manual work and comuting

[crossy]

Hi everyone I'm thinking of commuting to work. I need to start work at 6am work 10hrs finish work 4.30pm. The thing thats worrying me at the moment is I'm on feet doing manual work for the ten hours. Oh I forgot the commute will be 11.5m am along a fast main road as it will be quiet. 16m home not so busy route. Does anybody else do this kind of thing.

 

[cyberknight]

Certainly Do able

I cycle 10 miles each way and then spend a shift in a weld shop loading+ delivering parts onto mini trailers that come in boxes and having to manually decant metal parts onto bespoke dollys .

All depends how physically heavy your job is , 16 mile home might be a killer if you are tired at the end of shift, break times as well so you can get some energy in at the right time for your run home.If we get a breakdown and get 2 hours overtime called i need to make sure i will have enough omph in the tank to get home.

If in doubt try it alternate days ... and you will be going to bed early to get up for what 4 ish? to allow time for the ride/changing/breakfast etc .

 

[biggs682]

i spend most of my working day sat in front of pc answering calls , so my commute does wonders for me and actually wakes me up at lunch times ready for afternoon slog

 

[DJ]

Go for it, I do 15 miles a day and a twelve hour shift. Most of the time it is manual labour and then 2 to 3 hours sitting on my rear in the office. Ye can never get enough exercise. And anyway the manual labour is not very cardiovascular so the cycling works different muscles

 

[threefingerjoe]

Funny thing, that. I also do manual labour, outdoors, on crushed limestone. Work in the substations dept. of the local power company. I find, that even when I'm dead on my feet, and can barely walk, I can still ride the bike. Once, I rode home after a normal 8-hour day, was home for 2 hours, and got called back in for an emergency power outage, so I rode back in to work. We did HEAVY work, all night, putting in a mobile transformer, dragging around heavy cables, etc. Got off work 14 hours later. By that point, all of us were dead on our feet, and I still had to ride home. Amazingly, I got on the bike, and had no problems riding. HOWEVER, once I got off the bike in front of my garage, I thought I was going to have to CRAWL to the house! LOL

 

[Twenty Inch]

I've done similar, but I did used to drive in once or twice a week. Give it a go, you'll soon know.

 

[crossy]

I work Mon to Thur so I think I'll try it on a Thu to see how I get on thanks for your replies.

 

[Arch]

Mine's not quite on your scale - 7 hours of physical work, with a mile and a half at each end, but I rarely have trouble with riding home - only when it was very slushy and icy recently did I walk part of it pushing the bike, more down to the road conditions than my tiredness. Cycling's a different kind of exercise (even though some of my work involves cycling a trike) so while my arms and back are tired, my legs are ok, and I think it's a good way to stretch a few muscles after work.

Do it everyso often, as others have suggested, and see how you feel - don't commit utterly, or all you'll think about all the way home is how you have to do it again in the morning...

Can you use public transport both ways? If you have somewhere secure to leave the bike overnight, you could always ride in, bus home, bus in next day, ride home, etc...

 

[BentMikey]

Doing a big commute and also physical work is pretty tough at times, at least for me.

 

[Origamist]

I did three months labouring in my spotty youth and I'd ride 5 miles to and from the site. At first, I struggled, particularly in the mornings - feeling achey etc (I expected to feel worse coming home after 9 hours of work) but after a month or so, I became accustomed to it. That said, I would only cycle at recovery pace and I'd eat and drink like a horse and would also do 60 or 70 milers at the w/e with only one rest day.

 

[crossy]

Cycled in today as only working 5 hrs 12.7 miles to work taking my time. Was on way home but got side tracked with the good weatherand some chores I had to do. 32.2 miles in total by the time I got home. Home was along off road Sustrans route for 7 miles so might need to put of the long days until I get more light in the evening.

 

[longers]

I've been thinking about this, as winter and a fair amount of work has left me a bit knackered.
I've turned down a lot of offers of rides recently and am not too happy about that, I'm very happy I'm still employed though and I've done my prospects no harm but it will be for more of the same until retirement unless I make a change.

Crap public transport has got worse since I moved here and the three people I could easily get lifts with no longer work there.

I was thinking about a cheap car almost semi seriously recently. It'd give me more rest to be able to do the weekend rides but would be an expensive option

 

[longers]

MTFU or HTFU are not options, thanks.

STFU will be considered.

 

[P.H]

I used to work 10 hour shifts (4 a week) permanent nights and a 28 mile round trip, the work wasn't particularly heavy but it was manual and on my feet all night. I did this for five years.
I got used to the mileage after a couple of months, what was hard was the amount of time it took out of the day. Leaving home to getting back was around 13 hours, it doesn't leave much time for anything else! The job ended when the firm closed, I didn’t apply for anything else that far away. I’d say you could do it, whether you’d want to year in year out is a different thing.

 

[cyberknight]

I've turned down a lot of offers of rides recently and am not too happy about that, I'm very happy I'm still employed though and I've done my prospects no harm but it will be for more of the same until retirement unless I make a change.
Same here by the time i get to the weekend i have to much to do to have time to go out for a days ride

Crap public transport has got worse

And there is no public transport to where i work its either use a car/ bike or taxi.My wife says i should get a moped but i enjoy cycling as its the only time to myself i get ( no ones up yet )