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Old 10-03-07, 08:29 AM
  #55  
justgreen
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no one's going to read this, right? as the "conversation" ended years ago. But I had to respond to this. Firstly, dfw is right: the number of calories burned is by definition the amount of work you do. Work is force needed to move mass a certain distance -regardless of the speed; that is physics. It takes more force to move a mass up a hill, due to gravity, and to oppose the force of the wind. Conversely, it takes less force when the wind is "at your back" or to go down a hill. When also accounting for our physiology, humans can expend more calories and increase their cardiovascular capacity with interval training.

Coming in at a close second:
Ganesha, as someone who prefers other activities (and is motivated to bike for my green principles) I found your comment a little presumptuous, if not deliberately belittling to novice bikers. Perhaps you're a tri-athlete, but I can imagine that you/at least many other avid bikers, might find it vigorous to keep up with a swimmer as she just warms-up for her real workout. Attitudes like that keep some people from trying new things, which is a shame.

Lastly, I'm assuming that most of us are concerned with calories to "stay in shape"/lose weight. No? Taking the time to calculate wind speed and 5 other variables to get an exact number is ridiculous for the average joe; it just leads to obsessive behavior. I'd suggest getting some reasonable estimate that's enough to plan on how many calories you need to replace -or for motivation to go that extra mile to justify one more Guinness (or a nice wheat beer in my case).
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