last summer I did 11 miles each way all road riding, took around 45 mins at best, average speed was around 13mph most times but traffic and stuff varied. Not sure on elevation info, but there were LOTS of hills! It is through suburban areas and under the Thames (a walkway) pretty busy roads but never felt unsafe.

Bikes: Specialized Globe Sport Disc Hybrid bike - found it fairly slow, have recently converted it to drop bars
Giant SCR1 Road bike - bought this to be faster, however am going to put a new fork and a front disc brake on it

To carry stuff I use 1 pannier, I carried my shirt and trousers in a crane creek folder. I had a U-lock and a cable lock, a multi tool, lights etc. in there too.

I used crank bros egg beaters with shimano mt-40 shoes - very good combination for me and I really like the pedals.