Kcal burned from biking?

Beckenzahler
Beckenzahler Posts: 26 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Any advice for best estimation of calories burned from biking?
MFPs estimate and various calculators seems to heavily overestimate the number burned.
Currently I ride 40 km, at 26 km/h, mostly flat terrain, weighing 105 kg. Various calculators give numbers from 1500-2000 kcal burn, I would have expected 900-1000.

Instead of just eating back half the kcal to make up for the overestimation, I was hoping to find a more precise estimate, to get it inline with kcal burned from running and rowing (which can be estimated rather precisely afaik).

Or will it all just be guesswork, unless I get a powermeter for my bike?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I agree that the database speed related ranges give dreadfully inflated estimates - maybe if you were cycling on sand or a monster hill climbing session they might come close but far too high for road bikes in normal terrain.

    A power meter is the most accurate but expensive and really it's a training aid for serious cyclists. IMHO really unecessary if just used by recreational cyclists for calorie estimates.

    I find Strava which uses your (and your bike's) weight plus terrain and speed to estimate your power perfectly reasonable for calorie estimates and it's free. It can't know things like your aero, wind speed and direction but certainly gives usable estimates.

    My Garmin Edge which includes a HRM as well as navigation and Strava tend to give roughly similar estimates.

    A simple HRM has limitations and would really need you to calibrate it for yourself against a more accurate method such as a power meter equipped indoor trainer or your rowing or running.

    Just for comparison at 76 kilos c. 500/hr is my moderate all day pace. 600/hr brisk pace, 700/hr fast, maximal effort for an hour 760.
  • jorichards2
    jorichards2 Posts: 100 Member
    I always use Strava it usually estimates about 50% less calories than MFP and you can keep track of your progress to keep your motivated.
  • vollkornbloedchen
    vollkornbloedchen Posts: 2,243 Member
    A (quite good) middle value for cycling (medium to high intensity) seems to be 500 - 600 kcal per hour.

    For being more "accurate" (for a given value of "accurate") you'd need an activity-tracker (best combined with a Heart-Rate-Monitor breast-belt).
  • Heatherthecyclist
    Heatherthecyclist Posts: 41 Member
    I burn about 600 kcal over 40k at 28-30kph
  • Beckenzahler
    Beckenzahler Posts: 26 Member
    How much do you weigh?
  • Resistive
    Resistive Posts: 212 Member
    I have recorded my last 117 mountain bike rides and I average about 9.07 calories per minute.

    These numbers are based on me being 47 years old, male and weighing 94kg.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Resistive wrote: »
    I have recorded my last 117 mountain bike rides and I average about 9.07 calories per minute.

    These numbers are based on me being 47 years old, male and weighing 94kg.

    That made me think!

    Couldn't get anything useful out of Strava but reporting from Garmin for the last 12 months (which doesn't include using my bikes for local errands) gave me (76kg 58YO rider, decent road bike, dreadful aero.):

    210 rides
    4,934.64 miles
    287:05:00 time (h:m:s)
    166,764 calories
    17.6 mph average speed

    Average 581 cals per hour (9.7 per minute)
    Average 33.8 cals per mile

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,610 Member
    I go with 100 calories for every 5 km ... roughly.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Beckenzahler wrote: »
    Any advice for best estimation of calories burned from biking?

    Or will it all just be guesswork, unless I get a powermeter for my bike?

    Ultimately a power meter is the most reliable solution if you are willing to spend the $$. I got one last year and it was an eye opener......my Garmin, based on heart rate & speed, was estimation about 30 cal per km (on a relatively flat commute). The power meter brought that down to about 17.... and our speed is similar, you're a little heavier than me but that has a relatively small impact on energy expenditure (bikes are insanely efficient) unless you're riding a lot of hills.

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