Nat’l Bike to Work Week
Randomly, I rode my bike to work today. After I got home, I wanted to research headlights since they’re required by law here and to my surprise, I found out that today kicks off National Bike to Work Week. To be more specific, May is Bike to work month, May 11-15 is Bike to work week, and May 15 is Bike to work day.
My trip to work is 8.6 each direction, it took me 43 min going to work, and 46 min going home. I averaged 11.9 mph and 11.2 mph respectively. I’m assuming that I burned about 1000 calories (based on weight, bmi, etc).
When I drive, the distance is 9.1 miles, and it takes me on average 23 min each way… so about half the time it takes to bike. I average about 25 mph or less, depending on traffic. My car realistaclly gets around 20 mpg in the city, so I burn probably 1-1 1/2 gallons of gas each day… About $3-$4.
In conclusion, the net gain of riding a bike to work are obvoius. The small loss in productive time is balanced out by the workout I receive, it’s possible to save $720 in fuel alone over the course of a year (more than the cost of a decent bike) and don’t forget about maintenance. Probably the most important benefit is the different perspective you will get when you take your bike to work. It feels good.
So do it… ride your bike to work this week.
