"Reasonable" Commuting distance in an HPV

[Missionpilot]

I have about a 20.5 mile "bike ride" to work.

I am sure that the travel time would come down significantly using an HPV (versus a DF bike) and with increased fitness from doing it daily.

Would some folks who make their commute daily using HPVs mind listing their mileages and transit times?

Electric assist numbers are fine too, as I will certainly consider that option. (It would be great if someone had both for the same route - Bill, hint, hint)

Thanks.

[mi7d1]

I have a thirteen mile commute. It has taken me anywhere from 50min to an hour and a half. With the e-assist I usually am just under an hour. Many traffic light get in my way. It seems that no matter how fast or slow I go when I approach the traffic lights they turn against me.  In the early AM hours when the road is mine with little to no traffic, I have the most fun and highest speeds. To give a better idea of how traffic and signal lights effect my time last year I rode 24 miles in 50 minutes during the ePower Challenge. That's the same amount of time it takes me to commute 13 miles at my best speed.

[Missionpilot]

Hmmm...Traffic lights.   

Well, for about 5 miles of the total distance, I can ride on bike only trails.

And for 7 miles it is stop signs at each 1 mile cross street.

Do you know of any software that lets you optimize bike routes through cities? or even better, calculate the route time for different speeds?

[Google maps lets me calculate driving and walking only.]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=2102+East+151st+St+S,+Bixby,+OK+74008&daddr=S+Elwood+Ave+to:S+Elwood+Ave+to:36.053818,-95.994759+to:Riverside+Pkwy+to:Riverside+Dr+to:S+Gary+Pl+to:S+Gary+Pl+to:500+s+gary+pl,+tulsa,+ok&geocode=%3BFZiqJAId_D9H-g%3BFY_NJQIdfkBH-g%3B%3BFXRFJgIdfINH-g%3BFThOJwIdHlVH-g%3BFT5nJwIdmAxI-g%3BFb6RJwIdhgxI-g%3B&hl=en&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=12&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7&sll=36.006895,-95.879745&sspn=0.245513,0.418854&ie=UTF8&ll=36.059091,-95.939827&spn=0.24535,0.418854&z=12

[mi7d1]

Bike Route Toaster www.bikeroutetoaster.com has in the options menu the ability to select speed on the flat and climbing speed feet per minute. I haven't played with these options as I get there when I get there and generally over estimate the time required. I like to be early and have time for unexpected delays.

[kirkej]

My commute is a minimum 26 mile round trip. The morning with minimal traffic (5 am) takes just under an hour. The return is usually extended to make the total ride more like 30-35 miles, and takes MUCH longer than the morning. The route is different due to traffic in several spots, frequently making afternoon use of a multi-use path that is slow. I would estimate the afternoon takes between 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

Power assist would make a HUGE difference, as I live on a mountain and work on a mountain, crossing a valley in between. I have between 1200-1700 feet of daily elevation gain as a result. I have no power assist experience to relate to the likely effect, however.

[mmkrockaway]

My commute, were it do-able by a normal human in a reasonable time frame, is 30 miles on country & city roads & bike trails.  I have never done the entire route, so I'm always at a compromise situation having either to bum a ride to a certain point and then going in (mostly to avoid being road kill by logging trucks and other such vehicles which take up the entire roadway for the first three miles of my ride to work).  I've done the 20-25 miles on both recumbent trike and upright (e-assist), and it's a real bear to maintain speed and make time goals I've set for myself.  It takes me two hours, really - and I can drive it in one. 

I think that putting a good, reliable e-assist on my trike is the only way to go...just don't have the moolah right now to do anything other than modifiy a hub motor kit (of which I have two and I'll have them with me at PIR this weekend) or slap a currie e-assist unit on the rear wheel to get me up the final hill at the end of my ride, and provide me with a bit of respite at the end of the return trip, where I'm always on my last legs...  On my Giant SuedE electric assist, I'm on throttle life support at the end of my return to my pickup point or where my car is parked.  Luckily, there are many miles of good paved bike trail, and getting better every year.  Right now, if I do the 20 miler, I have 13 or so miles on paved bike trail and about 6 on city roads.

Mark Kenney
mmkrockaway@msn.com
Olympia, Washington

[Missionpilot]

Good stuff! Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. (Keep it coming!)

I think I am going to try to work out something like Mark described as an intermediate solution:

Drive to a ~halfway point then commute in and back.

I have been checking out the country roads that lead to the bike trails over the drives in and out this week...Sounds similar to your situation: no shoulder, no bike lane, unfriendly motorists...and a few oversized cement trucks.

I could drive to where the bike path starts and cut the ride by about 9 miles.

[allisons]

I'll say one thing about a DF in commuting - it's easier to put it on a bus and go part way by transit than a recumbent.

That said, with traffic lights and various other obstacles you get in commuting, I think even in peak condition, it's hard to get much past 15 mph average.  I average more like 10 mph - but I ride a trike which is heavy and it's pretty densely populated (and thus trafficked).  I do my 5 miles in about 20-25 minutes on the way in, and it's mostly downhill.  It's more like 35-40 on the way home.

It's going depend pretty heavily on your route.  But I think I'd put aside 2 hours to go 20 miles, most of the time.  If you got it down to 1.5 hours, I'd congratulate you.

Heck, that's a shorter commute than most Angelenos by car  

[DuncanWatson]

My 2.65 mile "to-work" leg which is mostly uphill takes me from 17.56 minutes to 20 minutes.  My 23 mile loop version to work takes me between 1h:50m and 2 hours. These times are on my lowracer and my corsa which are about the same speed travel wise.

[mmkrockaway]

One of the saddest events in the past three years is that our bus system made a new bike rack mandatory on all buses except for dial a lift ones - one with tire wells instead of frame straps - and guess what?  Most e-assist bikes with extended frames to accommodate batteries (my SuedeE) will no longer fit in them as they are too long.  Currie motors adaptations might work, as maybe the I-Zip & E-Zip models, but I was sure surprised when that happened...grrrr...

Mark Kenney
mmkrockaway@msn.com
Olympia, WA