How long does it take to bike a mile? Well, an average person can take about 6 minutes to bike a mile, that is, if they are cycling at 10mph.
However, this is dependent on a ton of factors, such as the terrain the cyclist is riding on, the weather, and even the cyclist’s physical fitness.
Stick around as we expound more on how long it takes to bike a mile, the factors that affect this, and more!
How Long Does It Take to Bike a Mile?
As we mentioned earlier, the average time to bike a mile is approximately 6 minutes. This is because an average person can cycle at 10-12mph. Of course, a professional cyclist can cover twice (or even more) this distance per unit of time.
With that being said, let’s look at the factors that affect how long it takes to bike a mile.
Factors Affecting How Long It Takes to Bike a Mile
1. Type of Bike
The kind of bicycle you’re riding can significantly affect your average bike mile time. Each bike’s build, that is, its tires, frame, handlebars, and overall weight, can affect your cycling speed.
Here’s a breakdown of how various types of bikes and how they can affect how fast you can bike a mile.
a) Road Bikes
A typical road bike features thin tires, derailleur gears, and bent handlebars and is lightweight. So, how do these features affect your speed?
For starters, its thin tires have more pressure compared to wider ones. These tires don’t flatten too much at the bottom when you’re cycling, resulting in less contact with the terrain you’re cycling on. And the less contact they are with the surface, the less friction there is, and the faster you will cycle.
A road bike’s bent/drop handlebars also significantly increase your overall speed, especially in terms of aerodynamics. Since they are bent, they cause you to lean forward and downwards. This reduces the air resistance (drag), making you ride faster.
The derailleur gear also offers high speeds since they have as many as 10-13 gears for more adjustability and speed.
Its light weight also helps increase your cycling speed. When riding a lightweight bicycle, you will utilize less energy or power to cycle, enabling you to ride faster.
b) Mountain Bikes
Contrary to a road bike, a mountain bicycle features wide tires, full or front suspension forks, and powerful brakes.
Mountain bikes are generally slower because of their wide tires. Typically, wide tires have less pressure. This means that the tires come into more contact with the surface, causing more friction, which leads to lower cycling speed.
c) BMX bikes
Compared to mountain bikes, BMX bicycles tend to be faster. For instance, the maximum speed of a BMX bike when riding downhill is approximately 35mph. On the other hand, the maximum speed of a mountain bike when riding downhill is about 30mph.
d) Hybrid Bikes
Hybrid bikes are slower than road bikes because of their wide tires and flat handlebars (although you can get a hybrid bike with drop handlebars.)
However, they are faster than mountain bikes because their tires are slightly narrower than those on mountain bikes.
Generally, each bike is designed for a particular terrain type, so it can be slower in a different setting. For example, a mountain bike is quite fast on rough terrain but slower on smooth terrain such as regular roads. On the other hand, a road bike is fast on normal roads but slower and uncomfortable on rough terrains.
2. Experience and Fitness
Experience plays a vital role in how fast you can bike a mile. Pro cyclists ride faster because their bodies have been trained or tailored to ride faster. What’s more, they possess various skills that enable them to cycle more quickly.
Let’s take a look at how fast cyclists can ride, depending on their experience.
- Beginners: 10-15mph (for short-distance cycling)
- Mid-level experienced cyclists: about 15-17mph (for short-distance cycling)
- Pro cyclists: about 18-21mph (for short-distance cycling)
Tips to increase your average Bike Mile
Here are a couple of tips on how to increase your average bike mile time.
- Trying Bending and Tucking Your Elbows
One major factor affecting how fast you can bike a mile is your biking position. Your cycling position will either increase or decrease the air resistance and your frontal area, increasing or decreasing your speed.
It is recommendable to lower your body closer to the handlebars by bending and tucking in your elbows. Doing so will reduce the vertical cross-sectional area and the air resistance, enabling you to cycle faster.
- Try Increasing Your Cadence
Cadence is basically the number of times you turn your pedals per minute or your pedal’s revolutions per minute (RPM.) Although this is quite a controversial tip, increasing your cadence can help your boost your cycling speed.
While every cyclist is different, it is advisable to aim at achieving 90 revolutions per minute (RPM.) However, this solemnly depends on how physically fit you are.
