Absolutely - usually a bad day on the bike is better than a good day in the car
Its amazing how easy the bad times on a cycle commute are quickly forgotten about.
Mixed car & bike commute from Sussex
- Thread starter Pgd
- Start date
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Its amazing how easy the bad times on a cycle commute are quickly forgotten about.
OP
OP
Pgd
Veteran
- Location
- East Grinstead
Thanks everyone! I feel like maybe I've been unclear and it sounds more impressive than it really is, but I'll take it 
. But yeah -- even though it's mixed-mode, at rush hour, it's predictably ~1hr drive, ~1hr cycle/showering/etc. So far...
So just to clarify, as in my OP, it's a mixed-mode car & cycle commute over 30 miles, once a week. I only currently cycle 11 miles each way, so over that distance weather isn't really a problem. But there's always the train if I really don't fancy it. But like I say, I do fancy giving the full 30 miles a go in the summer!
Return train ticket ~£30. Don't know how accurate those online cost-of-motoring calculators are, but they reckon < £10. So a good saving. (Plus cost of bike consumables, of course; but I'd be cycling for leisure anyway, so I don't really count that)
So after a bit of experimentation I've settled on a parking spot that takes ~55mins to drive to, and from which it's an 11 mile / 50 min cycle. To be honest, my comment about the surprising consistency of travel time was in relation to the driving part -- I'm well aware of the general awesomeness of cycle commuting
. But yeah -- even though it's mixed-mode, at rush hour, it's predictably ~1hr drive, ~1hr cycle/showering/etc. So far...
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Absolutely - usually a bad day on the bike is better than a good day in the car
Oh yes.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
PS I did realise you were multi-modal. But saving £10 a day is a heck of a motivator.
Absolutely; I think possibly because the underpinning reasons are very different..
Assuming I don't get crushed under a bus, a bad day on the bike will be because of weather / punctures / fatigue. All of which are natural, unavoidable things that happen and just have to be endured / dealt with.
A bad day on the car however it seems could be largely avoidable and in many ways can be blamed entirely on people - myself included when I'm stuck in traffic contributing to the problem.
Problems on the bike are irritating but as you say quickly forgotten. Problems in the car elicit immediate feeling of rage, guilt for being part of it and later sadness that this is the default state of the world we're all forced to endure.. when it could be so much better if people weren't such unthinking, selfish, subserviant, consumptive scumbags.
I'd 100% reached the end of my tether by the time I started on the bike and tbh the car journey was horrific enough in the summer; I don't think I'd have made it through the winter under the same circumstances.
All uphill
Still rolling along
- Location
- Somerset
Thinking aloud, OP, I wonder if train and folding bike would be another option?
That might offer some benefits in terms of avoiding car use and parking completely.
That might offer some benefits in terms of avoiding car use and parking completely.
I'd suggest the car still trumps the train on convenience / cost / reliability / time unless traffic is a significant problem..
