Cycle commuting back in the day

[telstarbox]

A thread aimed at the more seasoned members. Did you cycle commute "before it was cool" let's say pre 2000?

If you did, would you be the only cyclist on the road or did other people go the same way? Did you worry about bike theft or distracted drivers? Did you bother logging your rides/mileage in the pre Strava era?

[Basil]

Yes
Yes
No
Of course not.

[Robh]

Yes
Not really. It was in London.
Yes
Never have done

[Wobbly John]

I was certainly cycle commuting  (about 12 miles a day) in the mid-80s and the mid-90s I did have spells where Mrs WJ worked in the same city, so used the car apart from her days off.

I used to log mileage when we had a thing that tagged it on your profile on here (or wa it on ACF?), but not really before that.

I don't think it ever has 'been cool' around here.

Not many other cycle commuters on my route. When there have been occasionally regulars that commuted in the same direction, they were at a similar pace, so I would see them about half a mile ahead, but never really meet them.

The local bike shop owner (and ex-vet National track champ) is an occasional fair-weather commuter on my route but is usually faster on his carbon road bike.

[Ham]

Oh yes, cycling into Central London felt like you took your life into your hands each time. I witnessed some kind of accident at least once a month.

Wasn't the only cyclist on the road in London, but there were substantially fewer - it was a minority passtime. bikes were regarded as poor man's travel (although I had a BMW325i AND a central london parking space for some of this time)

Didn't worry about bike theft, worried about all drivers, consideration for cyclists was pretty much non existent. It's when I  developed my mantra "Don't be where the accident is going to happen"

I never bothered logging commute even when Strava etc was a thing. I used to ride with a computer, but ditching it was entirely liberating.

[IanDG]

S'pose I've always cycle commuted. Cycled to school and then to work. Lived at home (Stafford) and cycled to Wolves Poly for a few years. When I worked at Sandwell (before moving closer) I took a bike on the train in the morning and cycled home a couple of nights a week.. When I moved to the area I cycled about 8 miles to work every day.

1. Yes
2. No
3. Yes
4. No

[markcjagar]

A thread aimed at the more seasoned members. Did you cycle commute "before it was cool" let's say pre 2000?

I didn't start commuting until 2006 and that was a temp job when I was 16, fresh out of secondary school. I rode my bmx to the train station/work.

[bobb]

Pre 2000, I just "Went to work". I used a bicycle because it was the most logical mode of transport.

"Commuters" were men with briefcases who took the train to work in the city....

[Sergeant Pluck]

I cycled to school for the last 2 of my primary school school years. Driving on those same roads recently, there would be absolutely zero chance that I would allow a child I was responsible for to do the same today. Traffic levels and speeds and vehicle sizes are in a different league. And on the smaller roads, agricultural vehicle speeds and sizes also in a different league, often driven in a cuntish fashion by contractors who don’t give a toss.

[drossall]

• Yes - our office moved from walking distance to the next town in 1988. We were given a travel allowance for trains/whatever, and I made a case for using it to buy a commuting bike. Actually I bought a new frame, and repurposed my existing one for commuting
• No - I used to see other riders regularly. There was one guy I would cross over with most days as he commuted in the opposite direction, for example. We waved, but I never found out his name or where he was going.
• No - I was on quiet back roads that I also used for leisure riding, and work built a bike shed and, mostly through my influence I think, put a nice secure, sliding, locked gate on it. After a few years, they also fenced and gated the car park, which helped too.
• Yes, especially when my club started a mileage competition. I've never used Strava, but I do now track all my miles on Garmin devices, partly again for that competition.

[tatanab]

Yes - 1966 to 1997
No - 1997 to 2000
Yes - 2000 to 2006

Most were short commutes, less than 10 miles round trip.  Only one year (2000/2001) with 30 mile round trip.  As bobb says, it was just the most convenient (and reliable) way of getting to school/work.

I would see few other riders, mostly because I chose to be out early.  No worry about theft, but I mostly worked in companies with fenced sites.  No worries with distracted drivers or pedestrians (no zomby phones), little of my commutes were in big cities.  Yes I kept a rough count for my annual total mileage, but no formal logging system.

[SteveC]

Cycled to school for the last year of the sixth form. 76-77
Bike was my primary mode of transport at university. 77-80
Then, once I managed to get a job, main mode of transport again, 81-88
Car for the next fifteen years or so
Got another bike (influenced by one of this forum's predecessors) in 2003.
Less worried about other drivers and thefts than I am now, but I was a lot younger.

[Rod Marton]

Yes. I got my first job (in 1983) in Great Baddow, and decided that the best way to get there was by bike. This was how I got into cycling: I bought my first adult bike for the commute and discovered how much I enjoyed riding it. Though the commute itself wasn't much fun as it involved croosing the Army and Navy roundabout (this was before the Chelmsford bypass), and before long I moved out to Maldon which, whilst a longer ride, was much more pleasant.

I continued to cycle commute through various jobs after that until 2010, when I got a job which was too far from home to make cycling all the way practicable. So whilst I could go all the way by train, I've generally cycled to a station a bit further up the line and caught the train from there.

As I was commuting between towns there would be at most one rider going the same way.

I worried about theft after my first bike was stolen (not from work, though, that was secure). Not had one stolen since. Distracted drivers were more of an issue, as I was hit a few times on the Essex commutes, though only badly hurt once.

I never bothered to log mileage, though the longest commute was a round trip of 35 miles (Maldon - Colchester).

