Bike Commuting TIPS for longer distance commutes.

if you want to do long distance commuting by bike  there are a couple of things you have to consider   so the first thing i always say is the distance is  very important so try and figure out yourself uh   what kind of distance you think you'd be able to  uh to cover um is it 20ks is it 40k is it 60k case   my longest rides are about 70 80 k's  and my average commute because the   shortest distance for me to work is 50k  so my average commute is 50 kilometers   and the 50 kilometers is something i can easily  cover in the summer and the winter so that's my   shortest commute no problem and uh as i know i  can cover the distance i'm not worried about that   of course there are some things you have to  consider um the time it takes so you have to give   yourself ample time to get to work and you have to  consider a couple of things you have to consider   the wind the wind is a serious problem because my  commute can increase by 20 minutes to 25 minutes   even though the shortest commute is only one hour  and five minutes it can be one hour and 30 minutes   no problem because if i have the wind head on  all the way and it can really blow in holland   my commute can be an hour and a half so i have to  consider that extra half an hour so before i go   away i check what kind of wind is blowing in which  direction so i know what time i have to leave and   how hard i have to ride because i leave in  the mornings at half past five i don't want   to really kill myself on the bike to work so  i give myself ample time considering the wind   the second factor you have to consider  is you might have a puncture on the way   so you have to give yourself an extra 25  to 30 minutes in the winter when it's dark   to fix that because it's quite a bummer in  the winter and for that we'll get back to that   later as well but you're gonna have to you'll need  a light something to that you can use to shine on   the project or fix fixing the puncture because  otherwise when it's fish dark you can't see   anything so that's the second thing you have  to consider in the summer you might need 10   minutes to fix the function no problem but give  yourself 25 minutes um you never know how it runs   especially if you're tubeless if the plaque's  going to work yes or no the third thing you   have to consider is can you shower at work  it's kind of nice to have a shower otherwise you walk around the whole day smelling like  rubbish and it's nice for your colleagues   in my case it's good for my patients i guess it's  good for me as well so it's not only the time you   are arriving to work which may be an hour or 45  minutes or an hour 15 or hour and 30 you have to   consider the fact that you can have a puncture the  fact you can have a mechanical or a traffic jam or   roadworks and something like that so give  yourself more time for the ride itself but   also to get dressed and to get showered showered  and all that stuff that's very important too so   you can't just say okay it's r115 and i'm starting  work an hour and 30 so bang them off to work you   have to consider the other factors if you think  i can cover the distance don't do it on a monday   morning before work for the first time and think  hey this is going to be it do the ride on sunday   on saturday before you actually do your commute  so you can figure out yourself which route seems   the best and we're gonna get to roots in a while  because i'll show you how to do that um so you   can figure out how long is the ferry in my case  i've got to take a theory how long does that take with the wind what are the best options to take  which route um so the drive runs important to   give you an oversight of where you're going what  can happen on that ride and the possibilities   of trying to avoid things that might occur on  the right like that so the dry run is important   it gives you a bit of oversight and makes you  feel comfortable and gives you the confidence   that you're gonna be fine and you're definitely  gonna be fine i'm going to help you with that and   we're going to go through some stuff you need so  let's do that the next thing we'll talk about is   the bike um i have a cube new road fe pro which  has mud guards it has permanent lightning and it   has 44 millimeter tubeless tires the wider tires  gives you a whole lot of confidence on the road   it makes it feel very sturdy and safe the  lightning on the bike is very comforting   because you always have lightning and it's not  a bad idea to always use the lights during the   daytime riding as well because cars can see  you better it's safer this commute is all about   getting to work and being safe so the lights give  you that sense of confidence because it's safe   and the third thing is the mud guards keep  you dry there's nothing worse than a wet butt   on the road and wet cold feet if you don't  have a front mat guard so the mud guards   the mud guards the wider tires and the lightning  on the bike those are three things i would   recommend if you are going to look for a commuter  bike so look at the cube new road fe pro or race   those are bikes that are very comfortable  for commuting and getting to work safely and   with not much hassle because you have permanent  mud guards and permanent lights and i'm not   sponsored by cube it's just i invested a lot of  time in a bike that i can use to commute with i've   adapted the bike a whole lot to fit me you can see  my previous videos that i've changed stuff to make   the bike comfortable for myself and remember the  cube new road fe pro and race on high-end bikes so   you have to change things if you buy the bike  out of a store or it comes in a box you have to   change the bike in such a way that it suits  you and therefore i would advise a bike fit   and just get it set up for yourself and  stuff like the bike stand are removed because   i just put my bike down on the non-crank side  if i need to and uh that's no problem i'm   definitely not gonna ride around for bike  stand so those are things you can remove   and watch my previous videos i have done a whole  lot of stuff uh to show you how to do that so   that's a bike i would advise but of course there  are many other bikes out there so let me know what   you have and if you have any questions let me know  okay let's look at navigation i'm going to commute   which is a great site to plan routes and decide  which route to take let's show you which ones   are the quickest and what you see now is my  basic route my shortest route of 50 kilometers we're going to a longer route of 75 kilometers  i think 74 maybe even longer which i'll do in   the summer but you see basically uh the a route  on the left side of the screen remains the same   if i go to work in the mornings no matter  if i go a mountain bike or buy a gravel bike this roots of the mountain bike route again the  previous one was the gravel bike route and you   can see where i am on the top of the screen  now those are the mountain bike trails and   that's what i do on the way back then but in the  mornings the commute is always the same either   25 kilometers in the winter or 30 kilometers in  the summer no matter if i'm going by mountain   bike or by grab a bike i keep the routes the  same i keep them safe it's dark it's windy um   now we're looking at the route of you can go to  a commute