Do you find yourself going as fast as you can when you commute or are you more relaxed?
- Thread starter Bimble
- Start date
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I only get up an hour earlier to do a similar commute ? A lot depends on how fast you cycle. But if you have been doing 29 miles a day cycling for a while you ain't bimbling along
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
KneesUp
Guru
When I was much younger I used to have a five mile flat run into Manchester city centre as the commute to my summer job at the University. There were bike racks outside the front door of the building I worked in. I could do my parent's drive to clocking in, including locking the bike, in under 25 minutes - there were about a dozen sets of traffic lights though so I never cracked a 20mph average speed though, and it still annoys me (I did 19.8) It was a hot summer. I would not have liked to have been sat at the next desk to me.
Nowadays - perhaps mindful of how it felt to be sat at work whilst sweat poured down ones calves and pooled in ones Doc Marten boots - I tend to take things at a much more sedate pace.
captain nemo1701
Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
- Location
- Bristol
I just pootle, it's a commute not a race. Mind you, try telling that to some of the blokes on road bikes trying to break the speed of light on the Bristol Railway Path each morning
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sleuthey
Legendary Member
- Location
- South Gloucestershire
Being on Flexi-time, having to stop every few hundred yards for traffic lights in the Bristol suburbs and the requirement to recover from 4 spin classes per week offers no incentive to push myself on my commute. I thus pootle too.
Use the lights as interval sessions and save the cash spent on those 4 spin classes
. Have to say I have calmed right down in the past year now, every commute was a record breaker/KOM hunter etc. Now I could not give a stuff and save my legs for running at night !
Threevok
Growing old disgracefully
- Location
- South Wales
Had a guy pass me on a CX bike this morning. I made no effort to catch him - but 3 miles down the road, I passed him anyway, blowing out his a****
Julia9054
Guru
- Location
- Knaresborough
Depends how late i am. Or how much marking is in my saddle bags.
5 miles practically all uphill in the morning and downhill after work - the right way round! 10 minutes time difference!
5 miles practically all uphill in the morning and downhill after work - the right way round! 10 minutes time difference!
BrumJim
Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
- Location
- Selly Oak, Birmingham
For a short while I deliberately used to leave the house sufficiently late for it to be a real struggle for me to make it to the station in time. Needed to check the wind direction when I got up, though.
Generally, though, after the first three to four years of commuting, I finally calmed down to the point where I was no longer doing every commute at full pace. Doing longer Sportives/Audaxes used to give me a temporary reprieve - 6 miles at flat out pace didn't seem like worthwhile a challenge after a 100 mile effort a few days earlier. Then a slower, heavier bike dissuaded me to start with, then a bunch of Strava PBs achieved with fierce tailwinds put them out of reach in normal cycling conditions. On the other hand, I might have grown up a little.
Generally, though, after the first three to four years of commuting, I finally calmed down to the point where I was no longer doing every commute at full pace. Doing longer Sportives/Audaxes used to give me a temporary reprieve - 6 miles at flat out pace didn't seem like worthwhile a challenge after a 100 mile effort a few days earlier. Then a slower, heavier bike dissuaded me to start with, then a bunch of Strava PBs achieved with fierce tailwinds put them out of reach in normal cycling conditions. On the other hand, I might have grown up a little.
Slick
Guru
I haven't read all the comments, so I suppose I could be just reiterating what's already been said, but without really knowing why, I seem to go pretty full tilt on a commute. The only really time I try and pace myself is when there's a headwind, which has been everyday this past while. My 3 commutes are just short of 90 miles but as there's so much else to do at this time of year, I'm not getting many weekend miles in the way I used to, so I may well just subconsciously making the most of the short time I have on the bike.
I try to go briskly, but not full pelt. If I try to go all out, I would end up at some point too tired to commute by bike and have to take the car. It would also leave me semi-permanently flaked out, which will adversely affect other areas of my life. Completely irrational to go through that just to save a few minutes on 40. If timing is going to be tight between getting home from work and evening activities, I will drive, since it is less than half the time. I can't go at full pelt for safety reasons anyway, there are several downhill stretches on narrow/single track roads with blind bends, where going hell for leather risks ending up as someones bonnet ornament or my head up a horses arse. If I want to cycle fast I will go out with one of the sporting groups on a Sunday morning with the local cycling club.
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GrahamS
Well-Known Member
My favourite thing in the world is when you are going at your normal pace, you overtake someone, then they sprint past you, get 20 meters in front and then run out of puff.
You'd never know it's my favourite thing though, my face remains impassive, my position on the bike stays the same. A keen observer might notice I have worked my way up through a couple of years, I am maybe squeezing out a bit more power and behind the sunnies there is a glint in my eye.
You'd never know it's my favourite thing though, my face remains impassive, my position on the bike stays the same. A keen observer might notice I have worked my way up through a couple of years, I am maybe squeezing out a bit more power and behind the sunnies there is a glint in my eye.
