A chap on the Bear Bones forum recently announced he'd done an 85 mile commute to an agency nursing job, only turning up a few minutes late for his shift. On the face of it this sounds a bit optimistic but if you considered driving (or training or bussing) 85 miles to a job the chances of arriving at a specific time would be very slim. Traffic, broken down trains, cancelled services etc. etc. could stop you in your tracks. If you commute on a bike however, journey time is easily planned and it's reliability will be pretty much guaranteed. So whilst a non-cyclist (or even a fairly keen cyclist) would be appalled by such an undertaking, in reality it's actually a pretty sensible option. Not only that, it will be fun, enlightening and add substantially to your weekly mileage quota, so what's not to like.
My own bike commuting hasn't been anywhere near that distance in one outing, although timewise I've come close, thanks to a large amount of snow between my office and home on one occasion. I've commuted by bike for a lot of my adult life, either for all or part of the journey between house and office. Two jobs have prevented me for various reasons, leading to massive frustration. You tell yourself you'll get out for a ride when you get home but inevitably a late finish or crap weather leads to the couch magnet doing its work and welding your (increasingly fat) backside to its warm embrace.
For many years I've taken the shortest route between home and work to minimise the time it takes. However since getting into doing the long distance stuff, the need to get the miles in has lead to me add in extra distance to the commute. This has taken me over hills, through forests, down dales, through bogs, puddles, rivers and (of course) vast amounts of snow. So this piece is dedicated to turning a boring journey to or from work into an adventure. Yes that oft used (and oft hated) term which in my case is fair, given that on more than one occasion there has been a very real possibility I'd disappear somewhere en-route...
It all started when I got a job with Fife Council working at Lochore Meadows. I was living in Edinburgh at the time, just next to South Gyle Station. Having spent the previous two years driving to Alloa and back this represented an opportunity to use the bike for at least some of my journeys to work and a refreshing change. I settled for getting the train out and riding home - some 25 miles. A mate sold me his old MBK road bike which was ideal for this. When it's frame rusted through (on just such a commute) my mate Derek turned up an old Peugeot Tri frame which served until I actually bought a brand new road bike, the start of my roadie love affair. My miles and fitness soared, plus you were out in all weather, at all times of year so I refined kit and got better at judging what I needed to wear. Plus it was the first time I was doing bike rides going full gas for the whole journey. Why? well you were going home of course! A house move to Fife removed the need for the train and added some forest trails into the mix. Suddenly, my commute could be a mountainbike ride.
My next job lead to a gap in commuting as noted but a return to Fife Council meant the long distance commute was back on - 17 miles each way. This was when I started doing off road options as the roads weren't that great. Then an office move to Glenrothes lead to a period of crazy road riding.
My route was now 20 miles dead and I became fixated on doing it in an hour, or less. 52 minutes was my fastest time on breezy days but this was leading to increasingly dubious moves to get through traffic which even on rural roads tended to get in your way. Give ways in particular could be a cause of crucial delays so timing moves through them was critical, as well as the need to stay ahead of glaikit car drivers who seemed determined to stop at every available opportunity. Worst was the final roundabout from one dual carriageway across another, which was busy, being the A92. The best way to do it was to keep your speed up and merge with flowing traffic. Drivers in Fife aren't used to cyclists filtering so this lead to a certain amount of consternation. Not only that but work colleagues were also using this junction and a not a few commented about the suddenness and speed I was appearing in front of them. I finally got my time to below 50 minutes (48 actually!) but realised this nonsense was only going to go one way. So the road bike was ditched and I started using the train to get (most of the way) in. Going home could then be done by means of various routes with varying amounts of off road and little in the way of busy roads. My favourite took me round the outskirts of Glenrothes, and then across the Lomond hills, finishing with the quiet back road from Cleish. This was around 30-35 miles and took me between 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hrs depending on weather, wind and time of year.
Sometimes I use the train back as far as Lochgelly and then head home by the country park and various woods. I generally only do it twice a week, or three at the most but this adds 4-8 hrs of riding into my weekly routine, and via some ace trails instead of a dull road ride. It's harder in the winter of course but whilst hoards of cyclists retreated to their turbo trainers, I'll be riding the hills on my way home from work giving me valuable training miles, speeding up my pre-ride prep (have to when you are tying in with train timetables) and refining my clothing choices. I vary my route depending on the weather and trail conditions and I figured out a couple of low level routes, including the coastal path, for when the hills are too wild. Other variations are used for dry or wet weather. If it's particularly bad I'll train it back to Dunfermline and do a ride round the West Fife and Clacks cycle and back road networks.
Of course my work colleagues think I'm mad for doing this but compared to my normal rides, such commuting is straightforward and huge fun. The good days are when the wind is in the east and the sun beating down. Various trail improvements and route refinements meant my route has used less and less road over the years. My best effort covers 5 significant hills - East Lomond, West Lomond, Bishop Hill, Benarty Hill and Blair Adam. In fact I can add a 6th - Ben Glow in the Cleish hills although this needs some interesting route finding through fire breaks. What better way to finish the day with a fab mountainbike ride home, when everyone else is having their tea, trails are empty, the sun shining and the wind helping you on your way.