and you can plan your routes this is a   route i've planned to ride to belgium to a mate  of mine uh 206 kilometers i haven't done it yet   unfortunately but i do plan to do it and it's  a gravel bike route so i've planned this on my   gravel bike you can go to commute to a route  planner and you can decide for yourself where   you want to come go to where you're coming from  is it gravel riding is it road cycling mountain   biking or bike touring you can even run it if you  want to so you can plan your routes and you can   um type in we start typing we finish and  kamut gives you options of stuff you can do   so that's what i use it's absolutely  awesome so definitely have a look at that so those are routes i have planned a couple of  them i want to go back and i want to go show you on the root planner once you've decided  to plan the route you can export it on   the right side here you can export  it to your gps device your garmin on the rides i take a couple of  things with me so i have to prepare   as the rides are between an hour and 15 minutes  and two and a half hours in the summer and   mostly in the mornings i've had no  breakfast so i don't want to have a   hanging look and in the afternoons sometimes  i haven't had enough food during the day   to cover the ride on the way home so the most  important thing is take some gels with you some food bars something you can eat so you  don't if you get a hunger knock you have some   food with you that's very important the second  thing is carry a phone with you because if you   have someone that loves you and your breakdown  they can pick you up but i won't reckon on that   this is very important this is my chain breaker  and i can also use other stuff of course it's a   multi-tool but the most important thing about on  this is my chain breaker the first time i chain   broke i thought i was totally organized and i knew  exactly what to do but i i never actually tried   it so the moment i wanted to use it i figured out  that i needed i needed an allen key to go in here   and you cannot loosen the allen keys over  here to fit in there so what i need to do   so what i need to do is i  need to have a spare align key   to go in there to fix my chain  so the first time a chain broke   i did not have all the equipment to fix my chain  so make sure you know how to use it as well   try it out take an old chain old bike chain and  try and figure out how to do this this is very   important because your chain is going to break and  you never know when that is especially if you're   commuting in your chain it's not very clean um  this is a very important thing to have with you um   a multi-tool with the chain breaker and if needed  an extra allen key as in my case very important   i don't carry a pump with me but i carry my  air champ from sks with me and it works perfect   i have a spare co2 canister on the  inside and i carry another spare   co2 canister with me so i have two co2  canisters and so i'm covered for my flat   tire and this works absolutely perfect so i don't  need a pump the next thing you have to consider is   if you're doing long distance commuting is going  to be light isn't going to be dark and you've seen   on my my rides i've done that i have ample lights  with me in the front and the back i also use a   bike that has permanent lights so permanent light  in the front and a permanent light at the back   and above that i also carry a normal light  with me that actually goes on my handlebar   and this i use of course to give me extra light  um on the right but also as i said previously   if i have a puncture so in the dark so i can see  what i'm doing if you have a painting in the dark   and you can't see what you're doing and the bike  the light light is attached to the bike you can't   remove the light you need light to be able to see  what you're doing to fix the puncture also i have   a rear light on my bike and as i said before i  have a rear light on my bike already which is   permanent but this is an extra light in case that  something happens to the lightning on my bike i   have extra lights all right very important well  you might be asking yourself where does all the   stuff go well the two places where i put this this  all goes in my saddlebag underneath my saddle so   my bike's a bit heavier from that but it's really  worthwhile i never actually touch these things   unless i really need them so food  chain breaker air for my flat tires   tire lyrics two spare tubes this all goes to my  saddlebag underneath my saddle and for the rest   and for the rest everything goes in  my backpack my backpack's very light   i like a backpack that doesn't have much in  it and actually i have a couple of bucks in   here in case i need to get a taxi or something  crazy like that but i have my bank cards in here   and i have some cash and i have a body warmer  the body warmer is really important because   even in the summer you can if you break down  it can be cold but in the winter in the winter   this is a definite must i have a body warmer in  here it's super light i keep the backpack light   and that makes it much more comfortable the  heavy stuff go in the saddlebag and it makes   the rides much more enjoyable and easy so my  advice is to have a backpack with a body warmer   just an idea think about it and do whatever you  think is best okay well we've spoken now about   uh what you need on your bike but there's  also a couple of stuff you need at work   so you need to on the days you go by car  take some extra work clothes with you   take some extra cycling clothes with you because  you don't carry all the stuff i just explained to   you earlier that you need a light backpack so to  avoid carrying heavy stuff in your backpack take   spare clothes that you're going to need at  work take it with on the days you go by car   take a bit of take a dry cycling pants worth when  you go by car and take some dry socks with and   maybe a dry undershirt because you don't want  to carry all the stuff in your backpack and   it's nothing worse than putting on wet  cycling clothes at the end of the day   if you have to ride home so take dry cycling  clothes with you and make sure all your workloads   go with you to work on the days you go by car  that's important it saves you a lot of weight   and a whole lot of stuff you have to carry so  my advice to you would be on the days you go to   work by car take everything you need with  you and just load up and unload at work and   try and store it in a safe place wherever  you can next thing is your bike has to be   in a safe storage place my bike goes into  the practice with me so that's no problem   i hang it on the wall but if you're working for  someone trying to find a place where your bike's   going to be safe and we don't actually have  to worry about your bike during the day when   you work and you can just drop it down and you  can pick it up at the end of the day no problem

Channel: KNOBBY & SLICKS

Views: 7,560

Keywords: mtbtrails, mtbUK, mtbchallenge, TellMeAboutYourBike, canyonlux, cubenuroadfepro, cubenuroadfe, utrechtseheuvelrug, mtbholland, mtb, cyclinginholland, cyclingdutch, cyclinginthenetherlands, cyclingpaysbays, radfahren, radfahrenmtb, gravelbike, MountainBiking, radfahrengravel

Id: nTaFht8-Tjk

Length: 17min 2sec (1022 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 02 2022