Commuting by bike not cost effective?

sally wrote:
Very unlikely that you're burning 1000 calories in 1.5 hours at
less than 10mph.

I checked bikely.com and here are some stats:

Total climb: 417ft
Total descent: 702ft

On Jul 23, 11:00 am, wrote:
I can see the benefits if you are over-weight and need to lose
weight. But someone if just fooling himself if they think they are
saving any money by biking, no?

The actual cost of driving a vehicle is more than just gasoline. You
need to consider maintenance costs as well. The national average is
roughly 50 cents per mile (see, e.g., http://www.piercetransit.org/rideshare/costs.htm).
So your actual cost for driving 24 miles to work and back is closer to
$12/day.

In addition, a cyclist is usually going to burn less than 400 calories
over 12 miles (see http://www.faqs.org/faqs/bicycles-fa...ction-12.html).
So your total for the day should be less than 1000 calories. But if
it costs you $3 to replenish the calories, you're still saving $9/
day. And if you're just a little bit frugal, you can do better than
that.


- JR

I live 1.5 miles from work! I am looking to add a second bike to be
able to commute to and from as I will not only save money on gas, wear
and tear and helping with the enviornment, but the time spent on the
bike will aid in, reducing stress and keeping me fit.

wrote in message
ups.com...
This weekend I biked the 12 miles to work to see if it could be
done.
It took around 1 hour and a half, however, I noticed this is really
not going to save me any money. The reason is the cost to replace
my
1000 calories burned will be more than the $3 gas it costs me to
get
to work.

I can see the benefits if you are over-weight and need to lose
weight. But someone if just fooling himself if they think they are
saving any money by biking, no?

Well protein or carbohydrate gives about 4 calories per gram, fat
about 9. Dry crusts of bread might be the cost effective way to get
calories.

What % fat is your body? What would you like it to be? (Don't ask
me the same question. I don't even want to think about it. Weight
loss to your ideal weight is not guaranteed.)

There are a few extras to think about. Car tires or bike tires, for
example. If you are to be more than just a fair weather cyclist, you
will need rain gear, cold weather gear, and lights.

If you really want to beak your budget, get a Moulton double pylon
bike. The going price is about 6000GBP now - double that to get
dollars

Gasoline here in Britain is more expensive than it is in the USA. My
local supermarket sells gasoline and Evian water at about the same
price, but you do get free bottles with the water.

Jeremy Parker

Jeremy Parker

Drop your membership at the gym. That will bring your cash flow back into
balance. And you'll save money on the food you won't have to eat to replace
the stationary bike calories.

BTW, you can buy a lot of potatoes for $3.00, if that's how you want to look
at it.

For comparison, here's another silly form of personal economics: going to a
prostitute once in a while is cheaper than going out on dates, and certainly
cheaper than having a wife and family.

wrote:
This weekend I biked the 12 miles to work to see if it could be done.
It took around 1 hour and a half, however, I noticed this is really
not going to save me any money. The reason is the cost to replace my
1000 calories burned will be more than the $3 gas it costs me to get
to work.

I can see the benefits if you are over-weight and need to lose
weight. But someone if just fooling himself if they think they are
saving any money by biking, no?


P. J. O'Rourke noted this in one of his books, when he was talking about
how inefficient pedicabs in Bangladesh or India or some other country
were. The calories in a gallon of gasoline far outnumber the calories in
any amount of food you can buy for the price of a gallon of gasoline.
And exercise depletes vitamins, so you can't simply buy a pound of
butter and suck that down.

------

If you bought a bicycle motor kit and put that on the bicycle, you could
get to work at ~30 mph and it would only cost around six cents for
gasoline (at roughly 200 mpg). -Assuming such motorized bicycles were
legal where you are of course, which they might not be.

{...I am firmly convinced that locales that only allow ELECTRIC
motorized bicycles are locales that most-certainly want the entire
concept to fail. Why don't they require everyone there to use electric
cars as well? because electric cars aren't nearly as practical to use as
petroleum-fueled cars are, and they all know this. And so it goes, with
bicycles as well... they want to keep bicycles as impractical as
possible, to prevent them from taking up valuable road space}
~

In article . com,
wrote:

This weekend I biked the 12 miles to work to see if it could be done.
It took around 1 hour and a half, however, I noticed this is really
not going to save me any money. The reason is the cost to replace my
1000 calories burned will be more than the $3 gas it costs me to get
to work.

I can see the benefits if you are over-weight and need to lose
weight. But someone if just fooling himself if they think they are
saving any money by biking, no?

1. post your route (or a close approximation) on a google map so your
time/distance can be evaluated.

2. Calculate your car cost by using the IRS standard mileage rate (i use
this because it's a convenient metric, and we can be fairly assured that the
gov't is not inflating the cost of vehicle usage)

3. What do you drive, how far do you drive and what is your mileage? Do you
actually measure this or are you just guessing.

4. Who says you need to spend $3 to replace the metabolic hit of a 90
minute/3 mile ride? That doesn't seem credible, unless there's something
special about your ride.

In article .com,
wrote:

sally wrote:
Very unlikely that you're burning 1000 calories in 1.5 hours at
less than 10mph.

I checked bikely.com and here are some stats:

Total climb: 417ft
Total descent: 702ft

That's not really very much hills. One could craft such a ride here in the
Fox Valley area, easily, over a 12 mile course, and take a lot less than 90
minutes to travel it.

Also, what kind of bike are you riding? Is it in good shape, tires inflated
properly? MTB with knobbies? Do you do much riding? Are you "in shape"

"max" wrote clip) 4. Who says you need to spend $3 to replace the
metabolic hit of a 90 minute/3 mile ride? (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good point. If you're comparing two numbers, and they're BOTH wrong,
well....

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:18:30 -0400, Just A User wrote:

wrote:
Just A User wrote:
Third think of it as an investment in your long term physical
health.
I agree with this, however, even if I burned just 500 calories, that
is basically 2 sports drinks which typically cost $1.50 each at my
cafetaria..

I just found it somewhat surprising that biking to work really would
not save me any money and that gas is quite cheap for what it does.


Well what I was trying to say, is I don't think you need to refuel your
body right away. And to avoid paying $1.50 from your cafeteria keep
somethings in your locker / desk at work. You can get cheaper fuel for
your body.

And better fuel.