Cycling to work an impossible goal for me?

[pipione]

Hey everyone. I bought a new bike recently. My goal is to cycle to work and back, for weight loss. I work 12 hour shifts, so do you think this is an unattainable goal? I've practiced the route and it takes 50 minutes to cycle to work and 40 minutes to cycle back

 

[MotownBikeBoy]

Unattainable - only you know that. If you think you can do it, you probably can. It's not a lengthy ride, probably very "doable". Remember, you will get hot and sweaty - do you have a way to clean up once you are there?

 

[maydog]

12 hours is a long shift, but riding can be a good way to wake up and also unwind from a day of work. Maybe commit to doing it just a day or two a week - or carpool in and ride home or some variation thereof.

 

[RonSwanson]

Definitely not impossible. I agree with the post above me about maybe trying it a day or two at a time before committing to the full week of riding.

 

[pipione]

Originally Posted by MotownBikeBoy
Unattainable - only you know that. If you think you can do it, you probably can. It's not a lengthy ride, probably very "doable". Remember, you will get hot and sweaty - do you have a way to clean up once you are there?

There are showers at work, so I guess I have no excuses not to do this.
Thanks everyone for the replies

 

[Motobecane11]

Go for it! I love the days when I ride. If I plan accordingly and make the right preparations, I can make my 13-16 mile ride 5 days a week even despite a constantly changing work schedule and wild Texas weather. Its all about making up your mind you want to ride, and then taking the steps to make it happen. Writing.g this out makes me see that I've been a little lax and lazy in this area, tomorrow seems like a good day to ride!

 

[Clairelouise84]

It's a long shift for sure but if you want to do it then you will find a way, if you don't want to do it then you will find an excuse I guess. Only you know what you are capapble of and what your energy levels are after such a long shift but maybe you should try it once to see how it leaves you feeling? It can't hurt (too much)

 

[BikeBikeBikeBike]

I have a similar situation.
I work 12 hour shifts on rotation. 4 days of 8am-8pm, 4 days off, 4 days 8pm-8am, 4 days off and repeat.
My ride is 25 minutes (downhill woohoo) to work and 35-40ish minutes (yea uphill ) home.
For my first year I drove to work everyday and only rode for enjoyment on my days off.
Then I got serious about my health and my wallet and decided to make my hobby of cycling really pay off.
I started just a day or two here and there and only on my day shift. Since I have to pay to park only during the day, I had a huge incentive to cut out driving on that shift. Soon enough I started riding in on all my 8am-8pm shifts.
Then my car needed some work and was scheduled to be in the shop during my 4 night shifts. I had limited options. There was no public transit options that would work for me (2 transfers and an hour of time EACH WAY.) Cabs are $20-$30 EACH WAY. Didn't want to bum rides from my girl or my roommates the whole week. So I made the decision to try and ride my way in for my night shifts. Everyone thought I was insane. They told me I would be too tired. They told me it was too dangerous.
Well they were all 100% completely wrong. I crushed that week, and many weeks after that. I ride to work now for a good 75% of my shifts.

You know what? Riding my bike to work has been one of the greatest changes I could have made in my life. I have more money (I am averaging a $40-$50 gas fill up PER MONTH now) and I am in great shape. My days off I can do whatever I want and not worry about making sure I spend X hours trying to stay in shape. I automatically stay in shape just going to and from work.
I still drive to work when the weather is crummy.
So give it a try! Start small and work your way up.
When you are rich and fit you will thank yourself.

 

[Jcycle]

I think it is a great goal and you should go for it! If you are prepared and physically fit enough it is a great idea. We have a very long bike trail for commuting were I live. It runs north south and it is about 18 miles long. I always wanted to use it but I work from home now so I might take it just for fun.

 

[BikeBikeBikeBike]

I think it is a great goal and you should go for it! If you are prepared and physically fit enough it is a great idea. We have a very long bike trail for commuting were I live. It runs north south and it is about 18 miles long. I always wanted to use it but I work from home now so I might take it just for fun.

