So what's your regular journey to work like?

[bigredduke]

I live in a village and I quite like my drive/ride into work. It’s about 11 miles and takes me about 25 minutes. I have been using this route during the working week for nearly 20 years. The village main street is usually busy in the morning with school and commuter traffic. The road out of the village quickly climbs up a steep-ish tree-lined road for about 1 mile. There is a sharp rh bend which is difficult to get right in 4 wheels or on two. I pass a couple of radio masts on the left of the road at the highest point (about 160 metres above sea level where it’s often freezing in Winter). About 500 yards on and there is a great view of the Humber Bridge and the river on your right, and on a clear day you can see to the mouth of the Humber estuary and the North Sea beyond. Then it’s a steadily descending unclassified road with a couple of quality bends with identifiable apex’s for about 8 miles. If there are no slow cars about then 70/80 is easily achieved at a couple of points (I imagine). There is a rather tricky blind left-hander which should be taken at no more than 40mph and then down through some trees with first a right then a left hander which is short but sweeping. Left turn at the junction (always cars facing you wanting to turn right so watch out).
A fast bit of straightish road past the golf club on the left and then into a 40mph limit for a mile or so through a tiny village. A short stretch of 60mph road before the 30 mph limit in the village of Cottingham (which is now more of a suburb) and a straight bit of road for about 1 mile to a ‘T’ junction. Lots of school traffic, pedestrians and cyclists. This usually takes me about 15 minutes to this point. The rest is a series of 2 mini roundabouts, railway crossing, another small roundabout a road past some rather nice houses a right turn and then a section of road separated by a central grass verge planted with trees for about 1 mile. All 30mph. More school traffic and sometimes there is a bit of a queue building up at this point as there are traffic lights further down the road. I turn right up the other side of the carriageway for about 50 yards and turn left into the college drive. Stupidly large speedbumps to negotiate and then I set about finding a parking space (easy on the bike, a bit trickier in the car). I teach in a sixth-form college and our bike-riding Principal (pedal variety) doesn’t have a car so doesn’t see parking space as important. Park up and a short walk to the building where I am based and the day begins (about 8.45). What’s your commute like? :)or:grump:

[Scotty]

poo from start to finish

20 mph crawl out of estate over speed bumps , a 30 mph tootle down the bank over traffic lights to the A1

its so handy being so close and yet there's no road noise at home

this is the poo bit 10 miles of A1 at about 50 mph with pulsing traffic

get to the A19 turn-off and everyone cuts you up to make the turn off get to the roundabout and half the people in the RH lane cur across everyone and take the 2nd Left

short bit of dual which turns to single carriageway, speed camera, roundabout, dual, turn off for work

its all straight line stuff and that about all I've done for two years hence I cant actually negotiate a corner any more

the return leg is normally filtering for half the distance or 30 mph on the A1

alternate routes are less fuel efficient and hence don't happen for the commute

[MrsC_772]

A 20 minute walk to the station, 40-45 minutes on South West Trains into Waterloo, and a 25 minute walk to the office (where I puff and pant my way up the stairs to my desk on the 19th floor). :(

Commuting sucks!

Although in theory I could ride my bike into London, I doubt the M3 and then crawling in through the SW London burbs would make anyone's list of top 10 rides, and to be honest, I'm not sure I'm sufficiently with-it every morning and evening to survive London traffic unscathed.

I had a temp job a couple of years ago (pre-Monster) which was about 25 minutes ride from home on my old Bandit. Not a great ride, but a certain amount of smug filtering satisfaction (while watching out for random lane changes by eejits in Audis).

Andy, on the other hand, used to have a job in Woking, which meant his daily commute involved the Mytchett-Pirbright twisties. After a really bad day in the office, he was known to drive most of the way home, turn round and then do another run up and down the Mytchett-Pirbright road!

[Scotty]

umm I did have an interesting commute once from Gateshead to Barnard castle cross country, yes was very interesting but certainly not fuel efficient.

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though I didn't stove my exhaust in every day like

[Yorkie]

2 miles pedaling like chuff down roads covered in mud from the fields!! A bit repetative!

Yorkie

[PDL]

I walk down stairs and turn my laptop on, sometimes i am late if the wife gets to the bathroom first.