- Join a Cycling Group
Riding solo is great, but cycling in a group is even better. When riding with other people, you will be challenged to keep up, making you ride faster. What’s more, the other cyclists will be encouraging you, which increases your morale to ride faster.
- Train, Train, Train!
Training helps keep your body fit, which makes you ride faster. When riding regularly, your hips, legs, lower back, and knees will eventually adapt to the pressure you feel when you cycle, increasing your cadence.
Speaking of fitness, training your body to be fit for cycling mostly happens off the bike.
As we mentioned earlier, bending and tucking in your elbows increases your average time to bike a mile. However, you still have to exercise to condition your body to hold that position comfortably when you’re cycling.
An excellent exercise technique is pilates, which helps strengthen the muscles that support your body when in that biking position.
Engaging in stretching exercises in between cycling also helps prevent the aches that you may feel due to bending over the handlebars for long periods.
- Type of Trails
Normally, it takes longer to cycle over rough terrains than smooth terrains. When riding on rough trails, you will spend more time cycling over the bumpy and uneven sections, lowering your speed.
It also takes longer to ride on hilly terrain than on a flat surface. So, how long does it take to bike a mile on these two terrains? Typically, it takes an average person about 4-6 minutes to bike a mile. When cycling on hilly terrains, the time can drop to 7-8 minutes per mile.
Here are several tips for biking faster and more smoothly on rough terrains.
- Relax!
Most of us became anxious when cycling on uneven roads. As much as it is difficult, relaxing can help you cycle faster and more smoothly over this type of terrain.
When cycling, loosen your grip on the handlebars. Doing so will prevent you from oversteering when riding over portholes. It also helps minimize the fatigue you may feel on your hands and shoulders when gripping too tightly on your handlebars for a long time.
- Lower Your Cadence
While a high cadence increases your cycling speed, it may be a disadvantage when riding on rough terrain.
A high cadence on an uneven road will cause you to bounce around on your bicycle too much, which is quite uncomfortable. So, it is advisable to lower cadence and adjust your gear according to how rough the road is for smoother and faster rides.
- Always Maintain Your Momentum
When approaching a rocky terrain, your immediate reaction will be to stop. While it may seem safe, abruptly stopping may cause you to fall over. So, it is important to keep going even if you approach a rough sections of the terrain.
- Decrease Your Tire Pressure
Lowering the pressure in your tires makes them absorb the impacts from the bumpy sections of the road, making your rides more comfortable. Doing so also prevents getting a flat tire, which is more likely to happen when riding on rough terrains.
- Weather
If you have been keen, you may have noticed that your cycling speed increases when it’s warm outside and decreases when it’s cold.
Warm weather provides two significant benefits to cyclists; lower tire rolling resistance and lower air density.
- Lower Air Density
Air density is basically a measurement of how thick or dense the air outdoors is. Typically, the outdoor air’s temperature is oppositely proportional to its density. This means that when the air temperature increases, the density decreases, and vice versa.
When the weather is warm, the air density is lower, resulting in lower air resistance when cycling, allowing you to ride faster. So, how fast can you bike a mile when the temperatures are warm? Let’s take an example.
A cyclist can cover 10 miles in about 28 minutes when the temperature is 80°F. However, when the temperature drops to 50°F, they may cover the same distance in 29 minutes. The decrease in speed is primarily due to the increase in the air density when the temperature is low.
- Lower Tire Resistance
A bike tire’s resistance is a measure of the energy it takes for the tire to roll over a surface. So, the warmer the tire is, the lower its rolling resistance will be. When the weather is warm, the terrain absorbs heat, which in turn, will be absorbed by your tires when cycling. This decreases their rolling resistance, which increases your speed.
Cold air temperatures also affect how some of your bike’s components function. For starters, the bearings may be frozen solid, making it difficult to turn them. Your cranks may also be too stiff to turn.
The amount of clothing you have while cycling during cold weather can also decrease your cycling speed. This is because it increases the weight your bike has to bear, making it go slower. So, how long does it take to bike a mile when you are in heavy clothing? Let’s take an example.
A 5-pound increase in your overall body weight (including your clothing) may cost you an extra 30-50 seconds to ride uphill.
- Location
This is factor dependent on many other factors that we’ve already looked at. For starters, the climate in your location can significantly affect how fast you can bike a mile.
