Cycling to work

Well, im here, and i will be honest!

I wimped out, and drove to my mums house which is 3.3 miles from work. I did this for 3 reasons.
1- I overslept
2- Wanted to see if there was anything on the bike that would bug me on a longer ride
3- I wanted to time myself over the distance to see how i felt and how long it took.

It all went well, 3.3 miles in 14 minutes, without really pushing it at all. I shall ride back to my mums tonight, see how i feel, and then push the remaining 10ish miles as a time-trial :)
 
14 miles - you mad!!

I cycles 3 miles to the station every day but it's all down hill and I hardly break weat.. Coming home takes me twice as long and need a shower afterwards..

You have to bear in mind sudden changes in weather.. like it's sunny in the morning then it persists it down at 5 :D

I cycle all year round come rain, snow or sun.. I have a decent pair of army boots for the winter along with a good set of wet (Peter Storm).. then there's the dark nights..

Just things you have to consider really.
 
Admiral Huddy said:
14 miles - you mad!!

I cycles 3 miles to the station every day but it's all down hill and I hardly break weat.. Coming home takes me twice as long and need a shower afterwards..

You have to bear in mind sudden changes in weather.. like it's sunny in the morning then it persists it down at 5 :D

I cycle all year round come rain, snow or sun.. I have a decent pair of army boots for the winter along with a good set of wet (Peter Storm).. then there's the dark nights..

Just things you have to consider really.
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The thing that used to annoy me was having to cater for all weather conditions for most of the year. Other than in summer, it was usually cold in the mornings so a coat was needed but by the time I actually got to work I would be sweating. Also, by end of the day it was warm enough to ride without it but with my bag already full of wet weather gear and other stuff I had to wear it anyway and get all hot and bothered again.
 
Yep.. This is the worst time of year for that as the mornings are cold and wet and usually end up being a scorcher..

"do I wear boots or trainers??.. Trainers then".. then is pours down :(
 
You want to be careful where this could lead. I started off riding five miles each way to work and within four years I was doing 200 miles a week and competing in road races.

Seriously though, if you start commuting often you do want to build up some dedicated equipement. I would go for in order;

1) Slicks, Specialised armadillos are excellent for puncture resistance. I assume you will be carrying what you need to repair a flat on route.
2) Lyrca, it is cliche but some decent shorts make a big difference to your comfort (and yes you go commando)
3) Clipless pedals and dedicated shoes. These transform your riding efficiency, you can get trainer type shoes so they are't too geeky.
4) Road bike.

Enjoy.
 
After doing quite a bit of cycling in London, I'm quite keen to start riding longer distances. In that sense I'm a bit annoyed that i went with a flat bar road bike, but it's great for the traffic. Shorts do make a hell of a difference, I rode in jeans the other day and the journey felt twice as long! I'm tempted to do a long bike ride today instead of the gym...

At least you got somewhere Malty, your journey is quite a long one, so it'll be daunting at first. At least the weather is looking a bit better. A road bike will make a hell of a difference though. Can you lock your front suspension?
 
andywalsh said:
3) Clipless pedals and dedicated shoes. These transform your riding efficiency, you can get trainer type shoes so they are't too geeky.

Enjoy.
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A friend of mine went through the stages of normal shoes and pedals to those toe clips and then to clipless pedals and every time he changed, whenever he got to a set of traffic lights or had to stop and put a foot down, before he got used to the new pedals he would try to take his foot off the way he was used to, fail and topple over sideways :D
 
i had 26 x 2.1's on, just put on expensive Continental Sport contact 26. x 1.6 slicks on yesterday, much faster!!

I think these are one of the best tyres available, anyone else got em on their ride?
 
