Yesterday i finally whip up the courage to try commuting with bike, i planned the 40km round trip to visit my mom and go grocery shopping on the way back,, planned the route with as much residential street as possible, and that was a fun experience! While there's a lot of "woah, ebike"(where i live a proper ebike is rare, even though mine is converted) and "you travel from that small town? That's insane!" from stranger, what's not fun is the ride on some stretch of the road.
I live in a small town outside the city, a lot of the road going out of the town is pretty much 1 lane each way, no cycling facility for the whole country(Malaysia), the road shoulder is narrow to non-existent(the line is basically bordering between road and grass/dirt) if not filled with potholes/cracks/sketchy road maintenance/bump made by tree root, and motorist often driving very fast even on narrow road. Luckily more often than not they does give me a lot of space when they're passing(thanks to motorcycle culture), but those who don't is very discouraging for the whole experience, mostly it's the one riding moped that pass me too close for comfort with 30/50kmph faster than me(no thanks to motorcycle culture).
I planned to do it often, first by doing a no-car sunday, then slowly switch to commuting to work(also 40km round trip), and eventually cut down car use to only just a day or two a week or only on long distance travel, but this experience kinda made me second guess the whole plan. It's also quite tiring, i can still feel the fatigue today.
So how did you guys that do the commute able to keep going? Any advice on that end?
I rode further every time I went out, and it eventually got easy to get to distances that were previously "impossible" without stopping for a break. My first ride after not being on a bike for maybe 20 years was only a few KM, and that was incredibly difficult! Less than a month later, I was up to 100km. Last weekend, I rode 200km, came home, walked several more KM to pick up ingredients for dinner, came home, made dinner, and did 80 km the next day. LOL You just get more fit with time and riding.
I will say, though, that at a certain distance, you will want to consider a food/water strategy. I know that I can generally ride for about two hours without needing to snack, or even sip from my water bottle. But for hours on the saddle, I prepare with snack bars and water. I still suck when it comes to eating enough on really long rides, but that's more about training my stomach to get used to eating constantly (which I don't do off the bike).
Also, at longer distances, you'll want to consider making your bike as comfortable as possible. Make sure your saddle is the right height, that your handlebars are setup correctly, that your posture is good, etc.
Good luck!