scorch

Ever since my motorcycle's engine died, i been left with riding my bicycle to work from Burtonsville, MD to downtown Rosylyn, va. One of the strange things is that it takes me about 1 hour and 30 mins by motorcycle and car, and it takes me about the same with the bicycle. Of course, im stuck in traffic on the road. I always kind of trailer the bike down to the park and ride half way, and i do this if im tired and need a rest day. Been doing it for about 2 months now and now im actually getting better.

Been losing weight and i feel much better. But i know when the daylight changes, im not really going to be able to do this at night as the roads i go are a bit sketchy and not very bicycle friendly.

Commuting on my vintage de rosa nuovo classico. I kind of feel bad about putting dings on it, but better use than lose it

gunguy05

Congrats ! I have a 68mi commute ONE WAY. I wish i lived closer, I would bike it ! Keep it up.

wunderkind

Some Tours are less than your daily mileage!

jwbnyc

Gotta say, hats off to you guys and anyone else who can handle that kind of daily commute.

GeneO 

Awesome. Mine is half that and comfortable. Twice mine..... congrats.

My commute is bike commute is 15 minutes longer than my car, but not in heavy traffic. More rural.

Cheers
Gene

scorch

Didnt eat today and still did the commute, pretty hard not having any energy and still commuting a long ways. There are some really big hills. I thought id be getting faster anyway, but it seems by the end of the week i tend to ride much slower. Is there a way to recover faster?

Just_Ryan

Start by not doing that. I find that 15 minutes of good stretching at the end of the day also helps a lot. Hydration is big, too.

BadBoy10

Hi Scorch:

WOW! I am inspired!

I can barely do five miles. I just hate the exhausted feeling when I arrive at work. How are you not exhausted?

When I arrive at work I feel like I have been beat up. I also hate biking at night.

So I applaud you for doing 50 miles one way. You know, it is not nice to say but dealing with the cars turns me off. I love biking but I simply detest the traffic. I dont know what to do about dreading traffic.

What kinda bike do you have?

scorch

Oh, i dont do 50 one way. Its a round trip mileage .. I wish i had the power to do that. It works out to about 23-25 miles each way! But it takes a while because there are some massive hills that seem to go on forever and ever!

Im not tired when i get to work, im sweaty. But i dont feel bad, i feel great for riding in. If i drive in, i feel like crap.

Im riding a road bike . its a de rosa nuovo classico, old frame and all. But works pretty well.

GeneO 

+=1 on that. I feel refreshed when I ride in. I am fortunate enough to have a shower at work. The last couple of days I couldn't ride in because of mechanical difficulties. I felt like crap (but not sweaty ).

Cheers and keep on riding!
Gene

rumrunn6

EXCELLENT mileage ... I'm jealous

wunderkind

Perhaps an e-bicycle will help you rest your legs part of the journey.

dcbrewer

Your commute sounds like it is near the opposite of mine, though my ride is slightly shorter. I commute from Ballston to Beltsville four days a week, so I am probably familiar with a good portion of your route. I don't know how the roads are going all the way out to Burtonsville, but I managed to get through the winter months by renting a bike locker about half way along my commute which made riding in the cold and dark much more manageable.

robatsu

Do you go out old route 29? I live in Silver Spring, just inside the Beltway off of Ga. Avenue. I'm pretty interested in your route from the exurbs into the city.

scorch

Hey Robatsu. Well, i use old columbia for a bit(which i think is old route 29). They just added some bicycle lanes a while back, not very well painted, but they are there. Im near briggs channey road.

If you are in GA ave inside the beltway, then you have most dangerous already out. My most dangerous part of the commute is passing i95 and whiteoak. After that once in silver spring, you can literally take some trails to the capital crescent.

I basically in the morning, ride along route 29 on the sidewalk(on the left sidewalk) its safer to cross i495 because you can see cars exisiting off the off ramp.

Then once i hit sligo ave, make a right and go on the trails.

Tommorow i think ill take beach drive. Its the quickest commute.

tarwheel 

That's probably what makes the ride so enjoyable. Trust me, those old Italian steel frames ride better than anything and are very efficient. I've got a steel De Bernardi SL that I commuted on for two years, and it was a joy to ride. I've since switched to commuting most days on a touring bike, but it's not nearly as fun to ride as the De Bernardi and much slower.

cyclezealot

Congratulations. I did such too. But it was 56 miles. But due do to my working hours. ( 12 hour days. ) Not daily.. More like twice a week.. Still, that saved having to drive over 112 miles a week..

BadBoy10

I need to clarify. I love riding at night just not riding from home. For recreation, I am hoping to start a midnite riding group. Where we just ride around the city at midnite. That I love. I do not like commuting at night but I do it because I love the feeling once I arrive home. It is like I crossed the finish line. LOL!