I would get a bike and ride to work, but I dont trust the bike where I would have to lock it up, and its only 20 mins walking anyway, so I walk to work every morning.
 
tom_nieto said:
At least you got somewhere Malty, your journey is quite a long one, so it'll be daunting at first. At least the weather is looking a bit better. A road bike will make a hell of a difference though. Can you lock your front suspension?
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It is suprisingly daunting actually, but as u say, the weather is on my side at the moment!

I can stiffen up my forks quite a bit, it has adjusters for pre-load and re-bound.

My brother does have a road-bike with SPDs but i dont know if the frame size will be suitable for me, its also a bit cheap-looking...
 
Skyfall said:
I would get a bike and ride to work, but I dont trust the bike where I would have to lock it up, and its only 20 mins walking anyway, so I walk to work every morning.
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Pay 10% of the value of the bike on a lock, i used a £20 d-lock + tenner cable lock, lock the wheel and frame to bar with cable, and then lock frame to bar with d-lock.

sorted!
 
I made it :D

14.1 miles in 1 hour 3 mins. I had to stop 3 times, once to turn my mp3 player back on, and twice to stop my phone from calling my mum?!

So, i make that about 1hour dead :)

Its a good feeling :D
 
Well done mate, that's pretty good going. You are wearing I helmet I take it? I hate mine but the thought of being knocked off my bike and leaving my pregnant wife without me terrifies me so I always put it on even if I'm just going a short distance.

I cycle about 5 miles each way in a morning but I go straight to the gym which is over the road from the college I work at so I do my usual workout as well as getting 20 mins of cycling in and then have a shower afterwards and start work nice and fresh.
 
Well done mate. You will never look back now you have started. You can actually beat the rush hour traffic home on some days. I think more people should be encouraged to cycle to work if they work less than 15 miles away. It would cut the obesity problem, cut the greenhouse emissions, and with less traffic on the roads it would be a lot more fun to cycle into work.

Now to get those mummies in their 4x4's out of their cars and walking to school. I mean, they paid a fortune to live in the catchment area of a good school so they cannot live more than a couple of miles away - especially when they drive to the gym after they have dropped little precious off :confused: . And you certainly notice the difference in the traffic at half term even more so when you cycle.
 
Malt_Vinegar said:
It is suprisingly daunting actually, but as u say, the weather is on my side at the moment!

I can stiffen up my forks quite a bit, it has adjusters for pre-load and re-bound.

My brother does have a road-bike with SPDs but i dont know if the frame size will be suitable for me, its also a bit cheap-looking...
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I know others have already said it, but I'm going to reiterate:

Buy a new bike.

Refitting a full sus MTB with road parts is a bad idea, get yourself a proper road bike with proper cleats and a good pair of shorts!

I've been looking for a good bike recently for a job I'm starting in June. I currently cycle an old hardtail MTB that's on its last legs and have narrowed it down to something like a Ridgeback Genesis or a Giant OCR with SPDs once I've gotten used to the bike itself.
 
I used to cycle to work a few years back, was 8 miles each way and took me half an hour. I'd do it again if my work was closer, im not doing 15 miles.
 
Its not a full susser, its a hardtail with forks i can pretty much lock out :) Once i get road tyres on it later this month, and hopefully a lighter wheelset it should be a pretty capable machine for my commute.

I dont want a full on road-bike i have decided. There is a fair amount of hopping up and down large kerbs on my trip, not to mention a few really dodgy tarmac type surfaces. Im not sure i would enjoy it at all on a racer.

Not sure about spuds either :/
 
I do all my cycling at work, and that's quite enough thank you! :D

I cannot for the life of me imagine why anyone could possibly entertain the notion of cycling 14 miles to and from work each day. That's longer than my car commute and that bores me to tears.
 
Good on you :) I have a bike to ride into Uni and back, although am prone to sweatyness :D So have kinda stopped riding for a while...

Just a word of advice; I'd really suggest not listening to your MP3 player. Your ears are very important when you're riding on the road on a bike, you need to be able to hear if someone's being an idiot and trying to overtake you when you least expect it.
 
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