CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Deliberately making the commute harder

(26 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from splitshift

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I've been trying out some different routes lately, and hit upon a possible new favourite. Yesterday, trying to shelter from the wind, I headed up the Royal Mile (I'd judged the wind direction reasonably well as I got up with hardly any headwind, and it definitely was there as I had to pedal to make any progress down Johnstone Terrace).

    Anyway, what a great route! Feels as if I'm getting a workout, and a lot less traffic than some other routes (helped by the road being closed for repair to setts between the Bridges and Jeffrey Street - I didn't even know there were badgers living there). Leave ten minutes earlier and I could put Arthur's Seat into the route...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. miggy_magic
    Member

    For me, i've fallen into the trap of becoming slightly obsessive about making my commute as efficient as possible: the shortest and fastest route, thinner tyres, SPDs, etc. I'm losing sight of the original aims when I took up commuting by bike 3 years ago, which were to actually enjoy my commute, enjoy the surroundings and most importantly improve my fitness.

    Anth, I think there's a lot to be said for your approach. It's reminded me to leave a little earlier in the morning and vary my route.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. wingpig
    Member

    How did you manage to go along the closed bit?

    If I have time I add on some extra ascent for extra exercise with the round-the-side-of-the-crags bit from the Parliament to the RCP or go up the Canongate (and possibly up Market Street too) rather than just along Holyrood Road and the Cowgate, even though there's a constant slight upward slope to them both. The extra uphill bits generally result in extra downhill bits towards the end of the route which allow some wind-aided cooling-off. I've gone all the way up the Royal Mile a few times but generally start thinking half-way along that it's too cobbly to be worth it, especially if there are morning delivery vehicles blocking access to the smoother gutter (in which it's OK to ride when there is little other traffic to witness it).

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. mgj
    Member

    @chdot , can you get in to Yehuda today? My browser is warning me about malicious content and I can't access it at work.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    "I can't access it at work"

    might be your answer.

    Fine on iPhone and Mac.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. steveo
    Member

    I rarely change my route in the morning even when we moved office i still stuck to the same route for ages. Its not so much efficiency as avoiding too much thought in the morning.

    My evening runs though I often ride up to Balerno or Colinton via Merchiston. Some days I just do a couple of laps of Arthurs Seat just to remind my self how unfit I am.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "How did you manage to go along the closed bit?"

    I got off and walked along the pavement. :P

    Posted 13 years ago #

  9. Min
    Member

    I have enough hard work on my normal commute. :-)
    I have my "long" route which is much easier but takes twice as long. I am going to be factoring in a ultra long commute as my Coast to Coast training hots up.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  10. Dave
    Member

    Think a little bigger, Anth?

    Posted 13 years ago #

  11. kaputnik
    Moderator

    On a nice day, if I've been able to haul myself out of bed earlier than usual, I do like to make my commute "longer". However that doesn't necessarily make it "harder" I don't think.

    I think the weather (i.e. wind) generally takes care of making it harder, as I basically ride a straight east/west line, if there's a headwind it will generally be for the whole ride.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  12. gembo
    Member

    I have been going in via Kirknewton/Ratho and back via Heartattack Hill which goes up from Long Dalmahoy Road to Lang Whang. Also has a closed to cars section where new lamp posts are going in but can cycle through. Or up the WoL. My regular route now also not direct - through Heriot Watt. If I am pushed for time or very wet etc will revert back to direct route through Wester Hailes. I feel less fit since moved office and halved commute. Bike lasts longer. I have started running, not good.

    I use Royal Mile during day to get in and out to Waverley Court - also Cowgate - which is OK in middle of day but a shocker of an evening.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  13. ruggtomcat
    Member

    My recent experience has led me to recommend a trailer and 50kg of luggage for training purposes, my maximum for a day is about 75km but it feels twice that.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  14. crowriver
    Member

    Sorry for cross-posting but I extended my commute by roughly 18 km yesterday. Instead of boarding the train at Dundee, I cycled to St. Andrews via Tentsmuir forest, then back to Leuchars for the train back to Edinburgh.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  15. crowriver
    Member

    Sorry, I meant 18 miles! (Doh!)

    Posted 13 years ago #

  16. amir
    Member

    Three quarters of UK workers 'half an hour from work'

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13627199

    Posted 13 years ago #

  17. amir
    Member

    And report is here
    http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1101

    Posted 13 years ago #

  18. crowriver
    Member

    @amir: Yeah, but that's less than 30 minutes by car, mostly. I also wonder if that is a subjective 'less than 30 minutes' as opposed to a real one...

