Biking speed

nahralynn
nahralynn Posts: 125 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
So I've just started biking and I can't go very fast or for long distances at a time (lots of going fast, slowing down, breaks etc.) and I use an app on my phone to track where we go and some other stats. I've been using the <10mph exercise option when tracking bike riding because I don't know how fast we are actually going (pretty sure i'd fall and die if I tried to look while biking). The stats on the app for this bike ride were the following:

Distance: 4.48
Total Time: 0:54:18
Active time: 0:41:29
Idle Time: 0:12:49
Average speed: 6.48
AVS gross: 4.95
Max speed: 15.66
Total uphill: 990
Total downhill: -1112

So those are the stats I follow during rides, there aren't anymore speed options except the one that shows when you are actually riding, is it safe to say I should just go by the Average speed time when calculating ( <10mph ) and if when the time comes and I can actually go faster for longer and my Average speed is above 10 I can do a different option?

Replies

  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!
  • lunalulu2
    lunalulu2 Posts: 63 Member
    Yes that is how I would do it. I use my average speed and put it in the appropriate range on MFP. Are you riding on trails or the road?

    Keep at it and you will see improvement in no time. I started riding a little over a year ago and could barely go 7 miles at at time and was probably riding around 10 mph. I worked up to riding 80-100 miles per week over the summer and my longest ride so far was 70 miles. When I first started out I never would have believed that I could achieve that. I currently do 30 mile rides almost every weekend and average upwards of 16 mph. Cycling is a great fun way to get in shape. It is an excellent calorie burn especially if you have hills in your area. I love going on a long ride and then being able to come home and eat a large yummy treat meal with no guilt.
  • gatecityradio
    gatecityradio Posts: 401
    Which app are you using?
  • lunalulu2
    lunalulu2 Posts: 63 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!

    Really? I have never used a heartrate monitor so I do not know what I am actually burning but I lost weight very consistently eating back probably 90% of the calories that MFP said I burned cycling. There are a lot of factors that come into play like the wind, climbs and fitness level of the rider that MFP does not take into consideration so I guess there would be a lot of variability on rides. Just out of curiosity, do you ride on the road? Are there a lot of hills in your area?
  • Gwenski
    Gwenski Posts: 348 Member
    Is riding on a recumbant bike just as good? I'm in the snowy north and have a LOT of back trouble.. but I love my hubby's recumbant bike so I try to ride at least 15 min. per night to start. The monitor on the bike says that I'm biking at a speed of 16..not sure if that's miles per hour or what. I try and flap my arms around a bit as I bike.. I figure as long as I'm moving all four limbs and getting my heart rate up I must be doing some good, yes?
  • nahralynn
    nahralynn Posts: 125 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!

    Thanks for the tip! I use MFP calories for all the exercise I log, should I do the same for everything like walking?
    Are you riding on trails or the road?

    We are riding on paved bike trails and sidewalks and the like around our house and in parks. Not a lot of uphills, a lot of stuff is flat around us.

    Also, that is amazing how much you are riding now! I could barely go around the block when I started a few weeks ago, bought a new seat and could do a mile or two at a time, today was the first time we went almost 5 miles in one go so I'm so excited to see that! Once my legs/booty leg area (lol) stopped aching I just kept riding around. Started to run out of sunlight!
    Which app are you using?

    I'm using an app called Move! Bike . I have an android phone, so not sure if that makes a difference.

    If anyone knows of another good app to track walking/biking i'd appreciate the advice!
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!

