a half each way. Anyone think it's too much? Advice?

Thanks in advance!

Well I can at least commiserate. Due to a recent move, my one way commute has morphed from a 40 minute, 11 mile, flat joy ride into a 2 hour, 30 mile, hilly...joy ride. My new driveway is a mile of rutted dirt and gravel road, so each ride starts or ends with a nice walk. (I tried mounting bigger tires so I could ride this section, ala cyclocross, but they slow me down so much once I hit the pavement that ultimately it's faster to walk the dirt.) Anyway, thankfully, my wife and a neighbor work in the same office so I am able to pedal to work in the morning and thumb a ride in the evening, or ride home the next day, or drive my bike to work in the morning and ride it home. You get the idea. Even if I felt like riding the 60 mile round trip, which isn't entirely out of the question, I just don't have that much time to dedicate to riding - maybe some day! But if YOU'VE got the time, and riding brings you joy, why not? If you're reallly good for that 17mph pace you're most likely got a good enough base to safely do a 50 mile round trip. Start off riding Tues & Thurs then work up to Mon, Wed & Fri. Your butt will recover, but pay attention to those knees. Happily trails.

DanO

50 miles a day? its been done...by messengers, every day...

randy

You are a god! I envy you.... except on windy, rainy, snowy days. Man, I'd be in shape!!! But if you're considering it, I guess you already are.

Yep. Bephol. I do it once a shift rotation...But, I do it for night shift , since night shift is 6 pm to 6:30 am..So about 1/4 of the time I ride to work..PM shift would be pretty rough to do more than one day in a row.
The distance is 26 miles.We do have hills about these parts..One pretty steep and long..I usually do the ride in no more than 2 hours. So riding 25 miles in the flatland.
Piece of cake. Particularily, on a 8 hour work day.
Still, I probably would not ride Every day. Most likely , 3 out of 5. Of course, bad weather or shorter days..Those are factors.

I'm kind of in the same situation. My one way commute is 35 miles, but in the morning, I can knock off the first 15 with the subway. It doesn't save me any time though, and I feel pathetic doing it, so I only tend to do that when it's cold in the morning. I'm riding 2 days a week right now, trying to work up to the third day in another month or so. This is nice because I can pick my days based on weather and other responsibilities. I've also done the drive my bike in, ride home, ride to work, drive home bit too. I don't like it as much as the normal drive one, ride one pattern. Seeing as I get on my bike 12 hours apart whether it's the same day or the next morning, it's not really saving me anything.

I probably average between 18 and 19 mph. If I was going everyday, that would probably be closer to 15-16 right now, and I don't think my ego could handle that. The ride takes me about 2:10, but the last 3 miles to work take 15 minutes because of traffic lights. Which is something you need to look into. When commuting, you often ride routes you wouldn't normally ride and at times when there are a lot of cars on them. The starts and stops can really add up, and wear on your legs. Ride it on the weekend first, then allow a lot of time when you try it out on a workday.

Good Luck.

You're getting some sage advice here, they are all good points to try out. For me I started commuting long before I knew about the Forums, so I wasn't able to ask questions that would have helped my start in commuting, like the everyday one. I started out trying everyday, and got real tired of it really quick, and by a month into it I had a car and wasn't riding the bike.
Work is 16 miles away if I could fly. There is an 18 mile route that is all road but goes through some parts of town that I'd rather not frequent, and since I get out of work after midnight, I want to avoid heavy trafficed roads, my thinking is the innebriates are more likely to be on them than sneaking around on the side roads to get home. So, I worked out a route, er, several routes that are from 23 miles to, the latest route I did was a wahopping 40 miler.
I started last November when my last car was hauled off. I did these routes all winter, well not the 40, and with the help of friends at work was able to get a ride on the nights that were too cold for smart people on bicycles to ride.
Start slow, like every other day. Your body, your engine, needs a recovery day or two, so give it to it or you won't last long. 2 hours is a good time to give yourself, I do mine an average in 1:40, that's on a fixed gear. I'm on my geared road bike now, and time isn't a factor, but my body isn't used to the punishment of bigger gears, and harder spins or the position I get in for the areo bars, so I've been using my buddy at work with a truck for the ride home, he gets me half way at least. A 10 mile ride is better than a 25 mile when your legs are still filled with lactic acid burn.
The biggest barrier for me has been learning when to sit up. I have come to love my commute, I enjoy the routes, the ride, the high. But there are days when the wind is driving at 10-13 miles in a head wind or a crosswind, and I'm bound and determined to ride my route at a top speed that isn't possible, and I need to sit up, back off the gears and just enjoy the ride, practice my spin, or since I don't get the chance on a fixed gear, coast!
Most of all have a blast, create diversions, like a coffee shop, or magazine store. Ride by the LBS to get a tube, just something to break up the ride a little, it does wonders. Use it as a reward for riding all week, or through that god awful wind. I like to get the new bike mag or Backpacker, and sit at a Caribou Coffee 5 miles from work, then I stop at a convenience store to get a couple bottles of water for work, after six months of doing this almost everyday, they know my face and have heard how pissy the day is with the wind, the snow, the rain, and that I don't need a bag.

