How fast is your commute?

Binaural

Binaural

Eats Squid
I've just started riding to work again in Sydney, riding around 17km from the inner west out towards Parramatta. I can do this at the moment in around 35min (40 including stops), averaging around 28-29km/hr. This seems pretty consistent from day to day, although I expect as I round into better shape that I should be up around the 30km/hr mark. After that, I think the law of diminishing returns (AKA traffic) kicks in, and it's harder to make serious time up. But monitoring my times has made me curious as to the experience of others out there riding any sort of reasonable distance to work, since I don't really see that many people on the route I take (through Homebush and the backstreets along the harbour).

So, how fast is your commute? Does anyone else log their times? And am I hopelessly slow?
 
C

coopsy

Likes Bikes
Binaural said:
I've just started riding to work again in Sydney, riding around 17km from the inner west out towards Parramatta. I can do this at the moment in around 35min (40 including stops), averaging around 28-29km/hr. This seems pretty consistent from day to day, although I expect as I round into better shape that I should be up around the 30km/hr mark. After that, I think the law of diminishing returns (AKA traffic) kicks in, and it's harder to make serious time up. But monitoring my times has made me curious as to the experience of others out there riding any sort of reasonable distance to work, since I don't really see that many people on the route I take (through Homebush and the backstreets along the harbour).

So, how fast is your commute? Does anyone else log their times? And am I hopelessly slow?
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In Brisbane, so differences in road conditions/traffic levels/topography etc... I do 20.1k's in 38-42mins, depending on traffic and that time is pretty standard over the last 2 months (when I moved 5k's further out from work).

The main factors are not vehicle traffic, cause I know the cycle of the lights etc so don't bother sprinting to make certain intersections, and ca scoot up the side of traffic but pedestrian density on the 1-2k's I spend on cycleway (the nicer the day, the slower the ride) and how I am feeling (tired, ate KFC for lunch etc).

Even when I did 15k's to work, it got to the point where I could set my watch by how long the ride to work took...
 
Lemontime

Lemontime

Eats Squid
When I was riding to school consistently it took me about 9-10 minutes to do the 6KM trip there.. A lot of this was down hill though, so that's my excuse. The way home took way longer.
 
H

hiredassassin

Likes Dirt
coopsy said:
The main factors are not vehicle traffic, cause I know the cycle of the lights etc so don't bother sprinting to make certain intersections, and ca scoot up the side of traffic but pedestrian density on the 1-2k's I spend on cycleway (the nicer the day, the slower the ride) and how I am feeling (tired, ate KFC for lunch etc).
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yeah same - I dont really ride on the road for my commute (OK I do for half of it, but that's back streets so no traffic). I ride mostly shared paths on my commute so it's mostly affected by padestrian or other bike traffic or even more so by how much I have in the tank on any given day. I do have to cross some pretty major intersections though, and waiting for the lights can really affect my commute time.

Mine's a pretty short commute - about 7km - coogee to surry hills. It does mean about 100m climbing either way though. I generally do ti on my singlespeed so it's helped hugely with my off road climbing legs.

Best time to date is 13 minutes flat - the traffic lights were kind that day.
 
RCOH

RCOH

Eats Squid
14km - 25 mins - Port Botany to Ultimo/Haymarket. Fastest ever was 18 ish mins, Big ring, tailwind & no stopping.
 
M

mtnbike

Squid
commute

I work in a store on the other side of town, somedays I ride my bike, somedays I ride my motor bike ... it takes me just as long on both modes! Let's not talk about how long it takes me if I ever drive the car!
 
cam-o

cam-o

Likes Bikes and Dirt
My commute is 19km from North Canberra (Gungahlin) to Barton.
The way there is a net downhill and I average in the 33km/h range, best of 33.9.
The way home obviously has more up, so I average around 28 km/h.

I dig the fact that I track it, I don't often set out for a record but if I'm 10k in and the average is looking good then it's on! I also like the fact that all of my rides are tracked in Garmin Connect (I use a Garmin 500) so I can see if I'm progressing over time.

