I started commuting to work by bike 3 years and 4 months ago. It felt a bit funny at first, but now I wouldn’t have it any other way.
As I bike in every day, I’m amazed at the number of people still driving.
Don’t they know how good it feels to ride in!?!?
I get in to the office ready to go, having already got in a bit of exercise. I never go hard, and usually try not to sweat.
However, I always felt like it was beneficial to my body. I’ve stopped adding this kind of thing in my training log since it really is normally super light and easy, but I recorded a power file of my commute for you to see some of the demands.
As you can see, my commute isn’t very long at 6.3 km (though I often take the long way in, which can be 20-40 km).
You can also see that I didn’t pedal very hard, with NP of 115 W. My HR peaked out at 130 bpm, which is higher than normal, and probably due to the fact that I went harder by riding in with my roommate 🙂
The commute isn’t big, but I feel ready to start the day once I arrive. The health benefits are clear!
But even though it was easy and not very long, I was able to get in over 130 kJ of work–without breaking a sweat!!
So to work and back home is more than 250 kJ/day. That’s 1250 extra kJ/week!!
If I compare this to driving, driving is costing me no additional muscular work, but is costing me in fuel and parking fees. There is also no additional time savings when driving, which is because I still need to walk from the parking lot to my office (it actually end up being longer to drive).
If you’re looking to burn a bit more energy or get some more time in on the bike, why not commute by bike?