Originally Posted by
mstateglfr
10mi of in town/city riding may take as long as 15mi of rural paved rail trail riding, but I have not noticed the physical exertion to be 50% greater when riding in town/city.
I would usually be cruising around while in town, using it as a warm up to get properly moving once I'm out in the countryside, so for me, that wouldn't be like-for-like.
If I was to try and ride flat out in the city, I'd be constantly stopping at lights, crosswalks, junctions etc, so that stop-start nature probably would make a ride feel longer. Riding in most big cities usually means not going more than 0.5-1 mile without stopping, putting your foot down, and having to start again.