[JerryT]

6 miles door to door. A few 30mph suburban roads to negotiate at first, lined with cars and sleepy drivers / late mums on the school run etc. Then get past the local school traffic queue complete with all the usual 8:30am antics and then its a clear run down a 7% hill to a T-junction / mini-roundabout with a blind entry from the rhs - have to watch it there, turn right, one more mini roundabout, turn left, over the level crossing and then the bridge over the Lymington River. Turn Left at the end of the bridge road, and suddenly the traffic (already fairly easy compared to any big town or city) has eased off and its a run of 30 - 40mph back roads (New Forest National Park has introduced a number of new 30mph limits on top of the already restrictive 40mph), turning this way and that for the rest of the way. There's barely one section that's straight for more than 200m where you might safely get to 60. About half way there's a cattle grid and from then on plenty of opportunities to get close and personal with pheasant, horses, cattle, donkeys and whatever else is about - Range Rovers and the occasional school coach - which changes all the time. Deer too, but mostly at night.

[Char]

I can actually get to work quicker on my push bike than I can in the car - its about an 8 minute commute on the bike through town -

[SazzaG]

About 28 miles, with various routes I can take. The fastest is up the A29, cut across country to the A24, north for a few miles, then following the A272 for about 10 miles, a quick jaunt down the A23, then into Burgess Hill.

The more fun route is the A283 from Pulborough to just beyond Steyning, then some nice country roads up to Hickstead.

It's an OK commute - very rarely get significantly held up, and if I take the more fun route, I get some lovely views of the South Downs. I'm still grateful that I'm not doing the daily London train commute that I used to do 10 years ago!

[Paranoid Dave]

walk 15 mins into town via the waterfront. On a good day its pretty, on a bad day it's bitterly cold and miserable.

[buzzbomb]

Out the back door, walk round the side of the house, open the back garage door, BINGO I'm in the man cave, just another day at the office...:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

This retirement lark is a blast...:woot:

[gary tompkins]

I'm only about 3 miles from the office. However our office is right next to the Dartford bridge so at times the journey can be a nightmare. On a good day I'll do the trip in 10 minutes but on a realy bad day it can take over an hour.

[Paivi]

About eight miles, which takes the best part of an hour door-to-door, SW Londinium to the City. Luckily I'm back in the City now after some time wasted at Canary Wharf, so no more Highway to deal with. Londoners know what I'm talking about...

Lift down to the carpark, faff with the chains and specs etc for good five minutes and then hit the road. Apart from a stretch of a couple of hundred meters, it's all 30mph zone. Luckily, half of it is on buslanes, but the bits that aren't, is filtering where I can. Then I ride around for ten minutes trying to find somewhere to park...

Ah, the joys of London!

[Albie]

Mines crap and in a car. bypass motorway bypass traffic traffic traffic.

[animaluk]

North London to Chelsea

Leave Home through Crouch end to hornsey up camden road swear at some twats in german cars up the Marlybone road swear at more people dodge buses cabs and people crossing the road without looking through Hyde Park (Why to horses always **** on the apex of the corners in hyde park ???) down through south ken dodge the chelsea tractors to all the way to the kings road.

On the way back down kings road all the way to victoria st then to parliment square up whitehall round trafalgar sqaure, up charing cross road shout and swear at more people
Then tottenham court road across euston road all the way to camden through camden to kenish town them up junction road back to crouch end

now thats a commute :) takes about 40mins to an hour

[mintyhit]

By 9:15am I am usually on my Monster filtering my way haphazardly along the Essex road to Angel.

I then get negotiate the 19 or so sets of lights between Upper Street and Roseberry Avenue, occasionally engaging some familiar motorcycle commuters with early morning pleasantries – “Morning, nice day today isnt it?” and suchlike.

If I make it through Angel alive I usually like to make sure I am still riding a Ducati by giving it some beans down Roseberry Av – it’s not much of a runway but it is comparatively quiet and lacking suicidal cycle-mentalists.

Then I hit the obstacle course of Clarkenwell and Theobald Road. This is the point when I usually have to stiffen my resolve and ready myself for random pedestrians stepping out between cars, cyclists actively trying to crash in me, no space for filtering and taxis attempting to sandwich me with unnecessary road dominance.

After this horror it is clear sailing all the way down to Holborn and into the safety of my office underground car park.

My commute takes 15min….

/Lazy

[Scott1]

5 minutes from home to the Sun in the Sands Roundabout in SE London, on to the A12, which is usually backed up from the Blackwall Tunnel to Greenwich, filtering for about three miles is a pain but I'm used to it after every day for six years!

