riding stationary bike question

Arrabindi wrote: »

Does it even make sense to make about mileage on a stationary bike? 1) When you're on a real bike the mileage depends on so many factors, 2) that are probably not accounted for on a stationary bike, like air resistance, gear, wheel diameter, weight of the bike and yourself, etc.
I think it's difficult to compare a stationary bike to a real one, so I think you should just compete against on yourself on the stationary bike and aim to do better than you did last week and not worry about how it compares to real biking.

1) A mile is a mile, regardless of if you're a Time Trial machine, an Aero Bike, A Mountain Bike, BMX, or Commuter bike. A mile is a mile is a mile. You cannot change that fact that 5,280 feet are one mile.

2) The manufacturer accounted for the size of the flywheel into the logarithm that the computer uses to figure out how far a mile is. Just like a 700c tire/wheel combo has a different circumference that a 650b tire/wheel combo has.

I will overall agree with you on the Air Resistance, Gearing and weight [esp when it comes to climbing], but the distance thing... a mile is a mile is a mile.

Are you sure your bike isn't measuring in kilometres? I do 11 kilometres in 30 mins... works out at 6 miles

Riley1511riley wrote: »

Just hit my 8 month record of 14.41 miles in 35 min with 621 cal burned do yes really possible in think that's around 24.7 mph average maybe little higher

On a stationary bike or on a real bicycle?

To state the obvious - stationary bikes don't move!

Some purely count the pedal revolutions so if you have minimal resistance you can spin the crank in a blur of legs doing very little real work and burning not a lot of energy but register a good distance.
If they are taking the sensor from the flywheel speed then resistance (gearing effectively) will be taken into account then they have a better chance of being proportionate to your effort (power).
You can test that yourself by keeping cadence steady and varying the resistance and seeing what difference it makes to the "speed".

More sophisticated bikes are better and measure power and then can give a reasonable but still rough estimate of speed.
Last night I saw 22.8 virtual miles on a WattbikePro (with an accurate power meter) doing effectively a one hour time trial to exhaustion.
I couldn't do that speed outside on my local roads but perhaps if I was in a velodrome or found a 20+ mile stretch of perfect road......

I hit 20 miles or so in 50 to 55 minutes on the stationary bike at the gym. It changes the resistance at various times throughout the time I'm doing it. I know I probably wouldn't go that fast on a real bike but I do go hard at the gym to keep a good pace.

That was stationary bike and it was miles

I ride 60 min every morning somnetimes its 18 miles sometimes it 22 miles (stationary in my living room) Level 13

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

Cadence is an individual thing but in very general terms you want to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90 rpm. You probably have the resistance set too high (useful if you're training for hills)

What weight (rider and bike) and CdA are you using? I'm pushing around 190 watts at 20 mph, 240 watts at 22 mph, and 270 watts at 23 mph. Rider and bike ~85.7 kg and semi tucked (hands on hoods but lower arm near perpendicular to the ground, 0.31 < CdA < 0.35; don't have the right PM to calculate it). See http://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/PowerSpeedScenarios.aspx for quick and dirty calc.

I'll be very surprised if one can generate that kind of wattage on a spin bike. It's the same BS proponents of rollers been pushing for decades.

theconnertys wrote: »

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.

You forgot to indicate what gear ratio. Here is except from http://www.bikecalc.com/speed_at_cadence, reflecting current popular chain ring/gear combination. This is just the speed generated based on the gear inch and does not take into account resistance (wind & friction). Actual speed on a bicycle is lower.

How fast (mph) will I be going at 90-100 rpm in these gears?
Gear | 90rpm | 95rpm | 100rpm
34x12 | 20.05 | 21.16 | 22.27
34x13 | 18.56 | 19.59 | 20.62
42x15 | 19.83 | 20.94 | 22.04
42x16 | 18.63 | 19.67 | 20.70
46x16 | 20.40 | 21.53 | 22.67
46x17 | 19.20 | 20.26 | 21.33
50x18 | 19.69 | 20.79 | 21.88
50x19 | 18.63 | 19.67 | 20.70
52x18 | 20.47 | 21.61 | 22.75
52x19 | 19.41 | 20.49 | 21.57
53x19 | 19.76 | 20.86 | 21.96

GillOrmsby1 wrote: »

Could someone let me know how many rpms they are reaching?

The cadence does not matter. The same speed can be maintained either with high cadence and low power or low cadence and high power. Only the power output matters. The reason for the advocacy for high cadence (endurance) is to shift the workload from the skeletal muscles to the cardiovascular system. Skeletal muscles fatigue quickly and take a longer time to recover. In contrast, your cardiovascular system is much much more resilient and by capitalizing a small potion of the skeletal muscles' capability, you can hum all day.

I typically do about 15 to 16 mph, but I have the resistance up and I'm doing hills. My RPMs are in the upper 90s in the flats but much lower on the hills.

I have a recumbent stationary bike. I'll usually start at 0 resistance and build up to 8 or 10. My average speed is 24 mph. A mile takes about 2 1/2 minutes. What I have seen is that it doesn't burn many calories. I read somewhere that riding outside, 5 miles equals 1 mile on foot, but with the stationary bike, it takes about 7 - 8 miles to burn 100 calories.

Absolutely. 11 miles in 30 minutes is obviously 22 mph. I reasonably fit this would be attainable. This is about pace that I keep on a commercial grade well calibrated "life fitness" stationary. Anywhere between 18 and 24 mph is what I do. However, for me to keep 24 mph pace for an entire hour is once in a blue moon when fresh legs, fitnessand nutrition all line up. At 22 mph you would be "feeling a burn" and sweating. I dont belive 30 mph would be possible by a mortal on a calibrated stationary bike, however.

That’s a reasonable time for sure. I usually run, but I am recovering from an overdue injury in my knee and have switched to biking. I’m usually around that same pace!

NorthCascades wrote: »

How do you go a mile on a stationary bike?

This sounds like a riddle or a joke that's begging for a punchline.