Originally Posted by
thryn
Often I'll run an errand or go out to eat before work, and then do some pub-hopping after work, and then head home. Can I count that? What about trips to the grocery store?
I count anything between home and work as my commute. When I start out from home the opposite direction from work just to take advantage of a beautiful morning to get more riding in, I count that, just so long as I end up at work. Just like when the road conditions have been snowy and I take a shorter, higher traffic route than my normal route, I count that, not the longer miles of my safer "normal" route.
I suppose if I rode a 20 mile loop from home but returned to eat breakfast, and then headed back out to go directly to work, I wouldn't consider the first 20 miles part of the commute.
Originally Posted by
thryn
Should I just allot myself 4.75 miles for each day I ride both ways and not include other stops?
There really aren't any hard and fast rules and there are probably quite a few interpretations among the participants. Just don't do anything that would risk you getting in trouble with the Commuting Mileage Thread Police. Nobody wants to hear that they kicked in your door in the middle of the night and you were never heard from again.
But don't take my word for it:
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full-time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.