Tell Us About Your Commute.

Gator

Gator

Well-Known Member
Today was the first day I have commuted by Ebike. It is the first time I've commuted with anything other than a car in about 17 months. My commute is 23 miles round trip, through suburban, rural, semi rural, and urban settings. The majority is through rolling hills and some of those hills are pretty steep. I manged to get to work this morning in about 45 min. The ride home is a lot more uphill and it took me about an hour. It is nice in the morning because I get to coast into town and I make good time. I watched all of the intersections very close, tried to make eye contact, watched for people on cellphones, and made sure I did my part to be safe. All the drivers were cool and gave me the room I needed. It is thoroughly exhilarating to ride and be one less car on the rode. I am very grateful for this technology. It puts commuting by bike back in reach.

Let's hear about your commute =D
 
Averages about 35 miles round trip. From my suburban home to urban downtown. I leave at 5:30 am which is 1.5 hours earlier versus if I drive. I pass through my burb and another before I hit the big city. My entrance to the city is a beautiful historic district then a large urban park where I have been seeing deer and skunks a-plenty. Nervous about the deer. After the park I have 4 miles of some tough urban landscape. Burned out buildings, abandoned buildings. It is this 4 miles where fear is my motivator and I pedal hard. Several liquor and lotto businesses are doing brisk business at 6am. After that nerve wracking run, I hit a hospital district then a university district where I have bike lanes into downtown. Pretty smooth going through this part usually although it is slow (have to keep the speed down in the bike lanes). 16 miles to work and I can usually make it in about 1 hour. After locking my bike I have to hit the gym to shower and then grab breakfast usually at Panera Bread. Part of the reason why I leave at 5:30 am is due to the shower and breakfast.

The trip home is longer. I often take a greenway that takes me a few miles out of my way but it gets me out of the downtown area without car interaction. I meet up with my inbound route and then it is pretty much the same trip in reverse. With some additional deviation once I hit my burb to avoid traffic. Of the 35 miles, I'd estimate 12 is bike lane, greenway or park, 5 is a wide boulevard with little traffic but abandoned buildings and dangerous territory and most of the rest is through residential streets. I usually average about 2 hours 20 minutes total ride time. In bed at 9pm and up at 4:30 am is the normal routine. I love riding in the early hours with the sunrise and little traffic.
 
6.7 mile commute one way, probably all but about 8 blocks' worth is paved bike trails; the 8 blocks are riding on fairly quiet residential streets mostly. Generally takes 25-27 mins going in, though that could slow down as it gets hotter and muggier and I aim to avoid excessive sweating with more assist / less pedal exertion. So far, I've avoided the need to shower at work, but July and August will be the brutal test here in the D.C. region!
I make a major detour going home (more bike trails) in order to turn it into a 15 to 20 mile ride back home, typically. It has been quite noticeable (and a huge motivational boost) in the nearly 3 months of commuting (today was my 30th commute day), to see and feel just how much more I can do on these familiar routes in Level 1, compared to when I first started (and would dip into Levels 2 and 3 a fair amount.). The longer ride home is aimed at getting exercise in, so I stick in Level 1 as much as possible to work up a serious sweat.
For now I only bike commute in non-rainy weather, and anticipate/hope for a March-November commuting season.
 
I am lucky to have a bicycle trail in my neighborhood (South County Trailway at Wescthester, NY). For me It's not really a commute but my regular cycling exercise route. It's a 26 miles round trip that I do 3-4 times a week.

I alternate between hub drive and mid drive every time I go out and I welcome the difference between the two (I guess I'm easily get bored in just one drive set up).

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6 miles of country two lane no shoulder light traffic. 10 miles of 4 lane with wide breakdown lane. 1 big bridge, largest elevation gain, and 5 miles of urban bike lanes. Avg. time 45 minutes door to door. Usually a head wind upon returning but topping off the battery at work return time is about the same but with more energy use.
 
