Riding a mountain bike to work

[tonkota]

I've started riding my mountain bike to work. I'm not doing it to save gas, but to get my fat ass in shape. It's 3 1/2 miles one way for me, mostly downhill in the AM so I'm not too sweaty when I get to work.

It's been really nice to ride. It doesn't take me any more time to ride to work than it does to drive the car.

Who else rides to work? And how far one way?

 

[scottm]

Ten miles each way, did it for many years, stopped last year. My wife & dad thought it was bad for my family, too much risk, so I stopped. I also got promoted and had a laptop I carried. Now I carry a memory stick, don't need the laptop, but I've got a company car with free gas & maintenance, so it's hard to justify riding to work.

I see a lot of newbie bike commuters these days, riding at dusk in a grey sweatshirt and jeans, Darwin is sure to come into play for them. If you're going to do this, even for a short ride, do it right with a helmet, mirror, lights, and bright clothing/backpack. A mountain bike is an excellent choice, you're safer in ruts and rocks.

 

[tonkota]

A mountain bike is an excellent choice, you're safer in ruts and rocks.

Yes, that describes Spokane's streets!! I have a nice helmet, reflective strips on the back pack. I don't have a mirror, that is a good idea. I think I will get some gloves tonight on the way home.

 

[Spud]

3.5miles one way for me too!
I have a single speed road bike I set up with a rack/bag on the back.

I sometimes go in at 3 or 4 in the am and it is pitch black. I see deer all the time and coming soon in the spring the skunks are out...I sometimes see upwards of 6 deer and the same number of skunks, gotta avoid those. I once came really close to getting broadsided by a deer with a rack and all. Scared the bejebus out of me.

 

[scottm]

Gloves are nice for padding and to protect your hands in crashes. I like full-finger gloves, I've been left with bleeding fingers after too many accidents.

The deer are spooky, sometimes they just stand there in front of me, I've nearly hit a few. I love my helmet light, but deer don't reflect much light unless they're looking at me. And if they are, they don't move 'till I'm close enough they could do some damage. Are you sure some of those skunks aren't cats? The woods are full of them here.

Biggest danger is cars, usually pulling out in front of me. I guess they don't judge my speed and distance very well with one light, I always run two lights up front. One on the helmet, one flasher on the handlebar seems to work. And stay off bike paths and sidewalks, most of my crashes have been cars cutting across them without looking or caring.

 

[HR-OLIFANT]

I rode for a few years a short mile one way. The MB ride was bad on the back after a day of hard labor, so I got a cruiser, a Townie made by electra. It is outfitted with paniers, mini ape hanger handle bars, BRIGHT flashing rear light and a very bright ni-cad powered riding light up front. From a distance, many confused me for the local police. Sometimes I wish work were closer again....

 

[Spud]

Gloves are nice for padding and to protect your hands in crashes. I like full-finger gloves, I've been left with bleeding fingers after too many accidents.

The deer are spooky, sometimes they just stand there in front of me, I've nearly hit a few. I love my helmet light, but deer don't reflect much light unless they're looking at me. And if they are, they don't move 'till I'm close enough they could do some damage. Are you sure some of those skunks aren't cats? The woods are full of them here.

Biggest danger is cars, usually pulling out in front of me. I guess they don't judge my speed and distance very well with one light, I always run two lights up front. One on the helmet, one flasher on the handlebar seems to work. And stay off bike paths and sidewalks, most of my crashes have been cars cutting across them without looking or caring.

No they are definitely skunks...can smell them as you ride past on a still morning. I travel light so no light for me except a very small cateye front light and a blinking rear. The skunks around here, (CT) they dig up grubs in peoples yards, mine as well. My dog got sprayed twice now...always fun at 3 in the morning to have to clean up your dog from a skunk spraying incident.

I see maybe 1 or 2 cars in the am, sometime none at all due to my very early commute. Plus I go from the burbs toward a more rural area that is farmlands.

 

[JONNYFJ]

I have been riding my mountain bike 3 or 4 days a week to school and work for 6 years. I love the ride, its a little over 6 miles to work and about 4 miles to school. I rode my bike all though high school as well. You don't really think about, but you are doing yourself a favor as well as the environment. I am from Seattle and there is hundreds of people that ride to work. I prefer a mountain bike over a road bike because you have a suspension and you can take short cuts.

 

[Spud]

I have been riding my mountain bike 3 or 4 days a week to school and work for 6 years. I love the ride, its a little over 6 miles to work and about 4 miles to school. I rode my bike all though high school as well. You don't really think about, but you are doing yourself a favor as well as the environment. I am from Seattle and there is hundreds of people that ride to work. I prefer a mountain bike over a road bike because you have a suspension and you can take short cuts.

, can short cut on a road bike too...
I have some cyclocross experience and am a MTB'er at heart.

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

3 mi each way. I had lot's of close calls with a cheapie headlight, those stopped when I got a good one.

