Since mid June I've been riding to work, 38-40km per day. Until mid January I rode every single day except maybe 3-4 days when I had a few other errands to take care of.
It would take me 45-50 minutes on average, with a nice tailwind I once returned home in less than 40 minutes (taking the tram + train is ~90 minutes, so that's a no-brainer). On the other hand, my worst time (not counting when I got hit by a car and had to carry my bike to work) was over 70 minutes, which was the third day with a very strong headwind, rain and temperatures near freezing.
I stopped a month ago when we got snow. I can ride in snow, but an hour/20km each way is starting to ask for trouble, and riding such distances in temps below -10°C can be dangerous.
A few observations:
- You shouldn't ride during heat waves: I drank up to 2 liters of water per 20km when the temperature was 34°C, and would not stop sweating even 20 minutes after getting to work. And I was lucky enough to be riding in the morning and late afternoon, without too much exposure to the sun.
- I stay more or less dry only when the temperature is around 12-15°C, below that I have too much on me to allow enough cooling or evaporation. When I walked into work and someone commented on me freezing because it is -5°C, I could only reply "Cold? Gimme some that! I'm feeling a bit overheated at the moment
"
- No matter the weather, I saw other bikers every day. It's a strange feeling when you are fighting the elements for an hour, getting stares from pedestrians and drivers, and arrive at work to find that your 3 favourite parking spaces are already taken by other bikes
.
The snow is melting, so on Monday my bike-vs-car stats will start going in the right direction again.