Commuting - How Many Turns On Your Route? (avg/mile)

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Rich Clark
05-24-02, 08:43 AM
This is a companion to the "controlled intersections" poll. Turns slow us down. A 10 mile ride all on the same road is a different experience than a 10 mile ride that windes through back streets and neighborhoods.

This poll doesn't distinguish between right and left turns, even though left turns (rights in the UK) are generally much more challenging. Let's assume that our outbound routes are mirrors of the inbound, even though they aren't always.

I have 20 turns on my commute (yes, I was busy doing a lot of counting on my ride this morning!). That's about 1.5 per mile.

RichC

RonH
05-24-02, 09:03 AM
On my ride to work I have a total of 14 turns, 9 of which are left turns. And as Rich pointed out, these really do slow you down.

I take a slightly different route on my commute home. Again I have 14 turns with only 7 of them being left turns.

I guess this is why my morning ride takes 70 minutes (13.9 miles) but my ride home only takes 55-60 minutes (14.2 miles).

Darn those left turns. :crash:
LittleBigMan
05-24-02, 10:53 AM
16 turns, 5 lefts.

8 turns are in my neighborhood, less that 1.5 miles from home (not that challenging.) 3 of the 5 lefts are also 1.5 miles from home and very easy.

My route is really quite straight after leaving the neighborhood. I think some of those hills are what slow me down.

If I could ride on a straight, fairly flat road most of the way, I would be much faster.

:)

But from what I hear, some of those "flat route" people have some serious wind considerations!

Also, if I took more of the back routes, I would have many more turns and controlled intersections than I do.