Well, better late than never – here are the results from my little “experiment” last week.
Day 1: Ride to and from work via bicycle (the road bike).
Total Distance: 26.3 miles
Total Time: 1:57:33
Average Speed: 13.4mph
Calories Burned: 982
Money Spent: $0 (yay for free bike parking at work)
Day 2: Drive to and from work … yes … I had my heart rate monitor on and the GPS running in the cup-holder next to my coffee 
Total Distance: 25.05 miles
Total Time: 1:25:56
Calories Burned: 171
Average Speed: 16.9 mph
Money Spent: $4 parking; estimate about $4.60 in gas (25 miles ~ my car gets about 19 mi/gallon and with gas costing about $3.50/gallon = $4.60 to go 25 miles) for a grand total of $8.60
Winner: Going By Bike (as if there was even contention for the car…)
Not so surprisingly – I burned more calories riding to work as opposed to driving. A lot more. Almost six times more. What is a little interesting – is that while riding my bike was about 1.25 miles farther than driving – it was still only 32 minutes faster going by car versus going by bike. And sure, half an hour can be a lot of time – when you’re going by bike you’re doing double duty and commuting and getting a work-out in. However – you take that to a round-trip commute, and it’s only 15-minutes faster by car each way. Plus – when you look at it – my average speed on the bike wasn’t that much slower than my average speed in the car (3.5mph faster in the car). When you see it by the numbers – and in terms of being healthy (burning calories) and saving money (almost $9/day!) going by bike is the way to go!
Nice one! The next step is to justify the purchase of a new bike for dedicated commutes, your ‘good bike’ could get ruined of course!
By: slowjo61 on October 27, 2011
at 10:49 am
Funny – I’ve recently switched to the “good bike” and found that it’s a lot faster and doesn’t make me as tired as riding the dedicated bike. Plus – my dedicated commuter is out of commission with some breakage issues
By: emilybybike on November 10, 2011
at 2:53 pm
I object to $0 spent by bike! How much did it cost to replace the calories burned by bike over and above the calories burned by car? or were they not replaced?
By: Cephas on November 7, 2011
at 1:37 pm
I figure the cost of my post-ride snack in the morning (banana and a granola bar or pop-tart) most likely evens out with the large coffee I need to get me through driving to work. One way or another, food evens out….
By: emilybybike on November 10, 2011
at 2:55 pm
I’m disappointed to hear there’s not more calorie intake offset. But good bike speed! That is good to hear… maybe I can justify to the wife getting a better (oh, and yeah… maybe more expensive) bike to save money!
.
By: Cephas on November 10, 2011
at 3:03 pm