Who's got a long commute?

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Originally Posted by ehirsch83

For those with the longer commutes what are you riding?
I am looking for a commuter to get to and from school(about 18.5 miles each way) and I am pretty much decided on a single speed(flip flop hub) felt with flat bars. I am a roadie, will I get tired of the flat bars? or will adding bar ends keep me happy?
advice advice please!! I am in love with the bike and am ordering it once I get paid for some stuff I just sold.

http://feltracing.com/08/product.asp...,1525&pid=8717

I really like the idea of the single speed, and it is lighter so it won't be to heavy plus I think with carry a bag, being a little more upright will be more comfy then in drops.

THe other thing I really like is that nothing on it is quick release, so I am not scared to lock it up at school.

any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

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I think that single speed is really smart for a commuter bike. My DH won't use a geared bike in the winter because of all the dirt, sand, etc. I assume you don't have as much road muck in winter, but not having to do all the maintenance associated with a geared bike would be a nice plus.

As far as the flat bars, I agree with GLC that it would be really easy (and cheap) to switch if you didn't like them. You could also easily try moustache bars if you felt so inclined. I am in the process of converting my commuter to drop bars and STI shifters, and its definitely a more involved and expensive process.

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Originally Posted by Beane

I think that single speed is really smart for a commuter bike. My DH won't use a geared bike in the winter because of all the dirt, sand, etc. I assume you don't have as much road muck in winter, but not having to do all the maintenance associated with a geared bike would be a nice plus.

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It depends on where you're riding. Here in Worcester County, a single speed would be a horrible idea because of the hills--a geared bike is really the only practical way to go IMHO despite the extra maintenance required.

On another note, I'm currently looking for a job and am hoping to be able to commute by bike but we'll see about that--it would only work well for day shift, and one of the places I've applied, which is the one I sort of have a feeling I'll end up at, is 18.8 miles away going the back way (the others are 5 miles or less)!

My commute was 14 miles each way when I lived in DC, and it was terrific. I had so much more energy on my commuting days. It took me 1 hour and 10 minutes, with a slight decline in the morning and a slight incline in the afternoon. In the winter, I would mix it up with the Metro because of the darkness since I don't ride in the dark.

Now I work from home, so my commute is history. I miss my commute, though, and do most of my errands by bike.

Hey Emily, please do join the club. I ride a singlespeed road bike 8 miles each way to work and I love it. I love that Felt you're eyeing. Mine's the Soma Delancey, and I have some funky handlebars on it, which are very comfortable. The handlebars are available sold separately from Soma. They're the "urban pursuit" model. I am going to cut them, though, to be shorter. As for hills, I manage them by putting an easy-enough gear on the bike, which I figured out after some trial and error. The gear is easy enough for me to just manage the steepest hill on my commute, standing up.

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Originally Posted by Voodoo Sally

Hey Emily, please do join the club. I ride a singlespeed road bike 8 miles each way to work and I love it. I love that Felt you're eyeing. Mine's the Soma Delancey, and I have some funky handlebars on it, which are very comfortable. The handlebars are available sold separately from Soma. They're the "urban pursuit" model. I am going to cut them, though, to be shorter. As for hills, I manage them by putting an easy-enough gear on the bike, which I figured out after some trial and error. The gear is easy enough for me to just manage the steepest hill on my commute, standing up.

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OT: Voodoo Sally, I am in the market for fenders and those look perfect. What are they? Thanks!

Sure. They're the SKS Race Blade XL fender. They're designed for frames & forks without eyelets, such as your average road bike. They just strap on to the stays or fork with special (provided) rubber bands. XL means they are good for up to tire width 32. The regular goes up to 23. They come in silver or black, but the silver are somewhat hard to find.

Sally - is the your seat really angled up that way, or is it the angle the pic was taken at?

Heh heh, I know, it looks weird. It really is pointed that way. It's an anomaly I can't explain, but that particular saddle works best like that. I have lots of other models of saddles on my other bikes, and they are all level. This particular one is an ancient Terry Liberator, with a pretty swoopy top profile, and for some reason it's most comfy like that.

