POLL: How far is "cycling distance'?

[Roody]

How far will you ride for utilitarian purposes or basic transportation, as opposed to recreational or fitness riding?

How far will you go to:


Shop for groceries and other items
Commute to work
Visit friends or family
Entertainment like movies and restaurants
Other basic needs or special needs


Please take a minute to explain your answer in a reply post!



Metric conversion:

5 miles = 8 kilometers
10 miles = 16 kilometers
15 niles = 24 kilometers

[Bizurke]

Probably about 25 miles give or take for utilitarian purposes. Unless there's multiple legs where I can take a load off for a few minutes or longer. Then I don't really set a limit.

[cyclezealot]

If I lived that close to work, I'd not bother the trouble of biking. I like distances. My commute was 26 miles.

[8bit]

I'll ride as far as I need to go, though I prefer that my round-trip distance is below 30 miles if I'm carrying something heavy. Of course, I whine and cry about the BF having friends who live out in suburban wastelands when we go visiting- he's only allowed to make in-city friends from now on :D

[CommuterRun]

When talking about this, I say 20 miles, but most of my utility cycling is about half that, one-way distance.

[!!Comatoa$ted]

The furthest I would have to ride where I live is under 5 miles. When I lived in a bigger city I would consider anything within 30 miles close. I have never had to go far to get groceries, and can walk to most amenites, and have always been able to. I could not picture myself biking 15 miles in order to get groceries, but then I have never lived that far away from my food.

I consider getting there part of the fun if I am going to do something I like with freinds

[wahoonc]

I voted 5-10, that is well within reason for most utility purposes. I have commuted further than that in the past. But somewhere you hit the point of diminishing returns. Hauling a weeks worth of groceries more than about 10 miles is a pain, plus you have to worry about the frozen stuff. Right now my current grocery store is about 1 mile from the house. Closest Home Center is 12 miles. Don't do movies, closest bar is about 6 miles, but it is on a major 5 lane highway so don't go there by bike either. We live in a rural>suburban area. Was rural until about 5 years ago. We also are working on a place in another small town nearby, when that gets done, everything will basically be in walking distance except for the LBS and they are all an hour away or more...might have to do something about that;)

Aaron:)

[B Rubble]

My average is 13 miles to the bus each morning. I plan on doing the entire 30 mile route to work every friday once it cools off some and I get some experience on roads (versus dedicated bike path).

[Platy]

I said 5-10 miles. If a round trip is more than about 7 miles I'll consider taking the bus.

Everything depends on specifics. My hardest trip is 3.5 miles out and back, because there is a 15% grade down into a canyon and high speed traffic in that direction. My easiest trip is 12 miles out and back because it's flat terrain along the mesa ridge with polite traffic and a wide bike lane.

[BOIP]

i chose "5-10 miles," though anything under 5 miles is welcome, too.

i'm lucky in that there is a safeway (and longs drugs, among other businesses in a few commercial centers) approximately one mile from my residence. the downside is that the only road by which to access these businesses is a fairly busy suburban arterial, where the ride up the slight hill has no bike lane (one must take the extended right-turn stacking lane until approaching the intersection of crow canyon road). the posted speed limit is 45 mph, a speed that is often exceeded by those zooming up from the bottom of the hill to the crow canyon intersection.

all other services (including the town's library, community center, and lone--for all intents and purposes--bus line) are located downtown, approximately five miles west-northwest from my location. i'd consider this an easy riding distance. the ride to walnut creek, the nearest "city" (or urban suburb) is a 12 mile ride to the north. it's a flat, easy ride with relatively low to moderate traffic. i will typically ride the distance, however on warmer days i may opt to ride the bus.

[bhchdh]

10-15 is a good max distance for me, I often do 13 or so to visit freinds or get to the start of a ride. Everyting is within cycling distance if you have the time.( Idea stolen from the comic Steven Wright )

[2manybikes]

It depends on how much time I have that day to spend on the bike, not the mileage. The more the better for me. I ride 80 miles round trip to visit a friend when I have time. Almost that much for other things.

