I commute to work on my bike, 15 to 20 minutes each way. It’s only 3.5 miles, but includes some mild climbing, and a couple of lit junctions. I try to put some effort in as well.

What I am wondering is this:

Is this the equivalent of a 30-40 minute ride each day? Or does the fact that it is broken up by the hours I spend at work mean that it is just 2 mild jaunts with no real physical benefit? And should I be enjoying some sort of improvement in my fitness as a result of doing it?

Either way, I shall continue to do it because I enjoy it, but it would be nice to know more about the benefits, as I don’t really feel much either way.

unless you go flat out all the way I would not expect a great benefit but enjoy it all the same
yes riding 30 -40 mine each day is equivalent to riding 30-40 mins per day 😉

You are getting some basic exercise

IIRC the guidelines were 20 mins moderate exercise 3 or 4 times a week as the minimum for good health.

Both in physical health and mental health it will do you a world of good. I doubt it will make you into a racing snake tho

I do a similar commute. You’re not really going to get any fitter doing it (working on the assumption that you are already fit enough through riding at the weekends etc), but it should be enough to kick start your metabolism a bit (good) and wake you up much more than sitting in a traffic jam (also good).

If you’ve got tired legs from a big ride at the weekend it can help ease them out a bit too

i commute 1 mile each way from liverpool st to studio on a boris bike. i can tell you 1 mile on a BB is about the equivalent of 5 miles on a decent bike. 80kg, fat tyres, geometry designed to cater for 5’1″ and a total wind break.

do yours on a SS or fixed to get the most out of it?

enjoy the ride 🙂

Yep – do it on a SS and treat it as (mild) interval training.

I’ve read varying ideas about what is beneficial exercise. The 2 camps that I have read are that to improve cardio fintess you need to do continuous exercise for over 20 mins, other stuff I read said 30mins. Doing some exercise is better than doing no exercise though isnt it.

Why not extend the ride home a little. or rather than biking run/jog which shouldnt take much longer than your current cycle..which must be at quite a leirsurley pace!

TBH I think the first 5 mins on that sort of ride is more warming up so its harder to get going after you have stopped – I find it quite hard sometimes on the way home as my energy is low where as a 2 hours road ride seem easier as its all in one trip and after 30mins warming up it feels much easier if that makes sense. Frequency is most often more beneficial than time?