In my opinion the ideal commute distance varies depending on time availability, weather, energy level, etc.

I've always varied my distance by choosing between the most direct route or going out of my way to lengthen the commute.

Now I live 30 miles from work, so I get my variety based on where I choose to pull the car over and unload the bike. So far I've done mountain bike routes of 5, 9 and 12 miles. And I've done road bike routes of 9, 14 and 16 miles.

I expect to go longer than 16 miles as my fitness improves and while the weather is favorable, and then to shorten the distance when the temperature drops and the ice and snow arrive.

Variety is the spice of commuting life -- I think Shakespeare said that.

Mine is 24 miles round trip. There are days I wish it was just a little shorter, because my legs get tired toward the end of the week, but there are also days when I extend the ride home because I need the stress relief, because the weather is beautiful, because I just want to ride more. So with that in mind, I'd say mine's pretty idea for me personally.

I'm 9 blocks away now and 3 of them are downhill .. coming back the next street to the north its pretty flat .

my house is half way up hill on a cross street block , on the way in, I climb the other half of the block & coast down from there .


was a half hour away..

All distance are one way.

I think that 10 miles +/-3 miles is perfect. It gets a satisfactory workout in and is not too long. But that depends on the terrain. For years I did a 14-15 mile commute with some decent hills. That was exhausting.

Now my longest route is about 10 miles. I do not deviate my route much since I value my family time.

This morning was 7 miles, in the first 1/2 mile up hill it was too long. The last two miles on the flats with a tail wind it was not long enough.

+1 re: urban roads

When the temps are in the 60-70s with little to no wind, somewhere around 20 miles one way. When the temps are in the -10s and the wind is blowing 20-30 mph, 1 mile is tough. I find my 5 mile (10-12 RT) is just about right for me when balanced across the weather throughout the year.

Ideal would be 8-10 miles one way. I ride around town vs work-home-work though, but I probably ride approximately that all ready each day. Then there's personal errands on top of that.

- Andy

My residence is at the back of my shop so I have no commuting distance, but I go out on a ride after hours. A nice and quiet 30km ride.

I really wish my 1 hour commute would cover more than 10 miles, but that unfortunately is the NYC reality. I could do a lot more in that time if I weren't stopping.

A ~19 mph average including stops is very fast -- especially on fixed. You should really think about giving bicycle racing a try.


IMO, 10 miles one way is the perfect distance for a vigorous commute. And those who argue that a short commute cannot be much of a work out are wrong. I routinely burn 700-800 calories on my short 5 mile one way commute.

My commute is 27 miles round trip if I ride the shoulder of the highway the whole way. I prefer the back roads which means hills. There are days when I wish my commute was shorter, but most of the time I love it. I only average 10-12 mph so it takes over an hour each way. I frequently like to take the scenic route home which means means a 2 hour commute. 15-20 miles round trip would be ideal for me.

I commuted 5 miles each way for 8 years. It was good in the morning and allowed for as long as a trip as I felt like on the way home. I had rural and quiet town options of up to 30 miles. It was a distance I could cope with in poor weather.

For the last three years I have commuted 15 miles each way. It requires getting up earlier than I like and but in general is a near perfect distance in good weather. I gave up winter (sub 15F and snow covered roads) when my commute reached this distance.

Walking across the street. :D

But if I'm biking, ideally it's between 30-60 minutes. Less than that it feels like it's not worth the hassle of changing to bike in (shorts are a necessity for biking in the summer), more than 60 minutes and it's to long (when you consider I have to bike it twice, once each way).

30 minutes is ideal, up to an hour is ok.

My typical route is about 12.5 miles one way, in the summer I sometimes go a different way and stretch it to 15 miles. I may be doing that every day soon as the other route is about to have construction on it that will last 2 or 3 weeks at least.

I have a route that's 10.5 miles but it's over 4 miles of gravel, and in the summer with the road bike with 23mm tires it's not viable.

For me personally, the perfect commute distance is 5.2 miles, because that's precisely my commute, and riding my bike beats driving a car that distance any day. Therefore, my generally answer to the question is the following: The ideal commuting distance is whatever your commute is.

