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Commuting distances

Hello fellow cyclists,

 

I recently moved to Croydon and haven't started commuting yet. My previous commute used to be from Balham to London (City) and this used to be a pleasant 10 to 12k commute depending on the route.

From my new place it'll be double that, 20 to 22k each way. Any recommendations on which route by the way?

 

I don't have a normal 9 to 5 but rather a 8 to 8 as a norm. Reasonable commute? What are your distances if you would care to share?

 

Thank you,

 

Pedro

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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26 comments

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DaggersJeff | 8 years ago
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As a site newbie,  thought I'd best join in least one of the postings!

2/3 times a week Gidea Park to West Ham. About 11 miles.  basically straight up the Romford Road to Stratford. At 63 and just returning to cycling, its only a one wayer at the moment, but it keeps the legs ticking over.

I ride a Whyte Suffolk, on the cycle to work scheme,  105 set up with disc brakes. Shimano SPDs with recessed MTB shoes. Had enough of slipping base over apex on my look cleats.

Agreed about the buzz of early morning exercise. When I ride in its usuallybetween 5-530am so little traffic.

Also find I tend to work better than if I come in by train!

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hsiaolc | 8 years ago
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Use KM for distance instead of K thanks. 

I cycle to work from Edgware to Liverpool street 3-4 days a week depending on weather.  I don't particularly like to cycle in the rain not because it is unpleasant but mostly because I hate to clean up my bike and gear each time. 

The journey is about 13.1 miles each way and 26.2 miles return.  Personally I find communiting in central london to be much more safer than rural purely because of speed and bus lane that central london provides.  So if I could get home before 6:30pm then no cars parked on single yellow and I have full use of bus lane till 7pm and I find that quite safe.  

I can't say which route you should take but the journey distance and time is what all my colleagues does including myself so I don't really see the problem. 

 

 

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Shades | 8 years ago
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Some impressive round trips here.  My commute is only 25min by car but I cycle it once or twice a week to keep fit.  15 miles each way on small bit of town, some gravel cycle path and lanes (Wiltshire).  There are 2 good roads (A & B) but I'm not into busy commuter routes.  Absolutely knackers me out; probably the road surface and 'up down' nature of the lanes so takes anything from 70-80 min.  Even worse in the winter with all the sh*te on the lanes.  My winter hybrid is covered in cr*p just after one journey.  Could have a (quicker?) smoother ride on the A or B road but being overtaken constantly by cars just isn't fun. 

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Chuck | 8 years ago
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That distance would be at the upper end for me, although as someone else pointed out it depends on your specific circumstances, particularly home life. Depends what you do on the weekend too, personally I suspect doing 200km a week commuting would impact my motivation to go out at the weekends. 

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curtisl replied to Chuck | 8 years ago
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Chuck wrote:

That distance would be at the upper end for me, although as someone else pointed out it depends on your specific circumstances, particularly home life. Depends what you do on the weekend too, personally I suspect doing 200km a week commuting would impact my motivation to go out at the weekends. 

My motivation for weekend rides is to see something other than drab urban roads and the back of a bus for once and head straight in to the countryside.

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Chuck replied to curtisl | 8 years ago
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curtisl wrote:
Chuck wrote:

That distance would be at the upper end for me, although as someone else pointed out it depends on your specific circumstances, particularly home life. Depends what you do on the weekend too, personally I suspect doing 200km a week commuting would impact my motivation to go out at the weekends. 

My motivation for weekend rides is to see something other than drab urban roads and the back of a bus for once and head straight in to the countryside.

Well, yeah, but I meant things like being less likely to go out in less than ideal weather if I'd already been riding all week in it, stuff like that.

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robertoegg | 8 years ago
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Farnham to Guildford on the back roads for me. I'm lucky in that it is fairly constant with only a few points where I have to stop for junctions / railway crossings sometimes. It's bang of 12miles for me which ends up being 40mins +/- 5mins depending on day of the week! I try to do it all the time mainly because my wife and I run only the one car - oh, and I regularly beat cars; the traffic into Guildford can be grim! But it reminds me why I'm on my bike!

Hope you enjoy it, it's a good distance  1

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curtisl | 8 years ago
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I have been commuting for nearly two months now and I am happy with it. I ride from Bromley to the west end and door to door there isn't too much difference in time. Having cycled in though I feel wide awake, it costs less and it's good exercise. No brainer. Obe difference is that on the train, it doesn't feel like everyone is trying to kill you.

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Mendes.pms | 8 years ago
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Hello,

 

I have started commuting this distance beginning of the week and it is actually very manageable to cycle to work 20k (12 to 13 miles) each way. Although I am used to long cycles on the weekend, I have always had a 30 min commute to work, so to commute 1h each way seemed like it never ended. A protein shake is welcomed arriving to work in the morning.

