Logging ebike riding?
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KeshNZ
Posts: 73 Member
Hi all, does anyone else here ride an ebike? If so, what do you log the exercise as? I'm aware that ebike riding is still burning calories but obviously not as much as riding a normal bicycle. I've been logging mine as "Bicycling <16kph, leisure" to take into account the reduced calorie burn compared to a normal bike, is this correct?
My ebike is pedal assist so I still have to pedal, but have the option of using the motor to help propel me along. 90% of my ride is using a low motor setting, unless I need to get up a large hill, fight a strong headwind and/or move away from an intersection quickly, then I'll up the power to mid-high range for a short time. The bike is also heavy (~20kg with the battery) so it's quite hard to ride anyway, I'm wondering if I should be logging the exercise as "Bicycling 16-19kph, light" instead? I don't have any way to assess how many calories I'm burning in a ride but I ride 30km a day, my average speed is around 18-24kph on a low setting and flat ground.
My ebike is pedal assist so I still have to pedal, but have the option of using the motor to help propel me along. 90% of my ride is using a low motor setting, unless I need to get up a large hill, fight a strong headwind and/or move away from an intersection quickly, then I'll up the power to mid-high range for a short time. The bike is also heavy (~20kg with the battery) so it's quite hard to ride anyway, I'm wondering if I should be logging the exercise as "Bicycling 16-19kph, light" instead? I don't have any way to assess how many calories I'm burning in a ride but I ride 30km a day, my average speed is around 18-24kph on a low setting and flat ground.
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Replies
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The calorie burn on an EBike is not that great. You need to track your intake over time to get a feel for your calorie burn. @Packerjohn lol2
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L1zardQueen wrote: »The calorie burn on an EBike is not that great
Not as great as a normal bike but there is still a calorie burn. Some articles state 300-350 calories an hour.
I'm specifically asking what I should log this activity as on MyFitnessPal.
http://electricbikeblog.com/many-calories-can-burn-electric-bike/
https://www.electric-bicycle-guide.com/bicycle-fitness.html
https://averagejoecyclist.com/how-many-calories-burned-cycling-electric-bike/0 -
300 calories then. Track your weight and your intake. If you are gaining, losing or maintaining then 300 calories are spot on. Only time will tell.0
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You can set up your own custom exercise with the burn you think is appropriate.0
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Hi all, does anyone else here ride an ebike? If so, what do you log the exercise as? I'm aware that ebike riding is still burning calories but obviously not as much as riding a normal bicycle. I've been logging mine as "Bicycling <16kph, leisure" to take into account the reduced calorie burn compared to a normal bike, is this correct?
My ebike is pedal assist so I still have to pedal, but have the option of using the motor to help propel me along. 90% of my ride is using a low motor setting, unless I need to get up a large hill, fight a strong headwind and/or move away from an intersection quickly, then I'll up the power to mid-high range for a short time. The bike is also heavy (~20kg with the battery) so it's quite hard to ride anyway, I'm wondering if I should be logging the exercise as "Bicycling 16-19kph, light" instead? I don't have any way to assess how many calories I'm burning in a ride but I ride 30km a day, my average speed is around 18-24kph on a low setting and flat ground.
So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
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Hi all, does anyone else here ride an ebike? If so, what do you log the exercise as? I'm aware that ebike riding is still burning calories but obviously not as much as riding a normal bicycle. I've been logging mine as "Bicycling <16kph, leisure" to take into account the reduced calorie burn compared to a normal bike, is this correct?
My ebike is pedal assist so I still have to pedal, but have the option of using the motor to help propel me along. 90% of my ride is using a low motor setting, unless I need to get up a large hill, fight a strong headwind and/or move away from an intersection quickly, then I'll up the power to mid-high range for a short time. The bike is also heavy (~20kg with the battery) so it's quite hard to ride anyway, I'm wondering if I should be logging the exercise as "Bicycling 16-19kph, light" instead? I don't have any way to assess how many calories I'm burning in a ride but I ride 30km a day, my average speed is around 18-24kph on a low setting and flat ground.
So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
I don't think it's quite that straightforward, and I'm not a big fan of e-bikes largely from a safety perspective.
If you look at the power generation, the rider is still doing a reasonable amount of work; charging the battery and contributing to moving the bike forward.
