Yep, that's the main "bottleneck" but it is not bad and better than the alternative.

Going outbound I basically take the Gwynns falls trail along Carrol park and the Montgomery office building, then, I get on Washington and sprint past the I95 ramps (where most of the traffic is going). All that is left is 1/4 mile of Washington blvd from Hollins Ferry to Desoto. This stretch does not have a lot of traffic in the early morning and coming back it is downhill and I am as fast as the car traffic.

The alternative is to take Gywnns Falls trail through golf course to Wilkins and immediately turning back onto Dukeland, etc. but the desolation around the tunnel gives me the willies.

There other alternatives like Hollins Ferry, but the road has gotten pretty bad in the last few years. Going through Westport to access 648 is OK, but unpleasant on the return near Patapsco ave.

- Mostly flat for me... 14.1 workbound on a less-safe "late for work again" route and 17.7 homebound. Lots of farm fields and nature on the route.
- Specialized Sequoia... mavic training wheels because I kept breaking spokes on the original ALX wheels (that I loved)... and add-on fenders that keep me somewhat cleaner in the rain.
- 10 pounds of crap like a laptop, my lunch, and clothes. One of my coworkers is an ironman competitor and co-owner of the local bike shop, and she says the bike looks like crap with the bags on it. Another co-worker says that it looks like a girls bike.
- I do the inbound 14.1 miles in less than 45 min and the 17.7 takes me just under 60 min.
- Just started my third year doing this. I am about to change jobs and my ONLY criteria is the new company's policies related to bicycle commuters (ie; do they have a shower, can I keep my bike inside, etc.)
- I would love to see more commuters on the road.

A bit of description of your route profile.
My commute is 24 miles rt. Mostly suburban streets and one arterial. A few hills here and there but nothing major.

What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)
Late 80's bianchi.


How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
Rack with single pannier loaded with meal, work clothes and emergency repair stuff. I use the banjo brothers water proof pannier and have appreciated its durability.

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.
I've been a 3 season commuter for 3 years now, I'm hoping this year I can transform into a year rounder.

My commute seems to be stabilizing at about 70 min each way, give or take. The 1st 4 miles are w/ my son who is turning 8 next week, on his 20" raleigh, that has been taking ~35 min, and then the rest is me going 8 miles more to the office. The 70 min includes puttering time at his camp, signing him in, yakking w/ the counselors, that sort of thing. I can shave 10 min off the gross time pulling him on the trail-a-bike; cuts the leg to camp in half, but then I spend some of the gain at a roadside strawberry stand.

A bit of description of your route profile.
I have a few routes. The full route from home - 45 miles RT; drive 'n park half-route - 23 miles RT; wife drop-off near her office - 14 miles RT.

Full route is half gravel MUP, half suburban roads. Half-route cuts out the MUP portion. Both are fairly flat with a couple hundred feet of climbing over a few rollers. The MUP is a long, gradual incline on the way to work that sometimes kills me slowly.

What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)
I used to ride a Gary Fisher Marlin with semi-slicks and a rack that I just sold (last night!). Wasted no time ordering a Surly Cross Check frame today.



How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
Right now I really like the topeak MTX stuff that snaps together with the integrated panniers. It makes getting the bike off the car and setup really quick. I will eventually upgrade to Ortlieb panniers and possibly a tubus rack.

Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)
Full route is about 2 hours, half-route ~45-50 minutes, shorty route is a solid 30 minutes (one-way for all). I tend to average about 14-16.

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.
I started commuting last year and I love it. I am working my way toward becoming an all-weather, year-round commuter, utilizing the full route as much as possible. Right now I commute roughly 3 times a week depending on training rides and other scheduled outings.

My ride takes me from 1 hour to 1 hour 11 minutes. I ride from the suburbs to inner City. I ride a long stretch of realtively safe 2 lane and aobut 3-4 of multilane inner city street. The suburbs includes a couple busy streets but they are very wide. Really nice ride. About 14 miles. Lots and lots of streetlights and stops.

Dark by 5:00pm, -10 % and windy as all get out,,, winter in Detroit, Mi can be a tad crazy but I live at one end of downtown (16 years) and work at the other. I got rid of my car 6 years back and have been totaly car free. I just dont need one and I hate the buss system here.

I have coffee with me at ALL times!