It also allows to to see how many k's I do commuting Vs other activities so if people gimme grief for owning a V8 I can counter by showing how many k's the big thumper is NOT doing :p
 
Binaural

Binaural

Eats Squid
Lemontime said:
When I was riding to school consistently it took me about 9-10 minutes to do the 6KM trip there.. A lot of this was down hill though, so that's my excuse. The way home took way longer.
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Really asymetrical commutes rule. I used to have a commute where it literally took nearly twice as long to get to work as it did to get home (even allowing for incentive bias). Morning was spent climbing, the afternoon reaping the harvest of some epic hills. It was particularly awesome on hot days, really long hills just blow the sweat off you.
 
Tristan23

Tristan23

Farkin guerilla
The quickest i've ridden from North Manly to Darlinghurst - 18.5km's home from work - was 35 minutes. This was during peak-hour. About a 30k/h average. Couple of hills in there, but it's relatively flat most of the way.
 
Knopey

Knopey

Likes Dirt
20km each way, SS roady. When I started 2 months ago I was averaging about 24kph, now consistently around 26.5kph in still air. Unless there's a bastard headwind. Travelling with traffic is cheating - such a tailwind! :)

Did it today on the MTB averaging 26 so happy enough with that. Aim is to get to 28 and not feel rooted at work. The day I hit 30 average you will hear the whoops from Everest :cool:
 
A

adam.kiem

Cannon Fodder
South city to Wetherill park via Parramatta Rd, M4, & Greystanes aquaduct cycleway- 45km. My average for the last month was 27km/h. I usually find I'm slowest on wednesdays and thursdays (1:40-1:45) and fastest on mondays, as you would expect, but fridays times are equal (1:35).
Except today when the sidewall of my rim blew out, leaving me riding on a bare rim with only one sidewall for about 10km. Rim is now nicely flattened out and rolls quite well, but vibrates a little:D
 
spongebob

spongebob

Likes Dirt
I'm pretty low on energy in mornings & don't get in too fast - I even get passed by bums on rusty shitheaps [ but only really buff ones on speed] , embarrassing but occasionally true. Last week I saw a guy ahead on a shitheap with milk crate on back - YEH i'm gunna overtake him! Pathetic hey. I came up behind the guy & as I overtook saw he had a prosthetic leg...
 
G

g-fish

Likes Bikes and Dirt
^ I laughed.

My fastest commute was an average of 36 km/h. My school's only 2.5km's away though so I can sprint the entire time. :)
 
L

Lorday

Eats Squid
Mid 14's (to work), for a commute around 7.4k which is around a 30km/h average. Overall it is uphill. I actually don't know how long it takes to get home cause i've never timed it. Funnily enough my quickest time is on a fixie and not my SS roadie.
 
chrisp2087

chrisp2087

Likes Dirt
My commutes tend to be a bt slower than my normal rides, I'm going 25km from Terrey Hills to North Ryde mostly on backstreets and stuff, it takes me about an hour each way despite the way to work being slightly down hill and the way back slightly uphill.

There is no such thing as flat on my commute.
 
cha_cha_

cha_cha_

Likes Dirt
morning is 15km in 30mins - warrimoo to emu plains where i grab the train to westmead and then ride to pendle hill

afternoon is 45km in 1:20 - out of the gem of sydney's west that is pendle hill and onto the m4 via cumbo highway and home to warrimoo.

afternoon i typically bust a nut until i get to the mountains then just cruise up the hill so i've got something left for the next day...
 
scblack

scblack

Leucocholic
My commute is 33km each way from Baulkham Hills to Circular Quay. To work I average 31-33kmh depending on lights at a few major intersections. Back home I do 26-28kmh partly due to diversion off M2 past Macquarie Uni/Epping.

I do keep a log of my roadie riding, helps keep me motivated to push hard.
 
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D

davzab

Likes Dirt
uni comute,
88km, fastest in 2:13, 39.7kmh.. averages around 38kmh
90km, fastest back 2:50, 31.8kmh.. averages around 30kmh

lots of freeway and about 1000m vert. main variables, wind, lights, exit/entry crossings, EFFORT..
 
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