In truth I think there's no reasonable way to forecast it, so the idea of picking a number, and tracking progress against it is probably best.1 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »Hi all, does anyone else here ride an ebike? If so, what do you log the exercise as? I'm aware that ebike riding is still burning calories but obviously not as much as riding a normal bicycle. I've been logging mine as "Bicycling <16kph, leisure" to take into account the reduced calorie burn compared to a normal bike, is this correct?
My ebike is pedal assist so I still have to pedal, but have the option of using the motor to help propel me along. 90% of my ride is using a low motor setting, unless I need to get up a large hill, fight a strong headwind and/or move away from an intersection quickly, then I'll up the power to mid-high range for a short time. The bike is also heavy (~20kg with the battery) so it's quite hard to ride anyway, I'm wondering if I should be logging the exercise as "Bicycling 16-19kph, light" instead? I don't have any way to assess how many calories I'm burning in a ride but I ride 30km a day, my average speed is around 18-24kph on a low setting and flat ground.
So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
I don't think it's quite that straightforward, and I'm not a big fan of e-bikes largely from a safety perspective.
If you look at the power generation, the rider is still doing a reasonable amount of work; charging the battery and contributing to moving the bike forward.
In truth I think there's no reasonable way to forecast it, so the idea of picking a number, and tracking progress against it is probably best.
Yes, that would probably be the best, and if it were discovered that 300 calories per hour is too high, then it could be adjusted to 100 or 200 calories per hour.
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L1zardQueen wrote: »The calorie burn on an EBike is not that great
Some articles state 300-350 calories an hour.
I would take the 300-350 cal per hour with a grain of salt. Installing a power meter on y road bike was a real eye opener, riding at about 25 km/h on relatively flat terrain it gives me about 17 cal per km (and it's very difficult to argue with wattage). With an e-bike I'd probably cut that in half.
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So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
It's a pedelec bike, I'm still working quite hard to keep the bike moving on the lowest setting, plus I'm usually riding in the higher gears for extra resistance. Why would I not log 2 hours of riding like that a day as exercise?
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So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
It's a pedelec bike, I'm still working quite hard to keep the bike moving on the lowest setting, plus I'm usually riding in the higher gears for extra resistance. Why would I not log 2 hours of riding like that a day as exercise?
1) Have you tried doing your 2 hours of riding with no motor? You might discover a different definition of "working quite hard" ... for comparison.
2) Be careful using higher gears for extra resistance ... you can wreck your knees that way. Generally, cyclists recommend a cadence over 70, and preferably over 80.0 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »The calorie burn on an EBike is not that great
Not as great as a normal bike but there is still a calorie burn. Some articles state 300-350 calories an hour.
I'm specifically asking what I should log this activity as on MyFitnessPal.
http://electricbikeblog.com/many-calories-can-burn-electric-bike/
https://www.electric-bicycle-guide.com/bicycle-fitness.html
https://averagejoecyclist.com/how-many-calories-burned-cycling-electric-bike/
158.7723 calorie per hour. Honestly there is pretty much no practical way to tell unless you're using a powermeter as mentioned in the article linked or you have access to an exercise lab. You have factors such as elevation change, wind resistance, speed, gearing, your weight the bikes weight/rolling resistance on a regular bike. Then you have to add in the variable of how much assistance you get from the motor.
Nice article on calories burned biking, doesn't get into the added complexity of a motor.
https://www.bicycling.com/training/a20019281/overestimating-calorie-burn-when-cycling/0 -
1) Have you tried doing your 2 hours of riding with no motor? You might discover a different definition of "working quite hard" ... for comparison.
2) Be careful using higher gears for extra resistance ... you can wreck your knees that way. Generally, cyclists recommend a cadence over 70, and preferably over 80.
1) Yes, I sometimes ride 20+km on weekends on gravel trails. My ebike is for my daily 30km commute. It saves me paying $200+ a month for the bus/train, keeps me active, keeps me away from sick people on public transport and saves me from becoming completely exhausted halfway through my mainly uphill 15km ride home. Often I'm also facing a headwind the whole way home. On 30+ degree days, or days when the wind is 40+kph I can often become quite tired halfway home on a normal bike. The ebike simply saves me from that exhaustion and saves me from making what could be a fatal mistake/misjudgement in heavy traffic at the end of the working day. I still ride my normal bike on my commute sometimes but I much prefer my ebikes, particularly in windy, rainy or hot weather or at night.
2) Noted thanks.0 -
1) Have you tried doing your 2 hours of riding with no motor? You might discover a different definition of "working quite hard" ... for comparison.
