How Long will my Commute take? Comparisons for Bike Commuting


If you are starting out on your bike commute journey, you may wonder how long your commute will take. As with anything cycling related, this can be quite variable but there are some simple comparisons that can be made to assess if bike commuting is for you and achievable with you work pattern.

Assuming an average bike speed of 12-15 mph (19 -24 kph), a 10 mile (16 km) commute will take between 40 and 50 minutes. The following table gives an indication of your commute time with an average speed of 12 mph.

DistanceCommute Time
5 miles (8 km)25 minutes
7 miles (11 km)35 minutes
10 miles (16 km)50 minutes
15 miles (24 km)1 hour 15 minutes
20 miles (32 km)1 hour 40 minutes
Comparison of Bike Commute Times

The time taken is dependent on a number of factors and will vary for the individual. There are ways to plan your commute to minimise the time taken. The graph below shows how increasing your average speed affects your commute time. If you know your distance and your rough average speed, you can read off a rough time from the chart below.

Comparisons of Average Speed, Distance and Commute Time

As discussed, there are many factors that will impact your commute time and it is dependent on what average speed you can accomplish over the whole of your commute. More details of these factors affecting the average speed of your bike commute, and how to improve it read this article by truecommuter.com.

The truth is, cycling to work will save you time for your commute. A study reporting that on average people cycling to work commute for almost 10 minutes less every day than car commuters. Cyclists spend an average of 44 minutes commuting every day with drivers travelling for 52 minutes.

Other forms of transport are even worse, with train users averaging 2 hours for their commute. Cycling is second only to walking, spending only 29 minutes on average on their commute (worth considering if your distance allows).

So if you are considering riding to work, it is worth a little bit of preparation to determine your commute time. You want to ensure you have time to get to work so you don’t feel like you need to rush on that first morning. This article helps you to determine your commute time and also gives you some tips on how to reduce it (if only ever so slightly).

Use an App to Calculate your Bike Commute Time

There are many online and mobile apps that can help you determine your bike commute time. Top apps, such as Google Maps has road and off-road cycle routes mapped within the application and a feature to show alternative bike commute routes based on preferences.

Generally, we have found Google Maps to be really accurate when calculating your bike commute total time. The good thing is it will constantly re-calculate your time if you use it during your commute, so you can keep an eye on your arrival time ensuring you have plenty of time to get to work, shower, and be at your desk before the boss starts to notice. This is a free app and it does a really good job.

Google Maps is great to estimate your bike commute time

For more specialist cycle apps, CycleStreets is a good option. This is more tailored to cycling specifically and will give you knowledge of some of the smaller and less known routes. You would think the more specialist app would be a better option for determining commute times, but it doesn’t beat out the old faithful Google Maps in our opinion. Google is just a better option which is constantly being honed based on user data so is an easy and convenient option.

Trial your Bike Commute

We highly recommend that you give your commute a try before you commit to your first one on a working morning. This will enable you to test the route, measure the time it takes, understand the demand on your body and give you a taste for it. This will put your mind at ease the first morning you take to the saddle for real.

It is natural to feel flustered the first few mornings commuting, you will worry you haven’t packed everything, you will fumble with your kit, you will struggle to find a spot for your bike in the cycle shed and then you will take an age showering, getting dressed and hanging your kit up. Any preparation you can do to relieve some of this pressure the better. A test ride is a perfect opportunity where you can take your time and find the route you like.

Trialling different routes before the big day is also helpful in finding a route that suits you, it may not be the shortest one you go for, but perhaps the more scenic. Make it work for you. If you can, test your commute a few times before you do it for real and iron out any issues with the route.

The first time I commuted to work I went a few different ways, found myself on a cycle path far to rough for a road bike, took a few wrong turns, had to double back and nearly got hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing. For the sake of complete honesty, I didn’t do a trial run! I definitely should have. I arrived on that first morning more stressed than I should have.

If you can spare a few Saturday and Sunday mornings to trail your commute, you will be thankful you did when your alarm goes off on the first morning you do it for real.

