Do you wish your commute to work is further?

[mvly]

Anyone here wish their ride to work is further?

I am conflicted in a sense. On one side, I would like my commute to be further distance because I can enjoy the ride more. I can take alternative routes to keep it from being boring. I get to be on the bike and pass traffic with a grin. But then it would mean I need to charge at home or larger capacity battery and this mean more money, wear and tear, and of course longer traffic exposure time. And by exposure time, I mean more time with cars which hypothetically can increase your chances of getting hit.

What are your thoughts and do you wish your ride is longer?

 

[Willow]

Hell yeah. On my cruiser I ride 30km to work, and if I get here early enough I'll ride the 3km up to the bike racing circuit (criterium track) for a few hot laps. Back to work and charge in the bike shed, then hit the road again at lunch, few more hot laps on the bike track and then a tour of the rivers edge... back to work, charge again, and ride home when the day is done. end up doing about 80km for the day.

 

[biohazardman]

I am grateful to have a short ride to werq. If I want more I can ride the bike paths or safe roads rather than be on the city streets out of necessity. A short commute makes for a shorter werq day and more time to do the things I want rather than have to do. ;^)

 

[melodious]

I make my commute longer by taking longer alternative routes. My trip to work never becomes the same route. And when the sun finally shows itself to me it will be just that more fun as I can extend my alternatives further.

 

[veloman]

I do.
It's about 4 miles right now. 8-10 would be nice. More miles makes the ebike more economical. I have plenty of battery and can charge.

 

[cal3thousand]

Mine is actually too long for a commute. I would rather have a 5 mile commute compared to my 13 miles.

That way, I could carry much less battery and if I wanted to ride more, just go out and do it. Too much concentration and fearing for my life during a commute.

I guess I wouldn't mind the distance if half of it weren't mixed with cars and I had a full path to blast on.

 

[mvly]

well to elaborate on my commute, it is 22.5 miles one way. So I do 45 miles each day. I use 1.5 hours of the day riding round trip (45 minutes average each way). Some of it mixed with cars. But for the most part, it's pretty nice with few to no cars. Moreover, I go fast enough to take the whole lane without pissing off a lot of drivers. There are alternative routes I can take, but the alternative routes will make it much more dangerous and much longer. Alternative route is somewhere around 28 miles one way with a lot more lights.

Because of the sheer distance, I have to charge about 1 hour at 500W at home just so I can make it back the next day. I would enjoy the ride more if I had a battery that can let me do round trip without charging at home!

Also I do notice, much more wear on my tires than when I was only doing 16 miles a day.

Some days I do think my commute is too long. Wish I can do the 22.5 miles in 30 minutes. Then it would be the same as using my car.

 

[dogman dan]

I thought my 15 mile commute was just right. But I admit, on a beautiful summer morning, I sometimes took the long way. I had a nice route, with about 1/3 on a good bike trail, 1/3 on a wide bike lane, and the rest taking back streets avoiding busy streets.

I found that I could not get my main health benefit from the ebike ride in less than 8-10 miles. It took that long, 30 min or so to get the snot running to clear my constant sinus infections. The 50 min ride home cleared all the dirt I got up my nose doing construction work. Often I left work tired out, and when I got home felt great, because I could breathe better after the ride.

 

[Kingfish]

In a word: Yes!

The first time I reacted upon that wish was after the epic ride to California and back in 2011: Following the trip I took a job in Seattle which equated to roughly a 50-mile round trip, 70 minutes each way. Mind you – at that time I had lived and worked in and around Redmond for 17 years, and never Never NEVER ever considered taking a job in Seattle cos the commute by car was too steep a price time-wise to afford, let alone having to pay for parking et al.

But in September that year, it’s exactly what I did so I could test the ebike in a real-life commuting situation riding 2 months in the rain before the first hub motor gave out to rust. With the bike health compromised, switched jobs to Kirkland cutting - down to about ½ before the second motor rusted away.

So much for the long commute experience; it was 7 months before I got the ebike roadworthy again.

The latest gig has me flying to far and distant lands, but when home I also need to visit several buildings around greater Eastside: Sometimes I work close enough to walk; hardly enough time to get warmed up before I have to dismount; < 10 minute commute. The next closest building is not much better at 16 minutes. Really – a person should have about ½ hour of good exercise, you know – break a sweat to make it worth it. Otherwise the workout is like a short sprint.

