40 mile commute...

[patheticshark]

Couple of very nice looking bikes there PS, the Denti looks especially lovely !

Good luck with the commute, i do 13 miles each day 5 days a week, but i'm a 42 year old ex-smoker. With plenty of food and sleep i reckon you'll be ok.

Thanks. The Denti was a bit of an extravagance (I've upgraded the headset now too to a matching blue Chris King...), so it's about time I started doing some proper miles on it.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

Couple of very nice looking bikes there PS, the Denti looks especially lovely !

Yes, very nice indeed. I love the neon pink rims.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

good luck. i'm 40 and starting my 23 mile there 23 mile back commute to uni in march (looking forward to both the career change and the self enforced mileage). i agree with your comments on your blog, 40 miles one way is much better than 20 miles each way, you won't have the problem of trying to either carry 2 sets of dry clothes (1 for work, 1 for return commute) etc and your body will have a full 24 hrs to recover. just one recommendation tho....mudguards make sense in winter

 

[Rhythm Thief]

oh and I'm a girl. not that it makes any difference, it's just a bit weird being referred to as 'he' all the time...

Sorry.

 

[patheticshark]

good luck. i'm 40 and starting my 23 mile there 23 mile back commute to uni in march (looking forward to both the career change and the self enforced mileage). i agree with your comments on your blog, 40 miles one way is much better than 20 miles each way, you won't have the problem of trying to either carry 2 sets of dry clothes (1 for work, 1 for return commute) etc and your body will have a full 24 hrs to recover. just one recommendation tho....mudguards make sense in winter

Heh, yep. I'll be race blade equipped.

I'm also trying to convince myself that it justifies my spending £200 on a pair of Sidi Diablos (the gore-tex boots)...

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

well i spent £100 on a pair of shimano winter boots a 3 or 4 years ago and don't regret it, they are great for winter / rain. with that sort of mileage, why not indulge?? then you'd have to get matching assos as well tho...it's only fair

 

[ttcycle]

Heh, yep. I'll be race blade equipped.

I'm also trying to convince myself that it justifies my spending £200 on a pair of Sidi Diablos (the gore-tex boots)...

I get it now PS! You're as mad as me...you'll save the money on the rail fares only to spend it on cycling gear!

 

[HelenD123]

I get it now PS! You're as mad as me...you'll save the money on the rail fares only to spend it on cycling gear!

Don't we all do that? Save on the train/bus/petrol but splurge on cycling gear.

 

[jonny jeez]

Don't we all do that? Save on the train/bus/petrol but splurge on cycling gear.

Ah, but you see....we dont HAVE to, we WANT to. passing my cash to TFL/national rail/BP or spend it on me and chitty....hmm, let me think

 

[Greenbank]

I've done that route a couple of times visiting family who lived in Guildford. 71" fixed worked perfectly well.

The A24 isn't a fantastic road for commuting along but that's a good thing as it just means there's nothing spectacularly wrong with it. It's good after Merton though, nice and wide.

The one major grimp will be the other side of Leatherhead. Go through the town and you've got Hawk's Hill to contend with, or use the bypass and it's a desolate slow climb back up to Fetchham once you go over the A24.

I do like the rolling A246, perfect road for fixed riding.

 

[magnatom]

...and to think I am wondering how I will cope with an change in my commute from 10 miles a day to 20 miles.

Good luck with the commute.

 

[J4CKO]

...and to think I am wondering how I will cope with an change in my commute from 10 miles a day to 20 miles.

Good luck with the commute.

Not sure how you will cope, suspect you will be fine but I beleive that Youtube have just ordered another few Terrabytes of disk space in anticipation.

 

[patheticshark]

The one major grimp will be the other side of Leatherhead. Go through the town and you've got Hawk's Hill to contend with, or use the bypass and it's a desolate slow climb back up to Fetchham once you go over the A24.

I do like the rolling A246, perfect road for fixed riding.

I did the bypass when I tested it, it was a bit tedious. Do you think Hawk's Hill is preferable?

 

[fay144]

Just wanted to say good luck. That is seriously impressive. I've not cycled a 40-miler at all yet, can't imagine doing that every day!

I *have* got up at 5.30 on a regular basis (though not daily!) to do 2-3 hours of running en-route to work though, which I imagine will be similar from a fuelling point of view. I've found I can run for 2 hours (~12 miles) on an empty stomach, but any more than that, and I need something to keep me going. I hate running after eating, so I take a bottle of sports drink, then have porridge at my desk when I get to work. I find sports drinks to be fantastic first thing.

I'm not really sure how applicable running advice is to cycling - but I'd suggest that rather than aiming to get as close to 2 hours as poss every day, you mix up your speed. So stick to a decent speed mon, wed, and fri, for example, and then take it really easy on tuesday and thursday, even if it means getting up half an hour earlier.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on!

 

[upsidedown]

Not sure how you will cope, suspect you will be fine but I beleive that Youtube have just ordered another few Terrabytes of disk space in anticipation.