    Really? I have never used a heartrate monitor so I do not know what I am actually burning but I lost weight very consistently eating back probably 90% of the calories that MFP said I burned cycling. There are a lot of factors that come into play like the wind, climbs and fitness level of the rider that MFP does not take into consideration so I guess there would be a lot of variability on rides. Just out of curiosity, do you ride on the road? Is there a lot of hills in your area?
    Yes I am a road cyclist no trails and yes there are some pretty challenging hills. I've been riding for about 2 years and clocked over 3000 miles last year. You are correct that all those things come into play when riding because I can ride 50 on my southern route and burn xxx amout of calories and go 50 miles on my nouthern route and burn a different amount of calories. That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible. You've progressed really well with your riding! Congrats to ya!!
  • lunalulu2
    lunalulu2 Posts: 63 Member
    I use endomondo and I like it. Yeah sore butt definitely sucks when you first start out. My friend talked me into gel cycling shorts and now I wouldnt ride in anything else. They are expensive but totally worth it if you plan to stick with cycling. Believe it or not your bum does get it used to it after a while and I don't really get sore anymore even after really long rides unless I haven't been on my bike in a while. Just watch out because cycling is addictive and can be an expensive sport, hehe.
  • lunalulu2
    lunalulu2 Posts: 63 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!

    Really? I have never used a heartrate monitor so I do not know what I am actually burning but I lost weight very consistently eating back probably 90% of the calories that MFP said I burned cycling. There are a lot of factors that come into play like the wind, climbs and fitness level of the rider that MFP does not take into consideration so I guess there would be a lot of variability on rides. Just out of curiosity, do you ride on the road? Is there a lot of hills in your area?
    Yes I am a road cyclist no trails and yes there are some pretty challenging hills. I've been riding for about 2 years and clocked over 3000 miles last year. You are correct that all those things come into play when riding because I can ride 50 on my southern route and burn xxx amout of calories and go 50 miles on my nouthern route and burn a different amount of calories. That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible. You've progressed really well with your riding! Congrats to ya!!

    Awesome! I love to see other avid cyclists out there. So how many calories do you burn on your average 50 mile ride according to your computer? Curious to see how different it is from what I am recording for my rides , obviously keeping in mind the various factors we already discussed.
  • piccolarj
    piccolarj Posts: 488 Member
    Yes you can use that but if you are going by MFP's calories I would only eat back about half of those because MFP tends to be VERY generous on the calories. I'm also a cyclist but I use a Polar 200 to track my speed, milage, calorie burn etc. and MFP's numbers for calories are always higher than what my HRM says. Great job on starting to ride it's a great workout and I love seeing the world from a bike!

    Really? I have never used a heartrate monitor so I do not know what I am actually burning but I lost weight very consistently eating back probably 90% of the calories that MFP said I burned cycling. There are a lot of factors that come into play like the wind, climbs and fitness level of the rider that MFP does not take into consideration so I guess there would be a lot of variability on rides. Just out of curiosity, do you ride on the road? Is there a lot of hills in your area?
    Yes I am a road cyclist no trails and yes there are some pretty challenging hills. I've been riding for about 2 years and clocked over 3000 miles last year. You are correct that all those things come into play when riding because I can ride 50 on my southern route and burn xxx amout of calories and go 50 miles on my nouthern route and burn a different amount of calories. That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible. You've progressed really well with your riding! Congrats to ya!!

    Awesome! I love to see other avid cyclists out there. So how many calories do you burn on your average 50 mile ride according to your computer? Curious to see how different it is from what I am recording for my rides , obviously keeping in mind the various factors we already discussed.
    My first 50 miler was over 3000 calories but I had been riding less than a year. Now I burn anywhere from 1200-1600 calories. As we said it depends on wind, if I'm riding alone or drafting part of the ride etc. As I rode more and I got fitter my burn was not as high. It's just like anything else that your body adapts too but I still love it and yes it's addictive and expensive!!
  • nahralynn
    nahralynn Posts: 125 Member
    That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible.