Wow... it looks so wrong!

Glad it is comfy for you, but I also feel strangely relieved that your other saddles are at more "conventional" angles... :rolleyes:

I was watching the early morning news while getting ready to head out to work this morning. They had a quick story about a man in CA who ditched his car and commutes 42 miles each way to work on his bike. The story said that it takes him 3 hours each way. Now that is a LONG commute.

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Originally Posted by hermitclub

I was watching the early morning news while getting ready to head out to work this morning. They had a quick story about a man in CA who ditched his car and commutes 42 miles each way to work on his bike. The story said that it takes him 3 hours each way. Now that is a LONG commute.

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Here's a link to the video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/liv...e.to.work.kero

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Originally Posted by CA_in_NC

Here's a link to the video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/liv...e.to.work.kero

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Wow, good for him. That's inspiring!

My commute by car is 52 miles one-way, 104 roundtrip. That's a lot of driving each week. Right now I can work one day/week at home. These 4 days/month saves me 1 tank of gas. That's big. I'd like to try for 2 at home, but I don't know if my company is ready for that (face-time and all). Already the VP encourages me to stay at home during bad snow days because he knows how far I live. They're good about that. If gas prices get much higher, I might have a little leverage. I'm about the only one in the office of about 200, that lives the furthest out. In fact, some have never heard of Phillipston and they think I'm so far west I'm in the central time zone.

I simply cannot ride a century each time if I ride directly from the house. But I have decided to jump on the biking commuter band wagon as I'm starting to feel the prices.

Right now I still drive the car about 30-35 miles. I work in Lowell. Depending how I feel or if I'm running late, I park in Littleton which gives me a 30-mile roundtrip. Or I park in Ayer which gives me a 44 mile roundtrip. The good part is, either route is entirely flat so I don't have to work hard before work. I figure the 15 to 22 mile commute in the morning is adequate timewise as I am still driving 30 to 40 minutes.

I am having a total blast doing this. The level route is pure joy. Not only that because I usually get home late, I don't have to rush home worrying whether or not I can get a ride in before dark. I'm lucky, I have a large office and I can bring the bike in and keep it right next to me. There are really nice showers as our building has a gym that the company can use. I have closet where I keep towels, shirts and blazers on hangers, and a couple of pairs of pants, shoes, and socks. The setup is perfect.

I have been doing this for 3 weeks now, so far twice a week and I hope to 3. This week, including the 95 degree heat, I chose the 44 mile route and have biked 88 miles in the 2 days. That's almost saving a round-trip for me. And fun; I DO see a difference in the gas gauge at the end of the week. With at least 88 miles in biking combined with 1 day at home I'm saving $90-100 a month with current gas prices. That's big.

I have been using my Ruby carbon frame road bike. I just want to get there. I have a Bontrager seatpost rack with a Trek Interchange bag on the back (love it, and love keeping stuff off my back). Lots of hi viz clothing. I have bag contents down to 6 lbs or so. I have a Maxtor wallet size 80 GB hard drive that serves as my briefcase that I slip into the pack. It's great. This has been so fun.

16 miles is not too long, but 2000 feet of climbing is quite a bit for a commute. Not impossible, but doing it every day could be a challenge. I've always felt a bike commute of 16-20 miles is perfect. Anything shorter than 12 miles- well it takes me 10 miles just to warm up.... Longer than 20 miles and its going to eat too much time out of your day. A 16 mile rolling commute will take about an hour at moderate pace, a 16 mile flat commute could be done in well under an hour.

My current commute is 16 miles each way and it includes a tough climb, but only 500 feet vertical. I find its toughest on Monday morning or the morning after a hard training ride the night before. Its hard to do a recovery ride up a a big hill!

If you can cut out the climb with the 19 miler, then you're in business!

