Jun

11

Biking, A Healthier, Cheaper and Cleaner Commute

Filed Under Biking, Money, Time Management | 11 Comments

Before last year, the most common reason I would hear for not working out was not enough time. People were busy, they had things to do, places to be and people to meet. No one seemed to have time for working out even though they knew it was important. These days, things have changed a bit. All of a sudden, it’s not that people don’t have time, it’s that they don’t have money. The gym costs too much, exercise equipment for the house is too much money and no one can afford a personal trainer.

Well, those things may be true, but health and fitness do not have to take up a lot of time, nor do they have to cost a lot of money. To illustrate this example, I am going to use my commute to work.

First, The Cost Comparison

I traveled around 2000 miles on my bike last year. I spent around $10 in maintenance. The previous year I spent a bit more since I also tuned it up so I’m going to use an average yearly cost of $20. That means my bike costs me an average of $.01 a mile to operate. That’s a cent per mile that I’m on the bike.

My car is a 1999 Infinity Sedan. It’s not a gas guzzler but it’s also not the most efficient of cars. It gets an average MPG of around 25. With today’s gas costing about $4 in California, that means a cost of 16 cents per mile. I also spent about $500 in maintenance last year and drove 10,000 miles. That’s an additional 5 cents per mile for a total car cost of around 21 cents per mile.

By the way, I’m not including calculations for the purchase price of the car, which was much higher than the bike obviously, or the lower healthcare costs I incur by being in shape. Those are just a bonus. The above figures are already good enough to illustrate my point.

My Old Commute

With my old house and office, my commute was about 5 miles or a 10 mile round trip. So doing the math, commuting on the bike cost me around 10 cents while commuting in the car cost me $2.10. That’s $2.00 saved every single day. Actually, it was a bit less than that since gas prices weren’t so high back then but it was still around $1 saved every day.

Commuting on the bike took me about 20 minutes each way while the car commute took around 10 minutes each way. So yes, I was spending 20 more minutes per day on my commute. However, I was getting a decent workout and I was enjoying myself far more than spending 20 minutes in traffic.

My new commute

Since we moved homes and I moved jobs, my new commute is about 20 miles each way. In the car, this would cost an average of $8.40 every day. Yep, that’s right, with current gas prices, I am paying $8.40 every single day just to get to work. My alternative is to take the bike to the train station, take the train and then ride the bike from the train station to the office. This means 10 miles per day on the bike for a cost of $.10 and a train ticket. I buy a ten ride ticket which works out to about $5 per day’s worth of commute. Total cost is $5.10 which means I save $3.30 per day.

Time wise, the car would take me 45 minutes each way due to awful traffic. The bike / train commute takes around 1 hour each way. At first that sounds like I’m losing 15 minutes each way for a total of half an hour each day. However, please consider that time on the train can be productive. For example, this entire post was written while on the train this morning. I could also read a book, do some work or just nap. Whatever it is, it’s a lot more stressful than 45 minutes of stop and go traffic. So both time and money wise I come out ahead.

So What’s The Point?

Some of you might be saying “woopty doo! You saved a couple of bucks and a minute or two here and there. Who cares? This is too small to be significant.” However, you’re missing the point. This isn’t a blog about time management or personal finance and so the money saved and time not wasted are nice, but they’re not the point. The point is that I got a workout and I did it while saving money and not wasting time. Every single day, even if I don’t go to the gym, I am getting 20 minutes of solid physical activity and I didn’t have to spend an extra cent for it! In fact, I saved both money and time by doing it this morning.

Now this doesn’t apply to everyone equally. Some people have commutes where public transportation or biking is not possible. Others may not enjoy biking as much as I do. Still, the point is that you can get more physical activity into your day without spending extra cash. That day out to the movies with your friends? Why not make it a day out to the park with a frisbee? It’s a lot cheaper and more fun. That fancy dinner with your wife or husband? Why not wrap up a picnic and go hiking? Cheaper, healthier and far more romantic. There’s so many options out there that are both cheaper and healthier that money should never be an excuse to not be fit and healthy. In fact, money can be a motivator towards fitness.

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Stop thinking about health and fitness as things that use up money and time. Done right, living a healthy lifestyle can save both time and money.

NOTE - corrected my math based on Alex’s comment below.  It’s a good thing my stats teacher didn’t see me fail basic division. :)

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Oct

9

Reader Q&A - Muscles worked while biking

Filed Under Biking, Building Muscles, Work Out | 4 Comments

This question came in yesterday from a reader in Oregon.

I know biking is good cardio, but it also seems to be good resistance exercise as well.  I can feel the muscles in my legs working hard while I bike.  Can you tell me which muscles those are and do I still need to do a legs workout if I bike?

That’s a great question and I’m going to answer it in three separate parts.

Is biking a resistance exercise?

Well, all exercise is resistance training to a certain degree.  Even walking consists of pushing myself forward using my legs which means my muscles are working against a certain resistance.  However, compared to other cardio workouts, biking is indeed a decent resistance exercise for your legs.  It’s not quite as good as swimming for the whole body, but it does involve a lot of pushing, which is good.

Which muscles does biking exercise?

Biking works out most of the muscles in your upper legs.  That involves the Glutes, Hamstrings, Vastus Lateralis, Rectus Femoris, Vastus Medialis and the inner thigh muscles.  In fact, most of the work involved with biking is done by your upper thighs, which push your leg down over and over.  There is some lower back involved, but it’s relatively minor.

Do you still need a leg workout if you bike?

I would say so, yes.  Biking is a nice repetitive exercise, but it doesn’t use the same controlled form and weights.  You may not want to do a leg workout on the same day that you bike, just to avoid the risk of overstraining your legs, but you will still want a good controlled leg workout using weights or machines.  It will make you a better biker.

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