Everyday commuting? How?

[ian74]

@dasgeh 120012 wrote:

You’ve gotten a lot of good advice, but one question: why are you doing this?

Depending on your answer, one solution may be an ebike. Some here call those of us who use ebikes “cheaters”, but we’re still out there in the fresh air, not in a car/on the Metro, with the vast majority of the benefits that everyone without a motor has. It’s just a bit easier.

I do it because I enjoy my riding, and its probably the only type of exercise I seem to be able to enjoy on a routine basis. Mostly for my health. If I don’t exercise, I tend to gain weight pretty fast (which says probably too much about my eating habits)

With the new baby I don’t have lots of time in the evening and weekends for those long leisure rides so my commute is (for the near future) my outlet for riding. An ebike would be nice of course, but budgetary restrictions are in full effect at home these days.

[dasgeh]

@ian74 120023 wrote:

I do it because I enjoy my riding, and its probably the only type of exercise I seem to be able to enjoy on a routine basis. Mostly for my health. If I don’t exercise, I tend to gain weight pretty fast (which says probably too much about my eating habits)

With the new baby I don’t have lots of time in the evening and weekends for those long leisure rides so my commute is (for the near future) my outlet for riding. An ebike would be nice of course, but budgetary restrictions are in full effect at home these days.

Makes total sense. And I meant to say in the first post: congrats on the baby. It’s a wild ride.

[PotomacCyclist]

You can also shift to an easier gear. You might be using too tough a gear and grinding away at a slow cadence. That will wreck your legs if you do that all the time, especially if you are doing a lot more distance than you’re used to.

As for the diet, you should clean that up a bit too, if it’s causing you problems. If not for you, then for your new baby. A bad diet can still damage your health, even if you exercise.

I learned early on that a poor diet makes exercise more difficult. A high-sugar/high-saturated fat diet raises the level of inflammation in the body, making it tougher to deal with physical stress. It also prolongs recovery from physical exertion. Both exercise and nutrition are important for long-term health, especially once you get past your early 20s.

Dark green vegetables and unsaturated fats (nuts, avocados, oily fish like salmon, olive oil, etc.) can help to lower inflammation. Protein is necessary for repair to damaged muscles and other soft tissues. Fiber keeps your heart and GI tract healthy. Water makes everything run better. Your diet doesn’t have to be 100% “clean” but if it’s 40 or 50% junk, then that will cause problems.

I’d guess that your diet might be contributing to your muscle soreness. You could also be doing too much, too soon.

[Crickey7]

I’ve resisted Strava because I think it would bring out my competitive/obsessive qualities. If you find you’re hammering when you should be toodling, you might want to disconnect from the devices that feed that urge in yourself. Or make up new challenges, like you have to ride segment x at exactly y mph average.

[04forlife]

I’m also trying to increase my frequency and so far, multi-modal is the way to do it. Riding up Wisconsin from M St to almost tenleytown would kill my legs for several days and I could barely walk around the office. I now proudly put the bike on the front of a metrobus and enjoy the a/c all the way up the hill. This allowed me to get to 3x a week, ~6 miles in the AM, ~9 in the PM. After a couple of weeks, my next step might be riding to the metro on Tuesday/Thursday (~2 miles one way).

My personal rules is that anything that makes me sore more than 1 day is just too much exercise and will lead to injury and then burnout. Here’s looking at you, rec league soccer.

Best of luck!

[Slosurf]

I am 50 miles round trip (Darnestown to DC) and I have been doing 2-3 days/week for the past year (much less in winter months when daylight is an issue). Last summer, I was too tired on the weekends for an additional ride. This spring/summer I have been able to add a 40-70 mile ride in on the weekends. I am also averaging 2-3 mph faster average speed a year into bike commuting. It is very rewarding to see the progress in speed and stamina. Even more important, nothing nicer than riding into DC on a cool summer morning just after sunrise….

[hoppy]

34 miles a day?

Speaking for myself, I couldn’t handle that much commitment of energy. Or time.

I consider myself lucky – I have a bike commute of 6.3 miles each way, and a fairly relaxing safe route although there are some tense sections. My route takes me around 30 minutes which I think is just right — not too long to be drudgery, but long enough to provide a good amount of exercise. For reference, I’m in my mid-40s and in pretty good shape (thanks to daily bike commuting for 3 years). Maybe I could do a longer bike commute when I was younger, but I wouldn’t want to go much longer than what I have now.

