I would try to combine a usual training ride with a commute ride...

So, easy 30 minutes to work in the morning maybe stopping at the pool and then your usual 2 hours on the way home.

I don't think a short commute like that is much of a substitute for training. I commute 15 miles round trip and it's not a great training route so I just go easy. The only adjustment I make to my training is I kind of let my commute substitute for some "time in the saddle". I.e., when I get home I figure I can do a good quality 1:30, knowing I've actually been on the bike for 2:30, and where I might otherwise have filled out that 1:30 ride with another 30 mins of lower intensity.

I suppose if you could take a change of clothes to work then you could take the long way home and do your training ride starting from work, but that's never worked for me mainly because my house is near great training roads but my work isn't as good, so I'd basically be riding home first anyway.

I don't commute as far as you (mine is only 6 miles round trip) but I don't bother counting it in my workout totals at all. If I'm going to do a 150 or 200 mile bike week, that means 150 or 200 miles of dedicated rides plus whatever I commuted that week. I do this because 1) commuting (at least in Boston) can be finicky due to the weather and 2) you have little to no control over the effort (stop lights, cars, pedestrians, etc.).

Don't count it and treat it as your secret weapon.

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If you can recover fine feel good with all the commuting miles then I see no reason to cut back on the bike miles. I have been bicycle commuting over a 100 miles per week for many years and I have no problem doing hard or long distance weekend rides.

I find bike commuting to be really good training as the constant stop and go and hills, lugging a heavy back pack and riding a heavy bike makes you strong. Furthermore, car commuting does not work due to the stress, inactivity, wasted money on fuel, etc and the fact that in many cities during commuting times, a bicycle trip is quicker than a car trip. Fact

I bike commute approximately 120 miles per week so I work the commutes into my training plan.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I don't ride to work but I do often have my wife drop me off with my bike and ride home. Its a 12 mile ride straight home but I rarely go straight home. My office is only 4 miles to the start of the weekly hammer fest group ride so my "commute" ends up being 55 miles on those days. Other times I'll do a hard hour or so on the way home and get home right about the time I would have been making it out the door to start an evening ride if I had driven home and done the inevitable putzing around.

If I was just lollygagging to and from the office I would not count the miles but if that is all you use the bike commute time for, you are missing the biggest benefit.

Unless you can hammer the whole 12 mi., it's not really training miles.

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res, non verba

Nonsense. You are riding, so you are training. The commuters who drive instead of ride are the people who are missing out on the training miles. Additionally, there is no need to "hammer" an entire commute unless you are running late to work or school. Furthermore, it's ok to take it easy on some days. (recovery ride) Finally, if your commute has plenty of stop and go and hills, you are getting in good training so you should have no problem out powering the weekend only riders with the fancy power meters who obsess over silly things like yaw angles.

+ 1. Similar distance with a nice hill on the way (both ways). I don't count it as training, just added bonus of active lifestyle. However I count it when I commute running.

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Francois-Xavier Li @FrancoisLi
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." George Bernard Shaw
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Good point, I also count commute running.

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I've been commuting year round by bike for 20+ years varying from 5 to 7 miles one way. I've always included it in my training logs and I don't hammer the commute. I think the commute increases my fitness. There is something to be said for frequency and consistency. As for whether you should cut back the mileage, just listen to your body.

My commute is 75kms each way... I DO NOT do this more than twice a week....
So for me those commute days are prime training sessions..

In you position, i wuld discount the direct route as training and perhaps use as recovery....
IF you extend the route up to a duration and intensity which is required within your training plan then of course those sessions count...

With 14 miles each way for me, 6+ days a week (most weeks of the year) and, without much other riding, I accumulate around 8,000 miles of riding a year. How much of that counts as training? Zero?

Sure, I work it pretty hard, but 24 (or 28 in my case) miles per day is a pretty dang good way to build a lot of fitness.

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The question of who is right and who is wrong has seemed to me always too small to be worth a moment's thought, while the question of what is right and what is wrong has seemed all-important.

-Albert J. Nock

I am guessing that if you bike commute 3-4 times a day, a 6 mile ride might chew up as much as 30 mins one way. 4 bike commute days may mean as much as 4 extra hours on the bike instead of sitting in traffic. Nothing to sneeze at - I'd count this as my intervals work.

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