My commute takes me past GM every day and I work 30 feet from the Det river. I dont know how many miles I ride a day, week or year nor do I care. It may take me 5 hours to get home on a Fri or Sat esp if it is nice out as downtown gats crazy and it is fun to ride. I may even stop for a berger and beer.

O-yea, and more coffee!

I have 3 Cannondales (fixed gear) a 59 Raleigh and a LHT. I ride the LHT every day now and often fetch lunch for the shop (my work) on it. I am allways ready for the weather when I have this bike and I just love the thing. Tha only time I ever think of cars now is when they are in my way. I just have no use for them.

Route:
33 Miles one way. 1400ish feet of climbing. Most of it is near the end. Usually, I avg 18 in & 19 to 19.5 back.

Leave extra clothing & shoes at work. I do not get to do this as often as I'd like but try to do it on Tues and Thursdays.

Awesome part is that there is almost no traffic for half of my route. Love that.

Was years ago, route rural and valley floor , between 2 nearby towns, 12 mi apart

Zzipper Thriller fairing in front made winter weather not go thru clothing
and it was quieter so I could hear the books on tape thru my earbuds..

it also allows the use of a high, and close setup with aero bars , as the fairing does the aerodynamics

rather than the low and far away posture sanctioned racing Regs require.

and the forearm rests made the trip into just spending the time turning the pedals with out hand and arm aches and numbness..

A bit of description of your route profile. About 17 miles. The Trinity River is about halfway through the ride with a climb of about 700 ft in each direction (yes, uphill, both ways)

Most of the route is through residential neighborhoods. A little bit on a MUP, a few blocks of multi-lane highways, and a couple miles of rural two-lane.

What kind of bike you ride.
Primary bike is a 1994 Nishiki Sport XRS


Backup bike is a 1973 Schwinn Varsity


How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
Change of clothes, towel, toiletries, lunch, repair stuff. Carry it in panniers on the Nishiki or in the baskets on the Varsity.


Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)
Takes me anywhere from about 1:05 to 1:30 to ride the 17 miles each way The biggest factor is the headwind which is usually on my way home.

28m RT into the heart of Boston. used to ride the Soho but the hill is steep coming home, so I switched to my folding bike (Xootr Swift) as soon as I put a front derailleur on it. Topeak rack & bags for stuff

My regular day job is an hour and 25 minutes one way and I average twice a week. Average speed is around 12 mph and my route is https://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=17004 I live in Houston so there isn't any appreciable elevation change.

I have two bikes that I commute with a hybridized 1988 Alpine Monitor Pass (Old Photo):



And a 2007 Specialized Sirrus:


I carry my gear in Jannd Mountain panniers. The load has lightened over the years as I figured that it's best to leave some things at my office (Shoes, shower gear, pants) and only bring things requiring change (shirt, underwear, and socks) as well as consumables (Lunch, sodas).


I've been commuting now for 5 years and my long term goals are to continue to refine my equipment strategically to serve a greater transportation picture.

If I go direct it's 13 miles each way, during nice weather I extend that to 18 or so over some very hilly terrain, including one long 30% grade climb. Starting out from home in the suburbs and ending in the city. Average overall on my CAAD8 was 16mph, on the Mendota it's 13mph on a heavier bike carrying lots of extras (first aid, tools, wet weather gear, etc).

Many times I need to bring in extra clothes (if not already at work), my laptop & charger, lunch, etc. so I moved away from the CAAD8 to the Mendota to run a rear rack with bags which is awesome! I do not like carrying stuff on my back.

I have been doing this for 3 years and love it, cycling has really changed my life for the better.

Old commuter was a Cannondale CAAD8, new one is a Gary Fisher Mendota:

A bit of description of your route profile.

I've changed up my route some over the last few weeks to include more city streets and less expressway. The expressway is 1. Boring 2. More dangerous since the city won't remove the 2" thick bed of pine needles that blankets most of the distance. So it's basically a third MUP, a third expressway and a third streets. Maybe a 1% grade here and there, but flat and all well-paved for the most part.

What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)

See sig.

How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.

I travel pretty light. Just a change of clothes in my trunk. Sometimes I forget to change out of my work boots if I drive and end up having to take them back in a back pack.

Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)

10.6 (used to be 11.37) miles in around 45-50 minutes at an average speed of 13 mph (according to my computer)

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.

