The Dutch travel an average of nineteen kilometers from home to work. One does this by car, the other by train and part of the people go to work by bicycle. If you work a few kilometers from home, that is of course an easy choice. If it is a longer distance, we still opt en masse for the easier option. Shame! The time you now spend in the car, bus or train can yield a lot if you were on a bicycle. That is of course good for your physical condition, but your mental health also gets a boost from cycling. Read: more focus, creativity and less stress.
Cycling to work
Cycling to work means you’re already moving within your travel time, so you don’t have to drag yourself to the gym when you’re home or muster up the courage to go for a run anyway. Because with a longer distance cycling you really burn a lot of calories.
With a gentle cycle (about 16 kilometers per hour), an adult weighing 70 kilos burns about 280 kcal in an hour. If we assume the average of 19 kilometers from home to the office, you cycle about 71 minutes. In those 71 minutes you burn 330 kcal. And of course you have to go back too! So one day you burn 660 kcal more than if you left the bike standing.
Burn a lot of extra calories
Are you a faster cyclist? At a speed of 18 kilometers per hour you burn about 500 kcal at a distance of 19 kilometers (which you then cycle for 63 minutes). So that’s about 1000 kcal extra per day! If you cycle like crazy (20 km per hour), you will burn 530 kcal each way with 19 kilometers of cycling (which will take you 57 minutes).
If you don’t want to arrive at the office all sweaty, you can of course also go by electric bike. That will of course give you less in terms of calories, but it is still more than when you are on the bus, train or car. If you cycle about 18 kilometers per hour with normal support on an electric bicycle, you burn 180 kcal in an hour. Cycling 19 kilometers (in 63 minutes) burns about 190 calories. That is almost 400 kcal extra per day and therefore more than worth it.
Bron: Nutrition Center, Fietsenwinkel.nl, Pbl.nl