[bragi]

For me it's purely a matter of time. Anything within 15 miles takes less than an hour or so, even in traffic, so that's usually no problem, but, farther than that, I have to think about it. It also depends on whether or not I have to arrive at my destination in a suit. I don't care what distance you're talking about, suits just don't look good after you've stuffed them into a messenger bag or a pannier, and riding while dressed in a suit is just not sane in a town full of big, steep hills. Who wants to show up for a meeting all sweaty and stinky? At that juncture, you either whip out the bus pass or call a cab.

[Nightshade]

My vote was 5>10miles which is really a stretch for me. If you plan
properly WHERE to live then all supply resources should be within a 5 mile
radius. That's why I think suburbia is so damn dumb. EVERYTHING
if you live in suburbia requires a car to fetch. :( :( I live in a
small midwestern town that is compact,pleasant and very easy
to bike in. ;) ;)

[Chris L]

Well, I regularly ride to Brisbane (about 95km away) to visit family, and I've carried my camping gear much further on my bike on long weekends, so I guess the answer is, whatever distance I feel the need to ride basically.

[patc]

What's a mile? Seriously, I had to use a metric-dinosaur converter. 25 km is a good length trip, taking about an hour, anything over that I consider "long".

[Roody]

I voted 10-15. One regular destination (best friend's house) is 12 miles away. All other regular destinations are under 5 miles. I live in a bike rider's utopia. :)
Of course I could go much further if called upon, and I often do for recreational rides. But 12 miles is about as far as I would want to go on a regular basis.

[Roody]

What's a mile? Seriously, I had to use a metric-dinosaur converter. 25 km is a good length trip, taking about an hour, anything over that I consider "long".

Sorry pat. Momentary lapse into Amerocentrism. I put a little conversion table into the first post.

[patc]

Sorry pat. Momentary lapse into Amerocentrism. I put a little conversion table into the first post.
Just pulling your leg... mostly. I honestly never remember the conversion, I don't use it often enough. While "feet" do have meaning for me, "miles" don't, so I can't even remember if a mile is shorter or longer than a km.

Back to your original question:
1) I don't blink at anything up to 10km. I do that daily at a minimum, one-way.
2) 20km is a nice ride to me, an hour on busy streets with many intersections, maybe 45mins or so otherwise.
3) 30km is long enough to feel like a good ride, leave me a bit tired, but still thinking "that was fun". I'm not sure I would be up to 30km rides on a daily basis, though. Most I've done in a day was 70km, but that was made of several shorter trips.

I've come a long way in 2.5 years!

[chephy]

I chose 15+ miles. If I lived, say, 15 miles from work, I would commute by bike, no problem. However, if I lived 15 miles away from grocery stores, then I'd ask myself why in the hell I am living in the middle of nowhere. :D (Actually, I've biked to some grocery stores 10 miles away from home just because they had some really nice ethnic foods not to be found elsewhere, but those trips are quite rare).

A lot depends on the roads too. My parents live about 50 km (a little over 30 miles) away. I usually visit them weekly. The distance is no big deal, a nice distance for a weekend recreational ride actually, but if I went by bike, I'd have to ride through endless miles of ugly suburbian wasteland on 12-lane arterials and after that on a few miles of VERY narrow and often VERY busy country roads. Not my idea of fun. So I take public transit or get picked up/dropped off by the family. I biked there and back once, just for the hell of it, but I don't want to do it every week.

[chicbicyclist]

Everything is within 10 miles one way from where I live, including the beach, the cultural park, about 4 malls, dozens of bars, dozens of grocery stores. The big box store is just in the valley north of me, about 3-5 miles away from me. It's a 9% grade climb, but I manage. *wink wink* I don't go there very often though, only when I am craving In N Out. I'll bike more than 10 miles roundtrip and climb that damn hill for a double double.

[Bike_UK]

I would have said 5-10, but after riding 13 miles (for what probably comes under 'Entertainment' on your list), i am now quite prepared to do over 15 miles if necessary.