I think that if I take this bus route every day, I'll be able to do it all week. Like freerangemike said, this really won't save me any time, but it will save some wear and tear on my body. That would put me at about 30-35 miles round trip every day.... very doable, especially with an 8 hour break. Luckily I don't have the traffic problem. The bus will get me out to the edge of teh suburbs, then it's all farm roads from there. At 30 miles per day, that would put me at 150 or so per week, and that's about what I do right now (college student- lots of extra time on my hands). I'm thinking about getting a Trek 2300 this week, and I don't know if I'll use that or my 7500 FX for the commute. Logic would tell me to use the 2300, since it would be easier on teh body, but it would rack up a lot of miles on it really quickly. Any advice on that?

bpohl..At peak commuting hours, I have one problem with putting bikes on buses..Often the bike racks are full. You miss a bus...Causing added miles to be put in your mileage log or else wait maybe another hour for the next bus..
I certainly like the idea of extending your riding distance by bike and bus methods.

Cyclezalot.. fortunately (or unfortunately, depnding on how you look at it) that is NOT a problem here in Indy. I sometimes think that I'm the only bicycle commuter in the entire city.

Okay, so I took a summer internship in Franklin, IN, and it's about 26 miles away from my apartment in downtown Indy. If I drive, I won't have any tiem for exercise, so I'm going to commute. Do you guys think it's even possible without tearing my body up to commute 50 miles a day? The bus could put me within 18 miles of Franklin, so I would only be commuting 36, but it seems like a waste of time to sit on the bus for 35 minutes to go 8 miles. Hell, I can make it faster on my bike.
I'm pretty quick these days, and I usually average about 17mph sustained over 20-30 miles, so I'm planning on about an hour and a half each way. Anyone think it's too much? Advice?

Thanks in advance!

The "combination" route would be the best way to work into it. I commute infrequently, with my 47 mile round trip and several miles of walking with mail on my arm/shoulder. It gets fairly tiring. Next week is "National Bike to Work" week, with Thursday being "Bike to Work" day, so I'll be trying to ride on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. If I can manage three days a week it will help me work up to every day, but I might limit it to three days so I can hit the gym on the other three days. With an office job, every day would be manageable. Did I mention getting up at 3:00AM to commute by bike?

I would do the 50, but not everyday. I reckon I'd be a bit too knackered by Friday to put it a good day's work.

I have been slowly building up to 40 a day with a smaller mileage day on wednesday and find the energy levels are tolerable in the evening. The key is building up to the mielage slowly so your body can develop the endurance you need to do that kind of mileage day in and day out. Maybe start getting off the bus a little sooner each week. The beauty of that kind of mileage is being able to train for centuries and double centuries really fast as a 10% increase each week amounts to a lot of mileage thereby cutting training time. Of course I have yet to test this theory, the only thing I wonder about is if there is a mileage barrier where the body just says no more or if you can use the 10% rule up to that kind of mileage.

Well, okay... one week down.... I did the commute on Tuesday and Thursday, and I really like it. I would be doing it tomorrow, but I have to have surgery to get the wires off of my jaws tomorrow, and I won't be going to work. There's a stretch of a couple really sketchy miles at th eend of my commute on the way home, so my fiancee meets me at this country store before those last miles. That way, I don't get hit again and have my jaws wired shut for another six weeks! Anyway, recovery hasn't been a big deal. The 25 miles in teh morning are pretty easy, and I get to ride through cornfields while the sun is coming up. I like it!

You young guys are sure full of energy I admire you. I have to do a 2nd round trip at lunchtime just to come up with 16 miles in a day.

Get this.... if I go home for lunch my daily total is a meagre 8km...thats right...2km each way! record is less than 5mins...fun!

If only I did not have two pretty challenging hills, about two miles of heavy traffic,& I worked traditonal 8 hour days- I would consider 25 miles each way really easy.
Think If I ever live elsewhere, I will live according to the kind of commute possible, so I can commute Every day.! Not that I don't want challenging rides...Just want the ride easy enough so that I will do it always and not consider it risky, in terms of making me late for work.
Think ideal commute is about 10-15 miles, just rolling hills..
Bphoal..Commutes through corn fields ...Like to experience that..Sounds peaceful...The non-urban part of my commute..I can experience..Vintners, orange groves, nurseries, avocado fields , or just chaparral. Another word for wild sagebrush.

I hear you on a couple accounts there. I do wish the ride were a little shorter. I worry that a good headwind will make me late, but my work is really cool and understanding about the whole thing. In fact, they seem amazed that I commute between cities on a bicycle.
The rewards of riding through cornfields in the morning light come at a price.... I have to take the bus to its last stop at a Kmart in the suburbs. We pass through some pretty interesting neighborhoods on the way there. Once I get off at Kmart, I have to travel east about four miles in fairly heavy traffic, complete with rednecks honking and cussing. Then, when I turn south, the fun starts....little country houses, fields of corn, cows, and old men reading teh paper on the porch for 20 miles right into Franklin! That's the part I like. I just hope the good keeps outweighing the bad.

bpohl..Grew up in the Midwest.We had corn fields there too. Liked to have experienced that..
Is not biking a new concept in Indianapolis.? State/city ever think of putting in bike lanes as a priority.? Bloomington is supposed to be historically- a significant bike benchmark for America...
So it sounds like car commuters treat you all as some kind of freak event..If, I lived close in to a big city, I am a big enough advocate to be an activist in local bike advocacy organizations..
Indianapolis must have one.? So does the state place bike lanes on state highways...Hope so, you have the famous ride across Indiana, that draws cyclists from all over the country.