 

So basically from Croydon if anyone interested on the route, I cycle to Clapham South (10k from Croydon through the A23) and just follow the CS7 route to the City. It is a bit congestioned but with lots of fellow cycling commuters it is safe.

 

Approaching the infamous Elephant and Castle roundabout the actual CS7 route goes around through secondary roads and it is easily done. Mind you the other day my attention swifted when I was cycling towards E&C as I was observing this beauty of a Pearson bike full carbon yelllow paterned with discs brakes and I actually ended up going through Elephant and Castle roundabout, but you know what, very easily done as well.

 

Planing on cycling daily putting 40k a day which will increase my stamina and endurance and considering, although I have always been reluctant to it, to put some mudguards on my road bike as the commuting distance has increased (but this calls for another forum thread).

 

Thanks,

 

Pedro

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VeloPeo | 8 years ago
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Not in London any more but my old commute was 7.5mi from Holloway to Docklands. Used to do it 4 times a week and take in another set of office clothes on the 5th day (usually Friday so I could go out on the lash after work!) 

On the rare occasions I drove it, never did it in under an hour

Public transport: 40-60 mins depending on how disrupted it was 

Bike record was 23 mins, almost always under 30 mins

No brainer really. Working at home these days, I really miss that blast in the morning, sets you up nicely for the day.

 

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whars1 | 8 years ago
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Starting in East London I either have a gentle 8km to Canary Wharf or 32km out to Sunbury (just south of Heathrow).  Both pretty flat which helps, but makes a huge difference to my day when I've a 80-90 minute ride each way.  In both cases cycling is quicker than any other route which is a nice motivator to cycle whatever the weather  1

When I'm doing my longer commute I take the most direct route - which for the portion across London doesn't tend to be much fun unless I'm really early (well before 7am) or late (after 8pm).  However around 2/3rds of the route is not too bad - just takes a bit of research to find the reasonable roads and in some cases the junctions to avoid.

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Scoob_84 | 8 years ago
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I commute from Hayes (Kent) to Kings Cross 3/4 times a week, about 24km each way. The distance itself isn't the issue though, its repeating it morning and night on consecutive days i somtimes struggle with. 4th day on the trot and im struggling up crystal palace hill. 

As a recomendation, college road > dulwich > Camberwell > elephant and castle is about as pleasant as it gets riding within zone 2 London.

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Simontuck | 8 years ago
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I go from Chigwell in Essex to Stockwell in South London 15 miles each way, largely on segregated bike lines through Leytonstone, Stratford, Bow, Aldgate, over London Bridge, Elephant and Castle then through Oval, which is not that great at the moment with all the roadworks, and has slowed my journey somewhat in the 4am commute as the cycle lanes clip your speed a bit with all the chicanes, but in peak times its brilliant being able to go past the traffic without weaving in and out. I don't have to do it as I get free travel, but due to shiftwork, sometimes it means I'd have to go by nightbus, and thats 3 stinky buses and up to 2 hours to do the journey that takes under an hour. If I have a daytime shift then I use the tube sometimes, that takes an hour or so. I'm lucky, as the only cyclist at work I get to put my bike in the locker room and have an airer for drying my clothes on, if anyone else takes up the idea I might have to compromise somehow!!

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electricspam | 8 years ago
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17 miles a day - South Woodford (E18) to Angel and back. It takes me about 45 mins each way. I could probably do it quicker, but my legs get knackered by the end of the week if I push it too much. 

The Leigh Bridge rd can be pretty hellish (stupid drivers, fumes etc), but I just heard they are going to redevelop the whole road soon (segregated cycle tracks) so I'm pretty happy right now!    1

edit - I should add that before, I was getting on the tube, which was costing me £170/month, and it took me over an hour to get in. Bit of a no-brainer really.

 

 
 
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Mendes.pms | 8 years ago
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Hi guys,

 

Thank you for you replies. It is good to know how many more miles some of you put into your daily commute which is reassuring. I reckon that 20k would take me roughly an hour which is what I do when taking the tram, train and walk to the office... So to still fit 2 hours of exercise a day seems achievable. There is the CS7 from Morden which I can pick up on the way in Balham (where I used to start my commute from).

 

Regards,

 

Pedro

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thesaladdays replied to Mendes.pms | 8 years ago
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Mendes.pms wrote:

I reckon that 20k would take me roughly an hour which is what I do when taking the tram, train and walk to the office... So to still fit 2 hours of exercise a day seems achievable. There is the CS7 from Morden which I can pick up on the way in Balham (where I used to start my commute from).