I also use my MTB as a shuttle rig

Later,
Butt

 

[mot]

5 or 15 miles one way, depending on the location of my work site.

I ride my old Paramount MTB with skinnier road bike tires.
I like them a lot as they seem to be (a bit) lighter and also smoother on the road.

But I've had to deal with somre flat tires as well.

I love riding though.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

 

[tonkota]

I hope to ride all summer and I would love to lose about 20#. I don't own a scale, so I guess if I have to wear a belt I'm doing better.

How do you guys learn to pedal in a circle with clips? I've been trying, but I forget when my legs are burning. That seems like a pretty hard thing to get used to.

 

[scottm]

I flatted a bunch of times one summer, then changed to Specialized Armadillo tires, kevlar belted. They have a smooth center rib, and hold 80 psi, but they're a bit heavy. Narrower would've been better, but I did hit a lot of sand when I rode the railroad tracks on a shortcut. I ran studded tires in the winter, I don't know how I rode without them for so many winters. I'm running some very narrow, high-pressure Specialized tires now for road riding, fun.

 

[Spud]

I hope to ride all summer and I would love to lose about 20#. I don't own a scale, so I guess if I have to wear a belt I'm doing better.

How do you guys learn to pedal in a circle with clips? I've been trying, but I forget when my legs are burning. That seems like a pretty hard thing to get used to.

As you make the rotation with your foot, imagine there is some dog s*** on the sole of your shoe and between the 9 o'clock and 6 o'clock position you move your ankle as though you are scraping off your sole.

Higher cadence, (should feel slightly too fast), helps. And basically focus on being as smooth as possible so that every part of the circles rotation is even pressure.

If you can master this, it will make you loads more efficient which will in effect make you faster and also add to your endurance, (cause' you wont be as inefficient). Always focus on this and try to think smooth smooth. Eventually you will come to a point where it is a natural rythm for your legs and muscle memory will take over.

If you dont get it smooth and remain a masher, muscle memory will perpetuate that...Which you do not want. Good luck.

 

[KingBeeIII]

Without a doubt, I need to get my fat ass back on the bike. I rode it on a regular basis a few years back when I worked days, just over 6 miles one way to work, and love it, felt great, wasn't so F'n huge. I work a weird schedule now, the trip there is early afternoon and the trip back is in the middle of the night. My biggest hesitation, other than laziness, is having no way to avoid the ghetto on the way home at night. I guess, I could buy a baton in the event I couldn't get past any problems.

 

[scottm]

I hope to ride all summer and I would love to lose about 20#. I don't own a scale, so I guess if I have to wear a belt I'm doing better.

How do you guys learn to pedal in a circle with clips? I've been trying, but I forget when my legs are burning. That seems like a pretty hard thing to get used to.

Pedal with one leg, you'll feel where you're not putting effort into the circle. Keep your heels down. By "clips" do you mean with a strap? Or step-in clips that lock you in 'till you turn your heel out? I've been riding with step-in pedals since Look came out with the first ones decades ago. I like my Specialized SPD system, there are some others that are great. Dont' get cheap ones, I tried that, could hardly get out when I needed to, popped out when I didn't want to.

 

[tonkota]

Pedal with one leg, you'll feel where you're not putting effort into the circle. Keep your heels down. By "clips" do you mean with a strap? Or step-in clips that lock you in 'till you turn your heel out? I've been riding with step-in pedals since Look came out with the first ones decades ago. I like my Specialized SPD system, there are some others that are great. Dont' get cheap ones, I tried that, could hardly get out when I needed to, popped out when I didn't want to.

I can't afford the shoes just yet for "real" clipless pedals. I have the plastic straps.

 

[mkaustin]

I used to ride in a previous lifetime. Back in high school my 10-speed was my freedom. I rode everywhere.

Now it's 12 miles between home and work. Only a 30ft difference from start to finish. But there are 880ft of decent and 910ft of assent.
Most grades are less than 4%, but there are a couple of 7% and one 10.5% that is almost 2000ft long and another one that is 5.6% for about 3000ft. I'm not cut out for this kind of torture any more. Not to mention the a$$h#@@s that use the shoulder as their private lane to pass everyone else.

I'll leave that type of riding to Lance.

 

[Fast Eddy]

I ride 26 miles one way, but not too often any more. I've done it five days in a week in the past. I take CalTrain part of the way home, so it's only about 10 miles of riding. I missed it a couple times and had to do the whole ride on the way home too. At the end of the day you get pretty close to running out of energy.

My bike is a '90s Ibis Steel road frame converted to fixed gear; 53:19. It makes a mostly-flat ride more interesting.

 

[hammer1]

I rode my bike to work for years before I became self-employed. 3 miles each way, most along the transit rail tracks next to an old mill pond. Nice ride, even in the winter.
I would go by the siding where the passenger car graveyard was, and every moring, I would see the homeless coming out of the cars to start their day...sometimes i would even see little wisps of smoke coming out of the cars from the cooking