Lycra vs distance

The things you do on a Saturday afternoon.... I was browsing a report from Victoria that contains all sorts of cycling stats, and I liked this graph.

What I didn't realise until I saw it is that only 4% of bike journeys are over 10km. 100% of my bike journeys are over that distance - in fact, if you add up the two trips I make each day, it puts me in the top 1% as far as journey length goes.

Donning lycra for a trip of less than 5km is a silly idea. Not putting it on for trips over say 15km is also a silly idea. It's like when I walk from my car to the beach in summer - if I cadge a parking spot within a certain distance of the beach, I'll go barefoot. Any further out, I reach for the thongs. My feet are comfortably happy on hot concrete and tar for a so far, and no more.

So, if you see a "lycra clad road warrior" on the road this week, it's probably because he/she is putting in a few miles, and is not just toodling down to the corner shop for a pint of milk.

It goes neatly with this graph from the RTA regarding how many minutes trips last for.