worst commute

[hitchhiker]

I've been reading a few posts about people who commute 30 km and only encounter 4 traffic lights, or who commute 40 km of which more than 30km is on bike paths.

Then there's all the pictures of people who ride alongside meadows full of clover and frolicking lambs, etc

My commute is 27km one way through Melbourne surburbia, of which at least 26.5 km is on road. I lost count after 40 sets of traffic lights!

Surely I'm not the only one with a less than ideal commute?




(most days I still enjoy mine though)

[ColinOldnCranky]

Ridingn to Freo from home in Bateman via Leach Highway was a basket case a while back. Ditto if I went via Farrnington Road.

The base problem is that there is no cycle lanes so it's mostly pedestrian paths. And you have to cross over the six lanes quite often, head into suburbia sometimes, often through goat tracks through scrub landscaping. And quite a few lights on either route of course, all unfriendly intiming to those using the pedestrain paths.

As I said, that is the basic. What made it worse for a time though was that EVERY bus shelter that had plate glass was bricked over several weeks and none were repaired for some time. And as you mostly (in my case entirely) ride on paths on those routes, it was trudging a fifty or a hundred meters at every bus stop.

Nevertheless I do have to say that I enjoyed a route that had plenty of hills though.

Bus stop repairs have been done now so it is back to simply bad route.

[ShanDog]

I know nothing of that area so what I'm about to say may not be helpful. I've found that it's sometimes possible to find a longer route that has less stops/lights along the way. For me I'd love the chance to stay riding longer on my way to work, but mine is only 3.7kms

[ozjolly]

By the shortest path, my commute would be 13km and would have about 15 sets of lights and a few roundabouts. Instead I take a 25km commute which has 5 I think. It's mostly bike path (and pretty good bike path too) so I'm grateful for that.

[jasimon]

My commute is approximately 6-7km. In that space I have...
6 Stop signs
32 Traffic lights

Pretty much every intersection has either a stop sign or a traffic light. I take a main road so I get more lights than stop signs (which is a good thing). I can ride just fast enough that I only have to stop at approximately half to a third of the lights.


Hmmm, no wonder my rims are wearing out from excessive use. Also no wonder that no other cyclist I see stops at lights or stop signs.

[silkishuge]

I've been reading a few posts about people who commute 30 km and only encounter 4 traffic lights,

That would be my current commute

Then there's all the pictures of people who ride alongside meadows full of clover and frolicking lambs, etc

That was me at some stage, got to watch out for wombats and roos. They could really take you out.

My commute is 27km one way through Melbourne surburbia, of which at least 26.5 km is on road. I lost count after 40 sets of traffic lights!

That was me at some stage as well. Riding from Box Hill South to CBD. I eventually found a route that had very few traffic lights but quite a round about way of getting to work. The route also had quite a bit of green as well which was better than carbon monoxide fumes.

Surely I'm not the only one with a less than ideal commute?

Change the commute route if possible?

Jon




(most days I still enjoy mine though)[/quote]

[Nobody]

Tried a commute to work yesterday after some planning. About 37Km each way across some of Sydney's hilliest areas. Took 2.5 hours there and about 2.25 hours home on the utility bike. With some hills I had to stand up on at least part of the way up and some shorter ones all the way up (lowest gear ~34"). I still need to do some work on the route for both safety and speed. The road bike should knock 10% off the trip time I hope. If I can't get it under 2 hours each way, then bike commuting is only going to be an emergency_only venture for me.

I think the ideal bike for this route would be a road bike with SRAM Apex or MTB gearing.

For Sydney people, the commute starts near Dundas and ends near Belrose.

[silkishuge]

Tried a commute to work yesterday after some planning. About 37Km each way across some of Sydney's hilliest areas. Took 2.5 hours there and about 2.25 hours home on the utility bike. With some hills I had to stand up on at least part of the way up and some shorter ones all the way up (lowest gear ~34"). I still need to do some work on the route for both safety and speed. The road bike should knock 10% off the trip time I hope. If I can't get it under 2 hours each way, then bike commuting is only going to be an emergency_only venture for me.

I think the ideal bike for this route would be a road bike with SRAM Apex or MTB gearing.

For Sydney people, the commute starts near Dundas and ends near Belrose.

That is a really really really really long commute. 37km is pretty hard if it is not on a roadie imo. I never liked th seating position of flat bars or any other geometry bikes. I spend most of my time in the drops anyway.

Jon

[Crawf]

Tried a commute to work yesterday after some planning. About 37Km each way across some of Sydney's hilliest areas. Took 2.5 hours there and about 2.25 hours home on the utility bike. With some hills I had to stand up on at least part of the way up and some shorter ones all the way up (lowest gear ~34"). I still need to do some work on the route for both safety and speed. The road bike should knock 10% off the trip time I hope. If I can't get it under 2 hours each way, then bike commuting is only going to be an emergency_only venture for me.

