24/7 Commuting

[G-Zero]

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

That's a considerable mileage and it's the time a much as anything else that will eat into your family life.

I'm hoping to return to driving next month, but the downside is that my new office is 24 miles from home and as much as I would love to cycle it every day, the time required at each end of my shift, with a safety (puncture) and shower margin built in, will certainly impact on my family life.

 

[Dave W]

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.

Exactly the same pattern for me but I only have a 6 mile round trip which I sometimes extend to 9.

I also flogged my car and though I could take the wife's on nights I still prefer to cycle. Earlies are always amusing when the rest of the shift are still half asleep and I'm firing on all cylinders.

I used to cycle at work when I was on a neighbourhood team and had to complete a 2 day course. They used to use rincon's but have now swapped to some horrible cheap behemoth's that weigh tonnes. Great way of policing, no one ever heard you coming and if they nipped in to an alley they were yours for the taking.

 

[MrGrumpy]

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

I would have a back up plan tbh, thats a fair distance.

 

[Vikeonabike]

I would have a back up plan tbh, thats a fair distance.

Got one of those
"Ello Sarge, it's me. I don't feel very well. Won't be in to work to day"

Earlies are always amusing when the rest of the shift are still half asleep and I'm firing on all cylinders.
quote]
Funnily enough, we had that conversation in the office, prompted by a memory of me riding in when it was -8. Covered in frost and buzzing around the office like I'd just drunk a pint of Espresso. Watching colleagues trying to wake up first thing, it worries me that they actually drove in to work in that state.

 

[Ashtrayhead]

I used to do 12 hr shifts starting at 06:00 for the days and 18:00 for the nights. I would get up at 03:50 so I could have some tea and toast (and a couple of fags) and leave the house at 04:30. I had a 10 mile journey and it was good at that time of day not having the traffic to contend with, but some of the drivers that were about seemed to be a bit dozy, and I had an occassional scare from buses rushing to the depot. Coming home off nights was the best part, I used to see some spectacular sunrises! But make sure you check the weather forecasts, as I got caught out one April morning by a snowstorm and the snow had formed into a block of ice on my cap by the time I'd got home!

 

[MrGrumpy]

must admit thats the best bit about commuting early hours or late at night, the wild life thats kicking about Remember a fox running along in front of me one night and frequently come spring I see the deer in the fields but then IMO my commute is super, coming over the Forth Road bridge every day! Cracking views.

 

[BentMikey]

...and the badgers. I get to see one every few weeks or months out here. Unfortunately sometimes they are run over dead ones, rather than the joy of one scampering across the road.

 

[Gez73]

Hello my only advice and gripe with very early morning cycling is that in the Winter you see quite a few drivers caught out by frost and ice who only bother to scrape the tiniest square on their windscreen and don't do the side windows at all. This tiny delay appears to make them drive even more recklessly and they present a real hazard to cyclists. You'll be wide awake when you get to work and will need to be even more so on the way there! Roads a lot better and quieter though so that's a plus.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

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

Yes, you are soooooo right!
Late night finish/early start on a Sunday are my favorite shifts, I spot a lot of wildlife along the Clyde and the Glasgow Green, animal and human both

 

[Vikeonabike]

I tend to love the early morning commutes going into work. It's the early morning commutes coming home from work that I'm not looking forward too. I agree with Mr Grumpy, the wildlife makes it extra speacial. Herons, Barn Owls, Foxes, Badgers, Muntjac, Buzzards are all regularly seen during my ride. On a clear night/morning the sky is fantastic, espeacially out here in Big Sky Lincolnshire.Very little light pollution on most of my trip.