    From the article: "Over half of Britons outside the capital have a work journey time of under 15 minutes, compared to only 18% in London. In the last quarter of 2009, 71% of UK workers drove to work by car. Of that, 76% of those outside London drove to work, compared to 35% in the capital, half of whom use public transport. In the rest of the UK, 9% of workers aged 16-64 use buses, trains or a metro system."

    Of course, the sheer quantity and variety of public transport in London bears no comparison to the rest of the UK. Still, I do wonder about that 15 minutes figure outside London. Unless you have a reserved company parking space, drivers in Edinburgh will drive for 15 minutes, then spend around the same time trying to find somewhere to park!

    Frankly it would be more useful to see the actual distances people commuted rather than the times they think it takes them to travel. It's a fair bet that most people only 'commute' a handful of miles. Easily walked or cycled, but not necessarily in 15 minutes...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  19. chdot
    Admin

    "more useful to see the actual distances people commuted rather than the times they think it takes them to travel"

    Yes.

    There was a man on The Woman Who Stops Traffic series on Channel 4 who thought that it would take 3/4 of an hour to walk his daughter to school. It was a mile.

    He was quite pleasantly surprised when he tried it - not just that it was quicker than he imagined.

    I was involved with Safe Routes to School at Sciennes a while ago. One parent drove a child from the Grange and then went to work at the (old) Royal Infirmary in Lauriston Place.

    He could have walked that more quickly!

    Changing people's travel habits is complicated - not least because of assumptions they make which may not be right!

    Some people also seem to work on a simple binary system - either take the car every day or bus/bike every day. Suggest 'doing it one day a week' - sometimes a light bulb comes on, but for other people it's a realisation that they like their car more than, their health, saving money, the 'environment' etc.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  20. Dave
    Member

    15 is very optimistic. In a 30 zone, it gives you a range of 7.5 miles which might well be average, but that assumes that you get in your car, get up to speed and then stop and get out at the other end.

    It invariably took me 20-25 minutes to do 4 miles, so to manage 15 minutes I'd have expected 2.5-3 mile commute at most...

    Posted 13 years ago #

  21. chdot
    Admin

    "15 is very optimistic. In a 30 zone"

    20 is plenty -

    http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=2931#post-32629

    Posted 13 years ago #

  22. chdot
    Admin

    "
    Future iPhone software could provide dynamic, GPS-enabled calendar alerts and alarms that could identify a user's location and offer relevant information, such as estimated travel time.
    "

    !!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  23. kaputnik
    Moderator

    Three quarters of UK workers 'half an hour from work'

    Why are they using time instead of distance?

    Nonsense.

    I am anywhere 20 minutes through to 40 minutes from work depending on weather, time of day, route, number of lights that turn red, roadworks, traffic, number of taxis that try and run me over.

    I'm always 6 miles from work though.

    Those who commute longer earn more

    What? No. If I doubled the length of my journey to work, I don't earn more money! However, people who earn more may have longer commutes. It seems to be trying to link earnings to commuting time, like it's somehow advantageous that we all try and live as far away from the office as possible and spend as much time as possible driving to and from work.

    Obviously longer journeys cost more, therefore you need to earn more to pay for them. If you earn more, you can afford to live where you want, not just where you can afford to live!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  24. wingpig
    Member

    "It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs."

    Dave's earlier thread made me wonder whether people generally think of the routes they take more in terms of maps (pictured and considered in plan view) or in terms of ground-level first-person-PoV routing.

    I've noticed other people less inclined to walk (or walk as quickly as me) tend to have very different ideas of how far away other parts of the city are, perhaps as they've unconsciously adding in parking-space-finding time or are overestimating walking time due to unfamiliarity with walking routes and speeds.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  25. crowriver
    Member

    @wingpig I've noticed other people less inclined to walk (or walk as quickly as me) tend to have very different ideas of how far away other parts of the city are

    The classic example of this is London. I used to commute by tube, and the impression is that places are far away because of all the stops being equidistant on the schematic map. When I looked at a real map, I realised it was far quicker to walk in central London (cycling was still damn dangerous then in pre-congestion charge times). Basically I had been walking a lot of it anyway, mostly down underground corridors in tube stations!

    Posted 13 years ago #

  26. splitshift
    Member

    making the commute harder,on my way to work, almost all downhill, I go for crow flies attitude. On the way home its different, after sitting in a lorry for 12 hours the last thing you want is a sudden steep hill ! Ice house brae isnt long, isnt steep and isnt hard, normally, but with about 5 mins to heat up muscles ,its a killer ! Head along and up through the cemetry, which is longer and steeper and the legs can spin no probs.If its not too dark I have been known to detour along the union canal, just for a wee bit of me time!

    Posted 13 years ago #

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