[atman]

My bi-weekly tabla lesson is 15 miles one-way from my home, and I've been known to take a 4 mile diversion after to pick up food in the Indian part of town (which is not actually where my tabla lesson is), so that makes it over 30 miles round trip fairly regularly. I'm pretty much done for the day after that; then again, I'm hauling a pair of tablas, recording equipment, and sometimes groceries. Good thing my fair city is so flat. :)

By the way, the Xtracycle, in addition to hauling your groceries, picking up dates and making your lunch,* is an excellent way to carry dry cleaning so it doesn't get wrinkled. Toss a towel and a pack of wet-naps in there, and you have all the makings of a fresh-sensation meeting after a few minutes with a sink.

*oh yes it can

[Bike_UK]

By the way, the Xtracycle, in addition to hauling your groceries, picking up dates and making your lunch,* is an excellent way to carry dry cleaning so it doesn't get wrinkled. Toss a towel and a pack of wet-naps in there, and you have all the makings of a fresh-sensation meeting after a few minutes with a sink.

*oh yes it can
This deserves a thread of its own!
I'm intrigued.

[atman]

Well, it's a short hijack...

http://www.xtracycle.com/fender-blender-p-81.html

Don't have one of these yet; I'm told they're easy to spot on the beaches of California this summer.

One day I'll start a thread on what I've found the Xtracycle useful for...it's good for a lot.

[Alekhine]

How far will you ride for utilitarian purposes or basic transportation, as opposed to recreational or fitness riding?

How far will you go to:


Shop for groceries and other items
Commute to work
Visit friends or family
Entertainment like movies and restaurants
Other basic needs or special needs


Please take a minute to explain your answer in a reply post!



Metric conversion:

5 miles = 8 kilometers
10 miles = 16 kilometers
15 niles = 24 kilometers


This is a really tough question for me, because it makes me theoretize about what I would be "willing to do" as opposed to what I regularly do. I therefore didn't punch the poll to offer my opinion.

I take pleasure rides daily that exceed the limits of what I do in order to get groceries, and that kind of skews the question a little for me too. I live less than a mile from the Trader Joe's and the Thai-Lao Market that I buy my groceries from, so if I had to answer "how far do you ride for groceries?", it would only be a mile or so. How far would I ride for groceries? Totally depends on the situation. If I were starving or lived in some completely cut-off place, it might be over 100 miles, hehe. Other utilitarian concerns are largely irrelevant for me, as my whole job is based in-home.

In other words, I'm completely fence-sitting on this one. Sorry! :D

[AlanK]

Realistically, I think it's about 10 miles. This is about as far as someone can travel every day or almost every day via bike without getting burned out. If I ride more than about 10-15 miles one day, then I need a day to recover.

[pakole]

If I can get somewhere by bike in a hour or so, then its good for me, so 15+ is my answer. It also gets me off my chair in front on my computer and outside. I spend half of Friday riding up and down Seattle doing erranding while I was tired at the end of it. I felt like I got more acomplished than if I had driven.

[lyeinyoureye]

It depends, a 15 mile commute to a sit down job isn't bad, but biking two hours a day to eight hours of labor may not be doable.

[cyclezealot]

15 miles is just a warm up.

[jeff-o]

It all depends on:

- how much time I have
- what the weather is like (ie. is it not raining)
- how much I have to carry
- do I have someplace safe to lock up
- do I have to arrive without a drop of sweat on my face

In general, this means anything below 10km is fine, and anything more requires a bit more planning, at least. I really need some rain gear and panniers. ;)

[Caspar_s]

3 mile commute to work,
720m to grocery store.... 0.4 of a mile. We often walk it though :-)
Doctor is 6 miles but we often take the bus (we're going to the doctor afterall :-/ )
0.7 of a mile to the mall
0.9 to the beer store
0.6 to the LBS.

But I said more than 15 miles since you mentioned entertainment - Peach festival in 2 weeks is 15 miles away.
Haven't gone to the mother-in-laws yet, although it is only 50 miles.