How many miles do you commute each way? I live 25 miles from work and I'm thinking about commutting to work. I live just outside of san antonio and I work virtually downtown. I have to be at work at 8:00, I should be able to make it if I leave by 6:30 or so, right?

If your ride is pretty flat, you shouldn't have much trouble getting there in time. I ride about 50 miles one way (I take public transport home) with about 3K of climbing, and it usually takes me just under 3 hours. Make sure that you leave time to shower and change.

I bike 17.5 each way. It takes me about 1 hour to go to work. If you can keep a 20mph pace then you should leave by 6:00am to get there on time and have 10 or 15 min. to cool down and get a drink and something to eat. If you are on a MTB then it will take a lot longer.

You did not give your age/fitness level. As a graying engineer I like having a safety margin. I have had 21 mile commutes (each way) and allowed 2 hours each way at the start. Took 1:41 in the summer heat. Later a 25 R/T commute took just over 2 hours total, half the way in the dark. The first two replys give very respectable times that I would love to work up to if I did not have so much urban traffic to deal with.

my commute used to be 26 but four miles was almost mountainous. Took me 1.5 -1.75 hours. Did it for years. At least twice a week.

I'm 41, out of shape, and my commute is 13 miles each way. It is slightly hilly and I do about 13 MPH (depending on the wind direction and speed) and I leave 2 hours early. So it takes me about an hour each way, and I leave an hour for a shower (female/long hair) and change, and time to get across campus to my class. It leaves me plenty of time to spare, and I like that.

The hills that seemed so huge at first now seem a lot smaller.

I am 54 and my commute to work is 5.5 miles if I take the shortest way. About a mile is uphill. It takes me about 25 minutes to get to work and about 19 to get home....

Half a block. Does that count???? I'm riding it....

About 14.5 miles each way.

You guys are freaks! 20 mph average speeds on your commute?!

I'm lucky to make 11 mph! My commute's 11 miles and it usually takes right around an hour. Even if it were perfectly flat I'd probably do not much better than 14-15mph. I would plan on at least 2 hours, maybe more considering you have to cool off, change and clean up.

I'm with Ladidah and Eggplant. Of course, I'm an old fart, but I do 16 miles one way and started out on my 63rd birthday allowing 2 hours, just so I'd have a margin. My best time yet is 63 minutes, but I still allow 90, so that I have time to change clothes and decompress (or fix a flat, or admire a wildflower, or get sidetracked some other way). I keep thinking I'm going to pour it on and decrease my time significantly, but a goodly portion of the reason I commute is to have time to reflect and cool it, and I'm damned if I'm going to make it some kind of performance exercise (except once in a while, just for the fun of it.)

Mine is just shy of 18 each way. However, I have a buddy that does 25 each way year round. I think you'll easily beat 1 1/2 hrs if you have a road bike except on days when you're fighting the wind. Don't forget, you'll really be in good shape if you're cycling 250 miles/week just on your commute

I used to do my 26 miles. It was an ok commute. The only problem, we did 12. 5 hour shifts. I particularily liked commuting for nite shift. I'd leave late afternoon and return early morn.
But, with nite shifts' and 12.5 hours- I felt a need to cool it in order to get enough sleep. With a regular 8 hour shift, I'd commute every day.
Particularily, if the ride was flat. Which, mine was not.

I do 12 miles each way, it takes an average of 40 minutes to go in and 35 to go home.

I do 8.5 each way and it is pretty much all flat. I average about 35-40 minutes in and 30 minutes or less home. Because I work at a university and have access to the locker rooms, getting all sweaty on the way in isn't a problem for me so I can go a bit faster.
Need to get myself a computer so I can figure out exactly how fast I'm going

16 miles each way. Takes about an hour.

14 miles each way, takes 1 hour 15 minutes through downtown with traffic. The last third is on an MUP.

Last week I did a 41 miler from a relative's home in South Elgin to Downtown Chicago.
Previous night we had a terrible & destructive storm. The first 20 miles into the Great Western Path had quite a few fallen trees accross it so I had to dismount & climb with my cross rig over my shoulder, for a second I felt like I was racing (hehe). This is a converted old railroad bed, secenery's simply gorgeous, lots of wild life.

The rest was over streets, fell one time under a bridge in Oak Park due to slippery tracks/old brick pavers. It took me 2.5 hrs, had to leave at 5:45 am.
Definitely something I don't want to do it everyday, as nice as it is..

My commute is 7 miles in and 10.5 back. I take the road less traveled to get in more miles.

I am 35 miles from home to office. I either take the bus or drive to withing 10 miles from the office and bike from there.

I drove a couple of possible routes before my first commute. I am in my third year and have many options ranging from 10 to the full 35 miles. (which I do once or twice a week. The home leg only).

11.5 each way with some hills. not much traffic as i go early. about 40 minutes.

I bike 5 miles to work and 10 back.

14 and change each way if I want the flat route that uses the bike path.
13 and change if I take the hilly route with about 1500 feet of climbing.
13 and a half in the winter when I take the flats but can't use the path because the towns don't pay to clear the snow from it.

normally it's an hour there and about 50 minutes back, as it's mostly uphill towards work and downhill home. Traffic lights can add about 5 minutes of time on either end.

Roughly 7 miles each way. 6 of it is on a dead flat bike trail. (OK, so there's a couple of dips in the trail where it goes underneath the bridges, but those don't really count as "hills.") The last mile is on a road with good bike lanes for most of it, and the last 0.7 miles is uphill.
I enjoy my commute because on a clear day I have a few miles on the trail with a really great view of Mt. Rainier. I'll enjoy it even more when I get my Bianchi San Jose, instead of the heavy old clunker I'm riding now.

Right now, mine is just a puddle-jumping, 10 mile round trip.
Takes about 15 minutes going to work, and 20-30 going home due to hill stack-age.
I don't even go fast, usually averaging between 10 and 30 mph both ways.
Luckily, the commute route is East and West, so the only thing I have to worry about are crosswinds.
And the MTB I'm riding isn't much of a speed demon itself either.
With that and a 20 lb backpack, the speeds I make are killer.
Now my mind is just getting out of this area I'm living in.
With these constant low-pressure systems hovering over SoCal, the Mojave Desert is like the freaking "Great Plains" of California.

Oh, and before you commute, watch or punch up the Weather Channel.