So yes, I agree; I’d love to ride farther if for nothing else but to have a descent workout, to build a thirst, and quench it with a liter of stone cold frothy pilsner!

<~slurp aah!>
One more please! KF 8)

 

[LockH]

Ummm... The best "commute" to work I've had was down two floors, from my room by the back stairwell to the Club Managers office in the basement. During staff working hours, there was always an urn of fresh coffee on the way down past the kitchen. But another time I was also hooked up to the computer in the house, while I lived/worked in the back "shed" (on the back deck, beside the big hot tub). Sometimes I did have to take pubic (sp?) transport (ferry boats plus electric subways). But I'm guessing that's not the sort of "commute" this thread is about? Sorry! :lol:
L

 

[amberwolf]

I would actually prefer mine to be shorter, but not because I don't enjoy the ride--instead because it would leave me more time for other things, including simply riding for the sake of it.


Commuting means I must be at a specific place at a specific time, and must travel there during whatever traffic or weather conditions exist at that time, whether they are fun or not, and no delays to stop to talk with people that like the bike or are curious, or just to slow down or stop and watch the scenery or whatever.

Commuting also means that regardless of how I feel or if the bike is working, I still have to ride that time/distance to get to work or to go home. Usually it also means that I have to go home at/by a certain time as well, to get ready for bed to get rest enough to go back and do it all over again teh next day.

As example: Normally, from my house, it's about 2.5 miles, and less than 20 minutes even in bad traffic, for one-way commute to work or home from work. Maybe 30-40 minutes worst case total commute time each day, about 5 miles (but with lots and lots of complete stops and starts; a dozen each way at least).

After the housefire, living at the only "close" apartment I could find that would allow Tiny and was affordable and not a hellhole, that turned into 10 miles each way, at least an hour's worth of time, for at least two hours wasted out of each day just getting from one place to another, 20 miles total. And after that, not wanting to ride at all sometimes for days, if I'd had a choice, depending on road conditions and traffic and weather, but not having a choice and having to just keep doing it anyway.



Riding for the sake of it can be done at any time, under any conditions I choose, for as long as I feel like it, at whatever speed I feel like (within safety and/or the law), with as many or as few stops as I like, etc.

And if I decide I don't feel like riding any further, I just turn around and go home if I want to. Or if i don't want to go home yet, I keep riding. (assuming I don't have to go home to get rest for work the next day).

Riding 20 miles, even 50 miles, in a day, just for the sake of it, or even doing shopping or freecycle pickup rounds, where time is not a factor, nor is route or destination (within limits), is a lot of fun...because I don't *have* to.

But commuting that same distance, especially before or after having to work 8-9 hours at a time, well, that's not much fun most of the time.



So...no, I don't want a longer commute, either in time or in distance. That's yucky.


But riding longer just for it's own sake, sure!

 

[The fingers]

A longer commute due to a move is what prompted me to go electric in the first place. Still pretty short by LA averages. People waste a lot of time around here sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. No wonder they go berserk.

 

[heavymetalthunder]

My commute is almost 11 miles and for me is a bit long as I have no bike trails so I am on the road with cars and trucks. Luckily there isn't much traffic so cruising at 25 to 30 MPH is no problem. Because I leave when it is dark, the real danger is other bicyclist that ride with no lights at all.

 

[melodious]

I take this subject a step further. I actually choose longer destinations for knick knack shopping stuff. Today, rode 30 miles round trip for $3 worth of cough drops. Common sense tells me that a walk to the corner drugstore would have saved me more time. But where's the fun in that?

 

[r3volved]

I have a few routes I can take to do anywhere from 20min+.
I just want summer back so I CAN bike and skateboard to work again. The home trip in the afternoon wouldn't be bad, but everything is so icy in the morning. All the trails are buried in snow and slush and impassible on my current setup.
SUMMER! :'(

 

[lbz5mc12]

If I had a job yes definitely. Right now I ride almost everyday of the week. I'm not sure of the mileage; I need to get a little cheapy bike computer. Most of my rides consist of about 60% street and 40% off road. I live not too far from Cal State San Bernardino and I ride up behind the University in the hills. There's a lot of good off road riding out there. I tend to ride my bike like a regular bike and save my batteries for when I get to the dirt and my return trip. I've got a front hub kit at 48V and a rear Currie kit at 36V so my top speed is between 30-35 mph. My bike is a climbing beast and it feels like a low speed dirt bike with crappy suspension when I'm off road. Thumb throttle on the left and a half twist on the right.