dynawolf

I am thinking about commuting some days to work. I live in Dallas. Curious...how far do you commute each way? (one leg).

mcours2006

'One leg' I take to mean one-way and not riding on a prosthetic leg. My commute is 20 km one way. How long is your commute?

CliffordK

Just over 50 here.

I do mostly cycle errands, shopping, etc. A typical day would be 20 to 40 miles RT, with just over 6000 miles of mostly commuting and cycle errands for 2016.

I suppose to get a leg up on the question... it is about 16 miles from my house to Mom's house (a fairly regular commute).

My longest one-way "commute" last year was just over 200 miles in one day. With a pair of tired legs.

Gresp15C

4 miles each way, relatively flat.

BobbyG

Nine miles each way.

Bikewolf

Go for it. Tip: You can always start out by ‘commuting’ on a day off, to get an idea of range etc.

How far would your commute be?

52telecaster

2.5 miles to work with a ridiculous climb on the way home. i also go to the grocery and pretty much everywhere on the bike. 3200 miles in 2017. being -14 F right now i am going to drive to work today. i hate doing that!

pdlamb

About 9.5 miles minimum each way. Although I made a wrong turn leaving work last week, while it was warm, and didn't get home for 29 (fun) miles!

wphamilton

When I started, 10 years ago, I felt "old" and I thought the 2.5 miles each way was plenty long enough. A few years later it was 21 round trip which I wasn't sure about but after awhile that also felt routine, pretty much no challenge. So don't be intimidated by the numbers people are throwing out. If you try some commutes, not necessarily every day but stick with it for a month or two, your perspective about the distance will change.

fietsbob

Was.. 12, but pretty flat. and @ 1800, very low traffic..

Now, moved & then retired..

cyccommute 

I find it easier to pedal using both legs If I want to show off, I'll do some one legged pedaling but my wife is very unpleased when I hill climb with one leg while she struggles with two

Kidding aside, I do 10 miles one-way in the summer and about 9 miles in the winter. I have two different routes with one being high (and warmer) for the winter. I've been commuting to work and school for nearly 40 years. I've been using my current routes since 1988...which is also the year I started collecting data on my commute. Over the last 29 years, I've ridden 72,000 miles, not used 9900 gallons of gas, saved $14,000 by not buying that much gas and, perhaps most importantly, not put 194,000 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air. That's 94 tons!

And, all that riding has made me able to annoy my wife by hill climbing one legged

rumrunn6

after doing it over 17, 13 & 22 miles respectively (one way) I have decided 13 miles is perfect for me

VRC

9 miles each way

Reynolds 

6 miles 1 way.

RubeRad

5.5mi each way, uphill in the morning

joelcool

12 miles to work 13.5 or so back home. I'm 55 years old.

Korina

7.5 miles one way, flat with a hill at each end. 54 years old, and still waiting for (the rest of) the Humboldt Bay Trail.

deephate

Twelve miles one way. Pretty flat with eight miles of it being a paved bike trail. A bit too nippy now with below zero temps for this sixty one year old. Looking forward to spring!

mb2112

5.3 One way. Usually double or triple that after work to get in some training miles.

dynawolf

OP here.

My perspective commute is about 23 miles and it takes about 2 hours each way. I am 54 and rode about 1500 miles in 2017. I am planning on easing into it and driving part of the way. I joined a gym near the office for showering.

pdlamb

Your other option would be to drive the car in (with the bike), ride home. Next day ride in, then drive the car home. This assumes your workplace isn't noticeably more crime-ridden or unsafe than parking the car at home would be.

RubeRad

2hr each way is a large chunk of life you have to commit, if you have the time, great!

I certainly didn't so I moved so I could be 5.5mi each way and have plenty of life left over after biking to/from work.

joesch

4 hours a day is alot of commuting time but a great investment in health.
I also live in Dallas area and can ride either 4 miles each way to/from work streets or 10 miles if I take the nicer bike "not car" route mostly on the cotton wood trail.
Im also fortunate that the TI facility has a gym and showering facility near the building that I work at.
The weather in Dallas is pretty dynamic and been pretty cold the last month as is often the case for winter.
Im sure you have winter gear to help with such commutes.
Good to hear you willing to lots more commuting in 2018.

mcours2006

Twenty three miles is a long commute. Here's an situation where an e-bike might makes sense. If you can putter along at 20 mph you could do the commute in a tad over an hour.

cyccommute 

While I don't want to discourage you, I'd suggest waiting a bit to start. Currently your sunrise and sunset are at 730 and 1730 respectively (subtract 12 for the 24 hour clock challenged). Assuming a regular 800 to 1700 work day, this means that you have to start at 530 for a 2 hour ride and you won't get home until 1930. That's a lot of time under lights. If you wait until April, you'd only have the 2 hour ride in the dark in the morning. That's much easier to deal with. You can get fairly cheap but bright lights from Amazon for about $20 (search "cree bicycle headlights"). The $18 on that page will easily give you about 3 hours of ride time. I would counsel you against any of the integrated battery lights because they just don't have the run time. By 2 or 3 of the $18 lights and put two on the bars with one on your helmet.

If you do it this way, you can ease into riding at night without just jumping into it like you would if your started now. By the time fall rolls around, you'll have more experience and be better able to deal with a 4 hour dark commute.

Good luck.