Does commuting interfere with your cycling?
 

I was wondering how daily commuting affects the rest of members' riding.

If you are a general cyclist/enthusiast, after the daily commute do you have enthusiasm left over to go for a pleasure ride? After riding back and forth to work all week, do you look forward to a weekend club ride or an excursion out into the countryside?

Or, having pedaled for practical purposes, does the thought of climbing on the bike repel?

Or, do you only ride a bicycle as transportation, period?

I commute 15 mile r/t to a bike ride 5 to 6 days a week.
86.5 mile ride today. 66* to 80 * Cloudy
Going again tomorrow.

I ride to work, after I get home on the weekends, and if the mrs. is away as much as I can on the weekends, typically my breaks come from normal things, I can always meet my mom at her house for the commute, since we work in the same complex.

I ride the bike because I love riding bikes ... but commuting gives me my exercise in an enforced form. I haven't done much recreational riding this year (study, laziness, study, weather).

Cycling - it's transport, it's lifestyle, it's recreation, it's just fun. I won't let the bike dictate to me though, which is why my bikes are set up so I can ride them in whatever I happen to be wearing, even though I do have a full kit of specialist cycling clobber for them serious rides.

Richard

I sold my car, I must ride !

Though, sometimes I cheat and take my scooter in =)

I commute only occasionally (at least, now that it's rainy, cold, and dark), but when I do, I find myself taking side trips and such, so my 10 mile (one way) commute could quite possibly jump to 15-20 miles. Usually though, I do all of my errands on a bike - shopping, bar runs, etc.

Nah. Commuting is just how I get to work.

Commuting is my cycling for the most part.

Just to work. I have sold my car, but my GF and I use her's for everything else. I end up driving and paying for the gas :(

Anywho, I find the commute fills my cycling needs quite well.

Commuting is my cycling. For now, anyway.

Since I started bike commuting, I don't do day trips for pleasure anymore, like along the beach or whatnot. But I end up riding a lot more, because I end up doing more errands on the bike. And I still do weekend tours.

So I guess in summary, when you start riding a lot for a purpose, you get less fun out of riding for the sake of riding. But riding for the sake of getting somewhere good is still great :)

Steve

Generally, no.

I bike commute three days a week and try to get a social and fitness (road bike) ride in on the weekends. That said, I've been nursing what I believe is a hamstring sprain/strain so the 3 days a week commuting sometimes leaves me wanting to take a break to "heal up" over the weekend.

I commute so I can ride.

commuting is just the way I get to work I still do group rides and race MTB ever Wednesday. If I'm tired i will drive to work for a day or a drive on the day of a race.

Until I bought the forge a few weeks ago, all of my riding was utility-based. Now I do some pleasure riding on the weekends (14 miles last Saturday). The majority of my miles will continue to be practical, however.

I commute to work in the late fall and winter but since I ride pretty much every day anyway the change from scenic rides to commuting is always welcome and vice versa.

Commuting seemed like more of a chore when I had access to a car. Now that I don't, I love every minute of it. I am always trying to get my friends to go for pleasure rides with me. I would love to do some touring, but time/money prohibit me from doing so, at least for now.

kinda sorta. some weeks i won't even go on a fun ride, i won't do say a 20mile loop. other weeks i put on over 100 training/fun miles. to work/school it often feels like junk miles. just 3 miles of stop signs and street lights. i can take a different route, longer, and get in some sprints, but i rarely do. today i was riding home form the GF, six miles, and i was in the small ring most of the time. just spinning away, then after a mile i'd coast for a while. my legs hurt so much, she works me to death.

imo commuting can be really good if you look at it as extra training, if you do intervals, challenge yourself and go up hills/mts. extend your commute a bite more and not aways pick the shortest, downhill, way and just coast threw it.

Velly intellesting!
 

This is all very illuminating. Thanks.

For myself, my commuting also counts as "just another ride." I moved to a neighbourhood that makes use of the car redundant, unless I need to move something large -- though I don't have a car on the road right now.

The rest of my week includes a long (100km) group ride on Wednesdays and a slightly shorter route on Sundays, alone or with a couple of friends.

Even my commute can be exciting, and, due to where I live, scenic as well.

Commuting is what keeps my cycling from failing to occur.

My commuting IS my cycling. Commuting gets me on the bike just about every day. Before I commuted on my bike, I didn't ride. I had a bike that was virtually untouched for almost 20 years. I bought it in 1984 for commuting. I got it down off the hooks in Feb 08 in the garage to start commuting on it again.

I'm quoting you in my sig, if you don't mind ;)

When I was younger, like 20 yrs younger, I loved road cycling. Now I find it hard to just ride in a big circle and back just for fun. These days I need a reason or purpose for the trip, but as far as bikes go I haven't lost the interest.

:lol::lol:

Probably 75% of my cycling is for commuting or running errands. Maybe more.