Forum menu
Thinking of starting to ride to/from the station instead of driving.
Station is only a couple of miles away, but can't help thinking that isn't really a ride at all.
I could add on/go the long way or ride to the next station which would probably make it more worthwhile - other than saving £7/week in parking.
Wouldn't be a flat commute - pretty decent hill in the middle, and probably slightly more uphill on the way back.
So what do we think the minimum distance to get any benefit from riding would be?
We're moving office in a few months and will have access to the canal then so I could go for a blast of a lunchtime I suppose......
Even if there was zero benefit riding would be way better than driving for lots of other reasons. That said I think it'll help. I had a 2 mile commute on flat roads a few years back and just a little bit of riding every day made me feel loads better and I'm sure I was in better shape.
You commute 2 miles by car and have to ask on a bike forum whether you should ride instead?
If you ride you can always just do a longer route ... even if just when it's not raining....
Against that you have to balance how safe the station is for bikes when you get to it .. is it safe if you end up late etc.
I checked out our local station and from the number of vandalised bikes decided against it... vandalised being stripped parts to just some idiot kicking a wheel in for fun...
It's still a couple of hundred calories that you wouldn't be burning otherwise.
That's about the same as my commute if I don't add some extra in. It's just a more pleasant way to get to work rather than driving so mentally more beneficial rather than fitness generating.
I walk some days during the summer as it is.
Would take bike on train and lock up at office - or invest in sturdy padlock and use the bike locker at the station.
As I also said if I take it to work I could use it at lunch times too.
My commute has varied from 2 miles to 12 miles each way over the years because I work as a contractor. In recent years it has been 3-4 miles each way, and I think there's a definite health benefit. I bet you would still find a two mile ride worthwhile.
Apart from anything else, going for a spin on a bike always makes me feel better, so that's a good enough reason for me!
Ride it every time like your life depended on it, how fast can you ride it, can you shave a second off next time but jumping that curb etc
Plenty of benefits:
Saves almost 200kg of CO2 emissions per year (and that's assuming you actually meet the optimistic EU tests in real life on a short two mile journey, which is impossible).
Saves traffic congestion
Saves other polution
You would burn about 250 calories per day (about 9kg of fat per year).
20 miles a week is not to be sniffed at.
It's probably quicker than driving, I can commute by bike 25 miles and it only takes me 15 minutes longer on a bad day, and that's when my alternative is is the M4/M25 not a built up area!
Probably save you £250 a year in car running costs! You could buy a nice hardtail from decathlon just for commuting on for that money!
Can you think of any benefit to doing it in a car!
I walk some days during the summer as it is.
Just wondering if 20 minutes twice a day would benefit me fitness wise?
Well it will be a different benefit to walking... In some way's an hours brisk walk might be good and in others the 20 minute cycle? A bit swings and roundabouts... I reckon you'd do it more often though and you always have the option of making it take the same time by going further... so that would seem to weight it.
When I used to ride my 3 miles each way commute I felt fitter. As others have said, you can always take the long way home, or there, if it's nice or you feel like it.
That said - not sure I'd be happy leaving my bike locked at the station all day, so... I'd definitely want a new hack bike for the job, which means I'd get to buy a new bike, so another win.
I used to have a similar short commute and it really did little for fitness - the benefits all lie elsewhere as said. I guess you could argue it keeps you in touch with cycling, the muscles go through the right motions every day, which is valuable if you're not doing a great deal of cycling in general.
It doesn't take much more, though, to start to show an effect. My commute is a flat 11 total and it definitely has a retaining effect on fitness. Plus you're never completely out of shape - been out with friends who've not looked at a bike in months and they are most literally miles off the pace.
I reckon best thing to do is cruise the 2 miles in so you're not a sweaty mess, then when energy and time allows, extend ride back to much longer ride couple of evenings a week, the biggest thing is always getting on the bike in the first place, once you're already on it, then wanting to ride further will come when weather is good.
Loads of benefits, even if not to your riding, mainly environmental as per above.
Would a 2 mile run give you more fitness benefits?
faff of riding, lock bike, risk of it getting damaged.
for 2 miles, I'd walk it.
the question is walk or bike?
btw i have the same commute and take the car as ive got to puck the little one up after 🙁
Sadly kcal your probably right when you have to park your bike at a station. Which is a shame as ignoring that, the positives are great.
Buy a beater off ebay/gumtree*. Enjoy. Job done.
*I got a little Dawes singlespeed for £30. BB and brake blocks knackered but it goes, and makes short work of a few miles with 2.0 slicks. Like a 26er BMX that I don't GAS about. Get on and ride. Literally any working bike would do it. Pref one with mudguards tho. Raleigh Twenties were made for such journeys 😎
I get the bus from my home town to the centre of Glasgow as my daily work commute, it's horrid. Takes about 70 mins in the morning, nearer 90 mins in the evening. However, I also use a hire bike (NextBike), to get from the centre of Glasgow out to my lab in the West end and back. It's all of about 2.5 miles and takes me roughly 12 minutes each way, but those few minutes make such a difference to my day. I get to work feeling so much brighter and ready for the day, and the blast back to the centre of the town in the afternoon clears my head and puts me in a better mood for coping with the grotty bus journey home.
I'd say it's a no-brainer, get a scruffy commuter bike from a charity shop if you're worried about leaving the thing locked up at the station, but I certainly think the benefits of that wee bike ride is well worth it!
C.
I have a similar, but all downhill, ride into work, so I cruise down in work clothes, and then go absolutely all out on the way home for as much as I can so effectively it's a steep uphill sprint. Not sure how effective it is, but it's got to be doing something.
