donhaller 

Below I pasted a link to a route I drew in Bikely of a proposed route to commute from my house to Andrews AFB in Maryland where I work. I have driven the route now a few times in the car and have noted some questionable areas that I have some concern. I would like to do this commute once a week on Fridays, but not sure it is too long or not. I am currently riding anywhere from 80 to 150 miles per week on my road bike in the evenings and weekends, and would like to extend my mileage by doing the commute.

Additionally, I thought about using my old Nishiki ten speed for a commuter bike, but hate to ride that in lieu of my Giant TCR. Any suggestions or comments on this particular ride would be great. It is in close proximity to Washington DC and the mess of traffic that goes along with it.

Proposed Commute route to work

MrCjolsen

30 Miles one way. Quite a haul for a non-cyclist, but with your mileage the distance shouldn't be much of a problem.

A lot of roads look scarier from a car than on a bike. One added bonus. If the traffic is so heavy that it slows down to bicycle speed, just take the lane and have fun.

I'd use the Giant. For a commute that long, go with the bike you ride the most.

ax0n

The general rule of bicycle commuting is that if you're wondering if you should, just try it.

I'd do a dry run on a weekend so make sure you know where prominent road hazards are and to get the route in your head. You may want to do the dry run with just the bike, or you might choose to do it fully loaded as if you're really headed to work.

Keep in mind that you'll have 8 hours to decompress when you really commute. Your dry run will almost be a metric century if you just ride to work and back.

fat biker

Give it a try!

Only way to find out is to try it. You may love it, you may hate it. Anything less than a trial is speculation.

Before I started my 19 mile AM 9 mile PM commute of a few years ago, I thought it would kill me. the first month or so it nearly did.

30 miles is one good commute. Get going!

Jeff, still fat

idcruiserman

I would start with a half commute at least. Drive in and ride home. Ride in and drive home. Repeat.

kill.cactus

Answer:

Yes.

qmsdc15

This makes sense. Drive to work with your bike on or in your car Thursday, ride home. Ride to work Friday, drive home with your bike on or in your car. Assuming you can leave your car on the base overnight. Maybe do it twice a week. I think you have mapped out a good route.

Nycycle

I wished I could commute, but I have to drive a 40 ft long hunk of junk that lives in my driveway.

donhaller 

Thanks for all the responses guys. I think I'm going to try this next week using the half-commute formula of driving in on a Thursday and riding home that night, then riding back to work the next day. This approach seems sensible. I'm not too concerened with the distance as musch as the traffic and the time it takes to get to work via pedal power.

Cheers