I think the ideal bike for this route would be a road bike with SRAM Apex or MTB gearing.

For Sydney people, the commute starts near Dundas and ends near Belrose.

Respect.
I used to have a 60km daily commute to London dealing with congestion and narrow dangerous roads. By the weekend my body and mind were fried, I didnt want to look at a bike, but by Monday I was always refreshed. I wouldn't want to imagine 4 hours commuting over hills - 5 days a week.

[lethoso]

I think my commute of 15km or so has about 20 lights, not really the most fun. I wish the timings on some of them worked out a little better, could shave 5-10 minutes off my commute easily if they did.

[queequeg]

Tried a commute to work yesterday after some planning. About 37Km each way across some of Sydney's hilliest areas. Took 2.5 hours there and about 2.25 hours home on the utility bike. With some hills I had to stand up on at least part of the way up and some shorter ones all the way up (lowest gear ~34"). I still need to do some work on the route for both safety and speed. The road bike should knock 10% off the trip time I hope. If I can't get it under 2 hours each way, then bike commuting is only going to be an emergency_only venture for me.

I think the ideal bike for this route would be a road bike with SRAM Apex or MTB gearing.

For Sydney people, the commute starts near Dundas and ends near Belrose.

What route are you taking to get there? I'd imagine the most direct route is through Eastwood/Marsfield/South Turramurra/North Turramurra/St Ives.

I am commuting from Dural to Nth Sydney, which in the first week I did it was a very painful 32km over some of the nastiest hill climbs I have experienced. I have since fine tuned the ride, and that knocked 5km off the commute and made it 20 to 30 minutes faster. To get those sorts of gains, you have to stop thinking like a motorists and use the routes that best suits the bicycle. In my case, making use of shared paths that link back to back cul-de-sacs and side streets was one easy way to knock a few km off. I shaved another few minutes off my commute this morning by trying a sneaky left turn into one of those "no left turn" side streets. I avoided two sets of traffic lights and saved 5 minutes.
The other way is to search for the best route in both directions, because what works in the morning may not work int he opposite direction.

[trailgumby]

My usual is 29.5 Frenchs Forest East to SOP. It encompasses Roseville Bridge in both directions. 1:20 on the way to work and 1:30 on the way home. I manage that Tuesdays and Thursdays only, so that I'm not fried on Sundays and can enjoy a ride with mates.

Used to do Sydney CBD north to FFE 4 days a week when I started, smashing it on both directions. I rapidly put myself into a bad place with overtraining (fatigue, waking in the night and not being able to get back to sleep, and eventually - inevitably - illness), and just couldn't bear to look at riding on the weekend.

Current regime of a long mtb ride on Sunday with Tuesdays and Thursdyas as maintenance seems to work well from a fitness improvement perspective.

Numbers of traffic lights aren't too bad. Currently commuting 22-23km to the Sydney CBD, and have a route organised that means the first traffic light I get caught at inbound is at Neutral Bay when travelling via Spit West, and Mosman when travelling up Parriwi Road.

Back to SOP next week.

[silkishuge]

[quote="queequeg"]

What route are you taking to get there? I'd imagine the most direct route is through Eastwood/Marsfield/South Turramurra/North Turramurra/St Ives.

I am commuting from Dural to Nth Sydney, which in the first week I did it was a very painful 32km over some of the nastiest hill climbs I have experienced. I have since fine tuned the ride, and that knocked 5km off the commute and made it 20 to 30 minutes faster. To get those sorts of gainside streets was one easy way to knock a few km off. I shaved another few minutes off my commute this morning by trying a sneaky left turn into one of those "no left turn" side streets. I avoided two sets of traffic lights and saved 5 minutes.
The other way is to search for the best route in both directions, because what works in the morning may not work int he opposite direction.[/qu, you have to stop thinking like a motorists and use the routes that best suits the bicycle. In my case, making use of shared paths that link back to back cul-de-sacs and sote]

+1 to modifying the route to suit bicycles.

My commute is 30km each way, it has 380m of climbing to work and 470 climbing coming back from work. It takes me just under an hour to get to work and just over an hour to get home. It is by no means an easy commute and even if I decide to take things easy, it still takes quite a bit of effort.

Jon

[Nobody]

What route are you taking to get there? I'd imagine the most direct route is through Eastwood/Marsfield/South Turramurra/North Turramurra/St Ives.

Ermington, Denistone, North Ryde, Chatswood West, Chatswood, Roseville, Roseville Chase, Forestville etc.

Sorry, but I made a mistake before with the distance. Ridethecity says it is about 33Km (instead of 37Km) which makes the average time even worse. I think I've done MTB rides with a higher average speed. Noted the time but didn't have a computer on the bike.