Once through the tunnel [how nice does my bike sound going through there every day :)] things are much easier for the next 5 miles to Hackney, it can be quite good fun if there's no traffic. 25-30 mins on the Monster, public transport takes 1 - 2 hours.

One day somebody will work out there is a desperate need for another raod tunnel or a new bridge to join South and North London together, the tunnel traffic has definitly got worse the last few years.

[PDL]

...the man cave...

Man cave? It's more like a Man Chasm you could fit the whole of the MotoGP grid in there.

[Kerry]

Five mins down the round walking and im there. Not far enough to get bike out unless i go on a long detour first. Ha Ha

[Rally]

Three days a week it is a 60 mile haul down the lovely A4 followed by the not so lovely M4, then queue for as long as the first 55 miles took to do the last 5. :(

The other two days, I fall out of bed, walk into the office 3 metres away and crack on with it. :)

[ladybird]

The other two days, I fall out of bed, walk into the office 3 metres away and crack on with it. :)

From what I understand about working from home, it's more about cracking one out than on with it ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk

Not sure if that is just coders or not though.

[ladybird]

Out of bed, bump into things for 10 minutes.
Pills, coffee, dressed and onto bike.
2 miles of avoiding the local school run around the corner.
Wet leaves, puddles and 4x4 avoiding to get to almost the a3.
Burn up the side road possibly in excess of the speed limit but still in 1st, maybe 2nd.
Brake for roundabout of rubbishness.
On to the A3. Camera 1 and avoid more half asleep school muppets.
Get stuck because of people braking for the speed camera that isn't there anymore.
Just get up to a decent speed, then 2 more speed cameras.
Burn a bit more, checking for the hidy policeman, then another speed camera.
Filter all the way up, stop for lights, then another speed camera, then filter all the way round Wandsworth avoiding lane changers on mobiles.
Then the rest of the A3, avoiding cyclists et al.
Burn over London Bridge.
Filter, filter, filter. Swear at lemmingpeds.Grumble at lights. Swear at lemmingpeds.Swear at lemmingpeds.Grumble at lights. Swear at lemmingpeds.Swear at lemmingpeds.Grumble at lights. Swear at lemmingpeds.Swear at lemmingpeds.Grumble at lights. Swear at lemmingpeds.
Park up.
About 45mins

[JerryT]

North London to Chelsea

Leave Home through Crouch end to hornsey ... swear at some twats in german cars... swear at more people ... shout and swear at more people
Then ... back to crouch end

now thats a commute :) ...

...Followed by a well deserved drink to wet your whistle after all the shouting and swearing!! :eyepopping:

[Nonnie]

Depending on which job..

Job 1: Can be going anywhere in the car in a 20 mile radius utilising all known shortcuts because it's just more fun. One element of Job 1 involves taking the bike so I go the long way round.

Job 2: A minutes walk down the road!

[Scotty]

lemmingpeds.

Think that's the word of the week :D

[steeevvvooo]

40 mins is from Bromley to Hyde Park Corner

A21 to Lewisham, pretty free flowing.

A20 to New Cross, pretty slow, filtering all the way but can probably average 20mph on the outside while watching for cars popping out of gaps in traffic and sidestreets

A2 to Elephant and Castle, mostly bus lanes which is nice (again watching for numpties who don't believe anything that isn't big and red is allowed in a bus lane)

Cut through to the Vauxhall bridge, towards Victoria, then cut through Belgravia to avoid Grosvener Place and Hyde Park corner roundabout

Nice mixture of filtering and freer flowing roads, with only a few congested spots. I can usually get to the front of most sets of lights, so can stay ahead of the pack

[LVC]

Depends on where the job is:

Option 1: Country roads (no traffic) till I get to Arnage, through the indianapolis bends, the Mulsanne straight, past the Bugati circuit and on into Le Mans centre.

Option 2: 25 mins of pure country bends and gentle rises - no traffic (literally no more than 3 cars max and the occasional tractor) - great fun throughout the year even in snow (use the Landy or quad then and really play - although did have a brown trouser near miss with a pond due to Black ice last winter).

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am living in France - but reading your daily slogs I wouldn't go back to my Camberley to Sutton or Hammersmith run for love nor money.

