vol

I find myself do less weekend "joy riding" since I started commuting regularly. I still wanted to enjoy each weekend by taking a long ride on the bike paths, but since I ride to work almost daily during the week (some Saturdays, too), I just feel I need a "break" from bike riding on the weekends, let my knees relax a bit, 'cause otherwise I'd be riding 7 days a week . I still take long riding on weekends from time to time when the weather is great and I'm not busy, just not as much as before taking up commuting.

What about you?

DX-MAN

Nah; actually, what cut back on my weekend riding time was the insistence of my nephew that we end each ride with a fast-food stop. Gets a little pricey, since there are so many we won't go to anymore. Living expenses go up a LOT faster then my pay, so........

CommuteCommando

No, it has increased.

tim24k

About the same.

Matariki

I do almost no weekend riding. The time spent commuting takes a big chunk of time and so I need free weekends to do the things that did not get done during the week.

FalconRider54

I find that when I don't commute, I need to take weekend rides. When I commute consistently, I can forego the leisure rides. I still may use my bicycle for errands.

ShartRate

+1 to the above. If I commute everyday, I don't make much effort to fit in a 30-40 ride on the weekend. I still run a lot of weekend errands on the bike so I'm still riding 6-7 days a week.

ItsJustMe

No, it's exactly the same. It's gone from zero to zero. The last time I rode just to ride was probably about 20 years ago in college.

essiemyra

If I commute four to five days a week, then yes my time weekend joy riding will decrease. As my time spent commuting should take care of my need to ride.

DXchulo

I still do a century every week. I might go insane if I didn't. Riding the same roads 5 days in a row gets old very quick. If all I did was commute I think I might fall out of love with my bike.

mustang1

So this is what happened with me. I was a joyrider, going out on average 5 times per week. On some days even several times a day.

Then I started commuting. And I knew one day I would see my commute as a mandatory requirement.

Last year and the first half of this year, I just stopped. Now I've started up again, I see my commute itself as a joy ride, so I'm back into the swing of things.

Op, just be careful you don't get bored, that your common becomes mundane. I also learned the commute cannot be described as a training ride, its just not the same.

ItsJustMe

I simply can't comprehend having the kind of free time it would take to just go for a ride. I have about 5 times more stuff that I really want to do than I have time for, and another 5 times more than I really don't want to do but needs to be done. Given that I already spend about 8 hours a week riding to work and back, I figure that's plenty of riding. If weekends were 10 days long and I still didn't spend any of it riding, I still couldn't finish everything. In fact I'd probably dream up even more cool projects to start.

daihard 

I ride to and from work 2-3 times a week. I try not to overdo it because I want to be able to ride with my wife on the weekend.

wsgts

+1, been using my bikes more like transportation than fun, but getting a new bike on Tuesday, so hopefully that will change then.

ThermionicScott 

I've never tracked it, but I don't think I ride less on the weekends due to commuting.

blackhawknj

I have been a "commuter only" for about 10 years. Other activities on weekends,non-cyling friends,other projects-you know the rest.

Papa Tom

For some reason, this particular year was not very good for weekend joy riding...for me, anyway. However, in general, I find that I still itch to get out and "free-ride" on the weekends, especially after a week of riding the same route to work every day.

zacster

I track all of my miles, and while the 20 mile r/t commuting makes up a lot of my miles, the ones that really count are my weekend rides on my road bike. I try to do 20-25 miles on Saturday and then 35-60 on Sundays, all depending on weather/other commitments/other hobbies (beer making is primary!). Some weeks I do all of this, commuting 2 or 3 times, some weeks I don't quite get there.

Rick@OCRR

No difference for me. I commute to/from work on Mon.-Wed.-Fri. and do evening club rides on Tues. and Thur. Then I do a long ride with a lot of climbing (well, that varies) that's sometimes but not always a century.

Then I Sunday I usually do an easy recovery ride, often on my fixed gear bike, sometimes on my mountain bike. Really, my commute miles are so easy, almost no climbing, that they should count as recovery rides too.

Rick / OCRR

GeneO 

No difference for me I think. In fact I think I have worked up to much longer weekend rides on the trails. Used to be 30 mi a shot now 50 or 60+.

martianone

Started riding in 1960, I cycle commute to work - just for the pleasure of riding. Ride on days off for the same reason, it is a pleasure for me. Live in Vermont, last weekend's joy ride was the length of VT from northern border with PQ to Mass - a couple brewery stops along the way. Sleeping in lean to at state parks, lunch at sandwich stops along the way. Have three cars and a tractor, could have taken any one for the trip, went by bike to better experience the countryside passing by. Don't cycle for my physical health, don't do so because it is an easier commute, don't do so to save environment - do so because it pleasures me.

tarwheel 

Commuting hasn't really cut down on my weekend riding, but it has boosted my overall mileage because I still get in a lot of riding even when we have rainy weekends. It used to be that a rainy weekend would destroy my mileage for the week. I try to do a long ride every weekend, which for me is at least 50-60+ miles. My daily commute is about 31 miles round-trip, so I look at my weekend rides as a way to keep my long-distance endurance. The problem is that my wussy friends that I ride with on weekends have gotten lazy and view 40 miles as a long ride, so I have to find ways to extend the group rides or ride solo.

BiketoFeel

Much less weekend riding. People always ask me if I race -- somehow if you ride a bike they assume you race it, dumb. I tell them I don't need any further time on the bike after commuting 100 miles per week.

WonderMonkey

It all depends on how many times I've commuted and if I anticipate doing a Monday commute. There is a range of time on the bike that I like. Too little and I crave it. To much and I avoid it. If I have the upper limit of my "zone" I'll take the weekend off the bike.

Leebo

Nope, commuting is just training for my mt biking on the weekends.