I did 12 miles (each way) for a commute for four years. It took 40 minutes. The morning was in the dark. The winter was cold. For the most part I loved it.

I ride a 22 mile round trip all the time - plus, I'm old, fat and gimpy. the 11 miles usually takes me 40-50 minutes, depending on wind and traffic lights.

I'm with the others. Do it.

Try it once. Take spare clothes, etc. Work out the problems you have. Then you can decide how often you want to do it. Alternatively ride the route on a weekend to get familiar with it.

No, 12 miles is not too far to ride to work.

Try a mixed mode commute to begin with if it might be too much. I have a lot of hills on my 9/10 mile commute and until this year I would often drive the first 5-6 miles and only ride the last few.

My god, son. We worked our knuckles to the bone so you wouldn't have to suffer such indignities!

It will be too far for some folks, and OK for others.

You are the only person who will know if it's right for you.

FWIW, my commute is 12-ish miles (depending on the route I take), and I do it 2-3 times per-week.

The way to look at it is anything less than 10-12 miles is not long enough to get a decent workout.

My old commute was 8.8 miles, with most of it along a MUP. Current one is only 3.5 miles on streets. The longer distance was a challenge at the time for my fitness level, yet I enjoyed it more.

As has been suggested, load up with what you'd consider you need and try it on a off day. Having done that, and doesn't appear that it's too difficult, then (if at all possible) drive to work on like a Thursday, ride the bike home at the end of that shift. Then ride bike into work and drive home. Off days are nice to make exploratory runs, but sometimes the traffic patterns differ on those days as well, which can have an impact on your timing or confidence levels.

12 mi is perfect! Not too long so you don't have to start at some ungodly hour, yet long enough to give you a nice wake-up work out.

That's my commute, 23-24 mi a day every day.

Do-able yes. Just plan for it and whittle down unecessary things till you've got it all figured out.

My commute is generally between 7 and 7.5 miles each way, and I usually wish it was longer. 12 is totally doable. Try it out... I'm sure you'll find it easy, especially since you already said the distance is nothing for you. If you're worried about getting cleaned up for work there are plenty of threads around here with tips on that.

Mine is 18 miles one way, 2 to 6 trips per week. In good weather it takes me about 1 hr 20 minutes, good pace not maxing out.

12 miles is not too far. If there are hills, you'll get in shape after a few rides. I climb out of a river valley everyday on my 13.5 miles one way commute--not a killer, but mostly a long, gradual climb. Generally takes less than an hour.

No. I commuted 12 miles one-way, 24 miles round-trip 4 days a week for over a year between starting my current position and moving. 5 days a week was technically possible but I don't really have the attention span for riding that long on rest days.

With 24 traffic lights (only one a right turn) and 10 stop signs it usually took 45-50 minutes depending on traffic with a best time of 40 minutes late in the evening and worst time of about an hour on a windy rainy day.

That just means you'll want good lights plus a pannier for work clothes, rain clothes, and warm riding clothes.

I'd try the route on a non-work day first, in order to get the feel of the difficulty (12 miles dead-flat is far easier than 12 miles of hilly stuff). Then when you decide to go for it, leave plenty of time to make sure you get there on time. If you can manage 12 miles easily enough, you should find it a non-issue.

with my candence at about 15 - 17 mph depending on wind here. yeah, 12 miles to work is not bad. do off work runs.

Ok, now that I know its doable I have a question.

First question- I have an 81' Fuji 12 sp road bike. I can build a commuter bike with bigger tires and a more upright position, should I?

I wouldn't unless I'd be riding on gravel. 25mm tires at 90-95 psi front and 95-100 rear (there's 180 pounds of me + belly fat and another 15 of luggage) feel very nice on normal roads.

No. A classic road bike that feels great for a 400 miles tour, 100 mile ride, or your usual 1-2 hour ride will be plenty comfortable.

I'll disagree on the road bike. I normally ride a mountain bike with skinny slicks as my commuter but I tried riding my road bike one day and it felt very unsafe. When I'm on my roadie I usually ride unencumbered, but riding to work requires the laptop and clothes. I never got comfortable with my messenger bag. This same bag attaches to the rack on my commuter. (Knog Pig Dog convertible bag.) I also have Look Keo pedals on the roadie, so I had to ride with my cycling shoes. Again, this felt uncomfortable for city riding, and I ride through the city all the time with them. It just felt different on the commute.

I'm also in NYC, and you're in Arkansas, so maybe these things won't matter.

As for the 12 miles, that's really not that long a ride. My commute is 10 miles, through city traffic, over a tall bridge, up 1st Ave in Manhattan and down 2nd, but also on some quieter streets in Brooklyn, plus the park.

Good advice in this thread. On the bike question, I agree you should consider what kind of roads you'll be on. I do 12.5 mi each way, 10 of those are on dedicated bike trails and the rest on side streets with bike lanes. I started on my upright hybrid, and when I bought a road bike it made a huge difference, much faster and more enjoyable. That said, I do go through one intersection which is heavily trafficed and I have to cut across 2 lanes of traffic and that part is much more tense on the road bike. If I had a few more miles like that I would likely go for an upright position.

this is more a rider preference. i use north road handlebars and have to put my head down in high winds. in constant windy locations drop bars would be better.

I would stick with drop bars, but jack them up an inch or two and see what positions you favor.

Swapping to flat bars is a backwards step- you're basically restricting yourself to the top part of drop bars. Raise your existing bars a bit and you'll have a more comfortable position and several grip positions.

The thing with flat bars is just this, I'm running bullhorns now. I could always swap back.

I'm just concerned with road bike tires. I'm thinking a wider tire may be a bit safer since our roads aren't that great.