I changed jobs in November last year resulting in a commute that is a nice 28km from West London to Addlestone in Surrey. Scything through Twickenham, Little Hampton, Hampton Court and Weybridge the route has a mix of busy main roads and nice quiet lanes. Getting up to speed on the new job I have spent a lot of time out of the office on site ,but with the summer coming and better weather I'll be in the office more, and leaving the car at home more often.
From my four rides to work in 2014, this is the Strava link for my fastest time this year so far:
http://www.strava.com/activities/147054683
That was done on my Viner road bike with the use of 20 gears. I have a single speed Cinelli that was originally bought as a winter training bike but, with a round trip of almost 60km, this will now come into service as my commuter to save the wear and tear on the Viner.
Today was my first ride in.
My legs definitely felt the difference, having to spin at a much higher cadence to keep up a reasonable speed on the flat. Sadly (for my training ambitions) there aren't any real hills on the route, so there is a lot of time spent around the 30kph mark and the legs get a fast working over.
The time was four/five minutes longer so my goal for this summer is to get that down to the same time as the geared bike. What will be interesting will be if I do manage that will be to then see if there has been any change in my speed back on the Viner.
I have made some Strava segments on the longest junction free sections to help motivate myself and compare the pure riding elements of the ride, as traffic can change the overall time quite a bit.
The Segments are here:
http://www.strava.com/athlete/segments/created
I'll update with the Strava links for today's efforts and report what's left of the legs after the return journey . .
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