How far is too far to commute?

[sonic909]

I currently commute by bike no matter the weather or time of year.

I live near CSS and have only ever had to do to parts of croydon or westwickham or sutton, however now i might be having to go to east grinstead on a regular basis...

I am wondering if i should look to buy a banger or if thats not actually as far as it sounds to go to work for a day then crawl home...!?

Does anyone do a mega commute and then a days graft?

[Dombo]

I have commuted from just south of CSS to docklands, which is about 21 miles. My day's hard graft involves sitting at a desk so the physical effort is all in the commute, and I feel nicely invigorated. Plus it's mostly downhill, as is EG from CSS I believe. Only problem might be your route - A22 is a mare of a road, too narrow and too fast. Although there's probably a more "laney" route to get there.

[kieran]

I used to do a 25 miler from Mitcham to Egham mainly through SW london, not very enjoyable, especially in winter. Sometimes I would take the train part way. If the 25miler was through countryside I guess it would be much more enjoyable, my best time was 1 hour 12 min (includes stopping for lights etc), in winter on the MTB it could take up to 1 hour 45 min (too long).

[Marek]

I live in East Grinstead and every now and then I ride to the City. The first hour of the ride is great as can take some really nice quiet roads. Its when you get to Corkscrew Hill is where it starts getting busy. I also ride up to the club run when I can make it from East Grinstead.

There are a number of really great routes to East Grinstead from Coulsdon South Station, so I would say that you could do it easily. The roads are rolling, a couple of tough hills depending on which way you go. But there are a variety of different routes you could take so you could keep it varied.

Most of the routes tend to bring you out down by the London temple, so you need to hit the A22 for the last bit. Route would be something like:

CSS
Merstham (left after the pub)
Bletchingley
Outwood (Windmill)
Horne
London Temple
East Grinstead

But you could cross the A22 by taking the Tilburstow Hill route. In Bletchingley go down the A25 until you get to the right hand turn after the speed camera. Take this road up which gets you to Tilburstow Hill, turn right onto Tilburstow hill and descend, as you get to the bottom by the pub take a sharp left. This then takes you to a crossroads, go straight over, this is crossing the A22, and this road takes you over towards Crowhurst and then follow roads to Lingfield and then into East Grinstead.

I wish I had the option of your commute, mine is almost double which puts me off most of the time.

Cheers

Marek....