[Mr Larrington]

• Yes, from 1983 as a Penniless Student Oaf to 2007
• No except for the last two years.  The bulk of it was into central Londonton; 2006/7 Walthamstow <-> Harlow
• Yes
• Only in the later stages; not on Strava though, just a spreadsheet

[fimm]

A thread aimed at the more seasoned members. Did you cycle commute "before it was cool" let's say pre 2000?

Used my bike as my main mode of transport when I was a student (1990-94) which I don't think counts, and, in combination with public transport, depending on what I was doing, for my first job (1994 - 2002).

If you did, would you be the only cyclist on the road or did other people go the same way?

Lots of student cyclists, unsurprisingly. Not so many in Birmingham. I can't remember noticing or thinking about it.

Did you worry about bike theft or distracted drivers?

I don't think so, but I don't remember. I don't remember any bad experiences from drivers (this does not mean that there were none).

Did you bother logging your rides/mileage in the pre Strava era?

No, I would never have thought of doing such a thing.

[Socks]

Cycled to work (6 miles each way) most days, from about 1985 onwards.  I rarely saw another cyclist, and some car drivers were ignorant or hostile - over the years quite a few close passes, one incident where a full drink can was thrown at me but fortunately missed.  Another where a driver coming the other way swerved across the road towards me.

On the other hand, on the way home in the dark my battery light failed so I used the pavement.  A driver who had seen this returned with some spare batteries and checked that I was OK.

Definite improvement over the years with more people cycling, less hostility and more awareness from drivers.

[hellymedic]

Commuted to school 1975-6. There were a few cyclists about.
Always worried about theft.
Always worried about road safety.
Never owned a car.
Have only suffered trivial collisions with motor vehicles.
Had a Mileater diary.
Never used Strava or a GPS on the road.

[Lightning Phil]

1. Primary school, walked to school with a friend who’d cycle over and leave their bike at our house.
2. Secondary school I’d cycle over and leave bike at house of same friend as they lived near big school. Then walk with them into school. Used to transport Euphonium on rack on back.
3. Got around on bike at University for anything longer than a 30 min walk, assuming not on a pub crawl.
4. Cycle to work on road bike.  Drivers fine and didn’t worry about theft. Work bike shed usually full.
5. An off road mountain bike commute with showers and change of clothes other end.
6. Return to a road commute.

As others say, you didn’t call it commuting. It was just riding to / from work.

None of the distance logged, though I did have a mechanical clicker odometer of the sort that sat by the hub of the front wheel. I could calculate the school and work commute totals now if I wished, as they were a known quantity.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

No
No
Yes - I have handwritten note books with places visited on each ride and the distance ridden going back to 1994.  They are still my official logbook, so if Strava or anything else goes up in smoke I still have the manual records.

[drossall]

None of the distance logged, though I did have a mechanical clicker odometer of the sort that sat by the hub of the front wheel.

I had one of those, then one of those Huret band-driven posher ones. Still got some spare drive bands somewhere

[Pedal Castro]

None of the distance logged, though I did have a mechanical clicker odometer of the sort that sat by the hub of the front wheel.

I had one of those, then one of those Huret band-driven posher ones. Still got some spare drive bands somewhere

I had one of those, they had 2 "displays", odometer and a reset able trip meter I seem to recall.

As far as bike commuting is concerned:
To school from Y8 onwards, had my bike stolen from school bike sheds when I was in the 6th form.
Then a bike/train commute to Uni Northampton - London for 3 years.
Followed by 6 months Northampton - Wellingborough
After which I lived walking distance to work for the next 9 years before 3 years of cycling 8 miles to be picked up by colleague (captain of Northampton Saints and geography teacher) to drive me the rest of the way in.
Then my kids started going to same school so I had to start driving myself until the last one left and I could go back to cycle commuting, ended up doing the whole 58 mile round trip 3-4 times a week before retirement.

During all that time, apart from school/uni commutes very few other cycle commuters to be seen, certainly no obvious change in numbers over the years.

[Polar Bear]

I was cycle commuting in the eighties, nineties and noughties.

In the eighties the roads seemed busy but somehow less frantic.  Motorists seemed to still show patience and restraint.  I was living in Coventry initially but moved to Northampton in 1987.

In the nineties commuting in Northampton became quite dangerous and many a time I experienced road rage on a regular basis.  I do remember one repeated round of aggravation from one motorist which ended after about a month with me damaging the car of the idiot.  I am not proud but incredibly the aggravation stopped.  During this period I had three bikes stolen from work premises.

In the noughties I moved jobs a couple of times and I moved home too.  At one point I was cycle commuting on occasion between Rugby (home) and Northampton initially and then Milton Keynes.  Sometimes I would ride to work, other times home from work.  Taking a bike on the train was no problem.

No bikes stolen from work in this window.  In 2012 we had the worst bike theft and vandalism event where six bikes were destroyed or stolen.  Things were never the same since.

[pumpkin]

Like Polar Bear I started in the 80s. Always fortunate to have my bike in the office or try to take it inside. Only time I  locked it outside it got stolen. Mcr Uni was a premium spot for bike thefts. Roads were I feel better in terms of traffic behaviour. Cars were smaller, few if any suv's and no one distracted by phones. Didn't log rides or times and still don't.

[telstarbox]

Nice!

I should have asked what bikes people were riding too.

[chrisbainbridge]

I rode to school through almost the whole of secondary school until I got a moped in lower sixth. Then a BSA Bantam for a year or so until it fell to bits at which time I cycled round uni. Then nothing until about 15 years ago when I started with a new bike to work.