Categorising bicycle exercise

andyj1984

I'm sure this has been asked before, but how do I choose the correct category for my bicycle exercise. For example, I have just been on a 3 miles bike ride, lasting approximately 20 minutes. This would put me under 10mph, into the leisurely category (in the exercise list).

However, half of the journey was uphill (rather a monster of a hill!) and the other half was through parkland, grass, and forest. Only a small fraction of the bike ride was on flat paved roads. It certainlly didn't feel like a leisurely bike ride (heart rate up, out of breath, etc).

Do I still categorise it as leisurely, since technically I didn't average more than 10mph, or can I categorise it as 12-14mph (moderate)?

It makes quite a difference with the calories burned, and since I plan on eating back my exercise calories I don't want to be over eating, and messing up my diet (aiming for 1680 net cals).

Any opinions?

MsLisaB

Hills are the bane of my existence at the moment (both cycling and running) :grumble: Would you be able to classify your ride as "Bicycling, BMX or mountain (cycling, biking, bike riding) "? If not, I'd go for the moderate category.

andyj1984

Thanks! I think moderate category works out okay. I plan on going for a much longer ride later, but it was cold outside (wimp!) LOL

Jqgod

I do a lot of uphill walking... but every hill i go up i must go down so i split up the workout in to 2 sections. i think that should probably work for biking too..

andyj1984

I do a lot of uphill walking... but every hill i go up i must go down so i split up the workout in to 2 sections. i think that should probably work for biking too..

Thankyou, that's a good idea. I've put half as leisurely, and half as moderate! I do a lot of walking as well, I have heard (somewhere) that walking downhill requires more energy than walking on flat surfaces? Is that true?