baron von trail 

My regular commute is 50, round trip, but the other day, the last day of the week, I took the long way in and out for a total of 75 miles. That got me thinking--dangerous, I know.

Anyone out there commuting 75 miles or so on a daily basis?

My 50 gets rough after about the third day, and I often take a rest-bit. It's on those days after the rest day that I get ambitious and ride 60, 70 or more miles on my final commute of the week. I'd like to do the 75 everyday...call it four days a week, but it takes a lot more get-up and go than my regular run, especially in the AM because I need about 45 additional minutes. And, stealing 45 minutes between 5 and 6 AM is tough.

Double0757

It sounds more like a century training than a commute! To me that's great! Just make sure you listen to your body and rest it properly, rest is better than excertion.

When I was doing 30 round trip, 5 days a week, I rearly went for long weekends rides (50-75 miles) because my body ask for rest. The commute before that was 10 miles round trip, but I went for long rides almost every weekend. Now, 25 years latter, I do 25 round trip, 3-4 days a week, I don't do long rides as often as I would like either, life gets in the way, a 35 mile weekend ride is today like my 50 miles back 25 years ago. Anything can make a hard week, lack of sleep, bad nutrition or illness, all influence how I feel at the end of the week. long weeks make for slow rides.

Enjoy it, just rest that body, so it serve you well.

Double O

ThermionicScott 

@CigTech had the VLCC threads a couple years ago. Wonder what he's up to now.

a1penguin

I had a coworker that did the SF2G ride every day of the week. That's 50 miles of flat with a tail wind. He also rode on the weekends and did lots of mountains. If you enjoy the 75 miles a day, then do it!

tarwheel 

I take several bike tours every year in which I ride 60+ miles a day over the course of a week. Just finished a tour riding from Pittsburgh to Washington DC on the GAP-C&O Canal trails, where we rode 370 miles in six days, carrying about 25-30 lbs of gear. Last fall, I rode 500 miles in one week from the mountains to the coast for Cycle NC. Typically, on these tours my legs get progressively more tired as the week goes on and I am more than ready for rest when they are over.

My bike commute is about 30 miles round trip, and I often commute about 45 miles one day of the week. Doubling that mileage would make commuting a grind for me. It would leave me little time to do anything else except work, sleep and bike commute. My legs would also be trashed at the end of the work week, and I doubt if I would feel like doing any recreational riding on the weekends, which I enjoy. Commuting is harder in many ways than recreational riding because you're riding in traffic with lots of stop and go, carrying loads and breathing more exhaust.

FenderTL5

I'm riding 30 miles round-trip, mostly 5 days a week. I can use the local MTA if needed.
I rarely take my bike out on the weekend for more than a mile or two.. maybe a trip to the grocery or around a neighborhood loop if I made mechanical adjustments that need a test.

CrankyOne

A friend has a 35 km commute each way (lives in Assen, teaches in Groningen). If the weather is nice and he has time he rides his bike. Some days he takes the train and rides his bike to/from on each end. He has two bikes and generally sort of keeps one on each end.

baron von trail 

If I ride all 5 days, I usually do not get on the bike on weekends. I just do stuff around the house and go for short hikes with the dogs. If I ride only on 4 days, I often take one of the bikes to shop at Lowes or W-Mart--maybe twenty miles r/t.

beerRun

I will have ridden 46 miles this week if I commute every day. You guys are animals (cool, strong animals).

mcours2006

That's a lot of hours on the road, like 3+ hours. I could do that a couple of days of the week, and have, but to do it every day is too much, at least for me. My commute round trip is only 40km. That's less than 2hrs of riding/day, and that's enough for me. There's too much stuff to do to spend much more than that on commuting.

If you can do it, more power to you.

rhm

For a while, in 1983, I commuted 43 miles each way. It was summer, I was 21, and I figured I could do it. And I could; but there weren't really enough hours in the day. I didn't last long.

alan s 

I've heard of taking a respite, but what is a "rest-bit?" https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...e%20definition

KevinF

I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of cycling-friendly routes that I can take on my commute. Usual routes are about 40 miles round trip, although once a week I'll do something closer to 50 miles round trip. Due to other commitments, I can only manage two or three bike commutes a week. Still, that's somewhere in the vicinity of 120 miles a week just commuting.