7 months. No real thoughts other than I pray I'm never run over.

This thread was started 18 months ago, with no posts for over a year. Why not just start a new one?

Great thread. It's really interesting to read about other people's commutes. Mine is 11 miles and 40-45 minutes each way (22 miles round trip). I estimate about 400 feet of climbing total. It's mostly MUP with some neighborhood streets and city streets. I carry my office clothes, shoes, shaving kit, and laptop (and spare tire, pump, etc.). I use a Carradice Bike Bureau panner. My ride is a Surly Cross Check that I built up as a commuter (fenders, rack, lights). I shower and change at the gym across the street from my office (and park in the garage under the gym).

I'd like to see what's somewhat common for commuters that are riding at least 45 minutes one way, 3 or more days a week.

I know I'm cheating... I do a 90 minute commute twice a week. Since I only have to go to that work place on Mondays and Wednesdays I don't want to cycle it unnecessarily


Chime in and share:

A bit of description of your route profile.

My route is almost all on a rail trail following along a river and is about 33 km long. On the way out it is gradually downhill and at 22 km I have to go on the road briefly to cross a major highway. Between km 28 and 31 I am on surface streets in an industrial with surprising little traffic. On the trail again for a few more k and then on surface streets with comparatively little traffic.


What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)
Commuterized rigid fork ATB with rack and fenders with Continental Traffic tires front and rear

How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.

Most everything I need I carry in two paniers and in my jacket. The paniers have compartments for tools etc and space for clothes and work stuff. The bike must weigh over 55 lbs loaded. One piece of vital equipment is my recent birthday present, an IPod Nano.

Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)

Distance is about 33 km each way and cover it in just under a half hour. I don't have a computer on this bike so have no further details.

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.

I have been doing this since September and it will end in December when this contract expires. In any case I would have to give up this run once the snow flies since the trail is not winter maintained. The idea of a winter commute on rural highways doesn't excite me. The commute so far has been great and I really look forward to seeing wildlife especially groups of deer.

A bit of description of your route profile.
Mine is about 14.2 miles from St. Paul north to White Bear Lake. North to Summit Ave., around the Cathedral, around the Capitol, north on the Gateway trail, up Edgerton St. to County Rd E.
What kind of bike you ride.
Nishiki Cresta, Trek 613 (backup)
How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
I have a Novara bag that holds my 10# laptop and my daily wardrobe
Distance & time
About 14.2 miles. It usually takes me about 50 minutes
How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.
I started early last spring and rode it every day. After school started this fall I haven't been able to do it as often as I have had to pick up my kids after school. I plan on doing it whenever I can thought.

description of your route profile: urban. mild rolling hills with a couple climbs. discarded vcrs and smashed bottles are normal obstacales. very bad traffic as i get into the city.
what kind of bike you ride: varies. mostly my 1x7 cannondale[see pic]. otherwise a singlespeed or fixed gear something.
how you carry your gear: messenger bag but i'll be discarding that for a proper knapsack.
distance & time: 30.1kms door-to-door. takes me about one hour. i stop for lights.
how long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future: two years daily, except for winter. probably going to build a proper commute rig with fenders and a pannier rack.

I'm 19.75 each way. Mostly flat. some uphill on the way home. Takes about 1:10 - 1:20. I ride a Giant TCR. Couldn't ride today as the full fenders I put on failed. So, I'm mtn. biking tonight.

A bit of description of your route profile.
Depends on my morning schedule. If I'm free to do as I please it's about 25 km along mostly MUP and a nice urban trail.


What kind of bike you ride.
Velosport Appalache 15

Velosport..jpg

How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
I used to use a Sugoi backpack but have switched to a single 15 L Pannier from MEC my wife bought because she hated the smell of the backpack.

Distance & time
About 24.5 km. It usually takes me about 1:15 in the morning.

How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.
I started commuting by bike two years ago in the summers. I've been stretching the route and pushing more and more into the wet weather. If you can't ride in the rain on the wet coast, then you never get to ride it seems. The future for me is trying to figure out how to winterize my 5 year old so we can commute by bike when the weather is not so nice.

