Anyone commuting 27 miles???

[Southside Mike]

Simon

It's a tough one, I agree - disturbed sleep patterns are bad for your health, but so is being overweight. If you finish at 1:30pm, there is plenty of time for you to cycle home and still pick the kids up at 6pm - is it possible to get the bus on the way in?

If not, maybe cycling every other day would be the best option initially to see how it goes. And remember that with weight loss, exercise is only one side of the equation.

Mike

 

[synapse05]

Mike,

Again, your input is gold; At 3am, there really isn't any public transportation available. I took a drive out the our new potential home (we're in escrow) and There is good 6.5 mile distance from that address to a good freeway exit in which I can maybe drive there and cycle a straight shot to my job, cutting my cycling commute about 7 miles. Perhaps this will give me extra time to sleep, perhaps allowing me to get up at 3:15am. Or, as you mention, I can try this every other day; there are several options out there and I think exploring all of them is good to find the right fit. God knows I don't want to give up any more sleep as it is. Cycling is really to work is really the only exercise I can squeeze out of my schedule because of my personal life.That's also why I hope to snooze a good hour on the bus ride home. I've got some ideas on how I can figure something out; asking coworkers for perhaps a half ride back home with them is also a thing I will explore. Either way, I'm deeply thankful for your support and concern. I hope I can continue on getting your support. Thank you good friend.

Simon

 

[synapse05]

Looks like I can cut my cycling commute to about pretty much 20 miles. That's just 5 miles short of what I'm currently riding. Was cycling to work and got a call from the wife that my kid was burning up a fever; I had to turn back so that I can care for her. Anyhow, this was a great opportunity, under the circumstances, for me to gauge what cycling 27 miles would feel like and how long it would take me to achieve this as well because I'm now cycling a non stop round trip. Needless to say, I was pretty knackered up getting home. My legs were a little weak and I was a bit winded. It took me a little over 2 hours getting home. There were a few short stops along the way and I hit a few slopes. Overall, I think It be best for me to drive the 6.5 miles to cut my ride to 20. This, I think is a more reasonable starting point. I'll ride it out for a week or two and then see how I feel and how, if at all, there's any affect to my sleep and rest time. I can do this, I believe, still waking up at 3:10am and leaving from my start point off the highway at 3:30pm. Stay tuned.

Simon

 

[synapse05]

I've made up my mind and have chosen to follow the advice of Mike and just take it easy wh cycling to agressively for a somewhat beginner. I'll probably just drive out half way and cycle the rest. I do need my sanity to live healthy. No need for heroics.

 

[Krellon]

I commuted 80 miles in the last two days in 6 separate journies.

I ride easy in the AM every day as it takes all morning for the ticker too wake up. I rid hard too medium if I go out lunch time and then medium in the PM 1 times a week, easy two times and hard once.

I try and listen to my body and go with gut instinct never forgetting too blat it once in a while so I don't stagnate. I made the mistake of bombing everywhere when I started and I was permanently knackard with legs that never stopped hurting.

Br

 

[ianrauk]

I've made up my mind and have chosen to follow the advice of Mike and just take it easy wh cycling to agressively for a somewhat beginner. I'll probably just drive out half way and cycle the rest. I do need my sanity to live healthy. No need for heroics.

That's probably the best bet.

Have you a route profile. Be interesting to see as does look like you would have had a few hills to contend with.

 

[synapse05]

Yeah, I don't know why I get myself all worked up and stressed over what I will do to stay active in my cycling commute. I'm 40 years old; I need to be more careful how I treat my body. No need to kill myself through determination. I can still achieve my goal of weight loss just by cycling when my body feels up for the grind.

 

[fatblokish]

I know of a chap from round these parts who did a 14 month stint of commuting 2 x 60 miles, 5 days per week, in addition to his training runs. He was super fit though.

 

[synapse05]

yeah, sounds like an olympian to me. Must take lots of training and conditioning, plus youth, to be at top level.

 

[fatblokish]

yeah, sounds like an olympian to me. Must take lots of training and conditioning, plus youth, to be at top level.

This is the chap. Not quite an Olympian but certainly would be if long distance rides were an Olympic sport
http://www.rockettrides.com/?page_id=1026

 

[synapse05]

I've already figured out what to do; I'll be able to continue my current 15 mile commute by simply driving 10 miles in towards work. It just makes more sense.

 

[Jebb]

I don't mean this to come across as harsh but if you have to cycle 4 hours a day to loose weight then you need to look at your food intake not adding more cycling.

There a many reasons why people commute, your main reason seems to be to loose weight, imo the same result could be achieved without half killing yourself, taking naps through out the day which add about zero to your quality sleep hours, and reducing the time you spend with the kids.

Drive to work, go to the gym or run, cyle for anhour when back home, whichwould also mean the kidsno longer need to go toan after shool club, youcould even included them with swimming etc, thiswould alsomean more timewiththekids andmore sleep time.

I feel youmaybe loosing

 

[Jebb]

I don't mean this to come across as harsh but if you have to cycle 4 hours a day to loose weight,it's your food intake that is the problem not a lack of exercise.

There are many reasons why people commute, your main reason seems to be to loose weight, imo the same result could be achieved without half killing yourself, taking naps throughout the day, which add zero to your quality sleep hours, and reducing the time you spend with the kids.

Drive to work, go to the gym or run, cycle for an hour when back home, which would also mean the kids no longer need to go to an after school club, you could even included them with swimming etc, this would also mean more time with the kids and more sleep time, picking the kids up at 6pm and needing to go to bed before 9pm so you can cycle seems not the best use of time

I feel you may be loosing sight oft the bigger picture, as your comment Cycling is really the only exercise I can squeeze out of my schedule because of my personal life yet you were considering taking 4 hours out of your day cycling, plus time to have a nap before picking up the kids.Instead of the nap go running/cycling.

Take a look at your diet, drive to work, add an hours exercise a day, pickup the kids earlier, and get more sleep

 

[jonny jeez]

Driving a bit and riding the rest sounds like a good alternative.

That said riding 40 miles a day is easily achievable long term...trust me, although my hours are not as demanding as yours so I take that into account. If your route is mostly flat then I would say its even more attractive, However flat often means exposed, so beware any demanding headwinds, they are far worse than any hill and can ruin a ling ride home after a long day.

There is another alternative, perhaps look at riding a scooter for a few alternate trips, keeps the cost way down, allows you to get home easily and also lie in the next morning.