It's not always like that. Brutal headwinds, un-forecasted rain, unusually muddy trails and floods all have been encountered...
One particular ride springs to mind. This was Autumn 2017 after another below average summer. I was on the Fargo and planned to use my low level route home as the hills were likely to be a bit bleak, given the weather. I'd used this route in the January of that year on the newly built Jones. Bizarrely, I'd finished the ride with barely a spec of mud on the bike, the first of several similar rides during two weeks of unseasonably dry and mild weather. This day it was anything but. The first challenge was the narrow trail alongside the river Ore. I noticed the river looked a bit high so it wasn't a huge surprise when the trail disappeared into it. Of course I kept going thinking it would be short lived; and of course it wasn't. So wet feet and a near drowning later (slight exaggeration) I got through thinking my remaining route would be OK, being generally on made paths. Oh dear, forestry work had been going on in the woods near Cardenden and the neat singletrack was like a ploughed field. I ploughed on (it was pitch dark at this point and it didn't look too bad) only for the bike to grind to a halt as mud had totally blocked the wheels into the mudguards. I managed to clear it and eventually pick my way through. But it got worse. A section of farm track was covered with a thin layer of slurry-like water and grit. This is my least favourite kind of mud as it seems to spray everywhere. Then on the trail down the hill to Lochore Meadows I became aware of orange flashing beacons and spot lights ahead. This turned out to be a hedge cutting tractor working on the path ahead. Quite what it was doing out at 7pm on a dark Wednesday is anyone's guess but it had thoroughly churned up the path and spread thorns everywhere. On I went and when I got to the road and streetlights I surveyed the damage. The bike looked like someone had hosed it down with mud and I wasn't much better. No alternative but to keep going, waiting for the inevitable puncture from the thorns. I made it home in the event, the front tyre just starting to go soft as I rolled up the village main street.
But the winter lead to the biggest adventures. It started in 2011 when the bike seemed to the best way to make progress given the huge volume of snow clogging up the road network. Car drivers thought I was mad by the looks they gave me but I had the last laugh when they got stuck and I kept going. That year also highlighted the disadvantages of living at 140m above sea level. I'd leave a cold and snowy Dunfermline, and head west along the cycleway. But on the climb up the hill to home, the weather would get worse and worse. On the last section you were in full on winter mountain weather - blizzard conditions and brutal wind chill. Home and a hot shower was only a mile away so this was hilarious but I didn't particularly want to be the first person to die in a snow drift in West Fife....
When I got my fat bike this all became even more fun. Winter 2018 was the one with several periods of heavy snow. I've written about this before elsewhere. Suddenly there was no choice (well I could have skied) as cars were going nowhere. A fatbike is generally unstoppable in lowland snow conditions but I did test that theory to it's limits. Again work colleagues thought I was mad but I had the last laugh as their cars were buried and they were house bound. Funnily enough when I was in Finland the next year, the snow conditions were comparatively benign...
Not my best look - after 4 hours of blizzard and headwinds
The pandemic scuppered commuting obviously but finishing up in my home office, throwing my gear on and going for a blast round the dusty trails locally was a fine way to end the working day. As office working re-commenced I soon got back to my old ways however. I'd used the gravel bike a few times on various commutes and soon started throwing in some longer rides into the way home when I'd brought the Straggler in.
I did one the other day - a fine gravel trip home after a mixed ride / train ride in. Annoyingly, Scotrail have changed the timetable so I have to get up even earlier, and it looks like more changes are coming thanks to the Government's balls up of taking over the company. In fact I often joke I'm on the Scotrail cycling training programme. The way it works is that if Scotrail think you aren't doing enough miles, they cancel a train so you have to ride all the way in (or home), thus adding valuable extra training time. Maybe not but it did seem that cancelled trains always coincided with me deciding to take the easy option....
So I got in early and therefore obviously left early to cash in on the sunshine. I'd used the route last summer so no need for any nav. There is one busy bit up and over to the Markinch cycleway and then back roads, some cycleway and easy trails are the order of the day. A stiff breeze was blowing but across the Howe of Fife its pleasant, flat farmland with hedges and trees to shelter you from the worst of it. A reasonable road climb took me up to my route of last Saturday but I kept on up the hill to do a full traverse of Pitmedden Forest. The forest was devoid of other people, it being tea time across the nation. My stomach was rumbling a bit but it would have to wait.
He seemed remarkably reluctant to let go. I could feel his claws digging into my finger!
From the forest I followed my usual route of back roads and an odd bit of trail home. The clouds had come in as it happened and I even got a spot of rain, but the last few miles were done in the westering sun. Total distance for the whole day was nigh on 60 miles. I got home at just after 8pm and relaxed in the warm glow of self righteousness that all cycle commuters feel. Not because I was single handedly saving the planet but because I'd just fried about 2000 calories over an above my 'normal' day load so could tuck into lots of food and cake, knowing I would still be behind my bodies energy demand as it recovered from the effort of a fine ride home.
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