I know that doesn't answer your question, but I actually really like the five mile commute. Doesn't take too much time away from the family (in fact, it isn't much longer than driving), doesn't get me too sweaty for work and I can always ride longer if I wanted to.

4.7 miles.

which is what my new one-way commute distance will be after we move later this month.

it will be a welcome change from my current 14.5 mile one-way commute distance. i loved doing the the longer route for 7 years, but with my first child due to be born soon, i wanted a lot of that commuting time (~2 hours everyday) back so that i can spend it with my daughter. it's one of the big reasons why we're moving (along with a need for more space).

As someone who had the same commute distance with a newborn it is well worth the shorter commute. Ten minutes after getting to work my wife's water broke, I would have liked a shorter commute then. Also the days when sleep deprivation was winning and you get a call to get home now, the shorter commute is well worth it.

Being a new dad is the most amazing experience, and it just keeps getting better (my son is almost 4 now). Soon enough you can take your little one for rides. I recommend the Hamax Sleepy, Hamax, but not until about 6 months or requisite neck strength is reached.

I've been commuting 3 miles each way on my single speed in Brooklyn for about a month now. I was all gung-ho in the beginning, prepping and planning, gearing up etc. - then I realized 3 miles doesn't require much more than a little backpack for a change of clothes. In fact, I'd get a lot more exercise if I walked the 3 miles, but that's no fun. I'm starting to think that while it's awesome to have a shower to use at work - It's overkill, most days I just need a fresh shirt.

I've fallen in love with bike commuting so much that I really want a longer ride, so I take the scenic route some days or just explore neighborhoods after work - but I love having the ability to get to work in 15 mins. if I need. For example, I raced home to beat the impending storm last thursday and got to my door just when it started raining (I was so pumped!)

Anybody else have a short commute they like to extend? Any tips or stories?

That is impossible. When I was race fit, weighing over 190lbs, I could only just manage to burn 1000 calories in an hour - and an hour, for me, was well over 20 miles at close to 300 watts. To burn 700 calories in five miles you'd have to be putting out something like 1000 watts. Nobody can do that.

Ideal commute distance depends on what I want. Will I commute every day? Can I shower at work?

If I was to commute every day by bike, I think a shorter commute, 5-10 miles each way would be ideal. You can always make your commute longer by going the scenic way. Maybe on the lower side of that if I couldn't shower at work.

My current commute, 16-17 miles each way depending on exact route, is really nice length for a workout without being too long, especially since I have the option for taking transit for all or part of it if I want and I have a shower at work.

I think as you get more than 20 miles it would be hard for me to do regularly, just due to the time commitment.

this is the view from my floor:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=392125

i routinely do hill repeat repeats that add about 20 minutes to a 17-19 minute ride.
~430ish calories for the 37-39 minute ride and ~225 for the total elevation gain (25 calories per 100 feet gain per hour). my total distance is probably closer to 6 miles. i never bother to set my computer but i always count my repeats...

OK, but your original statement was that you regularly burned 700 kcal on a 5-mile ride. Now the ride is close to forty minutes and consists mainly of hill repeats. That's a rather different story.

Just for comparison, I could burn 700 kcal in forty minutes if I spent the whole time riding up a 6% hill at my threshold power of c. 295 watts. That's quite a workout, indeed. Not one I'd be doing five days a week. But tastes differ.

My commute is currently 7.5 miles. My ideal commute would be 6 miles, because the last 1.5 miles sucks due to having no option but to ride down an extremely busy and fast 4 lane with no shoulders.

Ideal: 6-10 miles, one way. Currently, I ride either 6 or 11 miles on the home end of a bike-bus-bike commute depending on starting location, and then 3 miles on the work end. If conditions are ideal, I don't mind the longer commute at all, but like when I had a 19 mi one way commute, too often I find some excuse to avoid the longer commute. Better some biking than none.

my somewhat hyperbolic point was that it's possible to get decent exercise on a short "commute".