[slipperyweeguy]

My daily outing is rather simpler than many of the above - on a good day I do it without coming to a halt in 28.3 miles. That's the short route.
Out the village and onto rural A-road, choice of 30 limit or dual carriageway through East Kilbride, back onto rural a-road, through Eaglesham, over moors, back onto rural A-road and into other village. About 28 mins, m'lud.
At least one of these pictures should explain why I'd rather eat worms than commute through London. Even in winter.
http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_moon01.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=moon01.jpg) http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_060110b.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=060110b.jpg) http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_080110_3.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=080110_3.jpg) http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_060110e.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=060110e.jpg) http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_080110_5.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=080110_5.jpg) http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/th_cows01.jpg (http://s1085.photobucket.com/albums/j430/paintguru/?action=view&current=cows01.jpg)

[He11cat]

Oh shame.. Your tube face is way prettier btw..

Mine is cack filter through traffic .
Play let's hit the students by the college .. Then oh come on dude let me in my lane., crossings zebras traffic lights.. Under the bridge where my glow in the dark paint lights up !! That's the cool bit!! Then limp up a big hill .. Wave to the miserable Simpson wearing streetfighter rider who ignores me on my 125 .. I wave to just make his morning worse.
Then fight the school run mums .. I work at a school .. Opposite my school is another school .. You can only imagine the chaos . Hope a nice teacher has left a gap for me to get to bike space, struggle in to squeeze up to a v strom .. My office looks out at my bike.

[Capo]

jeez mines a 180 mile round trip that includes the A605, A14 & the M6.

[uksurfer]

7 miles, about 15 minutes in the car

[Nickj]

Fall out of bed ... psychoactive stimulant intake commences
Upwrap bike for a quick poke and prod back in for more psychoactive stimulants
Gear up
Fire up bike
1K to traffic lights, just enough to start waking up the tyres
Blam up the A4136 over the plump through 3 nice 90 wake up bends to a nice view over the severn, weather dependant
then just nail the rest of the 20 odd miles to cheltenham is bigger A's.
Change and seek more psychoactive stimulants and a bacon sarnie.
Wait for the day to dribble through and the run back
Pretty much the best parts of the day (except during major flooding or snow)
Usually a 35 to 45 minute run

[DaffyDuc]

I really like my journey. Its 45 miles each way, about 6 miles through lanes to the A36 at Hinton Charterhouse, not much traffic at 7am. A36 isn't manic at that time so can do a good speed and have time to spot deer and camara vans (do they ever sleep). Then left at Nook across Salisbury plain. Given way to tanks, soldiers driving across here. Onto the
A303 at Stonehenge, haven't bored of seeing that yet, lovely in all weathers!. Turn right hrough Amesbury then some lanes to Work . I just have to remember to cross the A303 not turn onto it on Fridays on my way home when all the weekenders are queing from there into Cornwall.
Last year my commute was to Shrivenham, it was hell, Bath is hell at any time, the M4 was hell, the A419 was hell and the A420 was hell. Did that for nearly three years and hated it.

[Saint aka ML]

Take a lift 5 floors down .... thank you good I am moving in January.

[nambduke]

...I have alternating routes. One week is 16miles each way past Roseberry Topping in North Yorkshire....the real killer here is I turn off into work just at the beginning of the Stokesley/Helmsley Road....ahhhhh!!

The second route is about 1385miles door to door each way when I visit my construction site in Sines Portugal......takes about 8 to 8-1/2hrs. Weather is changing now so through the day it's around 17/18 DegC

I alternate one week in the UK, 3/4 days working in Portugal.....the rest of the time travelling!!

Regards,
Mark

[steeevvvooo]

The second route is about 1385miles door to door each way when I visit my construction site in Sines Portugal......takes about 8 to 8-1/2hrs.

That's over 160mph average speed! You have one fast monster there! :biggrin:

[utopia]

At one time my route on a monday morning was through rural north shropshire.
I used to take the little trials Honda cos I could short cut the last section by taking an actual green lane for the last mile or so.
Sometimes arrived late and muddy though.

[He11cat]

Going back to work tomorrow after 5 days in bed :(
hope my battery isn't dead :(
feck it's cold!! Should be strong enough to juggle 125 .. Hopefully il be fighting fit by the end of the week if I can stay awake :(

[Liz]

5 mins walk from home to work! If I take the bike, it's half an hour by the time I've got all the gear on, got the bike out the shed and had to go the 'road' way. But, sometimes it just has to be done! :biggrin: