Originally Posted by
ax0n
My "recovery" pace is about 12 MPH. If I'm really hurtin', I'll ride along nice and easy. This gets me to work in about 1h 10m plus stop lights.
My usual commute pace is closer to 16 MPH. It's enough to keep me sweaty, but I'm not hammering it. Rolling time of about 52 minutes.
If I'm all-out hammering, I exceed 19 MPH average, often staying above 30 MPH for almost all the flat parts of my commute. This gets me to work in 43 minutes.
So, the difference between hammering and my usual pace is almost 10 minutes. Some mornings, it's worth the effort for me (and pretty damned fun). The difference between a leisurely stroll on the bike to work and hammering is close to half an hour!
Your pace is almost exactly the same as mine but since I only travel a bit over 3 miles to work, the difference in time is negligable. Guess it all depends on what your goals are and how important those few extra minutes are to you?