At my riding speed, that's seven or eight hours spent on the bike a week. Add more time for two post-ride showers, etc. That's a pretty good chunk of the week spent commuting. I enjoy it, but anything longer would seem like a chore and some serious willingness to ride in the dark for a good chunk of the year (here in New England I start putting the lights back on the bike in mid August due to encroaching darkness).

We had a guy here at my office who would drive in with his bike, ride home that evening, ride back the next morning, and drive back home. He did it that way because his bike commute (each way) was in the 35, 40 mile range. I seem to remember he did it two or three times before deciding that keeping that up was insane. And he was a pretty in-shape kind of guy.

snow_echo_NY

yikes that's long...!

bconneraz

My current commute is roughly the same distance ( 49 miles round trip) with 2200 feet of climbing, of which 1800 is on the return home. At that distance, I'm good with 2-3 days per week commuting, with two of those days back to back. If I'm feeling ambitious on my way home, I add difficulty (hills and trails) but not distance. The days that I dont commute are filled with utility cycling, and mountain biking.

The thought of a 75 mile commute, 4 days per week makes my legs ache; you're an animal.

YouthInAsia

Wow. That's not a commute. That's a journey, a bicycle marathon.

baron von trail 

baron von trail 

THis week's goal is to do the four fifties and then end the week with the 75. I suspect I'll be feeling it though tomorrow (day 3). I usually rest on the third day. But, I'm going to push it through June, shoot for commuting every day.

MNBikeCommuter

I'm into the twelfth year of a minimum 47 mile round trip commute. The "better traffic" and "stave off boredom" routes push it in the 52-55 mile range, with the occasional 60+ "just 'cuz." Once in a great while I'll go past 70, but the days I love it that much and have the time are rare--once a year? Four days a week seems to be my practical limit. I've done five, but the 4th and 5th in a row get to be a chore. Winter throws in more logistics and time and bad roads, so commuting generally drops considerably Dec-Feb. Overall, I'm averaging half my commutes by bike--fewer in the winter and more in the summer. Timewise, I bet most people average more hours of TV per day than I do on the bike. Heck, I may be in that category too. :-)

baron von trail 

That's a pretty good riding schedule: March through November; especially for Minnesota. We're probably 15 degrees warmer here, on average, in Southern Ohio, and I find getting in more than two rides per week after late November into December extremely difficult. I don't ride at all in Jan or Feb. And, then start back up with 2 rides a week or so in March. It goes up from there. I completed May with a 4-ride per week average.

One reason I am pushing to complete 5 rides a week right now is because it's June. Long days, dry and warm weather--the 6 weeks from now until mid-July can't be beat. If possible, I won;t drive to work again until the end of August. But, I know that may just be wishful thinking.

Hugh Morris

Feeling rather fortunate that my usual round trip is less than 10 miles - I can do that every day with no issue.

My weekly commuting/errand totals are only 60-90 for any given work week. My long rec rides rarely crest 50 miles.

Commuting 25-40 miles one way? I would definitely need to work up to that. Might not be as enjoyable at first, either.

Edit: ...or worth it every day.

highrpm

baron, I give you a lot of credit. I consider 10 miles each way to be a pretty good commute. Tough even, after being at work all day. And I usually don't ride in all week either.

50 miles a day, every day? Wow!

imi

Baron, you don't post on P&R on company time do you?! :shocked:

rmfnla

My commute is just under 6.5 miles round trip.

My hat's off to you guys...

MikeRides

I had a 40 mile R/T commute for a year and a half, it was such a nice ride that I wish I had thought about bike commuting it sooner. I've since been laid off from that job, and now work 35 miles from home. As much as I have been getting interested in long distance riding I really cringe at the thought of biking 70 miles day after day. This summer I may try it a couple times a week just to see how it goes, but spending 6 hours commuting on top of 12 hours working, as well as getting 6-8 hours of sleep each night wouldn't leave me much time for other hobbies or watching my kid grow up which, to me, are more important IMO.