How much time a week is devoted to commuting?
#26
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I just got going myself, but I easily spent 2 to 2 and a half hours each day I commute just between riding and showering. However, I think it's worth it. Being off and on the bike every other season, it's hard for me to find regular times to ride. Commuting sort of kills two birds with one stone.
But at what point would you just say forget it and drive to work rather than ride?
Last edited by Drew Eckhardt; 10-01-10 at 07:36 PM.
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#28
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I chose to live relatively close to work. I didn't want to spend my life on the road, either in a car or on a bike. Right now it's about an 50 minutes to an hour each day. Some times I take the long way to get a little extra training in.
Winter adds a good 10 to 15 minutes each way plus additional prep time. That's about my limit. If I lived further away, I might go multi-modal or just choose to ride once a week.
Don't get me wrong. I like to ride but I don't want to set aside much more time to bike than I already do at this point in my life. If I do some non commuting rides I prefer to do them with other people and make it at least partially a social outing.
Winter adds a good 10 to 15 minutes each way plus additional prep time. That's about my limit. If I lived further away, I might go multi-modal or just choose to ride once a week.
Don't get me wrong. I like to ride but I don't want to set aside much more time to bike than I already do at this point in my life. If I do some non commuting rides I prefer to do them with other people and make it at least partially a social outing.
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I don't understand how some of you are able to ride to work in your work clothes.
Mine is 30 minutes and im drenched. In fact, im sweating by the 10 minute mark..and it doesn't matter how 'slow' i go, or how few layers i wear..i sweat. I envy people who don't...but it still perplexes me
Mine is 30 minutes and im drenched. In fact, im sweating by the 10 minute mark..and it doesn't matter how 'slow' i go, or how few layers i wear..i sweat. I envy people who don't...but it still perplexes me
#30
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I spend between 3 and 4 hours/day riding my bike to work and back, or roughly 18 hours/week. In the winter, or on really bad weather days, I multi-mode commute (bike + train) which drops the biking time to around 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on whether I take the train both ways or just one way.
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I don't understand how some of you are able to ride to work in your work clothes.
Mine is 30 minutes and im drenched. In fact, im sweating by the 10 minute mark..and it doesn't matter how 'slow' i go, or how few layers i wear..i sweat. I envy people who don't...but it still perplexes me
Mine is 30 minutes and im drenched. In fact, im sweating by the 10 minute mark..and it doesn't matter how 'slow' i go, or how few layers i wear..i sweat. I envy people who don't...but it still perplexes me
Now I shower/change when I get to work and I ride as hard as I want. It doesn't really add much extra time. I just shower at work instead of at home before I leave.
#32
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I don't consider my ride time as a commute time anymore. If I was driving then the drive is commuting time. The ride on my bicycle is part of my recreation time since I would have rode my bike after I got home on days that I drove. That amount of time I ride would have been the same as if I rode my bike to work.
Adam
#33
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I live far from work so my commute is a bit long, 22 to 25 miles each way depending on the route. Takes 1-1/2 hours each way.
The alternative to the bike is to take the bus for a one-hour ride to work.
I would rather spend the extra time on my bike and get a workout, rather than sitting on the bus.
I'm very fortunate to have a bike locker right outside my office building to store my ride and a full locker room with showers in the basement of my office. Only takes about 15 minutes to get cleaned up after a ride and ready for work. That's about the same time it takes me at home to get ready for work on the days I ride the bus.
The alternative to the bike is to take the bus for a one-hour ride to work.
I would rather spend the extra time on my bike and get a workout, rather than sitting on the bus.
I'm very fortunate to have a bike locker right outside my office building to store my ride and a full locker room with showers in the basement of my office. Only takes about 15 minutes to get cleaned up after a ride and ready for work. That's about the same time it takes me at home to get ready for work on the days I ride the bus.
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I have a mixed mode commute: home-bike-train-bike-work. I leave home at 0500 and arrive at work at 0715. So 4.5 hours is taken out of each day for commuting. I do this 2 or 3 times a week. But as others have said, I don't regard it as time spent transporting myself to/from work. I see it as a great opportunity to spend more time with my bike
Max
Max
#36
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I realized that I didn't answer the actual time question originally posed; my total daily commute at present is about 2.75 hours. I spend about 45 minutes in the car (getting daughter to school and then getting car back home at the close of the workday). I spend about 1 hour on the bike (riding from school to metro and back) and 1 hour on the train.
This post made me look into what the distance would be if I ride all the way in, and skip the train, and I just determined that I think the total would stay the same. I plan to try it on Tuesday or Wednesday, just to see.
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I don't consider my ride time as a commute time anymore. If I was driving then the drive is commuting time. The ride on my bicycle is part of my recreation time since I would have rode my bike after I got home on days that I drove. That amount of time I ride would have been the same as if I rode my bike to work.
I hated every minute that I was locked in that cage when I drove. I love the bike ride so much that I wish it was much longer.