 

I've never lived anywhere near a CS, but if it helps make the commuting time more stable then all the better.  My commute is about 15km each way, with some decent, wide cycle lanes along the way, some bus lanes, but lots of shared road sections as well.  Time varies between 35 min on a good day with light traffic to over 50 when everybody decides to use their car and I spend half the ride in 'slalom' mode.  It helps that the ride to work is downhill in quite a few sections, but it makes the ride home a bit slower!  Try a few different routes on a day off when you're not in a rush to get your bearings and know your options.  And don't forget a good set of front and rear lights for the dark n' rainy season.  Enjoy!  smiley

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Daveyraveygravey replied to thesaladdays | 8 years ago
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thesaladdays wrote:

Mendes.pms wrote:

I reckon that 20k would take me roughly an hour which is what I do when taking the tram, train and walk to the office... So to still fit 2 hours of exercise a day seems achievable. There is the CS7 from Morden which I can pick up on the way in Balham (where I used to start my commute from).

 

I've never lived anywhere near a CS, but if it helps make the commuting time more stable then all the better.  My commute is about 15km each way, with some decent, wide cycle lanes along the way, some bus lanes, but lots of shared road sections as well.  Time varies between 35 min on a good day with light traffic to over 50 when everybody decides to use their car and I spend half the ride in 'slalom' mode.  It helps that the ride to work is downhill in quite a few sections, but it makes the ride home a bit slower!  Try a few different routes on a day off when you're not in a rush to get your bearings and know your options.  And don't forget a good set of front and rear lights for the dark n' rainy season.  Enjoy!  smiley

Lights - get two sets, a flasher/strober and a constant both ends. You never know when a battery or charge is going to fizzle out. Most people see a flasher/strober more often and at a greater distance than a constant light but, judging distance to a flashing light is harder.

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ChasM | 8 years ago
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I used to do the reverse, Bethnal Green to Croydon, twice a week, usually on the A23 to avoid Crystal Palace hill. One day I tried to count the number of traffic lights I passed through... lost count after about 35.

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philtregear | 8 years ago
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i commute 39 miles a day, as many days as i can ( probably average 3 per week). i use country lanes and a hard shoulder round the ring road of a small town. i have had nasty accidents when travelling through towns so just avoid it. cant imagne commuting in a big city, i think i would find it more stressful than sitting on a bus! hats off to all you intrepid intercity commuters, i salute you!

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Nat Jas Moe | 8 years ago
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I commute Thornton Heath to Waterloo

Route TH  Spa Hill along Beulah Hill to West Norwood

 

West Norwood to Tulse Hill (south and north) and then down into Brixton

Brixton to Oval

Oval to Waterloo down Kennington Rd (This avoids Elephant and Castle which is hellist to say the least). 

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DaveE128 | 8 years ago
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try http://www.cyclestreets.net/ for some route ideas.

I'd say whether it's doable for you depends on how squeezed you are for time either side of a relatively long day at work.

I commute 10 miles (16km) each way twice a week with some hills. The main reason I don't cycle more often is time pressure. I think it's the kind of distance you'd adjust to fairly quickly.

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postmandick | 8 years ago
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Just to be smug smiley my comute is about 7 1/2 miles to work at 5:30 AM in pitch black with nobody abouts 

I have to dodge Badgers and Otters as I whizz along at 20 Mph  

But on the way home I have to avoid all the old biddies in there Honda Jazz's trying there best to kill me ......lorries no problem yes old farts in Volvo's no

Postman dick 

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sergius | 8 years ago
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22km is ~13.5 miles so that's not to bad.  For comparison I live in Sutton and used to commute into Holborn which was ~16.5 miles each way.  I was comfortably doing that 3-4 days a week a few years ago on my heavy MTB when my fitness wasn't a patch on what it is now.

I only commuted in the summer when I had daylight, I'm not a fan of night riding in busy London traffic, so perhaps start of at least doing it over the summer months when you have daylight (though 8-8 will make that a much shorter window than a 5:30ish finish).

From Sutton you can head up to Morden and pickup the Cycle Superhighway (7 I think) all the way up into town - it splits off and ends at either Waterloo or Vauxhall/City IIRC.

 

I'd do 16.5 miles in ~1:05 on average, so it was about the same as the walk+train+tube+walk to the office.

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Daveyraveygravey | 8 years ago
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Can't help on the routes, but I like an hour each way.  Anything less and you are spending longer changing and getting the gear ready (at this time of year).

Back in the noughties I worked in Sutton and built up to riding from near Shoreham a couple of times.  2 and half hours each way, early starts and a long day, but very rewarding.

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
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Google maps picks three routes of around 10 to 12 miles with 250ft to 400 ft climbing depending on route. A little effort going to work, easier going home

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Jem PT | 8 years ago
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Can't help on the route, but I commute from Waterloo to Kensal Rise each day. That's 7.2 miles (whatever that is in km) each way. And that's on a Brompton. In the summer I cycle all the way from home to work - 22 miles each way (but not on the Brompton!) Isn't there a CS going up the A23? 

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