my commute is 28-30 miles roundtrip (depending if i leave from my condo or my girlfriend's). i consider it a "longish" daily commute for bicycle travel. chicago is marvelously flat, but i also ride directly along the shore of lake michigan, so wind is all too often a major issue for me.

on a good summer day, on my lightweight road bike, with a nice tailwind pushing me along, and all the lights going my way, i can cover 14 miles in just under 45 minutes.

on a bad winter day, on my winter bike with studded tires, with an obnoxious headwind blasting me off the lake, and all the lights conspiring against me, it can take over 1:15.


time really is the most important factor, and as it's been noted, a multitude of other variables go into the equation, but for a quick and dirty distance-based scale, i'd break it down like this:

>10 miles round trip daily - short
10-19 miles round trip daily - average
20-29 miles round trip daily - decent
30-39 miles round trip daily - long
40+ miles round trip daily - serious commitment to the craft