I don't know, never used one. However, I'm always getting passed by busses and many times they do have bike(s) on the rack.

no but do it on a lark, it will be a blast. there's no way that's gonna work for you on a regular basis, sorry.

I commute 32 miles everyday, all year round. Some days with lots of snow/ice/etc I will catch a ride but for the most part I ride. With that being said I couldn’t imagine a 80 mile trip 3 days a week but I think it could be done. Lets say you ride at a mediocre pace and can get the ride done in 3hours (~13mi/hr), thats not including getting gear on (esp when its colder) packing food extra clothes ect. So lets say your pretty quick at getting packed/dressed/undressed and theres another 30 minutes. If you only have to work 8 hour days than your gone from the house for 14.5 hours. Once home youll have to get/make food, get all clothing ready and food for the next day, take a shower, relax a bit and I would assume stretch. Another 1.5 hours at least. So that’s 16 hours leaving you with 8 hours of sleep. Therefore it could be done, but when you have to put in long days, the weather is nasty, or your legs are sore, that rides going to feel like an eternity. Id say try it and see what happens. I would be interested in how you feel after the second day of commuting.

I would think about picking up a larger saddle bag if you don’t want to put anything on your back (esp in the summer) since youll have to bring in food everyday and LOTS of it. Also you will find out very quickly if your lighting is up to par or not. I use a tactical flashlight as well but most of my commute is through the city and its outskirts so there are street lights but they do a wonderful job. As for the comment that these miles are “junk” miles your crazy. Of course he could drive to work and get home to go do intervals/etc but if you commuted these kind of miles at a fast pace you would be an animal. There will always be naysayers telling you its impossible but if you have a plan of attack its not that wild of an idea.

They're surprisingly sturdy, and I think the chance of one falling off would be extremly slim. You're probably several times more likely to lose a bike on a trunk rack. I admit that they still always make a bit nervous, and I don't know if I'd be comfortable putting an expensive bike on one. The main issue I have with them though, is that they're often already filled with bikes.

It would be nice if they had buses just for cyclists... like special buses holding 6 bikes each

Most of those racks seem to hold about 4 bikes. Problem in most places is finding a bus, any bus, to begin with! Might be easier in large cities but in small-town America, car is king.

I'd really like for this to work for you, but it's gonna be tough. As a fellow Nashville commuter, I can attest to the mental fatigue of pedaling on the roads you'll have to take. I used to work over by the airport and had to ride on Harding, M'boro, and Briley. It's not fun and I never rode them at rush hour. I can't even imagine the mental toll that route will take on you.

I know it sounds awesome, but you should be realistic.

If you ride 40 mile one way you will earn your new lights very quickly due to lower gas bills. I'd say go for it provided you don' t have any heavy physical work. You will have a good trainig with a commute like this so that' s an added bonus. Main issue will be if you are willing to save money by having a longer commute. I would start with one day in the week, then two days and so on.

I would take a roadbike or a recumbent for the distance you are going to ride and for me personally i find it too long. I think i would commute by bike for a maximum of 17 miles one way (about one hour on the bike)

Long commutes stink no matter how you get there. It is better on a bike but I would have traded my long commute for any shorter one. Now I WFH so it is all good. You can do it if you are motivated enough. It is entirely up to you.

Well, first let me say thank you all for the advice and encouragement (mostly). I have done it one direction now, and I will say that at least for now, one direction is all I can manage. But, the bus in, bike home is definately something I am going to continue, hopefully twice a week. Eventually, I may be able to add in a once a week ride both directions, but not fit enough yet.

This, I think, is the essence of my drive to do this. Now I just need to justify new tires. (The 41 raves about Conti GP4000S, but would y'all reccommend anything different (cheaper??) for communting? The roads aren't horrible, but it's definately not a debris-free route.

I commute on GP4000 four-seasons in Boston (with awful, awful roads) and they are superior, esp in the rain

It depends on a great number of factors:

How long are the shifts that you work? If you work 12 hour shifts, a 6 hour daily commute time is only going to leave you with about 6 hours of sleep a night--assuming that you hit the sack as soon as you get home and jump straight out of bed onto the bike every morning. My commute is about 19 miles one way, and with 12 hour (actually they are usually 13) shifts I end up with about 6-7 hours sleep a night. In my line of work, being well rested for work is very important (I'm an RN), so it would be out of the question for me to have an ultra-commute of the sort you describe. It's not that the commute itself would tire me for work--I actually find the 19 mile morning mile ride gives me more energy for a day of shuffling up and down the halls of the hospital, and a 40 mile commute would probably invigorate me even more so--I just don't think I could handle the sleep deprivation.

How much free time do you want after work to focus on personal relationships, and on activities other than bicycling? Unless you are the sort of person who can endure sleep deprivation to make up for a lack of free time, you are probably going to only have a few hours for leisure/relationships every night even if you only work an 8 hour shift. I this a state of affairs that would be acceptable for you?

I've gone on short tours and ridden for 6-10 hours a day, no problem, but I don't think I would want to add a full day of work to that. If you can hack it, more power to you.

We're talking about a 3.5 hour commute here, will you have enough time for your wife or kid (if you have one)?

I'm looking to begin commuting once a week starting out @ 25 miles each way. I'm estimating that starting out it will take up to 2 1/2 hrs each way. I'm planning for the worst case so if it comes in below that it's all the better.

Anyway I can rationalize that type of time commitment this way. I presently have a door to door commute (walk, train, subway, walk) of 1 hour and 20 minutes on average. So roundtrip is 2 hrs 40 minutes - any delays and I'm at 3 hrs easy. I go to the gym most days after coming home - between travel time to the gym and time spent there I'm good for another hour. So 4 hrs. In that context - since I'd be replacing the time spent at the gym with time on the bike - it's not that much of a sacrifice in terms of time away from my family. Realistically I should be able to do the commute in under 2 1/2 hrs as well but like I said "plan for the worst".

That said - 40 miles each way is almost a century a day - that's a lot of cycling coupled with work every day - it sounds like a recipe for burnout. Some of the earlier suggestions for bike in one day and bike home the next day sound like sensible suggestions.

yeah, it's doable, but you won't be doing much else. (other than work and sleep). I would rather have time to do other stuff. if possible, I would drive partway and then bike in.

I think it's doable but will be tough, as mentioned above. That would definitely be awesome if you can make this happen. I hope you will keep us informed and I'm definitely rooting for you.

For me personally, I don't think I could do it just because of the major time commitment. Right now I commute to college ~40 miles R/T four days a week. I ride a ~42 lb recumbent trike plus ~25 lbs of things in my panniers and I weigh 158 lbs. The trip in (19.6 miles: +460 / -916 ft elevation) usually takes 1:15-1:25 total time depending how many stop lights I hit (15-16mph moving average). I try to give myself ~2 hours in case I get a flat, break a chain, detour, etc. Unfortunately many times I don't give myself that much time to get there and just pray that nothing goes wrong so that I will make it on time. The ride home (20.4 miles: +1001 / -551 ft elevation) usually takes me 1:35-1:45 total time (12.5-13.5mph moving average). It also takes about 10-15 mins before and after each ride to get prepared (lights, locks, change clothes, etc). I think this mileage is perfect, and could probably do as much as 25 miles one-way if I had to. Anything more would probably start taking almost too much time, but that's personally thinking for myself.

If I had a 40 mile one-way commute, I'd either drive half way and ride the rest, or leave my car at my destination and ride one way each day.