A bit of description of your route profile.
i have a ~15 mile one way commute along chicagos' lakefront. about 9 miles of it is along the city's lakefront bike path, the rest is on city streets - a combination of busier arterials and quieter side streets. the whole ride is EXTREMELY flat; the biggest "hill" i have to climb is a roughly 15' high glacial ridge left over from the last ice age. yes, chicago really is one of the flattest places on the planet.




What kind of bike you ride.

primary commuter: 2010 Motobecane Le Champion SL titanium road bike







back-up commuter: 1996 Raleigh M-80 cro-mo mountain bike turned hybrid


source: me




How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.
i try to keep it fairly simple. each bike has a small saddle bag with a spare tube, a CO2 pump, tire levers, and a multi-tool. i use a backpack to carry a change of clothes and other small personal items like wallet, keys, cell phone, etc. that's it.




Distance & time
~15 miles each way. my normal neutral-wind time is ~50 minutes on the road bike and ~55 minutes on the hybrid. wind along the lake can of course vary those times up and down




How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.
i've been doing this for 3 years now as a 3.5 season commuter. i have ambitions to do the dead of winter as well, but 15 miles is a really, really long ride when it's 6 degrees outside with a savage 25mph headwind screaming right off the lake at you.

I ride between 12.5-14 or so miles each way all in NYC (depends on the route I take). I ride either a Dahon SpeedPro folder or a Scott CR-1 carbon road bike. Predictably, the ride is much faster with the road bike. It can be as fast as the low 40s in minutes on a summer day on the road bike to an hour or more in the winter on the folder.

Not a whole lot of elevation differences other than bridges, although depending on the route I can go from sealevel to nearly the highest natural point in Manhattan in a short stretch of the commute. Another route takes the ascent in a much more gradual way. I almost always take a Wingnut gear backpack (www.wingnutgear.com -- great stuff) lightly packed with some clothes for the office and layers. I leave a lot of clothes and shoes at the office.

A bit of description of your route profile.

The commute is pretty much everything but flat with rolling hills. It's mainly downhill on the way to school and the opposite heading home.

This is the elevation profile to school:



What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool)

I'm currently riding a Catrike Trail recumbent trike. I plan to ride it till there's about an inch of snow on the roads, then my DF Schwinn bike comes out.



Unfortunately this is an old pic. It has since changed, but I don't have any recent pics of it:



How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.

Right now I use a backpack bugee corded to my rear rack to carry my books, lunch, and clean shirt to change. The bag weighs between 15-20 lbs.


Distance & time (average speed if you care to share)

I commute 19.1 miles one-way to school. It takes about 1:10-1:25 depending on winds, traffic, etc. Usually a little over 15mph average. Sometimes I take a longer way home bypassing the steeper hill to my house because I don't feel like dealing with it. It's 21.5 miles when I take that route. It takes about 1:30-1:45. It's usually 13.5-14mph average.


How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting.

I started commuting full time this semester since the beginning of Sept every M, W, F, because those are the days I have classes. I was commuting last semester, but only part time once or twice a week, and I was going to class everyday then. Only thoughts are possibly making changes to my route, but I like the one that I'm doing now for the most part.

A bit of description of your route profile.
~3.5mi. MUP, ~2.5mi. arterial, ~7mi rural highway; 4 appreciable hills each way. I typically gear between 60" and 45" for these, longest one is maybe 1/2 mile on the steep part.
What kind of bike you ride. (photos would be cool) My vintage bikes, see sig; main workhorse is my Versailles.

How you carry your gear and what or how much (volume) stuff you bring on the ride.various combinations of panniers & handlebar bag. Latest setup on the Versailles (pic out of date) is 1 rear pannier for laptop + accessories, small trunk bag for cycling accessories (spare tubes, pump, lock, lights, map, tire repair kit, small tools, & raincovers for panniers etc.), handlebar bag for work trousers, warm or cool gloves, pocket items such as eyeglasses, keys, cellphone, security badge etc., & two front panniers for lunchbox & work shoes.
Distance & time (average speed if you care to share) 13 mi. 1 way; time in the saddle <= 45min
How long you've been doing this and any thoughts you have toward the future of your commuting. ~ 1 year, frequency depending on weather; less in the cold, inclement months. Geographical move in the offing, so future is uncertain. Will try to situate the new home relative to the new workplace to facilitate commuting as a secondary consideration; looks like new distance will be around 20 mi, with the majority on a trail, thank goodness.