My total commute is 40 miles of rolling hills. It’s 80% bike path starting right from my house and 20% road (near my work). I have to hit the path by 5am so I can arrive by 6:30am. The wildlife I see is simply breath taking. There are hundreds of bunnies, foxes, birds and a few deer. This morning I rode along side a buck! He was absolutely beautiful.

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Originally Posted by bunnydodger

My total commute is 40 miles of rolling hills. It’s 80% bike path starting right from my house and 20% road (near my work). I have to hit the path by 5am so I can arrive by 6:30am. The wildlife I see is simply breath taking. There are hundreds of bunnies, foxes, birds and a few deer. This morning I rode along side a buck! He was absolutely beautiful.

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You and I live in very different parts of the world methinks. Wildlife around here equates to:

1. Squirrels
2. Dogs on a leash.
3. The occasional rat.

Thats about it.

Also, to contribute.... my commute is pathetic by comparison. I can't believe that I ever wondered if I could do it. Its a paltry 4.5 miles each way. I've actually been thinking about intentionally extending it because it doesn't even take half an hour to do (even with red lights and such) and I don't feel like I get a workout unless I really redline my heart rate, which isn't as beneficial as going slower and just extending the ride. I've been trying to find a nice way to extend it - ie a park or something, but so far I haven't had much luck finding anything. I'm thinking of riding east a mile or two so that I can bike by the lake, but it would also mean then riding west in the middle of rush hour downtown traffic on roads with lots of cabs and no bike lanes. Not sure how I feel bout that - but it would extend the commute to about 8 miles each way.

rhyme - I was thinking the same thing about my commute - that it was too short to be worth anything (mine's only 1.5 miles). Yeah, now I've got the opposite. Be careful what you wish for!! ;)

My new long commute starts next week!! I'm actually nervous. That reminds me, I need to go check out the shower facilities here - and I need to get a pannier....

I posted above, #53 about a 104 mile roundtrip commute to work, how I try to work at home 1 day and hoping for 2 but feeling out company climate. I commute now 30-44 of those 104 miles each day I ride the bike to work. The VP loves the fact that I ride in. He talks to me about it all the time and he's thinking about getting out on his bike again.

Well, my company put out this memo the other day, a survey inquiring how much money per month we spend on gas, how far we drive, alternative transportation options, etc. They may be proposing a 4 10hr day. This company is not rigid and has always offered flex hrs and accommodated peoples circumstances. For such a large company that's pretty good. What I'm excited about is that it didn't take them long to empathize with the impact of prices on peoples lives, and their quick effort to offer alternatives.

I could still work 4 10hrs and still take one of those at home, allowing me to work at home 2 days a week. I spend $340/month on gas - this would save me 2 tanks at $120 month.

This was an internal memo so I replaced my company name with XX. There still is alot of corporate blah blah language - can't get away from it.

"The purpose of this survey is to gather information on the appropriateness, feasibility and implementability of an Alternative Work Schedule and/or an Alternative Work Location Program within the Company. As a premier national environmental and engineering company, XX is committed to the reducing the use of non-renewable fossil fuels, reducing the Company’s carbon footprint and maximizing our corporate sustainability profile. As award-winning leaders in the efficient and effective use of our nation’s limited energy resources we seek to implement these programs in our own operations and space to the benefit of our employees, shareholders, and the environment. In these areas, an unrelenting and pervasive commitment to constant incremental results will produce genuine sustainable improvement.

Please note that alternative work schedules or locations will not be feasible for every position or Practice within the company. In addition, the company will still be fully committed to provide our clients (both internal and external) with the high-quality service and support 24 X 7, all year long. However, in light of the Company’s concern over the significant impacts of the increasing cost of fuel on our employees, the ever increasing consumption of greenhouse gas-generating fossil fuel, and the inefficiencies arising from the daily commute on our economy and environment we are asking for your commitment to assist us. Please provide the benefit of your experience, commuting information and opinions which will be compiled to develop our initial strategies on how the Company can modify our standard work schedules to address these concerns".