24/7 Commuting

[Vikeonabike]

In April I return to 24/7 shift work.. Added to a slight increse in my mileage. Anybody have any experience of dealing with working shifts (esp nights and commuting). Day shifts start at 6 so i have to leave home at 0430

 

[MrGrumpy]

Yes it is hard especially if you have a young family, but that's my experience

 

[goody]

Is 24/7 24hours 7 days a week? won't leave much time for the commute!

 

[Vikeonabike]

Sorry should clarify that .. 10 hour shifts. a mix of earlies, lates and full nights. Earlies start at 6, Nights start at 9. Not sure about lates but probably 2pm.

 

[jim55]

i commute at 515 ,,its prob gona b the best time on yr commute ,,the roads are quiet and its easier than the rush ,,getting up is the hardest part

 

[HLaB]

I know a few coppers/firemen on 10hour rotating shifts and I'm always surprised how good fettle they are in after their shifts and it seems to allow plenty of free time other days or before to cycle

 

[subaqua]

i did 6 weeks of 3pm to 3am ish ( could stretch to 5am if we hit a problem) and the roads were great for commuting as almost no traffic at 3am , frost was a problem as it was sunny and warm at 3pm on the ride in but damn cold on the3 way home. it meant remembering the warm clothes in the rucksack.

best thing was getting a 3am finish sleeping till 9am going for a 25 miler before work and arriving at work fired up. would do it again in a shot if i could.

 

[CopperCyclist]

I do two earlies,two lates, two nights, four rests days. Then repeat.

Earlies: 0700 til 01600 (or until 1700 on fri/sat/sun)
Lates: 1500 til 0000 (or 1700 til 0300 on fri/sat)
Nights: 2200 til 0700

I commute every day - I have no car anymore so have no choice. To be honest though, I love it. The ONLY time I occassionally think ’This is going to be hard' is after the first night shift, when all you want to do is get home and sleep. Even though I think that though, I find once I'm on the bike its easy... well, at least no harder than normal!

I also have noticed massive differences in my sleep patterns being a lot better. I used to struggle to get off nights back onto normal ours during rest days, since cycling I manage this much, much more easily.

 

[thefollen]

I do two earlies,two lates, two nights, four rests days. Then repeat.

Earlies: 0700 til 01600 (or until 1700 on fri/sat/sun)
Lates: 1500 til 0000 (or 1700 til 0300 on fri/sat)
Nights: 2200 til 0700

I commute every day - I have no car anymore so have no choice. To be honest though, I love it. The ONLY time I occassionally think ’This is going to be hard' is after the first night shift, when all you want to do is get home and sleep. Even though I think that though, I find once I'm on the bike its easy... well, at least no harder than normal!

I also have noticed massive differences in my sleep patterns being a lot better. I used to struggle to get off nights back onto normal ours during rest days, since cycling I manage this much, much more easily.

Completely off topic *apologies*, but do you cycle solely for the commute or as part of the job? Have seen a few police bikes around. What are they like? Must say I'm not sure how they'd fare if chasing a roadie, but looks as though they can go off the beaten track if necessary. In congested Central London they might catch a road bike (assuming equal fitness in both parties for the sake of argument). Have there been any epic chases you've heard about from colleagues? Did spot a cycle officer writing up a lady on a shopper the other week!

 

[CopperCyclist]

Not a cycle officer at work, I cycle just for commute and pleasure. I find it highly amusing that even if I wanted to ride a bike at work, I wouldn't be allowed having not been sufficiently 'trained'!

All the police bikes at my nick are hybrids. Without actually inspecting them, they look to me like either steel or alu frames, 700cc wheels but with slick 35mm tyres, and full panniers. I think they are front sus, but wouldn't swear to it. One of my colleagues who is a cycle officer (and loves it) says they are extraordinarily heavy, especially with all the paperwork in the panniers, stabby and equipment on your belt, and they are really for getting from A to B whilst being visible rather than 'bike v bike' pursuits

You've piqued my interest now though - next time I see one at work I'm going to take a closer work and see if I can spot what it was before it was painted black and had 'police' written over the frame!

 

[Vikeonabike]

I do two earlies,two lates, two nights, four rests days. Then repeat.

Earlies: 0700 til 01600 (or until 1700 on fri/sat/sun)
Lates: 1500 til 0000 (or 1700 til 0300 on fri/sat)
Nights: 2200 til 0700

I commute every day - I have no car anymore so have no choice. To be honest though, I love it. The ONLY time I occassionally think ’This is going to be hard' is after the first night shift, when all you want to do is get home and sleep. Even though I think that though, I find once I'm on the bike its easy... well, at least no harder than normal!

I also have noticed massive differences in my sleep patterns being a lot better. I used to struggle to get off nights back onto normal ours during rest days, since cycling I manage this much, much more easily.

CC that is good news, it was the first night shift that bothered me most.

 

[Vikeonabike]

Completely off topic *apologies*, but do you cycle solely for the commute or as part of the job? Have seen a few police bikes around. What are they like? Must say I'm not sure how they'd fare if chasing a roadie, but looks as though they can go off the beaten track if necessary. In congested Central London they might catch a road bike (assuming equal fitness in both parties for the sake of argument). Have there been any epic chases you've heard about from colleagues? Did spot a cycle officer writing up a lady on a shopper the other week!

I cycle at work as part of a small Neighbourhood team. We just get given a bike. No training needed ? (or cycling kit bar a helmet and jacket if we can get the chief inspector to authorise it). I've chased and caught a few cyclist. Mostly on BMX and MTBs.. Scrotes don't tend to ride road bikes. Chasing cars is fun. So is beating car based colleages to jobs from further away. Or over taking them on the road in traffic on the way to a job..
All our bikes are very old very heavy very crap CB Rocks!

 

[MrGrumpy]

Of course I should of asked how far is the commute? On the serious side, if you have family commitments bare that in mind if your doing big commutes every day and extending your working day by 2hrs!! I did a 30 mile round trip commute and its hard especially when working rotational shifts.

 

[Vikeonabike]

Of course I should of asked how far is the commute? On the serious side, if you have family commitments bare that in mind if your doing big commutes every day and extending your working day by 2hrs!! I did a 30 mile round trip commute and its hard especially when working rotational shifts.

It will be 17 miles each way. Just over an hour depending on weather etc.

 

[G-Zero]

In April I return to 24/7 shift work.. Added to a slight increse in my mileage. Anybody have any experience of dealing with working shifts (esp nights and commuting). Day shifts start at 6 so i have to leave home at 0430

Just December, I returned to a 24/7 variable shift pattern, which after 2.5 years of "8 till 4s, with every weekend off" was a bit of a shock to the system.

We're running an hour later than your earlies and nights start times though, so I find myself on the road at 0530, which is a bit more civilised than your 0430.

Lates are 1400 - 0000, or 1600 - 0200 (to cover busy weekend periods) and it's getting home and showered at 0300 which is most problematic for me, trying not to disturb my wife and kids.

The commute is 10.5 miles each way and pretty much like CC says, once you're on the bike and in the fresh air, the tiredness soon disappears.