[Terpfan]

@04forlife 120030 wrote:

I’m also trying to increase my frequency and so far, multi-modal is the way to do it. Riding up Wisconsin from M St to almost tenleytown would kill my legs for several days and I could barely walk around the office. I now proudly put the bike on the front of a metrobus and enjoy the a/c all the way up the hill. This allowed me to get to 3x a week, ~6 miles in the AM, ~9 in the PM. After a couple of weeks, my next step might be riding to the metro on Tuesday/Thursday (~2 miles one way).

My personal rules is that anything that makes me sore more than 1 day is just too much exercise and will lead to injury and then burnout. Here’s looking at you, rec league soccer.

Best of luck!

I haven’t been doing full weeks this summer, but that’s more because of travel, some bike issues, and other committments (also, BAFS motivates me more than nice weather apparently). I have this same end route and don’t mind it too much mainly because the elevation change is broken up some from where I start on MVT. Maybe I cheat a little though because I’ll switch from 33rd to Volta to 35th. For some reason I find that climbing much more preferrable to 33rd to Wisconsin. It’s the same height, I just think the gradient is more forgiving this route.

My bigger annoyance as my ride home. It’s less elevation change overall, but almost all of it comes in the form of like two hills. And really, it’s only the one hill from Ft. Hunt up Beacon Hill, that makes me go argh. I feel slow as can be going up it and have been passed before, but then I remind myself that I’ve already climbed 600 odd feet in the day and ridden 30 miles by that point so it’s fair to be tired doing it.

To the OP, the suggestions on here are all viable. I’ve never done the electrolytes thing, but I do find water to be critical, especially when it’s really muggy out. The other thing is if I ride a full week or nearly full week, I won’t ride at all on the weekend or if I do, it’s only a mile or two doing errands. Your legs do need a rest period. I always feel tired on the Tuesday ride too, but there is usually this second wind come Tuesday afternoon/Wed morning and the sluggish feeling doesn’t come back until Friday. Chasing those trophies will wear you out and is often a fool’s errand given I’m convinced some of those trophies were set by folks on e-bikes or they’re Cat 1 riders–take your pick (I mean, I can’t fathom how else someone climbs Beacon Hill Rd hill in 1 minute and 30 seconds when that segment is like 150′ elevation gain with an average grade of 6% and a section or two near 8% plus it’s rare to have any movement going into it although I suppose that would help).

[bentbike33]

@Terpfan 122774 wrote:

Chasing those trophies will wear you out and is often a fool’s errand given I’m convinced some of those trophies were set by folks on e-bikes or they’re Cat 1 riders–take your pick.

After a recent ride, I left the GPS app on my phone running, then drove to a friend’s house. After posting that “ride” to Strava I had a couple King-of-the-Mountain trophies until I edited the ride to cut off the part in the car. I’m sure this is a common thing as it would explain the top time Strava used to show (before Strava declared the segment “Hazardous”) for the west-bound 14th street bridge crossing, which translated to 58 mph.

[Tim Kelley]

@bentbike33 122785 wrote:

After a recent ride, I left the GPS app on my phone running, then drove to a friend’s house. After posting that “ride” to Strava I had a couple King-of-the-Mountain trophies until I edited the ride to cut off the part in the car. I’m sure this is a common thing as it would explain the top time Strava used to show (before Strava declared the segment “Hazardous”) for the west-bound 14th street bridge crossing, which translated to 58 mph.

It’s a constant struggle of flagging other people’s rides who leave their apps on. It’s a regular occurrence to have that email notification coming in saying you’ve lost the KOM by 17+ seconds, amirite Hans???

[rcannon100]

I never realized defending your KOMs was such hard work

[Tim Kelley]

@rcannon100 122787 wrote:

I never realized defending your KOMs was such hard work

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Extra mouse clicks? Ain’t got time for that.

[Terpfan]

I just wish I had KOMs to defend. I suppose I could get some by creating new segments like back along my street, ha.

I can routinely post in top 10-15% times, but some folks are just really fast on the trails that make a 22-23mph avg on a flat MVT seem puny.

[hozn]

@Tim Kelley 122786 wrote:

amirite Hans???

Yeah, it is rough. I look at the name; if I don’t recognize it, I assume it needs to be flagged. Of course, if it is Tim or Jason or any number of others, I know it is just over. Le sigh.

(I don’t really work on KOMs anymore, though I will still flag the folks driving on the ones I still happen to have. And I will go get Tower climb back from Sean and Jay Miller from Nate; those are both within reach still.)

[rcannon100]

If it comes up as this guy…. FLAG IT! I know him. He’s a total poseur.

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