Bicycling and calories burned

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  • johnwhitent
    johnwhitent Posts: 648 Member
    Get the HRM. Get the computer. The good ones combine both into one unit. they will also tell you how fast you are going, average speed, distance, cadence (how fast you are pedaling) and HR.

    As far as cycling goes, it is great exercise. But you have to push a little. Try to do the 15 miles in 1 hour. You will notice a huge difference as it will require a much higher level of sustained effort.

    Excellent point about the pushing! I love all cycling, including leisurely rides. And leisurely rides are a great improvement over sitting on the couch; but serious fitness improvements come from serious excertion. Fitness improves rapidly with cycling and that is a good thing, but it is also very easy to ease up on the pace and just cruise along. As with running, it is good to have a plan that includes a hard push day (intervals or hills,) an easy day, and a long day weekly. Cycling is a great way to build fitness and enjoy the process along the way, but it does require effort.
  • rtoledo71
    rtoledo71 Posts: 5
    (update - I know I need a heart rate monitor, now I'm wondering if I should ball park it or make a conservative guess at the calories burned, now read post!)

    okay, help me figure this out!

    i biked about 15.6 miles and while the entire trip took 3 hours, we stopped a few times and we figured we were on our bike for about 2 hours. now there were tiems when we coasted but there were at least two times where we had to go up hills that were not steep, but pretty long. like 1/4 mile long. I say, conservatively that our pace averaged out to "moderate"

    how many calories did i burn? some calcs are saying well over 1000. that can't be right? MFP is saying 1500 calories burned.

    Just based on your distance and time, I doubt it was 1000 cals. Probably closer to the 500-700 range.

    If you rode 15.6 miles and you say 2 hours of that was actual riding (average of 7.8 mph), then enter into MFP as 120 minutes of "Bicycling, <10 mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)". MFP returns a value of 721 calories burned.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
    I use runkeeper on my android phone. It takes into consideration your weight, height, sex, distance, grade, speed and gives you the calories burned. It may not be as accurate as a HRM but I like that I can go back and see improvements I've made on my rides.

    I also use runkeeper, and interestingly enough, it probably comes out close to the 40 calories per mile :-)
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