#38
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2-3x per week for me, 36 miles round trip. Takes 2 hours, and it's a great workout. Unfortunately, takes about 45 minutes longer than if I did it by car, since traffic isn't so bad around here during my work leave hours.
#39
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5 hrs.
Typically save about 10 minutes a day vs driving (including bike prep. and getting changed).
More time savings in bad weather (i.e bad traffic).
Typically save about 10 minutes a day vs driving (including bike prep. and getting changed).
More time savings in bad weather (i.e bad traffic).
#40
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Between 6 hrs and 8 hrs of riding depending on the routes I take and the weather. It takes considerably longer in the winter to travel a given distance; 55 minutes in the winter versus 35 minutes for the same route in the summer.
#41
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I spend a negative amount of time commuting.
How is that?
I figure that the time it takes to drive plus the time it takes to exercise at the gym is greater than the time it takes to cycle to the workplace. So by traveling by bike and with the freedom from dedicated workout time, I'm saving time!
How is that?
I figure that the time it takes to drive plus the time it takes to exercise at the gym is greater than the time it takes to cycle to the workplace. So by traveling by bike and with the freedom from dedicated workout time, I'm saving time!
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Tom Reingold, tom@noglider.com
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Please email me rather than PM'ing me. Thanks.
#42
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20 hours per week.
i live about 40 miles from work. i bike an hour to a bus stop and take the bus another hour to work. reverse that for the way home. multiply that by 5 days per week.
i live about 40 miles from work. i bike an hour to a bus stop and take the bus another hour to work. reverse that for the way home. multiply that by 5 days per week.
#43
born again cyclist
i do not own a car, so drive time is out of the equation for me. my commute times by various modes:
by bike: 45-50 minutes on my titanium road rocket, my other bikes are slower, but they're only for inclement weather.
by train: 50-55 minutes door to door once walking to/from stations is included.
by kayak: 10 minute bus ride to put-in, 20 minutes to set-up my boat, 165 minutes on the water, 20 minutes to break down my boat, 2 minute elevator ride from the marina level dock up to my condo.
when i kayak commute (which is only about twice a month), it's only a one-way trip home from work because it would just take to much time to kayak up to work in the morning, i'd have to wake up at 4 in the morning to make it in on time, which ain't never gonna happen (i take my kayak with me on the train for the morning leg). so all things considered, biking is my fastest way to get to and from work and if i bike commute all 5 days in a given week, that means i'm spending 7.5 - 8.3 hours commuting by bike that week.
by bike: 45-50 minutes on my titanium road rocket, my other bikes are slower, but they're only for inclement weather.
by train: 50-55 minutes door to door once walking to/from stations is included.
by kayak: 10 minute bus ride to put-in, 20 minutes to set-up my boat, 165 minutes on the water, 20 minutes to break down my boat, 2 minute elevator ride from the marina level dock up to my condo.
when i kayak commute (which is only about twice a month), it's only a one-way trip home from work because it would just take to much time to kayak up to work in the morning, i'd have to wake up at 4 in the morning to make it in on time, which ain't never gonna happen (i take my kayak with me on the train for the morning leg). so all things considered, biking is my fastest way to get to and from work and if i bike commute all 5 days in a given week, that means i'm spending 7.5 - 8.3 hours commuting by bike that week.
Last edited by Steely Dan; 10-04-10 at 11:04 AM.
#44
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Pretty much 3.5 hrs per day minimum. Each leg of the commute is bike-train-bike. I do it every work day (5 days a week). So that is about 18 hrs or so a week. By car, my commute would take me 2 hrs per day, or 10 hrs per week. So I have invested 8 hrs a week to get execise, stress reduction, reading time on the train, and cost savings.
#45
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My commute is 40-50 minutes (depending mostly on the wind) each way. Add in about 10 minutes to change clothes and get the stuff on and off my bike. So between 1.5 and 2 hours a day. That's comparable to the time it would take by bus or shuttle.
The drive would be about an hour round trip. And that's only if I'm willing to pay $100 a month for parking. If I want to cut that to $40 a month, I won't save any time by driving either. Figure in the time cost of a 45 - 60 minute exercise program and I'm way ahead on time.
That said, I wouldn't want my ride to be much longer than it already is. (Especially in lousy weather!)
The drive would be about an hour round trip. And that's only if I'm willing to pay $100 a month for parking. If I want to cut that to $40 a month, I won't save any time by driving either. Figure in the time cost of a 45 - 60 minute exercise program and I'm way ahead on time.
That said, I wouldn't want my ride to be much longer than it already is. (Especially in lousy weather!)
#46
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Just under 2 hours a day, 600 miles a month towing 3 kids. I never have to find parking only takes seconds to load the crew and everyone benefits from the ride. In the car it is nothing but a scream fest. I will take the tranquility of the bike any day.
I can change in about the same time it takes most people to use the bathroom and that has sort of cast me as this Clark Kent guy.
I can change in about the same time it takes most people to use the bathroom and that has sort of cast me as this Clark Kent guy.