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I looked at a web site about cycling. There was a comment that cyclists consider 10 miles one way to the farthest practical commute.
I agree with this. Mine would be 11 miles which I occasionally do the entire distance (on a folding bike with 20 inch wheels!) but usually take the bus part of the way for the part where it is dangerous and there is no bike infrastructure. If I could do the entire distance in bike lanes and/or paths, I could totally imagine myself doing it each way daily, after a month of so of building up endurance on the bike (mainly for the part that's a 50 ft bridge generally against the wind!). Where I lived before, it was 23 miles, which I could only do the entire distance a few times a month and could not imagine doing it both ways every day even--and I do 5k's/10k's/HMs and even did one sprint triathlon.
I looked at a web site about cycling. There was a comment that cyclists consider 10 miles one way to the farthest practical commute.
Still, that sounds like it could be useful in a semi-urban area, or even in a "walkable suburb".
Depends on the complexity of the route, availability and quality of bike infrastructure. If 95% of the route was on a grade-separated, shaded, generally flat bikeway then the commute can be longer than if the route is complex, dangerous, or hilly.
But, yes, even under optimal conditions, 10 is a good distance. That said, 10 miles, even on a complex route, can cover a huge area.
I looked at a web site about cycling. There was a comment that cyclists consider 10 miles one way to the farthest practical commute.
Still, that sounds like it could be useful in a semi-urban area, or even in a "walkable suburb".
10 feels too far to me. That stRts gettimg into wearing special clothes and needng a shower. And that isn't appealing.
But I think focusing on the commute trip is the wrong idea. Most people make loads of trips in a day, mostly under 3 miles. These are ideal for a bike and the ride is pretty much the same as driving + parking in many cases. 3 miles also doesn't requre special clothing. We should encourage biking for errands.
I looked at a web site about cycling. There was a comment that cyclists consider 10 miles one way to the farthest practical commute.
I think it depends on the person, job and weather. <2 miles is almost the same time as driving, 4-5 miles is short enough it doesn't feel like much work nor is long at a slow pace nor is the weather as much of an issue. 10 miles is for someone who really likes cycling, or for a sporadic commute. I had a neighbor who did a 20 mile bike commute, so for some 10 miles is too low. He did it only half of days in decent weather, and it was with a racing bike.
I think it depends on the person, job and weather. <2 miles is almost the same time as driving, 4-5 miles is short enough it doesn't feel like much work nor is long at a slow pace nor is the weather as much of an issue. 10 miles is for someone who really likes cycling, or for a sporadic commute. I had a neighbor who did a 20 mile bike commute, so for some 10 miles is too low. He did it only half of days in decent weather, and it was with a racing bike.
I have gotten my 7 mile commute down to under 30 minutes, which much of it is a nice long trail where I can push my bike as fast as it will go if I want to.
10 miles is typically a good radius to look at, especially when evaluating bike routes and creating a safe infrastructure for cyclists.
Biking on the bike path today. Whenever it crosses a road, the bike path gets a stop sign and a crosswalk. Always seemed a bit unfair, that the bike path gets a stop sign and the road doesn't. If I can see there are no cars in any distance when crossing, I blow through the stop sign without slowing down. Two of the times on the path there was a car approaching the intersection. First time was about to get to the intersection about the same time as me. I hadn't entered the road yet, and I had a stop sign but the car stopped for me. I have the stop sign, he doesn't. Unless I'm in the intersection already, the car shouldn't be yielding to me. Either he thinks he's being nice, or the crosswalk makes him think he should yield. I wave him through. Happens frequently. Often the car yielding saves me no time, I can't trust that a car that has the right of way is going to stop, so I have to stop anyway, and then make sure he's truly stopping.
Another intersection: not paying as careful attention, see a car stopping at the crosswalk, so go through the stop sign without thinking. Get yelled at, "you should stop" with an obscenity. Then why did he stop for me? Perhaps because he didn't I was going to stop, I would have if he hadn't stop... I have noticed some drivers and pedestrians have a bad sense of how quickly bicycles can stop. Annoyed at the driver, though felt a bit bad for going through the stop sign. But I shouldn't. Clearly, anyone that easily angered has issues and is at fault; in general I believe you shouldn't give an angry person what he or she wants, it encourages further bad behavior.
Another time, same situation but without the obscenity. I yelled back, "why did you stop for me?". If I did, it might have just been me trying to wave the confused driver: "you should go!"
I have gotten my 7 mile commute down to under 30 minutes, which much of it is a nice long trail where I can push my bike as fast as it will go if I want to.
I've timed a few times on my commute when I went faster on Strava. Fastest (8.2 miles, 210 feet elevation gain), 28m43s biking time, 29m45s total time, about another 0.3 miles was timed on Strava. Not sure if that's practical as a commute for most, for one thing you'll get a bit sweaty unless maybe it's cool.
10 feels too far to me. That stRts gettimg into wearing special clothes and needng a shower. And that isn't appealing.
But I think focusing on the commute trip is the wrong idea. Most people make loads of trips in a day, mostly under 3 miles. These are ideal for a bike and the ride is pretty much the same as driving + parking in many cases. 3 miles also doesn't requre special clothing. We should encourage biking for errands.
Very true. Also, most of those short trips are not going to be as, er..., odor or sweat sensitive, as getting to work. A few miles to connect to mass transit ("last mile") is also more practical than biking all the way to work for many people.
We have a popular bike share system here which means you don't even have to own and maintain a bike and worry about theft for those short trips. And usually the time it takes to bike is the same time you'd otherwise have to deal with finding street parking or dealing with multi-level garages, let alone the actual driving time.
I've timed a few times on my commute when I went faster on Strava. Fastest (8.2 miles, 210 feet elevation gain), 28m43s biking time, 29m45s total time, about another 0.3 miles was timed on Strava. Not sure if that's practical as a commute for most, for one thing you'll get a bit sweaty unless maybe it's cool.
Personally I naturally get sweaty when I do any biking regardless of my speed, though at my job it is very easy for me to change clothes and dry off. I am hoping by the end of summer that I am able to shave a few more minutes off my commute, though the hard part is the beginning and end where I can interact with cars which always slows me down.
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