If you can’t find the time for a trial, or you just want to jump in with both feet, I suggest leaving your house early to give yourself time on your first few mornings to figure it out. Make sure you don’t have an important meeting to get to and make sure you don’t need to be in for a set time. Take your first few rides slow, figure it out and build from there.

Measuring Actual Bike Commute Time

On your first few commutes, it is worth measuring the time taken to get from A to B. You can use this data to compare to Google Maps to know if you need to increase or reduce this time. If you use Google Maps regularly, it will start to automatically learn your average speeds and commute times and gain a more accurate prediction over time.

There are many apps that can be used to time your commute. You could use a sophisticated live tracking fitness app, such as Strava or Fitbit. These apps will track your commute time, speed, heart rate and all kinds of data which will give you a great indication of your average speed and your commute time, amongst many other things. You can even link with social media accounts and get in those precious ‘likes’!!

For a low tech solution. A simple stopwatch will give you enough info to work out your average commute time. Over the course of a number of commutes, you will be able to figure out what your average is quite easily. You will also see faster and slower days and work out what is causing that. Do you feel less energetic on those mornings? Did you get enough good quality sleep? Are you carrying an injury?

Reducing Bike Commute Time

As mentioned there are lots of factors that will impact our commute time. Some of these are out of your control, such as weather and traffic. Others you can do something about but remember, these are marginal gains and the key to bike commuting is getting there safely.

Weight

The less weight you carry the more speed to can achieve. Reducing weight has a positive influence over your average speed and reducing weight will be a beneficial action to take to reduce bike commute time. Total weight on a bike is made up of you, your bike and the stuff you carry.

Buying a lightweight bike, whilst more expensive than aluminium or steel bikes, is an easy way to reduce your total weight. Modern carbon fibre bike frames can be 2x lighter than aluminium frames and more than 5x lighter than steel. There are other benefits and drawbacks of bike material choice but carbon frames can give a significant benefit on the speed you can achieve.

Reducing your load but reducing what you carry can have a slight benefit. Try buying lunch at work rather than carrying it in the morning. If you can, leave clothes and shoes at work so they don’t need to be carried back and forth each day. Remove unnecessary accessories from your bike and just keep the essentials. This reduction in weight, whilst small, will give a small benefit to your speed and, hence, commute time.

Reducing personal weight, whilst can only be achieved over time, will help you to consistently ride faster and reduce your commute time. When you make the choice to cycle to work you are placing a vote for a person who is more committed to a healthy lifecycle, so use this new lease of life as an opportunity to shed some pounds, this will have lasting benefits on health and on commute time.

Drag

Reducing wind resistance when riding is significant. Wind resistance accounts for a large percentage of the total resistance on a bike and outweighs all other factors considered in this article.

To help with reducing wind resistance, you need to consider your clothing and riding position. The more aerodynamic you can be the more you can reduce drag and increase speed.

This is why cyclist choose to be lycra clad to aid this streamlining effect when they ride. You may not want to dress head to toe in lycra for a work commute, but it is worth considering if you want to reduce your commute time.

At the very least, choose clothing that is close fitting but still comfortable and avoid anything that will flap in the wind.

Making yourself as small as possible and as streamlined as possible is another way to reduce drag. A low riding position, whilst more uncomfortable, lead to a reduction in drag and allows you to ride faster with reduced effort. It is the key reason why you see cyclists riding in groups, using the front riders to reduce air resistance in the group so it is worth considering.

Conclusion

This article has given you an idea about the effect of average speed and distance on your bike commute time. The important thing here is that you are prepared for uncertainty and you know the best routes. This will have the biggest positive impact on your commute time.

Whilst improving commute time can help your motivation, there is nothing wrong with taking a little bit more time on your commute. This will ensure you remain safe on your commute and can sustain this new cycling to work habit for the long term.

Matt Gavin

I am the owner of True Commuter and I want to inspire people to leave their car at home more often for their benefit, and the benefit of the environment. I have been alternative commuting for years now, and want you to try it too!!

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