Commuting 90 mins per day fixed gear

[surlaplaque]

Hi All!

I’ve recently moved house which allows me to commute 18km each way to work, with only one traffic light at the very end/start of the trip. This equates to a 45 minute commute which I do on my fixed gear commuter at least 3 times a week (pending weather/doing a morning ride). Given the course is relatively flat (45m vertical there, 95m back), is this a sufficient way of building base KMs/endurance? It seems a little redundant to do z2 on the trainer when I’m doing 90 mins of commuting at a similar perceived effort with constant pedalling. I’m thinking as long as that stays consistent, I can focus on using TR for all the stuff beyond Z2!

[Dave]

It’s extra time on the bike and as long as you’re not sabotaging the harder workouts, then it all helps build fitness.

[JoeX]

@surlaplaque

45 minute commute which I do on my fixed gear commuter at least 3 times a week (pending weather/doing a morning ride). Given the course is relatively flat (45m vertical there, 95m back), is this a sufficient way of building base KMs/endurance?

Is that 22-23mins each way or 45 each way?

Yes, easy riding is easy riding. Depending on where your fitness is and what your plan is it may be useful time in the saddle.

[Henry_Lee]

Yes

[Power13]

@surlaplaque

is this a sufficient way of building base KMs/endurance

By itself, probably not the most beneficial training. As a supplement to other rides / workouts, absolutely.

[genefish]

@surlaplaque

I’ve recently moved house which allows me to commute 18km each way to work

as a side note, that sounds awesome

[JoeX]

@Caro.Gomez-Villafane

keep in mind that adding back-to-back days of commute that average about 90 minutes total is quite a bit of added stress on top of structured training.

For that reason I’ve chosen high volume masters, putting the planned endurance to my 4-5hrs commute time (mostly).

Low volume keeps the harder sessions shorter, but high volume keeps the workload in the calendar if I don’t commute for whatever reason. I’m thinking HV is configured for the higher overall volume but I’m not sure there’s much to that, it may just be LV plus endurance time.

[JoeX]

@genefish

@surlaplaque

recently moved house which allows me to commute 18km each way to work

as a side note, that sounds awesome

Choosing your job based on the quality of the commute training is something I would never do…three times so far.

[Back2Basics]

Seems like a great way to do the easy riding TBH. Keep it chill and you’ll only see benefits. Life you said, Save the structured stuff for TR and indoor.

[Back2Basics]

That’s another easy to do it. LV matters would give you 2 hard workouts and then you can commute on top.

I’m running a LV plan (3 hard workouts) and adding a long ride on the weekend.

[mhandwerk]

@surlaplaque

18km each way to work, with only one traffic light at the very end/start of the trip

Sounds enjoyable. On on a fixed gear.

I’m only 5 km from work and have one stoplight. About 80% on a bike trial. Often I wish it was a little longer as it’s a nice wind down period after work.

I will usually ride zone 2 on the way home. But the ride to work will sometimes be a mix of Threshold and VO2 max…but mostly because I have a lifelong bad habit of running late…