Today was the second day of my commute. Temperature was good. Really enjoyed the ride. Still making eye contact with drivers, which helped me avert a close call with a cement mixer. The sun was behind me and I could not see his face because of the door mirror. He came to a stop, but immediately hit the gas. When I finally saw his face he was squinting from the sun so I locked'em up and so did he. I would not call it a close call but it is as close as I want to get. The rest of the ride was uneventful and I breezed through town. I worked all day but paying attention to the weather. I worked through lunch and was able to leave early. It had started raining and more severe weather was on the way. It rained and I did some quick mods on the bike to avoid any shorting out. Got home just in time and it started raining bucket fulls. Check out the pic and see if you can find my weather-proofing mod. Oh and I have not driven my car since Sat.
 

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I rode my bike into work today. Not a mandatory day, but it has been a while. I have been on vacation so I can't say my bike riding was really commuting. School is about to start again. We start very early in Ohio. I am really looking forward to getting on schedule and riding 3-4 days a week.
 
My commute is 8.25 miles to work and 6.6 miles home. The route home is shorter because it offers a bike lane going in my direction. The opposite side towards work offers no safe buffer to ride and allow cars to pass making for a stressful ride, so I take the longer route that offers a mix of wider vehicle lanes, bike lanes and a MUP.

I've got an exhilarating 1.2 mile descent leaving the house to wake me up (hit 37.5 mph on my RadRover last week) followed by mostly flat terrain through a mix of residential and industrial areas. I ride on PAS 1 or 2 to work especially on the MUP where there are several homeless individuals sleeping, wandering, and defecating. I've surprised more than one person in the squat position. It's not uncommon to have the homeless sleeping right in the middle of the path so you definitely have to pay attention. By the way, the MUP runs along the front of the Honolulu International Airport. Great Kodak moment for arriving tourists leaving the rental car lot. :eek:

Heading home I use PAS 3 due to the hills on the shorter route. On the final ascent home I use PAS 4 and the lowest gear for a comfortable cadence. My entire route is asphalt roadway with its share of debris, the worst being glass shards. Week 2 of commuting with my RadRover on the Origin8 Supercell tires and no flats....yet. Perhaps I should replace the Rad Power Bikes badge with a St. Christopher medallion to protect against the "Hazards of Traveling."

I've gotten 2 roundtrip commutes out of the battery with 3 out of 5 bars remaining on the LCD display. Probably could do a third trip, but my luck I'll run out of battery on the final push up the hill home. I'll wait until my new Hollywood platform bike carrier arrives before I do any battery longevity tests.

Relive animation of my commute home.
 
My commute is ~ 30 miles each way. Mostly suburban roads and some city. My usual route has bike lane for nearly the whole trip. Posted speeds are 30-45 mph. I live in Utah so there are some hills, (I average ~ 1000 ft of vertical climb each direction). There are some bike trails, but none are very convenient to my commute and would add both time and distance.
I love that the ebike has eliminated excuses. I have been commuting on it nearly everyday since I got it. My riding time averages ~ 75-80 minutes. When I was commuting on my road bike riding time was ~ 110 minutes; I love the half hour time savings each way.
 
I don't know if it is. I am going to take my chances. House bill 250 will make it legal so hopefully the state will pull it out of committee and vote it into law.
 
My commute is just under 18 miles one way. From northern Encinitas to the UCSD campus. Most of it takes me along the 101 Coast Highway, on well developed bike lanes or on sections of road with sharrows. The way to work I get to ride about 2.5 miles through Torrey Pines State Park. I love my commute and wouldn’t change it for anything. Watching the surfers and dolphins in the waves and enjoying the ocean breeze. What more could I ask for. I did it for years on conventional bikes but switched to an ebike earlier this year. Shaved about 30 minutes off the total time without any loss in fun.
I really dislike the days when I have to take the car. Fortunately that doesn’t happen too often. I put about three times as many miles on my bike as I drive in my car. And I also have the option to take the commuter train. I feel blessed.
 
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So I decided to drive today because 90% chance of thunderstorms was forecast. While I was cruising along, I saw this guy.
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I pulled over and waved. He stopped and we talked a little bit. He has been commuting for about a year. He has the exact same bike as I do. People are making the commute everyday. I told him about Electric Bike Review so maybe we will hear from him.
 
First day taking the bike path. It is a beautiful ride. It follows the Great Miami River into Hamilton Ohio where I work. It was a really Zen experience getting to work without the hassles of traffic for the last 5 miles of my commute. Check out the pic of the bridge. It has to be one of the sturdiest bridges for a bike path ever.
 

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