Hey J so you have a dedicated bike trail that runs from your dwelling to your work? You have not even tried it, once? That seems like quite the waste my friend!
I mean a 60KM round trip commute is a little intense. I would more than likely be a little hesitant to make that trek as well. But perhaps you will get that perfect day where conditions are just right and then you can let us all know how it went.

 

[Catsyo]

I don't think it's unattainable. If anything, it could possibly make your job's long hours more bearable. I had a friend who used to work 12 hour shifts who decided to commute to work via skateboard. He said it made getting to and from work more fun. Plus, like other people said exercise is good for you. It's a great way to kill some stress.

You also have to realize that just because you might normally commute to work via bike, you aren't necessarily commuting to doing that every day. Being able to take days off from the bike commute when you don't feel like it will keep you from being burned out on your rides.

 

[pinkride]

Not impossible, but that's entirely up to you to be honest. If you are not getting physically tired at work, then I guess you will have no problem doing that. Just try it for a few day and see how it goes. That's how you will know for sure.

 

[Damien Lee]

I'm someone that has put in 18 hour work days, with great physical stress on my body way into my late thirties, and all it's done is keep me in great shape. Yeah, you should definitely go for it. After a couple of months it will be as easy as pie, to ride to work and back without even feeling tired. The body is a well-crafted machine which adjusts itself to all sorts of conditions.

 

[Corzhens]

I envy your position there that you can ride to work and back home. That's a pretty good way of losing extra pounds since I have been gaining when I stopped riding. And with that 40 to 50 minutes of riding, you will surely sweat it out especially during summer when the sun is hot. But on the contrary, wouldn't you be spent when you reach your workplace? And that's beside the dirt and wet clothes (although it wouldn't matter if you can take a shower at your workplace before starting work).

 

[tgthewriter1]

I think that is a good idea. I recommend that you get a bike with skinny tires. The bikes with skinny tires require less work and they can move faster. You should definitely get a mountain bike if your an adult. Do not ride a BMX bike.

 

[cycle93]

You should definitely try it out!

I used to work 8-10 hours in retail, standing all the time and to cycle home after a long shift was always a good refreshment. Do you have good bike tracks and paths on your way to work or you have to bike on the sidewalk / with cars?

 

[Froze]

Yeah you do have a very long work day, but I do agree commuting to work could be done, but I would allow about an extra 15 minutes to your ride time getting to work just in case you have a flat...which obviously means you need to be sure you're very good at fixing flats. I also agree that riding the bike home would be a good way to unwind but if riding your bike at home at night keeps you too wound up to sleep you might not be able to ride it to work if it hinders your ability to work or ride. I think in your case the ride home should be at an easy pace so as not to get too wound up, which is probably the case since it takes longer to get to work then it is to go home which probably means you have hills in your favor on the trip home.

Make sure you have really good lighting front and rear and use them coming and going regardless if daytime or not.

 

[Veater]

I have cycled to and from 12 hour shifts at work, it's definitely realistic If anything, I always got home feeling very proud of myself for working so hard and then cycling home too. Follow the advice shared by those above and keep a bit of emergency cash on you in case you need to take a taxi or bus one day. Let us know how you get on!

 

[9lines]

It can't be an impossible goal. You should continue cycling to work since you'll get used to it. If you are finding cycling to be hard, buy a foldable bike which you can easily carry whenever you'll have to board a bus. Remember that practise makes perfect and you should never give up.

 

[hades_leae]

Hey everyone. I bought a new bike recently. My goal is to cycle to work and back, for weight loss. I work 12 hour shifts, so do you think this is an unattainable goal? I've practiced the route and it takes 50 minutes to cycle to work and 40 minutes to cycle back

It's possible, I did it, and my job was 1.5 hours away from my house. It was 16 miles, and I did it on my BMX bike daily for 3 months. I worked 10 hours, 6 days a week and I had no problems accept the fact that I would be really sweaty.

Sometimes if I did not want to ride the bike, I would pay someone at work to take me about half way because it was on another city, and I did not want to be inconvenient to them.

It worked out for me. It's just time consuming. I never ran out of energy believe it or not, most of the time your riding, you not really doing anything but sitting there enjoying the breeze, and only peddle when you need to.