The type of terrain in your location also affects your cycling speed. As we explained earlier, riding on a smooth and flat surface will enable you to ride faster. On the other hand, cycling on an uneven road will slow you down.
Other Factors
Other factors in your location that may affect how fast you can bike a mile include:
- The number of turns you encounter
- The number of cars in your route
- How long you take to cycle to your destination
- The number of people around
- How many stop signs you encounter
Let’s look at each one of them in detail.
- The Number of Turns You Encounter
The more turns you encounter in your route, the slower you’ll ride. However, this depends on your level of experience. Pro cyclists ride along turns more easily and quickly compared to beginners.
- The Number of Cars in Your Route
It’s normal for you to slow down when cycling on a busy road. The last thing you want is to get into an accident. But, this depends on the direction you’re cycling in.
While cycling against the traffic flow allows you to see oncoming vehicles and slow down when necessary, it decreases your cycling speed and puts you at a higher risk of getting into an accident.
On the contrary, cycling with the flow of traffic increases your speed and safety. Typically, when drivers see a cyclist ahead of them, they’ll slow down to the cyclist’s speed until there’s enough room to pass. In this scenario, most cyclists tend to ride faster to avoid delaying the driver behind them.
Another overlooked advantage of cycling with traffic is that it minimizes the damage caused if there’s an accident.
For instance, if you’re riding with traffic at about 20 mph, and a car behind you going at about 40mph happens to hit you, the impact speed will be reduced to 20 mph. This will result in minor damages.
However, if you are riding against traffic, the impact speed will increase, resulting in more severe damages.
- The Number of People You Encounter
Usually, the more people you encounter while cycling, the slower you’ll ride. Of course, no one wants to hit a pedestrian while riding.
- How Long You Take to Cycle to Your Destination
Normally, the longer the distance to your destination is, the slower you’ll ride, especially if you are not physically fit. If your body hasn’t adapted to the pressure from cycling, the faster it will give away when riding.
That is why it is essential to exercise and train regularly to strengthen your muscles and tailor them to comfortably support your body for a long time when cycling.
- How Many Stop Signs You Encounter
Like any other motorist, bikers are expected to stop when there’s a stop sign. So, the more stop signs you encounter, the slower you’ll ride. But, this is dependent on the laws in your area.
Countries like the United States allow cyclists to continue riding even when there’s a stop sign or the traffic lights turn red.
In 1982, a rule known as “the Idaho rule” was passed in some areas in the US, granting bikers some flexibility when encountering stop signs and red traffic lights.
The rule states that when a cyclist encounters a stop sign, they should stop and check for traffic. If there’s an oncoming vehicle or pedestrian, they have the “right of way.” However, if there’s no traffic, they can continue cycling cautiously.
If a cyclist approaches a red traffic light, they should stop and check for traffic. Again, if there’s an oncoming vehicle or pedestrian, they have the “right of way.” But, if there’s none, they can continue cycling with caution.
FAQs – How Long Does It Take to Bike 1 Mile?
Q: How Long Does It Take to Bike 2 Miles?
A: As we mentioned earlier, it takes approximately 6 minutes to bike a mile. So, if you do the math, an average biker takes about 12 minutes to bike a mile. As for a pro cyclist, they can take half of this duration to cover a mile.
Q: How Long Does It Take to Bike 3 Miles?
A: Let’s continue with the same calculation. If an average cyclist can cover a mile in 6 minutes, they can cover 3 miles in 18 minutes. Remember, this is an estimate for an average biker. So, the more experienced you are, the faster you’ll cycle.
Q: How Long Does It Take to Bike 4 Miles?
A: An average biker can cover 4 miles in about 24 minutes using the same calculations we used earlier.
Q: How Long Does It Take to Bike 5 Miles?
A: If an average cyclist takes 6 minutes to bike a mile, they’ll take about 30 minutes to bike 5 miles.
Q: How Long Does It Take to Bike 12 Miles?
A: Again, using the same calculations, an average biker will take approximately 1.2 hours to cover 12 miles.
Conclusion
How long it takes to bike 1 mile is dependent on a wide range of factors. Therefore, to increase your overall cycling speed, it’s best to analyze how you can use each of the factors we’ve looked at to your advantage.