riding stationary bike question

I guess it depends on how fast you're pedaling! On a non-stationary bike I can do 8 miles in 50 minutes or less. On my stationary bike I do not have a mileage reader so I'm not sure. 3 minutes seems a little fast for a mile, but then again, like I said it depends on your level of resistance and how fast you're going.

It sounds about right if you're peddling at a good pace. When I did spinning classes a while back we would do about 17-18 miles in a 45 minute class.

I have a recumbent stationary bike and I do about 8 - 8.5 miles in 30 minutes. I do have the resistance up a bit though.

It's not just how fast you're going but also what "gear" you're on. If you're at a higher gear or resistance level, you're going to cover more ground per rotation than if you were at a lower gear. All stationary bikes are different too. I did 10 miles a couple weeks ago...can't remember exactly how long it took but I somewhere between 35 and 40 minutes and that was at a moderate gear.

Just wondering from people that ride a stationary bike, how soon can you ride a mile, and just wondering if my bike is telling me the truth, it is saying I can do a mile in a little less than 3 minutes...


Last night it said I did 11 miles in 30 minutes, just curious if that is accurate???

I ride at 6 out of 8 resistance and at that pace. My HRM shows between 130 and 140 at that pace (depending on how many days off I've had mostly).

If you're athletic or in decent shape .. maintaining a speed of 20-30 mph is not unreasonable. You certainly could do it if you set the resistance / level at 0 or as easy as it goes .. that would be like pedaling down hill .. you may not burn a ton of calories.. but pedaling would certainly burn them up.

I do a stationary bike at the gym .. I ride about 22-25 miles in 40 minutes .. really pushing my heart rate up. I'm pedaling really hard though. (and I'm not sure how accurate that machine is)

Just think about all the miles/kilometers those athletes are doing in the Tour de France .. or the Olympics .. they aren't putzing around .. they're pumping it closer to 25 mph.

Well, last time I rode a 10 mile time-trial on the road I completed in 26mins 14sec, which is around 22.85mph, so on a bike on rollers, or a turbo trainer, that speed is eminently do-able - indeed yesterday, on a cycle trainer, I AVERAGED something similar for nearly a hour and half... and that was far from a "low resistance" ride... http://connect.garmin.com/activity/241101332 - average 176Watts (and a peak of over 300W) for the duration is pretty near to a normal road ride for me...

I did 16+ over 90 minutes on my bike. But my pedaling isnt a constant speed. I range anywhere from 10mph to 14mph at a resistance setting of 8. I speed up, slow down, speed up again. I have a recumbent stationary bike....I cant use regular saddle style stationary bikes...at least not at THIS stage of my weight loss.

I can't do the stationary bike. It seems no matter how I adjust the seat, it makes my lower back really hurt. I just couldn't stay on for more than 3 minutes due to the pain.

I have the recumbent style bike so you sit like normal with your legs out in front of you.

I have back problems too. I just purchase an old stationary bike. It remind you of the old banana seat bikes with the high handle bars, but it has a nice wide seat. I started off with 15 minutes at 12 mph. So far it didn't hurt my back. You may need to try a different one like the person above said they had a recumbent bike. They are nice.

Just think about all the miles/kilometers those athletes are doing in the Tour de France .. or the Olympics .. they aren't putzing around .. they're pumping it closer to 25 mph.

They do 20mph+ going up hills

....and they're not short hills

I'll let you in on a training secret of almost every elite athlete you will meet:
Time matters more than miles.

A one hour ride with 3 sets of intervals of 3x1:00 each
A two hour ride with 45 minutes of sustained threshold work
A 90 minute ride with 20x0:30 intervals

It's all based on time, not distance. The miles are just a bit of trivia that come along for the ride (along with terrain, temperature, and wind speed).

Hi guys, I wonder if you can help me. I have been working out on a stationary bike and have seen a lot of stuff online (including upwards in this thread) about people routinely managing 10 miles in 30 mins. I can manage 4 miles in 33 minutes, and that's if i'm really gunning for it. Could someone let me know how many rpms they are reaching? I am going at around 80rpm which feels quite fast, but I have only begun fairly recently - last few months - so maybe I will be able to attain this further down the line.

Thanks for reading!
Gill

GillOrmsby1 wrote: »

Hi guys, I wonder if you can help me. I have been working out on a stationary bike and have seen a lot of stuff online (including upwards in this thread) about people routinely managing 10 miles in 30 mins. I can manage 4 miles in 33 minutes, and that's if i'm really gunning for it. Could someone let me know how many rpms they are reaching? I am going at around 80rpm which feels quite fast, but I have only begun fairly recently - last few months - so maybe I will be able to attain this further down the line.

Thanks for reading!
Gill

It comes down to cadence. To hit 10 miles in 30 minutes, you need a cadence in the mid 90's....so somewhere around 95 revolutions per minute.

Likely not comparable to mileage outside. If you are using it as measure of one stationary or spin session to another its worthwhile. If you're measuring a spin session as what you could reasonably do outside it's pretty unlikely.