Ride it definitely, especially now weather is nicer, easier to get it into a habit that you enjoy.
I'd probably use my old 26'er HT to commute on - might have to change the 760 wide bars though!
Although I quite fancy a gravel-type bike on cyclescheme.
Probably depends how much other opportunities you have to get out, but since having kids kids I’ve found that similarly short commutes every day do help a bit to just keep things ticking over. That said, these days I go slower so I can do it in work clothes without sweating too much, so I probably get less benefit.
But: you’re not knackering a car, you’re not knackering the environment, you’re not demanding a 15x6ft patch of public space to be tarmacked, you’re not spending much money, you’re gradually reducing your dependency on burning dinosaur juice, you’re only adding to your health benefits, and (if you’re a bit meh about the last point) you can legitimately have a pint or two after work. It’s all good.
2 miles. I’d walk it rather than ride.
The station might only be 2 miles away but nothing to stop you detouring extra miles to get there if you wanted to.
I do a regular sub-2 mile commute and it definitely does add a bit of fitness- especially because it's short enough to really smash it and do it at high effort. But, on the other hand, I also find it's just enough to make me a little tired/slow recovery after bigger rides, and that's sometimes been enough to make me skip an evening ride or god forbid a horrible turbo session. So it's been a bit up and down.
Yes, worth it, but do it the Dutch way. Don't think of it as fitness work think of it as pleasant bike ride that's good for the soul. Get a comfy sit up and beg with roller brakes and swoopy bars. Take in the world, smile at everyone, begin your day in the best (well second) best possible way!
It's amazing transport not 150 calories per day. Your mind will thank you. And your armpits!!
I have about two miles down the canal path to the station and I ride a single speed there - it is worth it and I think it is more beneficial than walking actually, plus saves over half-an-hour which can be significant if you have other stuff to do in the evening...
The BBC had a fitness program showing short intense burst of activity are very beneficial, but even if less intense I still think it is better than walking.
I use a 11mm 1metre length Pragmasis lock whch goes around my waist nicely so you don't notice the weight and it is going to be a lot less tempting for a thief than the rest of the locks at the station, plus it is a track style frame so the wheels aren't QR but bolted, and bullhorn bars to be narrow on the canal path - also less attractive for selling on down the local pub...
And I use tannus solid tyres so I have to bother with punctures.
For 2 miles, a scooter would be more fun. And easier to take on the train, or find somewhere to park it in the office. Saves the faff of locking it etc.
I cant imagine a situation where I would chose a car over a bike for a 2 mile commute!
marathon plus tyres, heavy motorbike lock lives at station
I ride a 2 mile commute to work, and although I may be coming from a much lower level of fitness to you it's made a difference to me. My other option as I'm without a car would be to walk which takes 35 minutes Vs 10 minutes on my FS MTB 🙂
I'll still cycle when I get another car as it's just as quick!
Or a folder to take on the train?
Every little helps
Depends what your goal is exactly but the latest evidence now shows us that it is the seemingly small but daily adjustments to increase your level of activity that can significantly drop your chances of becoming disabled or even having your life considerably shortened by a whole raft of genuinely nasty lifestyle related diseases.
I'd probably mix up walking and driving unless you are certain the bike will go on the train, even then do you have the space and time for a lunchtime ride?
Thanks all.
Should be able to fit a ride in at lunchtime when we move office. Currently managing to fit in a 30 minute gym session in with walking to/from gym.
Get a beach cruiser and bimble to the station. That’s what I’m contemplating for my 2.5 mile commute. Or buy one of those ridiculous long skateboards. That’s the other thing I’m considering. Properly cheap midlife crisis happening here.
Get a comfy sit up and beg with roller brakes and swoopy bars. Take in the world, smile at everyone, begin your day in the best (well second) best possible way!
It’s amazing transport not 150 calories per day.
A few years ago it used to be claimed that walking a mile used as many calories as running a mile. Is that true for cycling too (ie a gentle bimble uses as much energy as a sprint of the same distance)? Intuitively if the first is true the second should be - unless it is a question of acceleration being the work done and the bearings being much more efficient...
I cant imagine a situation where I would chose a car over a bike for a 2 mile commute!
This. I couldn't imagine why you'd choose to drive. You could buy a Brompton and take it on the train.
Some riding is better than none and this time of year you can enjoy a nice morning. I ride to the supermarket on a Friday night to pick up my beer, it's about 2km there and back. It would be more practical to pick some up on the way home from work in my car, but I would ride my bike less. On a nice summer evening I enjoy the atmosphere, on a cold wet winter night I sprint!
Nope, going twice as fast requires 4x the power for half the time in aerodynamic terms (thus twice the calories).
Also counter to a lot of peoples thinking, unless you're highly trained then a high cadence isn't very efficient. Froome can twiddle up mont ventoux at 105rpm because he has 400W to play with, weighs nothing and can waste 80w just lifting his back leg*. If you're a more normal 200W then you can just waste some calories sprinting at a high rpm rather than mashing a big gear.
*if you think your pedaling is efficient try lifting a leg off the floor to knee height 90 times in a minute, the pedal is doing the lifting.
2 miles
That's ride or walk territory for me.
If you want to get health benefits from it then run to and from the station. I'd not bother cycling such a short distance.
2 miles. I’d walk it rather than ride
Me too. In fact I used to get bus to work for a few years and then walk 3 miles in and 3 miles back. Much more benefit physically than rolling along on a bike for 2 miles and then having to carry it, stow it etc,
Only downside was in hot summer weather and the sweating from a brisk walk.