    What kind of bike computer do you have? I've seen little ones in the store with all the bike accessories, and was curious what they were!
  • LadyFaile
    LadyFaile Posts: 60
    Is riding on a recumbant bike just as good? I'm in the snowy north and have a LOT of back trouble.. but I love my hubby's recumbant bike so I try to ride at least 15 min. per night to start. The monitor on the bike says that I'm biking at a speed of 16..not sure if that's miles per hour or what. I try and flap my arms around a bit as I bike.. I figure as long as I'm moving all four limbs and getting my heart rate up I must be doing some good, yes?

    It will work the muscles a bit differently, but it's still definitely good for you. Plus not having a sore back/butt after a ride is a definite plus!
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    So I've just started biking and I can't go very fast or for long distances at a time (lots of going fast, slowing down, breaks etc.) and I use an app on my phone to track where we go and some other stats. I've been using the <10mph exercise option when tracking bike riding because I don't know how fast we are actually going (pretty sure i'd fall and die if I tried to look while biking). The stats on the app for this bike ride were the following:

    Distance: 4.48
    Total Time: 0:54:18
    Active time: 0:41:29
    Idle Time: 0:12:49
    Average speed: 6.48
    AVS gross: 4.95
    Max speed: 15.66
    Total uphill: 990
    Total downhill: -1112

    So those are the stats I follow during rides, there aren't anymore speed options except the one that shows when you are actually riding, is it safe to say I should just go by the Average speed time when calculating ( <10mph ) and if when the time comes and I can actually go faster for longer and my Average speed is above 10 I can do a different option?

    First of all, congrats for getting into biking. That is awesome!

    Though you aren't going fast, you are still burning a lot of calories on your biking trips so keep it up and enjoy yourself! :smile:
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
    That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible.

    What kind of bike computer do you have? I've seen little ones in the store with all the bike accessories, and was curious what they were!

    I would like to know also.

    Are there any that do calorie burn estimates?
  • gatecityradio
    gatecityradio Posts: 401
    Which app are you using?

    I'm using an app called Move! Bike . I have an android phone, so not sure if that makes a difference.

    If anyone knows of another good app to track walking/biking i'd appreciate the advice!

    I use endomondo because it has a website that goes along with it where you can see the map of your ride. I also have a bike computer that I use to compare distance and ave speed. Honestly I'm looking into getting a Garmin HRM with a built in gps to track my rides. But you can get a bluetooth HRM to tie into your phone and the endomondo app to track heart rate as well.
  • gatecityradio
    gatecityradio Posts: 401
    That's why I like my bike computer so I can try to be as accurate with my calorie burn as possible.

    What kind of bike computer do you have? I've seen little ones in the store with all the bike accessories, and was curious what they were!

    I would like to know also.

    Are there any that do calorie burn estimates?

    I have a sigma 1609, it measures distance, speed, ave speed, cadence, ave cadence...etc etc but no estimated calories burned. There may be a website that could take distance, ave speed, ave cadence, age, gender, and weight and give you an estimated calorie burn. You could get a cheap HRM and tie it into that as well. Personally I would look into a system that could do it all. I've been looking at a Garmin 405cx, and it comes with a HRM and you can buy a speed/cadence sensor to put on your bike, plus it has GPS tracking. It does calorie burn estimates.
  • kt2007
    kt2007 Posts: 302 Member
    RUNKEEPER.COM or RUNKEEPER on Android APP. RUNKEEPER.COM or RUNKEEPER on Android APP. RUNKEEPER.COM or RUNKEEPER on Android APP. RUNKEEPER.COM or RUNKEEPER on Android APP. RUNKEEPER.COM or RUNKEEPER on Android APP.
  • OSC_ESD
    OSC_ESD Posts: 752 Member
    I bike on a daily basis ... Avg 25 miles a day and were an HRM. My speed is 12 - 14mph on avg and the HRM shows 800+ calories burned. But, MFP shows 1023 cal burned ... so there is a slight difference of maybe 200 cal. I generally eat back 50% of my exercise calories. But I would encourage anybody who wants true numbers to invest in an HRM. I have the Polar F4 and LOVE it ! :)
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