2) Be careful using higher gears for extra resistance ... you can wreck your knees that way. Generally, cyclists recommend a cadence over 70, and preferably over 80.
1) Yes, I sometimes ride 20+km on weekends on gravel trails. My ebike is for my daily 30km commute. It saves me paying $200+ a month for the bus/train, keeps me active, keeps me away from sick people on public transport and saves me from becoming completely exhausted halfway through my mainly uphill 15km ride home. Often I'm also facing a headwind the whole way home. On 30+ degree days, or days when the wind is 40+kph I can often become quite tired halfway home on a normal bike. The ebike simply saves me from that exhaustion and saves me from making what could be a fatal mistake/misjudgement in heavy traffic at the end of the working day. I still ride my normal bike on my commute sometimes but I much prefer my ebikes, particularly in windy, rainy or hot weather or at night.
2) Noted thanks.
I realise the potential benefits of individual motorised transportation. However, calorie burn probably isn't one of the main benefits.
How would you compare your non-motor-assisted effort on the weekends vs your motor-assisted effort during the week.0 -
Packerjohn wrote: »158.7723 calorie per hour. Honestly there is pretty much no practical way to tell unless you're using a powermeter as mentioned in the article linked or you have access to an exercise lab. You have factors such as elevation change, wind resistance, speed, gearing, your weight the bikes weight/rolling resistance on a regular bike. Then you have to add in the variable of how much assistance you get from the motor.
Nice article on calories burned biking, doesn't get into the added complexity of a motor.
https://www.bicycling.com/training/a20019281/overestimating-calorie-burn-when-cycling/
Thanks. I think I'll just log ~200 calories an hour. If I gain weight after a while then I'll adjust this amount. Just focusing on maintenance until my strength/fitness levels improve a little more.
We'll be moving 65km from my work in the near future so will likely have to give up the daily riding unless I can get my bike on the train! Want to get as much riding in as I can before I have to stop.
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How would you compare your non-motor-assisted effort on the weekends vs your motor-assisted effort during the week.
My weekend rides definitely get my heart rate up but my weekday rides are longer in terms of time and distance. I can definitely feel myself working on both and sometimes my weekday rides feel harder.0 -
So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
It's a pedelec bike, I'm still working quite hard to keep the bike moving on the lowest setting, plus I'm usually riding in the higher gears for extra resistance. Why would I not log 2 hours of riding like that a day as exercise?
1) Have you tried doing your 2 hours of riding with no motor? You might discover a different definition of "working quite hard" ... for comparison.
That's really quite harsh.
Whilst e-bikes aren't as much work as proper bikes, they're not effortless.0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »Whilst e-bikes aren't as much work as proper bikes, they're not effortless.
Definitely not effortless!
I'm still puffing up the hills and I still ride hard on the flat when I want to. The motor is limited to 25kph assistance as per Australian safety laws, I have to pedal to get that momentum and if I want to go faster (which I often do) then I have to pedal harder, not exactly an easy feat on a 20-30kg bike!0 -
MeanderingMammal wrote: »So to sum up ... you're using the motor the whole time. Right?
Then ... you wouldn't log it, would you? Would you log a motorcycle ride? No, of course not.
It's a pedelec bike, I'm still working quite hard to keep the bike moving on the lowest setting, plus I'm usually riding in the higher gears for extra resistance. Why would I not log 2 hours of riding like that a day as exercise?
1) Have you tried doing your 2 hours of riding with no motor? You might discover a different definition of "working quite hard" ... for comparison.
That's really quite harsh.
Whilst e-bikes aren't as much work as proper bikes, they're not effortless.
Not harsh ... I just wanted to know if there was an effort difference between no motor and motor.0 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »The calorie burn on an EBike is not that great
Not as great as a normal bike but there is still a calorie burn. Some articles state 300-350 calories an hour.
I'm specifically asking what I should log this activity as on MyFitnessPal.
http://electricbikeblog.com/many-calories-can-burn-electric-bike/
https://www.electric-bicycle-guide.com/bicycle-fitness.html
https://averagejoecyclist.com/how-many-calories-burned-cycling-electric-bike/
That's about what an average person burns on a human powered bicycle.
You're sitting down and you have a motor doing most of the work for you. It's fewer calories than walking (where you support your own weight).
If you really want to know, attach a power meter, probably a pedal based one.1
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