Rode in 25 miles this morning. Took about 1.5 hours at a nice, relaxed pace. 15 miles on the C&O Canal Towpath and the rest on paved MUP. Very nice ride, but conditions were ideal in the 60s, light wind and no humidity. Usual commute is 15 miles, so this added quite a bit. Must say, commuting 3 hours per day would probably not be doable on a regular basis. Physically, no issue, but 3 hours devoted to cycling every day is simply too much time.

LIke most people said it's all about time. If you have the time it takes you to ride that far before and after work, go for it (assuming that you know that you CAN ride that far). It would take me three hours to ride one way to work these days. Not practical.

OP~ that sounds like a great commute. I did 17 miles for a couple of years, not year round and not everyday but 17 was doable. we moved to a 13 mile office and that was what I think of as ideal and did it year round and most days of the week, but that was all roadway and traffic lights, and everything that goes along with it. if I had a 17 mile commute mostly paved path that could easily compete with 13 miles on the streets. in my opinion 10 -17 miles in one thing - less than that it's another thing. I moved to an apt 6 miles from work and it wasn't worth the bother to bike commute. 6 miles was just too short and not even a workout.

My commute is about SIX miles each way and it takes 45 minutes to an hour. Another variable in the equations might be what kind of bike he has. A 17-mile trip for me would be tough because it would take me almost two hours. A six-mile trip of an hour can be done handily. If a person could get a combination of fitness level, style of bike, route planning, and get the 17-mile trip down to an hour, that might be equivalent to my trip of an hour. I do notice that the few bikers I see on my way to work all pass me.

I often think about trying the 19 mile ride to work, but I'm just not a morning person and can't summon up the will to get up that much earlier. It's not just the extra riding time, but the time to shower and dress at work that dissuades me. Seems like that would be sort of an annoyance as well, with the shower at the far end of the complex from my office. OTOH, it does seem silly to drive home from work and then ride the same distance for recreation.

I started commuting with a MTV w knobby tires but eventually evolved to a road bike with slicks but it was a long, ignorant, expensive & arduous evolution