First commute

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Norm

Guest
Quick bit of background, I re-discovered cycling in June last year when I went to get my son an MTB and ended up with one of my own. In October, I picked up a Specialized Secteur to keep it company in the garage, as I enjoy being a roadie as well as hitting the dirt.

My last job was around 22 miles from home, and the office was in the Chilterns so there was over 1,000 feet of climbing on the way in, and nearly 800 feet on the way home, so it took me a while to build up the courage to tackle the first commute. When I did finally get round to riding to work in early February this year, I was made redundant just a few days later - and no, I don't think the two were linked. :biggrin:

I (eventually) started another job last week, this time the office is about 9 miles away but it's pretty much riding along the Thames, with only 150 feet of climbing on the way there, so I've started off as I mean to continue and I've already done the cycle commute thing. And I've got to say it was great fun and it was also surprisingly fast - for a 46 year old, overweight etc etc My average speed on the way in was over 16mph door to door, and the average on the way home was 17.6mph. Given that the average in a car is only about 23/24mph, I'm only taking 5 or 6 minutes longer on the bike than I would do in the car.

The downside, of course, is that I'm acting FD at the moment and I am looking to get the permanent position, so I need to be suited and booted rather than sweating and dribbling, but I'm sure I can get around that one with a bit more practice.
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
Good stuff norm,was wondering if you got the job.Good average too for a fat bloke;)
 

peteoc

Active Member
Location
Manchester
How did you do 1,000ft up and only 800ft down? Do you live in a caravan and your mrs drives that little bit closer to work? :biggrin:

But saying that, well done on the avg speed.....I see you're supposedly a fat bloke *me points at potsy*........I manage 16mph on my ride in and I dont think I go up that far..........or maybe I do? :smile:
 

jonny jeez

Legendary Member
Acting FD. Sounds like a new shower and changing room facility need to be on the acquisition list for the new financial year!!

perhaps a private one adjacent to your new office??:biggrin:
 
OP
OP
N

Norm

Guest
2Loose said:
Congrats Norm, hope it works out for you :biggrin:
Cheers, looking good so far. :becool:

jonny jeez said:
Acting FD. Sounds like a new shower and changing room facility need to be on the acquisition list for the new financial year!!

perhaps a private one adjacent to your new office??:angry:
Well, there is one in the building but we share the office with another company and the shower is in the disabled loo. It was put to good use yesterday morning, though. :thumbsup:

peteoc said:
How did you do 1,000ft up and only 800ft down? Do you live in a caravan and your mrs drives that little bit closer to work? :biggrin:
The office was about 200ft above home, so the route in had 1000ft of climbing and 800ft of descents. The route home was the other way round, overall dropping 200 feet but still with 800ft of climbing. :smile: I might not have made that clear in my OP though. :biggrin:

The bastid was the number of roads which run along the bottom of the valleys that I crossed. They made it a nightmare going down as there would be a junction at the bottom, then a nightmare climbing out the other side without any momentum.

I bloody hate hills, I do.

peteoc said:
But saying that, well done on the avg speed.....I see you're supposedly a fat bloke *me points at potsy*........I manage 16mph on my ride in and I dont think I go up that far..........or maybe I do? :smile:
Nothing supposedly about me being a fat bloke. I have a mirror which agrees with me. :smile:
 
OP
OP
N

Norm

Guest
Hmm... this commuting thing is a conundrum, isn't it.

On the way in today, I was trying to take it slowly but still did it in 33 minutes. I felt fine when I got there, I was a little sweaty but it had been a lovely ride on a beautiful morning for riding.

This evening, I did everything I could to get my time down, worked my ass off and did it in 29 minutes dead.

Is that it? The difference between a relaxed amble and a charge only gives a time saving of around 10%? The difference between walking into the office and staggering into the house is just 4 minutes. It took me longer than that to make it up the garden path.

As an aside, I've lost over 5kg in 3 weeks. :thumbsup:
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
I always seem to have good intentions of taking it easy on the way in to work, but for one silly reason or other it always ends up with me pushing hard....

well done on the weight loss Norm. Nice one mate.


Hmm... this commuting thing is a conundrum, isn't it.

On the way in today, I was trying to take it slowly but still did it in 33 minutes. I felt fine when I got there, I was a little sweaty but it had been a lovely ride on a beautiful morning for riding.

This evening, I did everything I could to get my time down, worked my ass off and did it in 29 minutes dead.

Is that it? The difference between a relaxed amble and a charge only gives a time saving of around 10%? The difference between walking into the office and staggering into the house is just 4 minutes. It took me longer than that to make it up the garden path.

As an aside, I've lost over 5kg in 3 weeks. :thumbsup:
 

potsy

Rambler
Location
My Armchair
I've found that 5kg you lost norm,I'm currently carrying it round with me
laugh.gif
Let me know when you want it back.
Well done pal.
 
OP
OP
N

Norm

Guest
I always seem to have good intentions of taking it easy on the way in to work, but for one silly reason or other it always ends up with me pushing hard....
Yeah, I know how that works. :biggrin: My route seems to be against the flow of most of the cycling commuters but there's a few villages with narrow roads and bus routes, and I will always try to outrun the bus rather than pulling over to let it through.

well done on the weight loss Norm. Nice one mate.
Thanks.

It was a bit of a shock as I haven't changed anything beyond the cycle commuting, and I don't think that's had much effect as it just replaced the 25-30 mile run I was doing most days when I was "at leisure".

I've found that 5kg you lost norm,I'm currently carrying it round with me
laugh.gif
Let me know when you want it back.
Well done pal.
Cheers, potsy, I'm good with you looking after it for a bit. I've had it for about 30 years, now, it's someone else's turn. :biggrin:
 
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