centralmail said:
I seem to be stuck at 25 minutes for my 4 mile one-way commute
What do you all advise that I can do to bring it down to around 20 minutes?
Thanks for tips and suggestions...
My theory on the whole damn thing is get out of bed 5 mins earlier. Seriously, my commute is about the same distance and time as yours but I'm not doing this to qualify for the next Tour.
What does your 25 mins include? Is it from the minute you walk out of the house to the minute you walk into work? If so, you're neglecting the few mins either side of the actual ride that are associated with locking/unlocking bike, loading/unloading cargo systems? Don't be "unfair" to yourself by incorporating times like that into your ride and then kicking yourself in the ass for not shaving your ride time.
And what's this ride about? Heavy duty time trialling...well, your muscles are cold and tight when you climb on because you're not warmed up. The point I'm trying to make is that I think it's important for cyclists to look at what they are doing and why they are doing it and to not load down every ride with unrealistic expectations.
The purpose of the commute is to get you to work. If you're getting to work, it's a successful venture. I stack these little successes up to motivate myself for bigger projects ... a 50 km weekend bike ride. Next summer I want to do a century. I guess what I'm saying to you, with the caveat that free advice is usually worth what it costs, is don't try to load every single biking goal and ambition you might have onto your morning commute.
Instead, get out of bed 5 mins earlier and dammit, enjoy those squirrels. Look around. It's the half hour of your day when no one is banging on your brain. Nobody's demanding anything of you. No one needs another chunk of your time. It's your half hour. Yours. Take it. Enjoy it. Relish it. Savour it. And above all, don't try and shortchange yourself.
PS: I've probably shaved a couple of minutes off the total time over the past 2 years but one thing that cycle commuting has taught me is to stop measuring the quality of my life in nano-seconds. It just gives me time to stop on the pedestrian bridge for a minute to 90 secs to watch the high performance rowing crews on the river. Man, they're beautiful to watch. It makes my day.