Quote Originally Posted by Crankin View Post
Jolt, you have been to my current house, so may have some idea of my former commute to Hudson. A hair under 14 miles (13.98), after finding a safe route that didn't involve the rotary. The first route I tried was 17 miles and had a road with 3 hills in the beginning. I axed that, but the 14 mile commute was perfect. I did it twice a week. It was enough for a real ride, so I didn't feel I was doing a lot for nothing. When I first started commuting, it was 6.7 miles, each way, and it was uphill going there, but a nice downhill home. Beautiful, too, through the Delaney Reservation in Stow.
Fast forward to today, where my commute is 5.2 miles. I have tried riding in my regular clothes, but I really don't like it, and more to the point, I don't have a lot of regular work clothes I can ride in. Not the tunic type! I do always feel I get a workout on the way home, because of the hill on my street. But some days, it seems more trouble than it's worth.
When we move to our condo, I will have a couple of months of being 2.6 miles from work. Then, my office is moving away from the hospital campus, to another office/medical building in Concord. I think it is about 2.3 miles. All of this is flat. I think i am going to have to convince myself to ride for 2 miles. I'd rather go out early in the morning and do a 10-15 mile fitness ride.
I think a 15 mile commute is fine. There are never speed expectations when I commute, I just plan accordingly. I don't like to arrive sweaty, as there are no showers, so I use those bath cloths to clean up. I do find, though, that I always ride home faster.
I think now we are getting into the speed/time issue…you ride faster than I do and so a 15-mile ride may only take you an hour. I would be looking at closer to an hour and 15 minutes for that distance, and doing that on each end of a 10-hour shift would not leave much time for anything else (although it would eliminate having to find other time for a workout). Also, some weeks I work 1-11 pm so it would make for a late night. The good news as far as being able to clean up on arrival to work is that there are places available to do that, including a shower. On the other hand, I hear you about a 2-mile ride being too short--it's not even enough time to warm up! The commute definitely could not double as a workout then.